For Sale Why WLS is worthless.

[beatz]

Well,

i have to admit after seeing and being frustrated about NW's newest system change and with Pool being the dom(a)inator at the moment, with SN constantly loosing and the other services pretty much loosing as well i had a short moment of doubt if WLS would be that bad as i always thought it will be.

But after a little bit of rethinking, i still have to say WLS will be worthless for most of us.

To sum it up, here are the reasons:

- Most decent WLS slots will (are ) be taken and bought off in massive amounts by the likes of BD,Yun,Cayman etc.Make no mistake: They *will* figure out a way how to get hold of 90% of the best slots in the very first moment of WLS going live(latest).

- Do you have the cash to compete? Because you don't have a choice: Either you decide to invest all your "domain money" in WLS slots the very first day to cover as many decent names as possible or you (think you have the choice to) decide to buy a WLS later when the name turns into redemption...just that at that time the WLS will already be taken by the deep-pockets.
So you basically *have to* put in all your cash at the very beginning...and that's investing without any guarantee the name will ever drop.

- Even if it's just a half-decent name, WLS subscriptions will still be pretty worthless anyway.

Because as everyone knows, *if* the domain drops it will go to the WLS holder the game will be about calling domain owners prior to deletion period and trying to buy the name off.

- WLS will have this effect:

Less dropping names available as more names get either bought off by domainers or renewed by current owners due to notification by domainers trying to buy off a name.

So it's all gonna be about buying names off owners rather than rely on the WLS slot.

Which again means the only ones to be in a win situation besides VS will be the guys that can afford to either

- Buy the names from current owners before the name drops
- Invest the time neccessary to research and buy names off
- Invest in mass WLS slots right at the beginning of WLS

Everyone else *will* loose.

Have fun.

 

[Nexus]

Honestly, I think it's all idle speculation until it happens. "Idle", because I'm not convinced BD or US are going to be throwing money in every single direction imaginable. On the names that really matter? Definitely. Like they are now. --Only difference, acessibility... a problem, but not insurmountable.

Will they get the BEST slots? Maybe, I think many people are using that as an excuse to roll-over and play "dead", instead of lining up their registerar partners and WLS-ready companies NOW. --Not to mention, some people actually "know" what names they see as prime realistate, and others don't. The people that are going to be BEST at this, are the people who have done it for a while, and have registrar partners all sign-up and ready for WLS. Also, I think a fair amount of Snap holders are going to get a present... but I AM concerned about the amount of "ammunition" SnapNames will be packing.

I think the biggest effect that the Domain Coalition wrangling has done, is limited accessibility to the WLS drop. Have all the coalition members refrained from signing up for WLS? Does anyone know if Pool partners are prohibited from signing up? Seems to be a dirth of good service in this area... unless everyone will be doing last minute advertising. eNom has said flatly, that they won't be signing up. DoDora I think has it readdy to go, but I think they're a SnapBack partner. SnapNames/NRR seem to be the only game in town looking to promote themselves to the public. Nice, but only one source (however multi-faceted).

I think this will be one of THE most "quiet" yet "LARGEST" landrushes ever, because most people (even seasoned resellers) can't get their heads around it, and are caught up in some kind of confused nonsense about how this will just be BAD, and shut down.

Opportunity written all over it for the persistent ones.

If some of the "bad mouthing" I hear is "smoke" just to make the gullible roll-over and fall asleep, I guess I can get with that. Everyone's got to have a tactic. On face-value, I just can't understand some of these arguments otherwise. Business is business, an this game has never gone to the last minute ticket-buyer.

~ Nexus

 

[mole]

Originally posted by beatz
So it's all gonna be about buying names off owners rather than rely on the WLS slot.

The big players will avoid buying names off owners as this will eat dramatically into reseller margins.

For example, BD gets a domain on a snap for less than $60 now and sells it off for $2,000 or more days later. They need these kind of huge margins to do business because a lot of names will remain unsold. Try approaching a domain registrant cold and you'ld be lucky to get a response for less than $500. Then the time consuming hassle of payment through escrow and all that, its really very off putting.

Unless you are an end-user yourself, you will find approaching owners and negotiating highly painful and a possible fruitless exercise, at the prices you think are "reasonable" anyway.

Most resellers will depend on WLS slots if they are to keep their volume buying within sanity levels.

As has been said many time, WLS favors the small players, those that snipe at a very limited number of domains, and are willing to pay end-user prices if necessary to secure the names via another route. These players are like flea bites to the big players targeting 20-100 names A DAY. But they do have concentrated firepower to do the necessary.

Since around 20,000 names drop everyday, there is still a lot to go around. However, I agree that this system calls for upfront money and extra upfront research on the background of the targeted domains, looking for dead emails, ISPs, failing businesses. You also need to be mindful of which registrars are holding the names, since some like Godaddy and Dotster have auto renewals built in as a default. The best drops are still from Netsol, since they don't build this auto-feature etc...

I guess its natural to press the panic button on an impending new system in which no one has actual experience dealing with. But these changes throw the big players into disarray as much as anyone else.

There is probably a small window just prior to Oct 27th to plan and implement your move. Once the bell rings, you really have already missed that magical window to capitalise on that change.

Most small specialists players I won't be surprised have already signed, sealed and full implemented their WLS strategy from the first hours of Next Registration Rights going live, let alone wait for other registrars to limp to the starting line.

 

[Nexus]

Well said, Mole. Still a little hole for "sour grapes" players though. I hope NetSol closes it, but I doubt they ever will.

~ Nexus