Colin Campbell from the .Club registry reported on the continued “run” on .Club domain names. This follows his report that all NNNN.Club domain names were registered earlier this month.
Chinese run on .CLUB 6 character numbers and 4 character letters continues @getdotclub pic.twitter.com/zVzKBwPq9K
— Colin.club (@ColinDotClub) November 26, 2015
I asked him if he could share more information about the types of names that seem to be selling at above normal levels, and here’s what he shared with me:
1) all NNN 1 month after G.A. (with value of over 1300 per)
2) all NNNN 2 weeks ago (value undetermined)
3) most NNNNN about 50-70K
4) many NNNNNN (tens of thousands) in last week.
5) all LLL a few weeks ago
6) LLLL several thousand in last few days.
Colin told me there has been a “[c]razy run on the names, combined with us discounting the names and getting big exposure in the Chinese market from auctions.”
Registrars have been offering discounted pricing on new .Club domain names, and the registry has also been able to sell some of its premium assets for higher prices. In the short run, this seems to be providing a big boost to the .Club registration numbers, which now number over 400,000, according to nTLDStats.com.
In the longer run, it will be interesting to follow renewals. Last week, Verisign issued a statement that discussed domain name renewals (in response to its own “run” on .com domain names): “Verisign has noted in the past that renewal rates for domain names registered in emerging markets, such as China, have historically been lower than those registered in more developed markets.” It will be interesting to see if this holds true for extensions like .Club, especially on the higher value domain names.
I do not own (and have not owned) any .Club domain names and .Club is not advertising on my blog.
I don’t own any .CLUB either but you have to admire the .CLUB marketing machine for good promotion of their extension at every turn. I wish the .CO marketing machine was as active!
“Crazy” is not exactly the word I would use. “Stupid” is better.
I think crazy stupid works even better.
The Chinese capital flight (read: money laundering) extends into the new gTLDs. Those who have a lot to launder are putting their money into LLL.com and NNN.com, those who have a little are putting it into $1 .xyz and .top et al.
LLLL.club and NNN[NNNNNNNNN].club are worthless, along with 99.9% of .xyz, .club and .top registrations.
I don’t understand how it would be considered “money laundering.”
Well here we are a few months later and non chip llll .club domains are selling at $25 a a name and CHIP .club’s are selling around $75 a name. Not so stupid now when they were $1 at godaddy.com for months.