Hexonet did remarkably well with my .website pre-orders.
On Wednesday, I wrote about the challenges I had pre-registering domain names at various registrars.
I was specifically trying to pre-register .website domains. .Website was supposed to launch Wednesday, but was delayed a day for technical reasons. This gave me another 24 hours to go after the domains I wanted.
Originally, I found 23 domains that didn’t have premium prices and pre-ordered them at GoDaddy. It turns out a few were claimed in landrush, so I ended up with 19 obtainable orders at GoDaddy.
I also pre-ordered 18 at 101domain. They only allow one pre-order per domain, and someone had already pre-ordered one of the domains I wanted.
If you read my previous post, you know that I gave up on ordering from a number of registrars. But, given that Hexonet had beaten my registrars on some orders I placed for previous TLDs, I decided to give them another shot.
That ended up being a smart move.
Here’s how each registrar did:
GoDaddy 0-for-19
101Domain 0-for-18
Hexonet 19-for-19
Yes, you read that correctly. Hexonet batted 1.000.
Like 101Domain, Hexonet also only accepts one backorder per domain, so I don’t have to face off in any auctions, either.
Although Hexonet’s interface is confusing to me, it’s worth overlooking when it comes to pre-ordering new TLDs.
I should note that all of these domains are from one registry. I’m sure Hexonet doesn’t always score 100% with all registries, and I think it makes sense to order domains you really want at multiple registrars.
larry says
which .website domains did you register?
bul says
Slow down now Andrew. Godaddy delivered for me 8-for-11 and my always dependable United Domains(in my unsolicited opinion, you should start there when you do pre-reg) delivered 5-for-7 and non of which was priced above normal price..I guess go daddy charged $10 above united.
Andrew says
But did you place any orders with hexonet? Last time godaddy got plenty of domains for me, but I didn’t order any of them at hexonet. Had I done that, godaddy might not have been able to get them.
Bul says
Yes 2-for-9 but I still got eem through united.
Andrew Allemann says
United quoted $30 per name vs. $15 at most other places.
bul says
True. 30 was the number. It’s still lower than most premium recurring prices.
Anon says
Tell us at least some of the names bud
Robbie says
Anon I went thru .website, and others of Radix releases and they had done their homework, and they used the extra day to do some more homework.
99% of the stuff that got thru at reg fee is worth just that, otherwise the names most people got are personal to them. The generic keywords were very expensive, names such as virtual.website, createmy.website cost a $300 per year premium, sorry at the end of the day if .site comes out etc, .web your investment value is diminished.
Bul says
I somewhat agree with you Robbie but not all good domains are pricy. I picked up some good single word domains and reg prices.
couponpages says
I nailed 7 of 7 with GoDaddy:
PrintableCoupons.Website
CouponsOnline.Website
OnlineCoupons.Website
BabyCoupons.Website
LocalCoupons.Website
CatOfTheDay.Website
DogOfTheDay.Website
I found a few more that were available, but I’ve been on the fence about investing more into new TLD versions of domains I already have as .Coms. There’s a part of me that actually wants a big competitor to build a new TLD version of my brands.
couponpages says
I’m finding it quite easy to get things in my market, Coupons.
Most of these would be quite valuable in .com, but quite easy to get as .website. That could be a sign the market is not as strong for .website as I originally thought.
I just nailed a bunch more on my first crack. A few of them are still $350 premiums, but these were easy grabs at $15.
CouponCodes.Website
LocalDeals.Website
SaveLocal.Website
JustLocal.Website
MainStreet.Website
Hometown.Website
I’m wondering if .Web will have similar results.
Schnauder says
i got 10/10 with key systems
sonny says
Dog of the day website
Step away from the computer
couponpages says
Sounds funny, but it fits into one of the rare non-coupon categories I’m actually developing. In fact, I’ve got over 100 (X) of the (X) domains, such as IdeaOfTheDay.Com. I’m building a fun engine for that kind of content.
None are intended to sell anything, so they have limited value for commerce. I just decided to build some fun sites.
Bernd Lessing says
Let’s try to shed some light on the facts:
– All of the 19 domains you got through Hexonet were registered between 16:01:09 and 16:01:30.
– Between 16:00:00 and 16:01:30, Hexonet registered a total of 161 domains.
– Now, there is something weird: Both (!!!) United Domains and Godaddy seem to have had problems during this launch since their first .website GA registrations have a timestamp of 16:03:01. To me this looks like some problem on the registry’s end, affecting multiple yet not all registries.
Bernd Lessing says
… registrars should be the last word of my previous comment. 🙂
Andrew Allemann says
It could be the registry. It could also be the registrar. Last time I did a bunch of preorders for a domain, I was able to go in almost an hour after launch to hand register several domains. I had preordered them at godaddy and hand ordered them at uniregistry. Would you blame the registry or registrar for that?
The message, as I think I made clear in this post, is that you should preorder with multiple registrars.
jane says
Well, I decided to try out Hexonet for a domain which Name.com wanted $3k for Hexonet charged $33 so unless Hexonet screwed up, bonus