OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
I am dropping my only .london domain name. The domain name is planet.london and anyone that wants it can have it. First come, first served.
But I wouldn’t be so fast to jump into this “opportunity”. This is a premium domain name and has a renewal price that is close to $1,000 per year depending on the registrar.
Yes, I screwed up last year with this domain. That is the only New gTLD domain name I regret buying. And that is the only premium domain of this caliber. All my other domains have a renewal price of $200 and less. And only 4-5 out of 600+ domains are above $100 per year.
As I was studying in London for almost 6 years, when I started domaining “London” domains became one of my niches. I own 150+ ****london.com domain names. When I heard that .london was coming out I was happy and planned on buying as many as I could.
But enter Minds + Machines. They created the most complicated, expensive, dis-functioning launch I have seen in the New gTLDs. Nothing worked. Not even their own registrar.
Even the domain auctions were setup to never end. And I guess they like this system they have with Pool as this year’s auction had the same format: a single bid extended the auction closing time by 24 hours!
.London domain names have crazy expensive renewal prices. Take a look at the latest .London auction and the renewal prices. Hot.London for $780 per year? No, thanks.
No wonder Sold.Domains contains no .London domain sales except of those that were added last month from the registry auction.
Good bye .London. Anyone for Planet.London?
I hate .london format. I hated it last year when it launched, and i still do. I only own one word in the .london space (which happens to premium) and only because it relates to a business we developing. With renewal at 400$ a year, it still one domain that i would never had gotten hasn’t been for relation to my business.
Until I saw the renewal price, I was going to talk you out of dropping the domain. But, yeah …
This is definitely one of those cases where the registry has priced domainers out of the supply chain. During the initial excitement, registries could rely on some of us buying at premium registration rates. However, the time-to-flip is much longer than optimists thought. All things considered, it seems better to concentrate on the domains with lower renewal rates.
Figuring the probabilities for various sale prices, it just doesn’t make sense to be paying $1000 per year for this one. A year ago, that risk analysis was different. The confidence interval was wider. But by now we’ve accumulated a year of evidence. We know what the sell-through rates are, what the sale prices tend to be, etc. So the margin for speculation is narrower.
The average holding time is longer than what someone might have been allowed to believe last year, and the average sale price is lower. On average, only the very best nTLD domains – the inevitable, necessary phrases – might pay off for resellers given a $1000-per-year renewal price.
Registries have poisoned the well for domains like this one, I’m afraid. Don’t drink it. They can afford to wait several years for an end user … without paying their own renewal fee … or paying it to themselves via a holding company like North Sound Names. Merely getting 1 buyer at $1000 per year, they profit. As a domainer, you would have to convince that same buyer not only to pay such an unfamiliar steep rate but also persuade them to reimburse you several thousand dollars extra for the renewal fees you’ve been paying. And that’s just to break even years from now.
Tried to post a comment but got an Internal error from your site and lost the post.
I’d written that unless you’re a lesbian living in London (http://www.planet-london.com) the domain name planet.london, in my humble opinion, simply isn’t a very good domain name. Putting aside how M&M’s may have chosen to operate .london, a poorly selected domain name is still just that. I had my eye on just one of the recent .london premiums that were auctioned but I didn’t bid in the end.
Sorry you blew your money on that.
Planet.london is not as bad as you describe. You could use it for many other things. The price is the problem.
It’s overpriced for what it is but it was when you registered it. It wasn’t a good buy then, in my humble opinion. Lots of domain names “could” be used for many things but this one lends itself to nothing which appears obviously commercial from the start. London, as you’ll know, isn’t a planet so you’re relying on something completely invented.
I am not talking about the price now. The price is high and that’s why I dropped it.
Planet, world and globe are words used by thousands of businesses that not connected to earth etc.
Did you pay a similar amount to register it compared with the upcoming renewal rate? I’m presuming you did, although you haven’t specified, which is why in my humble opinion it wasn’t a good decision to buy this name unless you had a specific project in mind that justified such an expense.
I realise the potential usage of “planet” but coupling it with “.london” doesn’t stir any interest with me. You now know my view about the name. 🙂
Unless one is purchasing for an absolute business idea (e.g. basements.london – nothing to do with me) or it is a name that describes something within London that many people might want or be aware of, I’d likely consider the majority of registrations a bad punt.
What convinced you to believe in planet.london above so many others like it?
What others like it?
Planet.london is good brandable, if renewal cost was cheaper, then for sure it would be a keeper as it will sell. I seen it used in many different ways, i know datingplanet.com sold for for more then 10k. Planet Hollywood , etc, its a brand-able but one where somebody who would buy it, would really want it.
the donuts collision list changed a lot. 1000$ for planet.london is crazy after we got many better names much more cheaper. in other words, we dont need such premiums anymore in our portfolio.
Donuts did make available some nice looking domain names during the collision releases. However do not forget that every domain name is quite unique so all those names becoming available shouldn’t take potential value away from existing domain names that are supposedly good and relevant.
I don’t understand.
I was replying to royal and his comment about collision names being released. We’ve invested in some $x,xxx premiums (not .london) and did so well before the collision name release. The collision release hasn’t changed our opinion or belief in our premium new gTLDs at all. A quality name is still a quality name. You know my view of planet.london by now. I wouldn’t have bought it then or now at anywhere near $1,000, nor even for $50, and I don’t understand what motivated you to register it for that amount. Maybe you had insight that I don’t.
Ok.
I said I screwed up. But that is regarding to the price. I would centainly keep it at $50 per year.
@David Thornton David, stop asking him what motivated him to get this .london name. He already said in the oroginal post that he screwed up.
Everyone makes mistakes, obviously you did when you got your ‘Destination.domains’
I don’t understand what motivated you to get this name?? You must have really screwed up.
So, David, from now on, you first ask yourself questions before you do others. That is your lesson to learn.
-Guest
Many people prefer to look at domain brand value instead of the age of domain when bidding for any or shortlisting them on auction platforms.
IM BUY TODAY PLANET.LONDON AND THE RENEWS PRICE IS $46.88 /YR
What exactly do you mean?
I see the domain is pending delete.
Sorry for the delay, I purchase this name on May 6, 2019 on namecheap, this name is parking in sedo, its active and with the correct whois data