Donuts will reduce prices to 1.1 million unregistered domains

On November 5th, 2019 Donuts will reduce pricing for more than 1.1 million previously unregistered premium domain names.

Approximately 250,000 Donuts premium domains will drop in price and more than 850,000 premium domains will move to standard pricing.

The Donuts Premium Pricing Event, starting on September 5th, gives everyone the option to register any of these 1.1 million with the current price until November 5th but then buyers get to renew these domains in the new lower prices from then on.

Here are some more details from Donuts:

Top-level domain price testing

We’ve had outstanding success in the premium domain business since 2014. More than 100 registrars have sold over 250,000 premium names for more than $53 million in BIN revenue. The Donuts business intelligence (BI) team perpetually analyzes and adjusts pricing across our entire 242 top-level domain portfolio, including standard and premium names. We work to optimize prices so that registrars and their customers get the most out of our portfolio.

Prior to the Donuts/Rightside merger in 2017, each company managed its premium portfolio differently. For instance, Rightside classified thousands of premiums per TLD as premium, and set relatively high prices, compared to Donuts. Over the past 18 months, we have focused on our premium domain portfolio, using machine learning to analyze price elasticity for many of our top-level domains. Learnings from these tests clearly show that lower prices for select top-level domain premium domains result in a significant premium registration sales lift across customer segments. Therefore, approximately 250,000 Donuts premium domains will drop in price and more than 850,000 premium domains will move to standard pricing, which makes them more attractive to domain investors and will significantly increases quality inventory for those registrars not currently selling premium domains. Cumulatively these price changes better align average list prices within segments of the Donuts premium portfolio with average sales prices.

Click here to download our interactive Premium Pricing Event Directory

How to buy premium domains during the event

Effective immediately many of our registrar partners are building awareness and customer demand leading up to the premium pricing event. Investors can start registering domain names in two ways:

Pre-Sale

Starting September 5th, domain investors, entrepreneurs and other customers can register valuable domains before prices drop (and demand increases) on November 5th. Premium domain prices remain the same in the pre-sale stage, but buyers will get lower renewal prices for those domains. For instance, when a buyer registers a premium domain that drops to standard pricing on November 5th, during this window the buyer will pay the existing first-year premium price but will lock in the standard price renewal going forward.

Pre-Order

This is a chance for registrars to enable their investors and other customers to pre-order domain names at lower prices before the November 5th price drop. We are working with several registrars to set up their pre-order landing pages. And will share a registrar list when their landing pages publish. For the best chance at acquiring desired premium domains, entering into a pre-order program via a registrar is advisable for interested buyers.

Logistics and timing

The premium domain pricing adjustment is a global event and the time-sensitive release dates for each phase of the price adjustment event are shown in the table below.

1. Pre-sale & Pre-Orders

Action: Registrars may begin operating Pre-Sales on impacted domain inventory.

Notes: Affected domains can be sold in anticipation of a lower renewal cost post- November 5th. Registrars may also take expressions of interest for drop catching on the November 5th release date.

2. Quiet Phase

Action: All impacted premium domains will be reserved at the registry in advance of re-pricing.

Notes: Domains will be unavailable for general sale Nov 1 – Nov 5.

3. Re-Pricing

Action: Domains will be repriced at the registry but remain unavailable for general sale until November 5th.

Notes: EPP Responses will be updated  to reflect new price points.

4. Reporting

Action: Reporting Update.

Notes: Donuts automated reporting will be updated to reflect the new system prices.

5. Domain Release

Action: All impacted domains will be re-released (Unreserved) in bulk at 17:00 UTC.

Notes: The registry platform will support domain drop catching at this time for any registrar that accepts domain Pre-Orders.

Visit the Premium.Domains event page frequently through November 5th for updates regarding the Premium Pricing Event.