.Click to Launch Without Registry Reserved Domain Names

Uniregistry is set to launch the .Click new gTLD domain extension on November 25, and unlike most other new domain extensions, the only reserved domain names will be those on the ICANN APD block list. Aside from the nearly 8,000 strings prohibited from being registered by ICANN, everything will be available to the public on a first come, first served basis. I understand that the vast majority of the 8,000 registry reserve names have no commercial value, but are reserved for technical reasons, so there should be plenty of top keyword domain names available to register from the outset.

According to Uniregistry founder and CEO Frank Schilling, North Sound Domains will not be competing with other domain registrants for .Click domain names when they become available to purchase. He did tell me  that “about 4 weeks after launch we have a large list of premiums that we may or may not register as registry assets for the future.” Since .Click domain names will be available to the first registrants to buy them, there will not be registry / registrar auctions for .Click domain names.

Uniregistry is banking on

John Oliver Discusses .NYC Domain Names (Slightly NSFW)

.NYC domain names were front and center in this clip from HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. More specifically, Oliver discussed .NYC domain name registrations related to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Some of these domain names were vulgar and likely defensively registered on behalf of the former Mayor (I would assume without his knowledge).

Andrew Allemann reported on these domain name registrations a week ago. Some of the Mike Bloomberg domain names he discussed include gems like BloombergBlows.NYC, MikeIsTooShort.NYC, MikeBloombergisaDweeb.NYC, MikeBloombergBlows.NYC, and FuckBloomberg.NYC.

There has been quite a bit of press about .NYC domain names lately, and Neustar must be loving it. The Wall Street Journal published an article last week, and other local newspapers have published articles as well. You can’t buy this type of publicity, and it’s probably helping to contribute to the growth of the extension.

Enjoy the video embedded below, although it might be a bit unsafe for work due to some of the language:

Why The Coffee.Club Deal is Good for Both Parties

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I’ve known Bill McClure for a few years, having met him at several domain conferences, and I admire his business successes. I’ve written about him before, from buying Coffee.org for $100,000 and building a big business on it, to buying Bouquet.com at auction. There has been quite a bit of discussion about the Coffee.Club deal, and I think the deal is good for both parties.

What this deal boils down to is something that all domain investors deal with on a daily basis. The .Club registry had a domain name asset in Coffee.Club that it valued greatly. Bill McClure and his team wanted to own this asset, and they struck a deal to make it happen. Some people probably think $100k is way too much, but the deal seems to be struck in a manner  that will make it easier to achieve an ROI more quickly.

I asked Bill about why he chose Coffee.Club rather than any other new gTLD extensions, and he made it clear that

.NYC Registrations Passes .London

Because of my personal connection with New York City and the domain space, I have been paying closer attention to the .NYC domain name extension than other new gTLD extensions. I have been following along with .NYC since prior to the application process. According to today’s update at NTLDStats.com, it looks like there are now more .NYC domain names than .London domain names. As of this morning, there are 48,671 .NYC domain names, and there are 48,479 .London domain names.

.London had about a one month head start to sell its domain names to the general public. .NYC went on sale to the general public on October 8, 2014 and .London went on sale to the general public on September 9, 2014. Both TLDs have strong local support. Two weeks ago, the .NYC team at Neustar along with representatives from the Office of the Mayor of New York City  rang the opening bell at the NYSE  to celebrate the launch of .NYC domain names.

The populations of London and New York City seem to be  

Poll: .Net vs. New gTLD

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Yesterday, I read Kevin Murphy’s article, “Is the free ride over for Verisign’s .net?” In the article, cited comments from Verisign CEO Jim Bidzos and Verisign CFO George Kilguss regarding the current state of .net domain names and their future.

After sharing public comments made by Bidzos and Kilguss, Murphy wrote, “As .com buyers start to see more and more options for duplicative or defensive registrations in their shopping carts, they’re going to be less likely to grab the .net to match their .com, in my opinion.” I tend to agree with Murphy on this, although I’ve never really bought the .net (or .org), especially if it involved paying a premium.

With the

Uniregistry Domain Names Now at GoDaddy

Uniregistry has been selling its new gTLD domain names since the end of February of this year,  but they have not been selling them via GoDaddy, the largest domain name registrar in the world. According to a tweet from Uniregistry founder Frank Schilling, as of yesterday, new gTLD domain names managed by Uniregistry are now available for purchase by customers at GoDaddy.

I checked, and GoDaddy is now selling Uniregistry extensions like .link, .sexy, .tattoo, .blackfriday, .guitars, and others. The pricing seems comparable to other registrars, although the prices are more expensive than buying the domain names directly from Uniregistry (not taking any discounts into consideration).

In February of this year, Kevin Murphy of DomainIncite.com wrote an article about “why registrars are boycotting .sexy” and other Uniregistry new gTLD domain names. In his article,