The release of blocked second level strings is good for the domain name industry. Is there opportunity for domainers to profit from it?
Today, .XYZ will release 18,000 second level domain name options that previously could not be registered.
They join hundreds of thousands of other second level domains under new TLDs that have “dropped” in recent weeks, and will do so going forward as well.
These domains were blocked because of “name collisions”. Basically, someone (or something) tried to access one of these domain names during some random days of testing over the years. This means there’s a slight chance that activating one of the second level domains will break someone’s system, so ICANN mandated that the domains be held back for a period.
Are these recently released domains a good opportunity for domainers to swoop in and get good domain names? After all, all domains that were blocked received at least one visit in the past. By definition, they “have traffic”.
The answer is maybe.
First, you have to understand that most of the traffic to these domains was either a fluke, automated, or part of a system configuration that has likely been fixed. Take a look at .xyz’s drop list and you’ll see what I mean.
Second, if the registry has a premium domain pricing program, you can bet that the good ones on the list have higher-than-normal pricing.
A couple people pointed this out to me early on when I suggested that name collisions were a big part of my frustration with new TLDs. Whenever I tried to register one, it was on the name collision list.
These people pointed out that, if they weren’t on the collision list, they would have been on the premium list.
Last week I went through .website’s block list to hunt for good domains. I found a bunch of good terms, but basically all of the ones I tried cost $1,000 or more to register as premium domains at GoDaddy.
I found one I liked at regular prices: CDN.website. It’s a good domain because CDNs and websites go hand-in-hand. But it doesn’t get any actual traffic, at least so far.
So is there an investing opportunity with name collision domains? Perhaps, if you find some good domains at a registry that doesn’t charge premiums (.xyz doesn’t) or has missed some hidden gems. But you might just walk away frustrated.
If you want to find out which domains will become available for a particular TLD, head over to the registry contracts page at ICANN. Scroll down and click on “List of SLDs to Block”.
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