Andrew Allemann wrote about the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) statement about the .com registry extension agreed upon with Verisign. As a domain investor with a couple thousand domain names, the most eye-catching aspect of the statement was seemingly related to the prices charged by domain investors:
“NTIA recognizes concerns about current pricing and believes a reduction in .com prices would be in the best interest of the public. We also recognize that prices at both the wholesale level and downstream, including prices charged by resellers and substantial markups by warehousers, need to be addressed.”
I think any regulations related to the pricing resellers and “warehousers” (aka domain investors) charge to sell domain names in the aftermarket would be massively destructive to the business of domain investing. If the business of domain investing fails, I think it would also significantly harm domain name registry operators who rely on domain investors to purchase large quantities of their domain names.
Any regulations related to aftermarket domain name pricing would be MAD – mutually assured destruction – for all participants in the domain name space.
As a domain investor, I might sell a very small percentage of domain names each year for significant sums of money. I might turnover 3% of my portfolio annually, but I continue to spend money on domain name renewals and acquisitions via auction and private purchase. All of this investment capital is speculative – it’s tough to predict what domain names will sell or how long it will take to sell them.
The money I spend to acquire and renew domain names goes to providers like auction platforms, domain registrars, and domain registries. It also goes to other businesses that sell their unused domain names for substantial sums of money to fund business operations or to fund things like retirement.
Pricing regulations on businesses like mine would be very bad for these large upstream providers that make a significant amount of money selling and auctioning these domain names to “warehousers.”
I think pricing regulations related to the resale of domain names in the aftermarket would be very challenging to implement, particularly since this is a business with a massive international scope. Thus, I believe the risk is fairly minimal. That being said, this type of commentary is a big reason for my support of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA).
Your last paragraph is 100% on target, IMO. Thanks.
The important thing is that all policies must favor the rich, powerful and influential, at the expensive of all others.
No matter what type of mental dishonesty or phony reasoning is required.
Most especially if the former have given money or other support or benefit directly or indirectly to those who make and enact the policies.
“[…] substantial markups by warehousers, need to be addressed.”
That was already adressed!; it’s called UDRP!
Now, if the person saying that doesn’t see that the UDRP fixes it, then it’s probably because he is talking about generic domain names, in which case, the registrant has the legitimate rights to OWN.
And, if you TRULY own something, you can obviously set any price you want, without restrictions and without having to explain anything to anyone, right?…
The person who made that statement has an obvious issue with the ownership component of being a registrant. He implicitly believes registrants should not own! (so, if not registrants, who should “own” the domain names of the Internet then?)… 🤔
regulations related to aftermarket domain name pricing? Wtf
Say it to Rick Schwartz or Mike Mann 🙂
Feel free to control domain prices. Next, control other aspects, then further regulate…
Don’t weep about the state of our nation in the future.