I submitted a question for the DomainSherpa show last week. To my surprise the host, Michael Cyger, accepted the question and it was asked on the DomainSherpa After Show this week.
For those are not aware or have not heard about DomainSherpa it is a great resource for domain names and those looking to learn about buying, selling, and acquiring them. Michael Cyger, the publisher and host, has interviews with top domain name investors, people within the domain industry, and web entrepreneurs. People that he refers to as “Domain Sherpas” because of their knowledge and skill with domain names and the internet in general.
Recently they just started doing portfolio reviews with several Domain Sherpas. They analyze portfolios and decide whether a domain is great, good, or needs to be dropped. It's quite interesting to listen to the shows and hear what these pros have to say about certain domains. In the After Show they discuss domain industry news and take questions from the audience.
In last week's DomainSherpa After Show they had discussed the fact that PC.org was up for auction and what value it had. Since PC obviously stands for “Personal Computer” it can be used for many different things but the fact it is an ORG domain, what does that help or hurt it for a potential buyer?
This was the question I asked;
What are the Sherpas opinions on 2 letter and 3 letter .NET and .ORG domains?”
What the Domain Sherpas said
There was talk about the 2 letter .NET domains sell in the past week. According to DNJournal for the week of October 7th – 13 for domain sales there were the two .NET sales he was referring to I believe;
- FN.net – $15,050
- OC.net – $14,500
With regards to 2 letter .ORG he thought they could go for in the same ballpark. They also mentioned for 3 letter domains he thought they could sell for a couple hundred unless they have a particular meaning.
It was mentioned that Public Interest Registry (PIR), the domain registry for .ORG, recently tried to auction off 1 letter ORG domains with extremely high reserve prices. However all those domains failed to find buyers.
“The gap, to be honest with you, doesn't seem like it's shirking it actually seems like it is getting further away.” said Rich Schwartz regarding the price disparity between the .COM domains when compared to .NET and .ORG domains that are the same.
Michael Cyger was pretty perceptive since he asked the Domain Sherpas whether the values of .NET and .ORG 2 and 3 letter domains will go up or down with the new generic top level domains (gTLDS) that will be rolling out soon. This is kind of why I asked the question.
After Cyger threw this additional question out there for the Sherpas, Rich Schwartz did say, “I think they will go up.” Additional Schwartz said the thought that .NET could become the “Black Horse” in the domain and internet world as he referred to it as an “Orphaned extension.” Of course when you have all these new gTLDs joining the party, that .NET doesn't look so bad.
“I'd love to see the values fall to where we could buy some.” commented Page Howe. He also thinks there are a lot of functional benefits to owning and using 2 letter domains, which I agree with. In addition he mentioned, “You are borrowing some prestige from every other person that's had one.” about .NET and .ORG domains.
“There are only 676 combinations of .NET and .ORGs… but then you add all the new gTLDs and you've got 676 of those.” said Adam Dicker. “Personally I think they are going to go down. I'd much rather have a 2 letter from one of the other gTLDs than .NET or .ORG, that's just me.”
UPDATE – I don't agree with Adam Dicker and apparently he is a criminal.
My Thoughts
Mulling over what the Sherpas said and from what I've seen over the past few months it seems like NET and ORG prices have fallen. I've seen many quality domains fail to find the right buyers. Whether this is due to startups using .IO domains or people waiting for the new gTLDs, I'm not sure. Since Google said .IO domains are good for global use startups seem be to flocking to them even faster now. Personally I don't get it but if you want to find a good .IO domain I would checkout Short Domain Search.
With regards to .NET being an “Orphaned extension” I don't agree with Rick Schwartz. I use NET for Singing Dogs and feel comfortable using the domain for email. Like Page Howe said you borrow prestige from the millions of people and companies already using the NET extension. I kind of see what Schwartz is saying though. If you choose to use .ORG that usually has meaning that your organization is non-profit and gives them a certain identity.
If I can pickup any 3-letter NET or ORG domains cheaply I probably will. Honestly though I see a lot of people bid like crazy on these. What a lot of them don't realize is that they are bidding up to end user prices and wont' get back their money. I guess I will just have to be patient and smart! 🙂
If any of the Sherpas read this I appreciate the time they took to answer my question. I also appreciate that Michael Cyger accepted my question for the DomainSherpa After Show.
If you want to watch or listen to the Domain Sherpa show here is the link to show with my question.
Domain Sherpa Portfolio Review – October 17th, 2013
The question gets asked around the 54 minute and 13 second mark in the DomainSherpa After Show if you want to skip ahead to it and listen to what the Sherpas said yourself. If you have any comments or opinions about my question I'd be glad to hear it.