Frank Schilling just killed the New gTLD domain name program (Warning!)

Frank Schilling, owner of Uniregistry, just nailed the first nail on the New gTLD coffin. I wonder how the other registries are feeling about this?

Yes, I am angry once again even though this price hike does not affect my own New gTLD names. But this affects the whole ICANN New gTLD program.

Did Frank Schilling just killed the New gTLD domain name program? In my mind he did kill its soul.  No, New gTLDs are not going away any time soon. But domainers lost most of their faith in the program.

16 TLDs from the Uniregistry’s portfolio of 27 will see price increases of up to 3,000% starting September 8, Uniregistry CEO Frank Schilling told DomainIncite.com.

ICANN requires a 6 month (180 days to be exact) warning to registrars when changing the renewal price. ICANN recently eliminated from the New gTLD registry agreements the need to inform ICANN of any such changes. Registries only need to inform the registrars of such changes. Who observes that rule, and how, is anybody’s guess. Registrars don’t even have to inform registrants according to ICANN rules. ICANN cares so little that they don’t even want to be notified about price changes!

The rule says that registries should only give a 30 day notice to registrars when changing the price on new registrations. This is what Donuts did on several domains in October 2016, both increasing and decreasing prices but only by a relatively (compared to Uniregistry) small margin. It was not a 3,000% margin. But more crucially the Donuts changes in pricing did not affect renewals. Existing domain names were grandfathered. So people invested (one way or another) in these domains weren’t affected. Of course that does not mean that this can’t change in the future. But grandfathering has 2 prerequisites. You need domains to grandfather, which the 16 Uniregistry obviously don’t have, and you also need potential new registrations, which again there are none.

ICANN imposed no pricing caps on New gTLDs and allowed registries to reserve unlimited domains with only one goal. To sell as many new extensions as they could and to get more money to spend on salaries, consultants and travel expenses. The result is that ICANN has millions of dollars in the bank and we are in this mess.

.Com and the other gTLDs like .net, .org, .info and .biz have pricing caps. They can only increase prices by 10% every year and give 6 months of advance notice. Verisign, the .com registry, was even banned in 2012 from increasing the .com wholesale price for 6 years by the US government. The ban will probably continue for another 6 years.

What will the reaction of the end-users be when they realize that their renewals increased from $10 to $300 per year? Well, there are not a lot of end users to begin with so that is the reason that Frank is increasing the prices on these 16 tlds. Most people will not realize the renewals changed as the domains will be on auto-renew or are renewed by brand protection agencies/registrars that don’t care about their customer’s money. Actually the registrar margins will be higher so these agencies will be happier.

Most of the registrations in those small tlds are defensive just like in 3 other New gTLDs that Uniregistry operates: .cars, .car and .auto. I mention these extensions because these retail at about $2,800+ per year. These are extensions with less than 500 registrations each but they are profitable.

And this is the model that Frank is trying to emulate by increasing prices in these small TLDs. So who will renew their domains and who will buy new ones? Probably the defensive registrations will remain intact and that alone will pay for the other losses and make a lot more money. The very few people that have developed websites are also trapped. Finally, the few domain investors that bought these extensions will drop most of their domains. This move will keep these extensions afloat but has tremendous repercussions on the New gTLD program. We are entering .sucks territory here.

Of course people have 6 months to lock down their current pricing by renewing at current prices for up to 10 years. Will they do it? Domainers usually don’t renew for a lot of years in advance because circumstances change (really?), they want to keep some liquidity and healthy cash flow and because their renewal cost is very high and for the most part it is fueled by sales. Some end-users could renew for 10 years. That is if they ever hear about this price hike from their registrars and understand how to lock down prices.

I didn’t buy more than 15 of Uniregistry’s domains because all names were reserved in the first place and I didn’t feel like buying 2nd tier domains. I only bought a few numerics in .click and a 2-3 other domains that I was going to drop anyway.

Kevin Murphy from Domain Incite said that “The higher prices will likely lead in the short term to lower registration numbers (as speculators flee) but will give Uniregistry more cash to invest in marketing.”. My reply to that is “what speculators?”. These sub-5,000 or sub-2,000 tlds have very few speculators to begin with. What this will do is scare the speculators out of the other new gTLDs that have higher registration numbers. Rick Schwartz wondered on Twitter if Uniregistry is trying to claw back domains. My reply was: “There are no domains to claw back!”.

Lately some new gTLD registries were dropping their prices to attract new customers. MMX (Minds + Machines) dropped premium pricing on new domains while Boston Ivy dropped its prices on its extensions and claimed an increase in registration numbers in .broker.

One of the next posts I was planning to write is what do you do when your extension is failing. Do you increase or decrease your prices? Of course it depends on various factors including the current renewal rate. But this Uniregistry massive increase is not something I was expecting or thinking. I would say I would not expect that from Frank but people (including myself) tend to forget.

Let’s look back…

Domainers were angry when the first 2 Uniregistry’s New gTLDs (.sexy and .tattoo) came out and all remotely good names were reserved despite Frank saying that Uniregistry would not reserve any domains. I was pretty angry too. You should have a read on my post and the 70 comments from 3 years ago and see how angry I was and what other people said: “All good .tattoo and .sexy domains are not available. The reason is unknown…“. I guess we had this coming.

BTW, if you reserve all your domain names at launch and you don’t get any registrations during the 1st week of launch then it is too late to overturn this. Listen that .blog?

I respect Frank Schilling as a domainer and as a businessman but this is just not right. He just didn’t think this through. I think the (no) grandfathering part feels like a betrayal to most people and the implications are huge.

ICANN tried to introduce tiered pricing in .org, .biz and .info back in 2006 but the proposed contact was opposed by many people and failed. Here is what Frank Schilling said in a comment:

“The combination of “presumptive renewal” and the “lifting of price controls on registry services” is incredibly dangerous. Imagine buying a home, taking on a large mortgage, remodeling, moving in, only to be informed 6 months later that your property taxes will go up 10,000% with no better services offered by local government. […] This agreement as written leaves the door open to exactly that type of scenario. Domain registrants accustomed to paying $8 or $10 may suddenly be faced with a bill for $500.00 per name year or more because their name is desired by more than one party.”

This is what Frank Schilling said in regards to pricing caps back in 2008:

“My concern relates to pricing caps on new registries, specifically where new TLD contracts might be used as precedent for the dominant .com and .net registries to re-craft their agreements in a similar fashion.”

“ICANN simply can-not let this issue whisper by, just two years after so many registrants leapt to protest variable pricing. It would be the mother of all Internet tragedies and a crippling blow to ICANN’s relevance if millions of pioneering registrants were taxed out of their internet homes as a result of the greed of one registry and the benign neglect, apathy or tacit support of its master.

Oh, how things change…

Frank Schilling said in his New gTLD applications that “Uniregistry intends to make a contractual commitment to registrants and their registrars not to increase registry prices above cost of inflation for the first five years after launch of the registry.“.

This is at least a serious breach of trust.

Thoughts on my New gTLD portfolio

I had started trimming my New gTLD portfolio on January 1st this year. I should have done this last year but I was so busy selling to the Chinese! My portfolio mainly consists of Donuts domains. I am not really affected by this Uniregistry price increase. Donuts has said several times that it will not be changing renewal prices and I (probably) believe them. But what tells me that Donuts won’t be sold to some new owner that has other plans? What tells me that Frank is not buying Donuts?

I am thus trimming down my portfolio. As I said I started doing this long before all this mess broke out. I even tweeted about it and I have my New gTLD renewal report (from January and February) ready to post. Will I trim my portfolio even more aggressively now? Maybe 10% or 20% more aggressively. I am mostly bringing my cost down by dropping the most expensive domains (which I don’t have many) and but also protecting myself by similar future price hikes. I always knew this could happen. I just didn’t expect it so soon and I certainly didn’t expect the margins. BTW, in case of a big price hike I would NOT lock down pricing on 50% or more of my domains. Mostly because out of principle but also because domains with high renewals are hard to resell.

My portfolio only consisted of 6.5% New gTLDs. I think it is going to be at less than 3% in 2018.

The future of the New gTLD program

So what will happen from now on? Is the program doomed? Well it is not dying any time soon but I see it going slowly downhill from here. The upcoming Chinese drops will help to that and the non-renewals of many (.xyz, etc.) promotions will also be a factor concerning the pure registration numbers. Of course pure registration numbers is not an indication of success or adoption but it is certainly a metric that a low of people are following. And the media and companies will sooner or later realize the risk in New gTLDs.

Of course some registries will do better than other (as they do now) and people will learn who to trust more. But overall trust is lost and this is something you can’t gain back.

This move makes people supporting New gTLDs look like complete idiots. Including myself.

Frank said that “The alternative to repricing would be to sell the TLD in question to a competitor,…”. Well, there is another alternative. You can let a TLD just die. Drop it like a domain name. That of course could lead to someone buying it of ICANN but I am just saying…

BTW the TLDs that will see the biggest price hike are some of the worst extensions. They have maybe 20 or 30 possible good generic terms and then all you can do is buy your brand name in them. (.hosting, .juegos, .blackfriday, .hiphop and .guitars ???) I had 3 domains (if you take out .click) in these 16 extensions and I had decided to drop them even before this.

If you only have 2,000 registrations then both domainers and end-users don’t want the extension. The TLD simply sucks. Admit it and move on.

So who will buy domains in these bad extensions for $300? End-users that temporarily fall in love with New gTLDs.

Yes, there is still some money to be made in New gTLDs by domain investors. But you need to be really focused, very skilled, experienced and have some luck as well.

Will end-users find out that New gTLDs have no pricing caps. Eventually they will. Will they understand it or even care? It remains to be seen.

(Hat tip to George Kirikos of Leap.com for a few tips and links.)

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.

128 comments

  1. Given the massive expected domain name deletions, Uniregistry shall henceforth be referred to as Punyregistry.:)

  2. What the actions of UniRegistry tells me is that ICANN’s 2nd round of new gTLD offering will be announced soon, which will vastly dilute the existing extensions, if not an outright lethal blow to some of them. So, such operators with insider information are trying to cash in.

    • The 2nd round is not so close.

    • You do realize that every gTLD is unique and serves a particular function?

      Dilution exists only in the eyes of domainers that invested with no discrimination and no plan. E.g. Dot .host does not affect dot .cloud or .web.

      I don’t like the projected price hikes, and I’m vested in about 250 gTLDs, a small portion from Uniregistry. It’s interesting, however, to witness a mad lotto dance from those that made zero investment. I get it, it’s their “I told you so” moment.

      Those that bought a bunch of keywords in every gTLD had a flawed investment model to begin with. It’s the same with .com and other extensions. A lot of “pigeon shit” costs domainers money, but because it’s .com it’s ok, it seems. Let’s see some numbers, head over to forums to see what crap .com is up for sale for a good laugh.

      Regarding the future of the gTLD program, ICANN is responsible for acting like a money-grabbing bureaucratic behemoth; Registries are responsible for projecting gTLD rollouts with no to little marketing towards end-users. End result: low registration numbers.

      With 25 commercial gTLDs (plus the non-commercial .hiv,) Uniregistry isn’t the biggest Registry, it’s one of the smallest. Try Donuts on for size, it has hundreds.

      It might get worse before it gets better: ICANN should be lobbied to put caps to price hikes, but that won’t happen until current contracts (presumably, 5 years) expire. This, was a terrible oversight to begin with; Verisign negotiates its caps every time its contract is extended.

      There is no doubt this has the potential to slow down domain registrations. Existing investments should be evaluated individually using the same rationale as when they were made. Time for everyone to realize that domain investing requires long term commitment, and it’s not a get rich quick scheme.

      • You are right about .com. I always re-evaluate all my domain names each year.
        I am dropping domains from all extensions. And buying from all extensions.

        I consider Uniregistry as one of the larger registries. 25 extensions are quite many. Most registries have less. (I am not talking about registration numbers.)

        I don’t think there will ever be price caps on New gTLDs… But I could be wrong.

      • All good points. However, some of the issues here have nothing to do with Domain Investments. They are simple commonsense.

        I gave my take on the new gTLD scheme 6 years ago, debating you, Kosta, and just about any one on the various angles, and astonishingly, all my 11 theorems have now obtained.

        I was able to secure over 3000 newgTLDs for less than a hundred dollars at one point, just for fun.

    • How right you were. Three years later we still have no idea when a second round may commence. And under what conditions.
      (just came across this chat coincidentally)

  3. Frank told everyone GTLDs were next big thing.

    He sneakily reserved all his best domains (tens of thousands of them) via a loophole that other new GTLD registries did not do.

    Now jacking up the prices.

    Anyone who still likes this guy I have no idea why. He has shown multiple times he is GREEDY GREEDY GREEDY.

    And of course he’s still on Namejet bidding up auctions.

    He’s the Donald Trump of the domain world.

  4. Hey Frank,

    If you need a loan, or some fast cash I would be happy to purchase some of those worthless am dial .coms you keep buying on namejet?

  5. Ofcourse he told people to buy these new extensions because he owns a few and had started his own registry.
    These new extensions from the beginning were designed to make money off the domainer because 95% of domains sold are to domainers
    And what perfect timing, he started the registry just as the new extensions came out.
    Like the past CEO of Tyco toys said, the real money is not in panning for gold it’s selling the pick and shovels.

    [This is only my opinion]

  6. Epik has a great lease program built in which you can setup monthly payments , integrated all into their platform.

    Frank, overplayed his hand, uniregistry is run off the portfolio of big domainers. Agreeing to a few old lead follow ups brought Frank $8K in commissions last month from out portfolio. We maybe own a few subpar names bought on promo from this list, but it is the intent of the actions that is very disturbing.

  7. It’s OVER! Nice try Frank SHILLing…
    Schwartz’s 3 year window for the Outcome of gtlds has revealed itself just in Time.

  8. Kosta, why are you so angry about that.
    Nothing should surprise or make you angry here.
    Frank Schilling said many times something in the past which turned to be lies. You can expect anything from this guy. Not to mention that this ntlds lover is bidding hard every day on namejet, making difficult for anyone to buy something for reasonable. Shame on everyone who support his business!

    • As people who work in this space, we have an obligation to speak up when things go from bad to worse.

      Fine you want to jack prices from $10 to $25 whatever go ahead, but from $10-30 to $100-$300 for unproven extensions. He is not just hurting himself, he is hurting the industry overall. He has been going around preaching something else, and doing something else.

      Enought is enough, we don’t need to support him, we need to start competing against him.

  9. Konstantinos – Thanks for this well-researched article.

  10. I respect Frank, but this is not cool.
    This doesn’t even affect me personally, but it still feels like it does, because i am a domainer.
    It makes the domain name Industry look bad. IMO

    This is the final nail in the coffin, not the first.

  11. Hi Konstantinos Making this change will give us the ability to lower prices and raise them (return pricing to the norm) with greater flexibility. Right now we can lower prices as much as we want but our regulator dictates that “raising” prices requires this notice. So we’ve announced a price increase and once it’s in we plan to run registration “and” renewal promotions from there. Clearly we want our namespaces and all those in them to thrive.

    Uniregistry will be running names in 20 or 30 years and everyone reading this who was lucky enough to participate in the birth of these namespaces is going to have to expect the unexpected. We have more invested than anyone in our GTLDs and will make sure our namespaces and registrants (of all kinds) succeed.

    When we originally wrote our applications and applied for new GTLD’s, no registry operator knew there would be 1000 applications or that we would have some extensions with under 5,000 registrations. We’re pivoting to deal with that business reality and every registrant in those spaces is pivoting with us. There is a real cost to putting on a registry operation and as I said, unapologetically structuring our registries to succeed.

    The biggest reason for this price increase is that we can (at last) release our premium names in these spaces knowing that the registry will be paid commensurately for providing great span-the-dot names in limited base namespace. I will be so happy to have the “premium name” game behind us and all registrations available. I am sure that every other registry will eventually copy the higher price model or be bought by one that does.

    New GTLDs are here to stay. The business plan for curating their success is evolving. We are going wherever this journey takes us. ; )

    • Frank no one wants to own domains and have to chase around those promotions. People need stability. They can’t rely to these promotions (that may or may not come) to make a budget.

      “Uniregistry will be running names in 20 or 30 years and everyone reading this who was lucky enough to participate in the birth of these namespaces is going to have to expect the unexpected.”
      This is not what you said a few years ago and even when you applied for these extensions.
      Most people won’t be around to “expect the unexpected” with you.

      “We’re pivoting to deal with that business reality and every registrant in those spaces is pivoting with us.”
      Registrants are not part of your company and are not required to and should not be forced to pivot anything.

      “The biggest reason for this price increase is that we can (at last) release our premium names in these spaces knowing that the registry will be paid commensurately for providing great span-the-dot names in limited base namespace.”
      BUT… you only need to give 30 days of notice for these names and you can grandfather the existing registrations. So why this mess if this is the biggest reason?
      You didn’t reply as why you are not grandfathering current registrations.

      • yes that is right.. Konstantinos. As I said, when we applied we put forth our best plan and best intentions. Now, after a reveal of 1000 extensions and after years of evolution, we are assessing business realities and we are pivoting for the good of our spaces and our registry. I understand that nobody likes that. Those who were always against new “not com” names get to use the occasion to gravedance a bit more those who invested at low prices and see their “investment” in new gtlds harmed, I am sorry about, but i am doing what I need to do for these namespaces to be successful. I also invested (many tens of millions) and while I am content with my investment, I want to put our spaces on a better footing for the future so I am doing what I think is right, now.

        Regarding: “Registrants are not part of your company and are not required to and should not be forced to pivot anything.”

        When you invest in any namespace you do so under the rules of the registry. The tail doesn’t wag the dog.

        We have issued a press release to registrars which I hope will explain our repricing of these namespaces further. I’d like to close by pointing out this only affects half our extensions. Most are are untouched.

        You will “not” have to “hunt” for discount codes. I’d ask you to appreciate that we have an enormous sum invested in our success and will ultimately curate these spaces for our registrants’ success.

      • “When you invest in any namespace you do so under the rules of the registry.”
        What happens if the registry has no rules and can do whatever it wants?

      • Hmmm…very important Konstantinos’s question remained unanswered:

        “You didn’t reply as why you are not grandfathering current registrations.”

      • “we are assessing business realities and we are pivoting for the good of our spaces and our registry”.

        You are literally extorting money from fellow domainers to fix your bad decisions.

        Noone likes to be a hostage of greedy lunatic. Enjoy your fall.

    • Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

    • “I am sure that every other registry will eventually copy the higher price model or be bought by one that does.”……….

      Oh boy!….Hold on to your pants. This was always the worst case scenario for the New G’s. The best keywords (premium) in the extension subsidizing the rest of the domains. Again, this was the one place investors, such as myself, did not want to see this go. If you believe the “just give it more time” excuse, you will be wilting slowly.

      “New GTLD’s are here to stay.”…………

      Really??!…..C’mon, if you truly thought and believe that then price increases of nearly 3000% would not be necessary. Price gouging, both legally and illegally, is a form of desperation. It’s clear that there is trouble in the waters or illegal price increases (price gouging) would not be necessary.

      • Along with Frank’s extensions old extensions like .info, .tel, .mobi, .aero, .pro, .travel “are here to stay” also.

        Just because an extension is here to stay does that really mean anything?

        These extensions basically end up drifting off into domain cyber black holes after a while never to be heard from again.

    • This is the biggest garbage I’ve ever read.

      You should start charging Frank for commenting Konstantinos. He clearly can afford it.

  12. “There’s a sucker born every minute” P. T. Barnum
    aka Shilling’s personal mentor.

  13. I bet you Uniregistry will not even inform uniregistry registered names of price increases

    Frank 2800 names moving out of Uniregistry over to Godaddy, Thanks for your time, your services are no longer needed.

  14. I knew this is coming, and I think its just the beginning. I don’t buy any ngtlds cause they are far from mainstream. good luck everyone who invested in.

  15. Talk to his ex brokers, Trump would tweet this is one bad hombre to work for, don’t trust your names with uniregistry, next thing you know .com registration prices will jump to $100 also.

  16. In the dystopian novel ‘1984’, George Orwell wrote “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.”

    That’s the future of new gTLDs, with the new gTLD registry operators wearing the boots.

    Actions folks can take now:

    1. remove new gTLDs from auto-renew
    2. if possible, ask registrar to delete new gTLDs immediately (lest they be put back on auto-renew “accidentally”), cutting your losses now (assuming you can’t flip them to someone at a liquidation price)
    3. move .com/net/org registrations to a better registrar, one whose interests are aligned with your own, instead of in competition with you
    4. self-manage your domain name leads, by controlling the landing page of your domain name (to not go through intermediaries)
    5. adopt a healthy skepticism in the future; one can trust, but verify.

    • So funny using George Owells quote stamping on a human face forever…

      Insight with humour always works best.

    • Agree George. We like NameSilo and Epik right now.

    • @Frank – I respect you and believe you know what you are doing.
      If you dont mind me asking:

      Dont you think the fact that prices can change dramatically would have a negative effect on the new gTLD’s? With .com you basically know the range of renewals and they are quite reasonable.

      The cost of running a Registry has actually dropped even lower than before per name. So something doesnt add up.

      A suggestion, why not for the long run keep Renewals same as before? Otherwise, you are killing any aftermarket that even exists or can exist. Businesses like to know especially with domains (which is a hard sell as is), how much they are going to pay later on down the road. Stability is a key factor. This is undermining the stability.

      Just my 2 cents.

      Good luck to us all.

  17. The problem with looking at things from a domainer point of view is that the primary market for these new gTLDs is still developing. The problem with looking at things from a registry operator point of view is that domainers are only part of the ecology. The registrars are the ones who will immediately take the heat. While a gTLD can afford to lose speculative registrations, it cannot, in its early phase, afford to lose developed domains.

    It is understandable that Frank and Uniregistry want to repurpose or pivot gTLDs. It is, in effect, a flight to quality as the alternative was to zombify the gTLDs with heavily discounted registrations. The effect of making discounting a central element of a registry’s business model is that the registration patterns enter a boom and bust cycle that’s dependent on the next big discounting offer to keep the new registrations ahead of the deletions. The renewal rates in a zombie TLD also collapse and highly discounted registrations also attract spam registrations. However the timeframe for a repurposed TLD to gain acceptance in the market is much longer and it also requires a lot of clever marketing. Some of the smaller registrars might find it more profitable to promote a gTLD on which they can more effectively upsell with a good hosting package. It has upset a lot of domainers. But being utterly cynical, domainers are only part of a TLD’s ecology and these gTLDs need people who will develop sites and thus renew domains. Developed websites raise the awareness of TLDs with the public and awareness, despite the waffle from ICANN about consumer awareness, is the major problem for most of the new gTLDs.

    • How is this a flight to quality?

      • Higher prices that only people who are either very serious about speculating, serious about protecting brands or serious about developing can afford. It means far fewer registrations though and takes a lot of very clever marketing to do it well.

      • You need awareness & share before you can have flight to quality.

        Quality doesn’t fly to new, unknown, untrusted lands which are riskier & more expensive than the know, trusted & trustworthy lands.

        Also the idea of a professional domainer needing to scrub those not interested in developing names from a namespace in order for the namespace to succeed is the height of absurdity.

  18. Frank said “When you invest in any namespace you do so under the rules of the registry. The tail doesn’t wag the dog.”

    I did not expect this rude statement from him.

    Nobody will follow unfair rules.

  19. We exposed Frank Shilling on DomainBoardRoom years ago for saying .link had 12K regs, when in fact it was his “north sound company” he transferred them to. Frank left DBR knowing his gig was up with those in the know, Total BS Shilling, too bad the “newbies” got burned, but Frank has been a snake oil salesmen for years.

  20. Franck Shcilling, has studied hard every night, afternoon, morning; and even when he is sleeping; on how to cover his losses from many years ago and now. So after all of those studying on how to recoup his losses, he came up of these strategies; it is called ” Quick bucks”. Now, he has to think where he can get these “quick bucks” from and how SOON he can spend them. “Switch Light” hahhhhh; I know what I’m going to do. Attention, to all dominairs investors I have news for you, what is it? Franck ansewers; we are going to raise prices on these and that. Because of these and that; also I’m being sooo generous to give you 30 days noticed. And for the price increase me and my buddies we decided to come up with a minimal increased for just $3.000% this should be chicken paid for all of you domainers investors.

    @Frank Shcilling, this move will take you ZERO nowhere; your strategies is not deep enough and it will ” FAIL” You just helped the newTLDs to be more undesirable?

  21. Domainers are understandably angry, but keep in mind that registries are struggling too. It’s not just greed, it’s more like desperation.
    I think they are trying to extract as much money as they can now, because they don’t have so much faith in the future really.

  22. Frank Shilling is so 2002, guy is a moron. Nothing but “garbage” comes out of his mouth, been like that for years. And thanks for not deleting comments of the truth Konstantinos, unlike (Morgan kiss ASS Linton), (DomainShane, aka (DomainShame .ws bullshit/fraud), Frager or whatever that dudes name is, and Michael Cyger who means well, but has a dirty stage on his show too much which included Shillings, and other frauds.

    • Second that not censoring comments. Agree or not good to hear all sides, no one should get closed down let the light of day kill any illogical argument.

    • Domain Shane honestly thinks he was doing investors a favor by introducing them to the world of .WS!

      Andrew has a short fuse, he can’t take it when he wants a domain, and you tell him NO, he has a hissy fit, and says I am going to 3, and if you don’t sell it to you, I am never doing business with you again.

      Frank Shilling just put himself in the douche books also

      Adam Dicker name says it all

      Latona/Clement another google search of fun facts

      Cyger is not some dumb little sherpa, he is making money has bought names like tulip.com, lost.com etc…

      Don’t be a fanboy in this business these guys are out to take your good names for nothing, and quote you millions for there’s

      Today is a good lesson for all, if this guy was so smart he wouldn’t be putting money down to bid for crappy extensions. Now some of you are going to pay for their business practices, because nobody wants to buy these things even for 1 cent anymore.

  23. Uniregistry is a Sleazy Pirate Ship. GTLDS are dead. you can add a $5,000,000 year renewal for a piece of S–T but at the end of the day every GTLD is a P .O .S this gtld “Scam” has set us back years there should only have been .com .org and every cctld and that’s it But Scammer Establishment Domainers Ruined Everything for their own selfish B.S greed now it has come crashing down but remember they are “OFF SHORE” get it SCAMMMMM!

  24. 1.) Frank Schilling: “Quick Bucks” Schsycological Strategy:

    A.) 30 days noticed= making domainers to act fast to renew.
    B.) $3.000% price hike/increase= making domainers investors to act fast, plus to renew for a long time.

    Frank Schilling wants his money “NOW”?

  25. IS SOMEONE GOING TO END UP ON CNBC’s AMERICAN GREED????? #SCAM

  26. I am so found of new gtlds that I would talk about it on daily basis to as many people as I can. I have my business ideas and dreams based on new gtlds.

    Frank, this was the only day I started doubting new gtlds. This greed will destroy innovations and derail the hopes of entrepreneurs in new gtld.

    A really bad decision.

    I would really like other new gtld registries who care for their registrants, to share their plans that could give us some hope.

  27. Hello Konstantinos,

    We do not understand how Franky Googles Posterboy can still command respect from most of his victims. This whole new TLD ICANN rollout was backed by Google Alphabets need to remain in its Cartel Status. This introduction of new Algorithm controlled Tld systems would be easily leveraged for Manipulative Anti-Competitive Purposes operating within the S.E.M Platform. Google/Alphabets Algorithm Triggered Ponzi Platform would then control ingoing and outgoing digital data coding systems. Occams Razor JAS 3/8/17

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) (UseBiz.com)

  28. Rossner is just a sore loser, crybaby.
    Frank Shilling GIG is up, exposed 5 years to late, but better than ever.

    Cyger, very very smart guy, nice guy, but clowns like Rossner, Shilling, are going to ruin is reputation if he is not careful.

    Lot’s of good people in the industry, but they don’t go to NamesCon, they don’t go on the Sherpa, and they don’t blog out BS.

    • He got sued a lot in another business having to do with fish sales, How do you think he showed up on the domain scene all of a sudden?

      I can’t say for 100% that’s true but that’s the info I have from what I believe to be a good source.

  29. Why such hate and venom from folks?

    Is this the Trump effect?

    Civility and manners no longer matter?

    Such a same.

    • I agree, let’s calm down some people. No need to be so vicious.

      Everyone in the industry knew Frank had the right to raise the prices to whatever he wanted to. That should have been factored in when making the purchase decision. This is not a surprise to us, at least not me.

      If domainers are not happy we simply need to refocus our money on other investments, domains or otherwise, where we think their money will be better served.

      • You don’t pump something, say we are not going to hold back names, we are not going to charge premiums, only to get people in, and then jack the price 3000% on them.

        It is just not good business practice, maybe you are used to screwing your customers, but many people still deal on the values of principal.

      • To say it’s not a surprise to you to see something increase by 3,000 percent overnight, you must live in Zimbabwe. John are you Robert Mugabe?

    • Prediction:
      Uniregistry will lose lots of business also as .com domain registrar and as a parking company and as a domain broker because of their backstabbing of domain investors.
      New TLDS are DEAD and Frank will also be hated by every other New TLD operator because of this outrage which makes investors avoid ALL new TLDS because prices can be jacked without limits on a moments notice and Frank crystallized this with his greed.
      .
      Prediction 2:
      Next year Frank will not give a keynote at Namescon and Uniregistry will not be the main sponsor at Namescon
      .
      Frank Schillings self-destruction is almost at the level of Adam Dicker, Rick Latona and Toby Clements.
      Maybe Frank can post some more pics about flying on his jet to make domain investors keep treating him like a rockstar.
      .
      Rick Schwartz told you what would happen with new TLDS and he did it for free without selling you anything just like he preached the greatness of dotcoms for years without selling you anything.
      .
      Frank Schilling also told you what would happen by his actions where he kept buying dotcoms for top dollar all the while peddling new TLDS as investments to gullible domain investors that were starstruck.
      .
      DomainSherpa must have a curse:
      First Adam Dicker, then DomainShane’s .ws shilling and now Frank Schilling revealed himself to be a snake oil peddler in addition to being a used car salesman.
      .
      Uniregistry brand destroyed as a domain registry, as a parking provider and as a domain broker by Frank’s actions as a registry…

      • I agree actions speak louder than words.

        If you are sick of having your inquiries, and sales snooped, and analyzed against namejet auctions, along with your leads marketed gtld’s, time to cut to the cord with uniregistry.

        Godaddy/Afternic is a very strong channel, Epik is solid also, along with Efty

        You guys handed this guy everything on a silver platter, your whole eco system, he can F you 5 different ways if he wants.

      • Fortune favors the bold! Are you a man or a mouse!

        Please, can we all calm down people? Jeez….these are still wonderful investments. Please get off your high horse and look at the potential returns, so shallow to only look at your hand.

    • itsatrumpthing.com
      Is This A Trump Thing?’Make America Great Again’
      Yeah, it’s happening, people,Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with you, it’s a Trump thing.

  30. Not particularly a Warren Buffett fan but he does have some good quotes. This post and these comments remind me of them:

    “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

    “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”

    Freedom of speech is important. Thank you for allowing it on your site.

  31. Hello Konstantinos,

    We collectively have been Boycotting Uniregistry for a long time now, and made it public. We have watched Frankys Act since he came on the scene. JAS 3/8/17

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) (UseBiz.com)

  32. The reason why people are so pissed off is because this keeps happening over and over, with con men, like Dicker, Latona, Domain *****, Toby Clements, and now Frank Shilling. It’s up to the domain community to call out these frauds, to protect newbies who don’t know better.

    ***** Editor’s comment: Name deleted per request. Please try to keep things civil. Thanks

    • Cindy, you are right but that’s the way it is with some industries where you have big rewards for a minimum investment. Greed sets in..

      I know people don’t want to hear what i’m going to say, but nobody twisted peoples arm to buy Adams 1st or 2nd book on how to get rich domaining, nobody twisted peoples arm to sign up for his online classes on how to get rich overnight selling domains.
      When Frank started Uniregistry, nobody twisted peoples arm to sign up over there or buy the new extensions that he owned.
      People talk about Shane Cultra and Braden with those .ws extensions. Well i can’t believe i’m supporting Shane but nobody had to buy into those either, nobody was twisting anyone’s arm.

      It comes down to Greed and that is what this industry is all about, little risk with a possibility of a big reward.

      [This is only my opinion]

  33. Andee hill from donuts has addressed this topic on gtld.link

  34. Hello Konstantinos,

    Here is a quote from another REG. suggesting to lock in registries on a long term basis. Another REG. (Setting The Hook) The Regs will do anything to preserve new Tlds into the future. Don’t be Scroogled JAS 3/8/17
    ” “It’s unfortunate that Uniregistry is going with such a dramatic price increase. Regardless of the economics, it’s an extremely poor customer experience. If our customers plan on staying on these domains, we encourage them to renew for as far out as they can before the prices change. If they want to move to do a different domain name, we’ll do our best to assist them.”

  35. For those who are critical of Frank Schilling and have domain names registered at Punyregistry, take a hard look at section 2.15 of their registration agreement.

    “2.15 Revocation

    We, ****in our sole discretion****, reserve the right to deny, ****cancel****, suspend, ****transfer**** or modify any domain name registration to correct a mistake, protect the integrity and stability of our operations and of any applicable registry, to comply with any applicable laws, government rules, or requirements, requests of law enforcement, in compliance with any dispute resolution process, to address fraudulent payments or identity theft, to avoid any liability, civil or criminal or *****in response to abusive, threatening or harassing communications directed to us or any of our employees or agents in the scope of their employment.***** You agree that we shall not be liable to you for loss or damages that may result from our refusal to register or cancel, suspend, transfer or modify your domain name registration under this section.”

    (emphasis added) So, my reading of this is that, if in their “sole discretion” they don’t like what you’re saying about them, and deem it “harassing”, they reserve the right to cancel your domain, and you agreed that they shall not be liable for that decision.

  36. Cyger banned Dicker from his show but wont ban rosener for his blatant bulls–t and lets schilling come on to smile and kick some B.S while knowing he is losing his AZZ. did Ali Zandi fall for their b.s because rosener owns or is selling Zandi’s domains he used to own . raindrop etc

  37. if you registered your domains in a BANANA REPUBLIC aka Bahamas etc expect to lose them all.
    why would someone pay $4,000 a year renewal for theexamplexyz.xyz <— (fake name) in a banana republic
    what happens if you try to leave and transfer your domains. is it ROACH MOTEL TIME? everyone in and no one out. Rick Schwartz tried to warn you all at the last traffic meeting but you all didn't listen.and now its TITANIC TIME.

  38. i read on the “domain sales” group on Facebook that Adam Dicker is selling
    housekeepers.com for $60.000 [by memory]

  39. Rossner is a bully? He is a skinny wimpy dude, a fly could knock him on his ass.

    Uniregistry.RIP

  40. Domain Observer

    An ominous sign for the future of the new GTLDS. Even an end-user will not like such kind of shocking instability. This will drive more endusers to COM and BIZ.

  41. Warning !!!

    I have been into domaining almost 15 years and I have seen many lies of Frank Schilling.
    Since Frank Schilling is getting so much bad publicity now he will try to manipulate people, maybe even he will do something new (for a short time) just to protect Uniregistry business and make more money.

    Please be aware that it does not change who he is and you can expect anything from him now or later.
    This guy is extremely manipulated and narcissistic. The type of guy who would take a picture with a dog to look like a guy with as warm personality and later,once you put a camera away, he would just kick that dog .
    He does not care if you lose money because of his actions.
    How would you feel now if you owned his extensions which got price increase?

    At the beginning (very important moment for any business) Uniregistry could grow because many domainers moved their domains to this company and many domain blogs helped him. They simply thought Schilling was a domainer , one of them so he would l understand them better.
    We all have seen how many domains he reserved, how huge number of domains he registered through his other companies to make his extension registrations look better. If you want an example how big lair he is just watch conference Schilling vs Schwartz and see what happened later.

    It is beyond my understanding how people can keep domains at Uniregistry and allow Frank Schilling to spy on their inquires, sales etc.
    Look what Frank Schilling is doing with that knowledge on Namejet. Just look at Taryn there.
    You gave him power so you can take a lot of it from him.
    If you still support his business you are st… as hell and I doubt you ever do any good money in domaining.
    To make money you have to be clever and able to learn on mistakes.

  42. The TLD Song!! Don’t piss your money away, folks !!!

  43. Follow the link on future impact of uniregistry price increase.
    http://www.gtld.club/2017/03/uniregistry-price-hike-upto-30-times.html

  44. Out of respect to George Kirikos, I just registered PunyRegistry.com
    Somebody had to do it…

  45. Frank Schilling ‘s credibility is now lower than WHALE SHIT .
    go to uniregistry and register WHALE.SHIT for $4,444,444,444.00 and $4,444,444,444,444,444,444,444 yr

  46. All due respect to Frank. I haven’t met him, but he sounds like a nice guy.

    Is it possible he is positioning UniRegistry as a money-loser for sale to a big company, that wants to offset its tax liability?

    Berkens is a tax attorney, but there have been few articles specifying how making or losing money on domain names can result in a tax break. You spend big bucks on a domain, then donate it to charity at the end of the year, when you want to offset profits.

    UniRegistry is positioned as a bigger loser to prospective buyers if officially is loses money on $300.00 domains, than $30.00 domains.

  47. In other words, I don’t think he wants to burn any of his customers, or that it is anything personal. He must be positioning UniRegistry as a tax loser.

  48. UniRegistrar is listed for sale on Afternic.

    What does it all mean?

    Someone smarter than me has to explain it to me!

    http://whois.domaintools.com/uniregistrar.com

    • It means nothing. The uniregistrar brand is not used any more so the domain name went to the pool of all the other names.
      It doesn’t mean it is actually for sale.

      I have onlinedomain.com listed at some places. It doesn’t mean I am selling it individually. If someone wants to buy my blog then maybe we can talk.
      Same with uniregistrar.com.

  49. To reply to a very early comment all registry contracts with ICANN are for 10 years not 5 years

  50. Hello Konstantinos,

    We have been warning for some time now of the impending consolidation of most Domain Industry Regs into a few left standing. The Fundamentals of selling non legacy URLs boils down to selling into a market that has No Appreciable Present or Future Demand . Rick Schwartz has been quite clear over the years on this Fundamental Fact. International Demand is almost Non existent for Non Legacy URLS. JAS 3/9/17

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) (UseBiz.com)

  51. This validated my belief in .com domains.
    I just don’t understand why the new gTLDs are priced similar to .com, .info etc
    More people can afford them, which will make your Registry cash flow positive and help you avoid such measures.
    Most of these new gTLDs are absurd and the best of those names are held back by registry owners !!
    Better to come clean, I have moved my entire portfolio from Uniregistry to Godaddy.
    For your premium held back domains, Frank, you can always auction them off.

  52. Uniregistry is a business overall, that has it’s hands in many different business aspects of domaining.

    Someitmes you are more profitable in some, domain side, and less profitable in others GTLD side.

    They sold Pro.Flowers for $50K alone, they want you to think poor them, They also sold .shopping to Donuts, Oh poor you Frank…Then there was their multimillion dollar contract with China for their short Chip friendly domains… once again Poor You Frank.

    Maybe if Frank stops outbidding all you guys at namejet, and slows his .com purchase burn, he can reinvest some of his profits to solidify his GTLD strategy.

    Sorry, you get very little sympathy from the masses.

  53. Hello Konstantinos,
    ( New TLDs are Ghost Liabilities dressed up in .COM Equimoddity Assets Clothing)
    We are advising our followers to Severely Limit their Market Exposure to these Toxic Liabilities. See : Our Marketing Intelligence Releases
    JAS 3/9/17

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) (UseBiz.com)

  54. Hello Konstantinos,

    Domain Industry REGs. are telegraphing classic manuevers of past Industry Consolidations. Domain Industry REGS. are attempting to dress up their Balance Sheets with (Long Term Renewals=Assets) instead of their overbalancing of current Liabilities. The long awaited Domain Industry Consolidation is Maturing. JAS 3/9/17

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) (UseBiz.com)

  55. Frank Schilling made bad business decision= loses= but want other people to pay the consequences of his bad business decision he made= FAIL?

  56. The ‘gTLD-mania bubble’ has finally popped. Besides Rick Schwartz, and Mike Mann, I found an article by Howard Fellman from 2014. I started domain investing in late 2015, and spent most of 2015 reading, reading and listening to podcasts on domain speculation. If it hadn’t been for Rick’s blog and Howard Fellman’s article on the new Gtlds being a coming train wreck, I would have been a heavy investor in the new gTLD-mania.

    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140519231432-92568989-domain-name-train-wreck-ahead-why-the-gtld-program-may-not-succeed

    It was only a matter of time before the gTLDs bubble popped, and Schwartz said 3 years; and he nailed it (see Ricks Blog). For dot-Com investors 2017 is a watershed year, because the brick and mortar retail blue chips are being obliterated in 2017 by Internet e-commerce. Drop the .pigeonshit from your portfolio, and realize that the value of premium dot-coms are about to go through the roof!

    https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/07/these-10-retailers-are-closing-stores-in-2017.aspx

    In the mean time, sit back in comfort and peace while watching the gTLD ponzi scheme collapse…

  57. Hello Konstantinos,

    How can Go-daddy or anyone else, support advocating The S.E.M. Platform, knowing the following? ( Here are 2 theoretical Questions ?

    1 How much traffic would you lose using Google based SEM online Marketing Strategy ?
    2 How much traffic would you lose using NON-.COM extensions ?

    Our answer to 1 = (25 to 40% Traffic loss) our answer to 2 = (50 to 60% Traffic loss) NOW here is the Big Question ? Why would a savvy Online Marketing Strategist use either one of these strategies??
    Anyone who advocates the S.E.M. Platform has total disregard for their clients well being and success. JAS 310/17

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) (Domain Master http://www.UseBiz.com)

    • Hello Konstantinos,

      The Google Ad Platform is its own Algorithm Controlled Traffic Monopoly. If you are lucky enough to own and control your own .COM Equimoddity Profit Center (OPERATING OUTSIDE THE GOOGLE TRAFFIC MONOPOLY) you in effect own and control your own Traffic Monopoly. JAS 3/10/17

      Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) (Domain Master http://www.UseBiz.com)

    • Hello Konstantinos,
      What is Search Engine Marketings role? = ” S.E.M. (Search Engine Marketing) The S.E.M. Platform consists of a Vast Traffic Dilution Pool of Manipulated (Algorithm) controlled Digital Code. The S.E.M. Platforms Algorithm Controlled Function is to Intercept and Redirect All its Users Traffic to the S.E.M.s Proprietary Advantage. JAS 3/14/17

      Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) (Domain Master http://www.UseBiz.com)

    • Hello Konstantinos,
      ” Fortunes have been amassed on Branding Differentiation. The Corporations who go back to Traditional Marketing Principles of Branding Differentiation (Outside) the Google Advertising Generic Brand Killing Ecosystem, will be the futures Leading Competitors. Get out of the Google Advertising Lineup, before your Corporations Distinguishing Brand is completely destroyed. ” JAS 8/20/16

      Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist)http://www.UseBiz.com

  58. Leave it to Uniregistry to implode while I’m on vacation. Would have been more fun to stay at home and watch this story unfold in real time.

    The business argument for raising prices makes sense. We talk about the economy of scale. Flip side of the coin is the priciness of paucity. But there’s a way to raise prices that’s more respectful to existing customers – grandfathering prior rates or at least sending every customer individual notification well in advance. Even big price increases ought to be phased in slowly to allow people time to adjust their plans.

    That’s especially true of domain investors who may be holding many domains. While an end user might bite the bullet and pay $100 instead of the $20 he was expecting, it’s far more difficult for a domainer – who has already invested $1000 or more to maintain 16 domains for 3 years – to be surprised by a 4-figure bill … worse, an ongoing annual 4-figure bill just to keep rolling the dice.

    Frank Schilling’s biggest supporters since 2014 have been domainer newcomers who believed his promises – not only about big opportunities to profit from another gold rush but also Schilling’s reassurances “not to increase registry prices above cost of inflation for the first five years after launch of the registry”. Frank set them up, took their money, pulled the rug out from under them.

    Considering the fact that Frank is a domainer himself, there’s no excuse for this lack of empathy. For a multimillionaire who primarily sold his nTLDs to naïve domainers, he’s remarkably callous in telling them to go F*** themselves:

    “When you invest in any namespace you do so under the rules of the registry. The tail doesn’t wag the dog.”

    Yes, we know the tail doesn’t wag the dog, Frank. We’re not too stupid to understand the business considerations that motivated this sudden 5-fold price hike. But we would reasonably expect any company we do business with to temper its own financial interest with SOME accommodation for its most loyal customers.

    I’m not one of the Not-.COM naysayers doing a “gravedance” on the demise of Uniregistry nTLDs. On the contrary, over the years I have bought thousands of domains in these very suffixes. Many I dropped. Many I still own. Many of those I’ll drop. Some I may keep. Frankly, I’ve been fairly optimistic about some of them.

    Uniregistry has some serious problems with its management culture, clearly. I thought so years ago when Jeff Gabriel banned me from DomainNameSales for not following his orders when he butted into my negotiations – for not, as he put it, acting as a “Uniregistry representative” merely because (as he argued) visitors were bound to think I worked behind the counter. It astonished me then how Uniregistry regarded its domainer customers as mere stepping stones, useful for gaining traffic and publicizing its other programs. We were instruments to be exploited, a means to an end – that end, apparently, being Frank Schilling’s grand vision of his own success in re-imagining the internet.

    Annecdotes from others have reinforced this impression, as Uniregistry brokers allegedly diverted sales leads from customers’ domains toward Uniregistry nTLDs. North Sound Names also directly competed with domainers while Schilling was busily courting them. Those domainers primed his pump. But they were only lubrication, apparently.

    Until now, I always preferred to give Frank Schilling the benefit of the doubt. Clearly, he’s out of touch with domainers and has hired some arrogant executives. But in person, he’s affable and engaging. There’s really no excuse, though, to trample one’s earliest customers. Schilling is rich enough to keep his promises even at a loss. However, since Frank had explicitly promised customers not to do what he’s now doing, they’d be fools to trust him or Uniregistry ever again.

    • Hahaha!!!
      I wondered where you have been… Hope you had a great time!

      Yeah, Jeff Gabriel also told me to not talk back to rude “buyers”.

      The more I think about this the more I believe that it was someone from the Uniregistry management that made this proposal.
      Of course Frank approved it and this whole situation is upon him.

      • @Konstantinos,

        Undoubtedly the proposal floated up from mid-level management. Clearly Frank signed off on it because he’s here not only defending it but telling us all we must either like it or suck it. Pardon the lucidity.

        Genuinely, I didn’t arrive here expecting to condemn Frank Schilling at a personal level. Would have criticized the corporate decision from a strategy angle. And from a customer relations angle too. But Frank’s comments here, his indifference to his own past promises, his rather imperious dismissal of domainers’ grievances (as if we were complaining about something we signed up for) – this kick in the teeth from Frank deserves censure. Uniregistry could have stabbed its customers in the back without such impertinent behavior from the CEO. At the very least, he could have pretended to sympathize with the loyal customers he’s now screwing over.

        More than most registries, Frank Schilling went after domainers specifically as his target customers. Indeed, the major reason Uniregistry (the registry side) is struggling today is that Schilling’s strategy emphasized domainers at the expense of real-world end users. Frank was very deliberate about going after newbie domainers, sponsoring bloggers and showing up on DomainSherpa, etc.

        That Uniregistry, which is domainer-led and domainer-focused, should be the first company – out of all the registries out there – to throw domainers under the bus is egregious enough. Worse still, Frank Schilling, who is more idolized by newbies than anybody else, shows up to tell domainers – as the bus he pushed them in front of is running them down – that it’s their own fault for listening to him. Yikes! Does his faith in himself blind him utterly to the bad PR here? By opening his mouth, he just cost his company even more money.

  59. Is Uniregistry in financial trouble, would it be best to move domains out of there?

  60. I own 10 .sexy domain, they increase the price from $ 133 per year to $ 400 per year (for all domains).
    This is crazy, and this beahviour will kill newGTLD.

  61. Thanks Konstantinos for bringing this out, and thanks to John for his wonderful TLD song, what a hoot. Most comments spot on. I would say that if Schilling had a patch over one eye, a peg leg, a scary face and dressed like an old smelly pirate that nobody would give him the time of day. The truth is that ALL the great con-men and flim-flam boys in history are “nice guys”. I have many business “scars on my back” from all the “nice guys” around. As a business consultant I have resisted the new TLDs. They are not “proven” as are the .coms and related. And now, I can say I will NOT recommend them to any current or future clients. It’s funny, I was really thinking of giving Uniregistry a try, their sales pitches were outstanding. Looking out over the ocean, I see a pirate ship folks, led by a bloodthirsty business Buccaneer, his ship heaving toward the reefs of reality.

  62. Hello Konstantinos,

    ” GoDaddy drops Uniregistry domain names due to price hike ” The current REGs. Consolidation is gaining momentum and the weaker players are being signaled out. It is now becoming very apparent that ( New TLDs are Ghost Liabilities dressed up in .COM Equimoddity Assets Clothing) The many Red Flags preceding this current event were very evident all along. JAS 3/14/17

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) (Domain Master http://www.UseBiz.com)

  63. It is not newTLDs or older TLDs; IT IS THE UNIREGISTRY AND ITS PEOPLE WHO RUN THIS TYPE OF BUSENESS BEHAVIOR. FRANK SCHILLING AND ITS PEOPLE BRING DIRTY EXAMPLE TO DOMAINING COMMUNITY.
    And I’m very thankful to the other registras/registries by not following such unreasonable and unfair conduct?

  64. Hello Konstantinos,
    Here is the real Strategic Key for success moving forward. This message is to All .COM Equimoddity Platform END USERS.You are Strategically positioned now and have what you need to set yourself up in a powerfull niche Market that uses All forms of Media Advertising OTHER THAN S.E.M. Platforms ( Example= (Google/Alphabet) and All other S.E.M. Platforms).
    S.E.M. Platforms are likened to Dinosaurs soon to join the bone heap. The Futures way forward does not involve more S.E.M. Platform Usage but less and less usage lies ahead. You are top heavy with S.E.M. Advocate influence that is averse to employing .COM Equimoddity Centric Platform Strategies used (Outside S.E.M. Channels). If you continue forward with the S.E.M. Platforms Obsolesence you will negate your Strategic Positioning. You need to study what we know, not what you think you already know. The most important things you learn are the things you learn after thinking you knew it all. We have been collectively analyzing the S.E.M. Platform Model for years. JAS 3/8/17

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) (Domain Master ) (UseBiz.com)

  65. Hello Konstantinos,

    ” In many cases undervalued , .COM Profit Center (Equimoddities) are unleveraged Online Sales Entities in sheeps clothing.
    Visionaries are simply defined as those individuals able to clearly visualize and define, future undervalued Asset Forms, that actually do finally Manifest into Form. JAS 9/14/16

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) (Domain Master )http://www.UseBiz.com

    • Hello Konstantinos,

      Corporations abandoning Googles you tube ads, for Branding protection reasons, have no clue how much more damaging Googles Search engine Marketing Platform is to their Brands, inside the S.E.M. Platform. This damaging realization is the forthcoming Next Shoe To Drop. JAS 3/22/17
      Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) Former ( Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Marketing Intelligence Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.E. Commodity Hedge Strategist) (UseBiz.com)

  66. it’s not rocket science to learn someone’s keywords…
    one way is to just monitor what they register…

    or pay for the activity info on their registrar accounts

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