.NYC releases 3,800 premium domains costing between $250 and $5,000

.NYC domains are 2 years old and celebrate by releasing about 3,800 .nyc “premium domain names” today.

Starting on Monday, October 10 at 3:00pm EDT, these .nyc premium domain names will be offered to the public at a premium price through participating domain retailers.

This is the list of the 4,300 domains that are designated as “Premium Domains”: Check them out here. The remaining 500 domains will be auctioned or sold in the aftermarket.

The 3,800 released premium domains will be available through a tiered pricing ranging from $250 to $5,000. All domains can be then renewed at standard pricing.

These web addresses were categorized as “premium” by the New York City and Neustar, the .nyc contractor and backend provider, for a variety of reasons, including their broad appeal, category-defining keywords, and brevity. Like all .nyc domain names, premium domain names are exclusively available to the City’s residents, organizations, and businesses.

Registering a .nyc premium domain name works exactly like registering a standard, or non-premium domain name.  The only difference is that these domain names are priced at a premium.  As with all domain names, prices vary according to each registrar’s individual pricing policies and practices.

Jeff Merritt, the Director of Innovation of the City of New York, said:

“Whether you’re a small business, or an established brand, there’s no better place to launch and build your venture online, than .nyc. With the release of these new premium domains, New Yorkers across the five boroughs will all have the opportunity to own and develop a piece of the City’s most valuable digital real estate.”

The .nyc Premium Domain Program includes about 4,300 domains in total: (1) premium domain auctions and brokered sales; (2) tiered pricing; (3) modified general availability; and (4) donated premium domains.  This four-pronged approach provides multiple points of access for buyers and multiple price points but it also seems very complicated.

.NYC Domain Name Auctions

While the lion’s share of these  .nyc premium domain names will be made available directly through established domain name retailers, at published prices, about 500 domains will be available via domain name auctions and select aftermarket providers.

Premium domain name auctions feature some of the most valuable domain names, organized by industry or business themes (such as fashion, dining, living, etc). The first auction is coming up on October 24-27 on Namejet and features 20 domains such as homes.nyc and Living.nyc. .NYC has already 6 more auctions lined up.

But there is an option to purchase some of the domains that are not in an active auction at Sedo and Afternic.

.NYC said that “to complement the auctions and enable greater flexibility for interested buyers, domains held for non-active auctions are also available through a select list of “Aftermarket” domain providers.  In these cases, the domain names are listed with an established, transparent price and are available through some of the most respected retailers, including Sedo and Afternic. This way, interested buyers have the option of purchasing the domain names at the listed price now or waiting for the future auction.”.

.NYC: Changes In Pricing

.NYC plans to change pricing on some available to register domain names. Some domains may increase in price while others may drop below the standard $20 wholesale price.

The .NYC registry said that “To remain competitive in this changing market, the City will be reassessing the price of a subset of .nyc domains that are currently on the market. Some domains such as three character domains and commonly used nouns and verbs may increase in price.  Other domains, such as those that are excessively long in length, may be dropped below the standard $20 wholesale price.”