Keith deBoer published an insightful article yesterday discussing how to make money if the domain market crashes. There are some people who would likely say “when the domain market crashes” rather than “if the domain market crashes.”

The domain market has been relatively strong for the last several years. Off the top of my head, I recall 2009-2011 being difficult, but I think there has been improvement since 2012. The challenging thing about analyzing the business as an investor is that a few major sales in a year can shift perception from an okay year to a great year.

If I were to guess, I would think the US midterm elections this November could potentially make a big impact on the general economy and consequently on the domain business. If the US House and Senate flip from red to blue, things could get messy with lots of political gridlock and potential for some fireworks. Uncertainty in the political spectrum could pose problems for the economy. I hate politics and I am certainly no economist, so I could be totally wrong about what happens (if anything). Even if the markets head south, the domain market could continue to hum along.

There are often ups and downs in the business, but do you think we will see a “crash” in the domain market within the next year?

I don’t closely follow the non .com domain name aftermarket. I am pretty sure that one character domain names in some non .com extensions have value, but I couldn’t guess how much. I am sure that single character .TV domain names have value though.

When I was looking at NameJet this morning, I noticed that the single letter i.TV domain name was listed in their list of pending delete auctions. There is a day and a half to go to backorder the domain name at NameJet, and people could also backorder it at DropCatch.com and/or other auction venues. Once the backorder period ends, the domain name will go to auction.

Estibot pegs the value of i.TV at $3,500. NameBio shows 7 publicly reported single character .TV sales. There were two single letter .TV sales – d.tv for $18,000 in 2010 and e.TV for $17,500 in 2008.

What do you think i.TV is worth?

Wired published an article yesterday entitled, “Google Wants to Kill the URL.” As the title would indicate, Google is looking at ways to change URLs. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“People have a really hard time understanding URLs,” says Adrienne Porter Felt, Chrome’s engineering manager. “They’re hard to read, it’s hard to know which part of them is supposed to be trusted, and in general I don’t think URLs are working as a good way to convey site identity. So we want to move toward a place where web identity is understandable by everyone—they know who they’re talking to when they’re using a website and they can reason about whether they can trust them. But this will mean big changes in how and when Chrome displays URLs. We want to challenge how URLs should be displayed and question it as we’re figuring out the right way to convey identity.”

Of course, a change to the URL could very well impact domain names. This could be bad or it could be good. From my vantage point, if they do something drastic to the right of the extension, it could more focus on the domain name and perhaps increase its importance. On the other hand, there is also a chance it could negatively impact domain names, and consequently the value of domain names.

I am curious if readers are concerned about Google’s desire to “kill the URL.” Please vote in the poll below, but also share your thoughts in the comment section.

If someone asked me if I am buying or selling my domain names, I would probably tell them I am doing both. In looking through my purchases and sales, I can safely say I am buying many more domain names than I am selling, so I am still in acquisition mode.

I know people at different stages of their business. Some have accumulated enough domain names that they are happy to slowly sell their portfolio and earn enough money that they don’t need to be in acquisition mode. Unfortunately, there are quite a few people who have spent all the money they want to spend on domain names and are not buying additional domain names until they start earning a return on their initial investment.

Others are still building their domain portfolio, adding much more than they are selling. I know a few people who got their start in the 1990s and are still buying exceptional domain names. There are many more people who started in the last 10+ years and continue to buy domain names on a regular basis.

In wealth management terms, it could be considered acquisition vs. distribution, where the investor is either still earning money and adding to his or her investments, or the investor is retired and using the money to fund life.

Would you consider yourself in acquisition mode or in sale mode? I also added an answer “net zero” for those who sell as much as they buy.

I am going to be attending the ICANN meeting in Barcelona in October. I am going to be at the first half of the meeting and then flying back to Boston due to a prior commitment.

This will be my first ICANN meeting. I don’t know how many actual ICANN events I will be attending, but I know it will be a great chance to catch up with friends and colleagues in the domain business from around the world.

Will you be attending the ICANN meeting in Barcelona?

Payment plans are a popular way for a company to buy a domain name. The way it typically works is that the buyer and seller agree upon a price, and the buyer pays for the domain name over an agreed upon period of time. A $100,000 deal paid off over 2 years could involve quarterly payments of $12,500. A company like Escrow.com can manage this payment plan or the buyer and seller can choose to use an attorney to manage the escrow.

I have always felt that the buyer should be able to use the domain name upon making the first payment. Perhaps more is spent in the initial payment to ensure there is enough skin in the game, but the sooner the buyer begins using the domain name, the easier it should conceivably be to pay for the domain name as the business is generating revenue.

There is another school of thought that the buyer should not be allowed to use the domain name until it is paid for in full. A domain owner could be concerned that the usage of the domain name could harm its value. If a startup fails or has negative attention, it could harm the value of the domain name, and therefore, it should not be used until the buyer owns it fully.

What do you think?