As you’ve likely heard by now, NamesCon will be conducting its first domain name auction later on this afternoon. The auction was organized by Right of the Dot (ROTD), and there is a big focus on the new gTLD domain names. Just about every time I’ve seen ROTD founders Monte Cahn and Mike Berkens at NamesCon, the duo seem to be huddling together over a laptop, most likely working on the auction.
I am most curious to see how the bidding goes on the new gTLD domain names. Although I have heard about many new gTLD sales, most seem to be private and unreported (sidenote, if I ran a new domain name registry, I would prohibit non-disclosure agreements on registry sales). This auction may give more of an indication about the new gTLD aftermarket, although usage of domain names will trump big sales.
There are a variety of domain names from new extensions including