None of the 1000+ reserved .xxx domains have been sold. Why?

The list of over 1000 .xxx domain names that was put up for sale 3 weeks ago has not changed. Not a single .xxx domain has been removed from the list. Does this mean that no domains have been sold or that ICM Registry has not removed the sold domains from the list? I believe the former is true.

This list of priced domain was supposed to create a rush of .xxx sales. Why aren’t these domains selling like crazy? Is it too soon to judge? Are the prices too high? Maybe some are. Other are not though. So what is the problem?

I think that these are not selling because .xxx domains are only being bought by domainers or people in the adult industry. High registration and renewal costs prevents anyone else from registering .xxx domains. The adult industry is not your usual end-user crowd. They know how, when and how much to pay for domain names. And just like domainers they can sense the seller’s weakness from a mile away. Priced domains can only mean one thing: negotiations with the buy now price being the ceiling. Prices are going to come down if no sales start happening soon. And everybody knows that.

Weakness is what ICM Registry showed by putting all these domains for sale at once before the 1 year anniversary of .xxx. There was no reason to do this. Reserved .xxx domains were selling as it was. Gay.xxx sold for $500K. Registration numbers were above the first year estimates. Search.xxx was getting a lot of publicity, even at mainstream media. Even Conan O’Brien is helping out

Maybe for some reason they wanted more sales fast but weakness is what everybody saw. And the problem is that people see weakness in .xxx when in fact the extension is going pretty well in it’s first year.

I really like .xxx domains and I am following the extension closely and this is why I think that ICM Registry should remove this list ASAP. It has done enough harm to .xxx as it is…

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

6 comments

  1. weakness is what it is. my one .xxx domain already got an offer of $75.
    funny thing is the plural of my domain is one of their reserved domains and i got mine at auction for $120. i own 1 .net 1 .org 1.xxx and about 200 .coms which i am trying to whittle down ’cause some of them suck.

  2. Thanks for the report, however we have not updated the list yet. We have sold 15 or so and remove them once all contracts have been finalized. We are actually delighted with the sales and level of interest and are in negotiation with several more that are yet to conclude.

    • Why haven’t you removed them? If the domains have been paid then you shouldn’t have them on the list. This will only frustrate buyers.

      So these prices are not firm as I suspected. I guess you know better on how to run a registry but I know what invites price negotiation. Anyway, good luck with sales as solid sales will help all .xxx investors.

      • Only the higher price domains and bundles of names are subject to negotiation and also we are refreshing the list with newer names as some drop off but thanks for your comments.

  3. Beside the dire weakness of the .xxx extension itself, adult keyword domains are dead. Free adult video sites that exploded starting around last 2-3 years have decimated most paid porn. Do you see any adult KW domains on the top sites? Virtually everything is branded: http://www.alexa.com/topsites/category/Top/Adult …Maybe users feel less conscience with typing a URL like xhamster.com instread of f*cking.com ?

    The XXX registry’s attempt to be the “global authority” of malware free porn is arrogant. This 2012, not 2002. Authority cannot be pre-built. This will play out like .mobi

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