The launch of new domain names has been anything but smooth.
Confusion. Frustration. Incompetence.
That’s how I’d sum up the launch of new TLDs so far.
I’ve already written about some of the challenges of new TLD launches to date. How they’re coming out with a whimper. How domain name registrars are making it difficult to register these new domain names.
Kevin Murphy over at Domain Incite has more examples today in a post titled “Registrars screwing up new gTLD launches?”
Yes, registrars are dropping the ball. But registries are making it difficult for them, too.
Change your entire business model
Imagine going to Bentonville in an effort to sell Walmart on carrying your new type of cereal. Actually many new types of cereal.
You don’t just want shelf space, you tell them. You want them to try a completely new pricing scheme that changes over time. They’ll be forced to use your new type of ordering software. Oh, and you’d like a deposit, please.
It sounds ridiculous, but that’s what a lot of registries are telling registrars.
Case in point: if I were a registrar, I wouldn’t touch .wed with a ten foot pole. Apparently most registrars agree.
I get that the registrar model might seem old and stale. But if you want to make money with your new TLD today, you’re going to have to live with it. Get user adoption now and worry about innovation later. Otherwise your “innovation” will end up in the trash pile anyway.
Ready! Fire! Aim!
Last week’s royal screw up award goes to Donuts, which accidentally allowed people to register domain names it wasn’t allowed to register: eco. and 00.
Eco is on the temporarily-protected list of IGOs.
It’s still being debated how to handle the IGO list. At the end of the day I have no doubt consumers will be able to register eco at the second level.
We also have a fluid situation around name collisions, which has forced registries to hold back thousands of some of the best possible second level registrations.
The crazy thing is over a hundred new TLD contracts have been assigned and dozens of new TLDs delegated while the community still tries to figure this out.
Look, if I were Donuts I’d also push my domains to market as soon as possible. If you raised $100 million you’d feel the need to start showing results, too. You’d want to beat others to the race even if you have one bum ankle.
But an outside observer would question the sanity of signing contracts that say key terms can be changed later. They’d expect the key terms to be figured out first.
Pay attention to term 4.5.2, exhibit A, and attachment C.
Have you read your registrar’s Domain Name Registration Agreement or Terms of Service lately? Have fun.
The section of GoDaddy’s registration agreement with specific provisions for different TLDs covers 32 pages single spaced when I copy and paste it in Microsoft Word. That doesn’t include the additional content found in the 67 hyperlinks in the section.
Options, Options, Options
So you want to register a .coffee domain name? Great, I’ve got lots of options for you.
Pre-registration, non-binding pre-registration, paid pre-registration, reservation, registry-guaranteed priority registration, landrush, sunrise, sunblock (I just coined that term for trademark blocking services), EAP day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5.
Oh, but nevermind. I can’t sell you that domain. It’s on the name collision list. Oh, this one is actually a premium priced domain. This generic term can’t be registered due to a trademark block.
Don’t understand each option and how much it costs? Don’t know if you get your money back if you don’t get the domain name? You’re not alone. (Re that last link: it doesn’t matter who has accurate information; the fact that so many people are confused or getting conflicting information is a symptom of the complexity.)
Our tech team is a little bit behind.
Registrar search is dismal. Some registrars require you to go to a separate part of their site to register new domains.
Imagine trying to find something on Google, but instead of using the main search box you have to click a link and use a different search box.
Who spends $50 million marketing a product but doesn’t hire a good user interface expert to allow people to easily buy the product?
It sounds ridiculous, but that’s what’s happening.
There are also technical errors. I’m often told a domain isn’t available when it is. At eNom.com my search comes back “unknown” when a domain hasn’t come out yet. It doesn’t tell me I can pre-register it. If I search for a domain in Donuts’ EAP it tells me I can register it for a seemingly steep price, but doesn’t mention this is an early access program price. Well, the cart at checkout actually shows a registration fee and “Early Access Fee” without any explanation about what that extra fee is.
If a domain isn’t yet ready for pre-registration at GoDaddy, the search defaults to .com.
Somewhere in the c-suite at Verisign an executive is having a chuckle.
Help! My domain doesn’t work!
I just got an awesome .sexy domain name. But when I type it in on my iPhone the site doesn’t resolve. The browser takes me to a search results page.
It’s a good thing no one uses Apple products, huh? (cough)
A smoother future?
Birthing Pangs (noun): the hardships and difficulties accompanying a major innovation, change, or new venture.
For the sake of the industry, let’s hope these can be quickly worked out.
Kevin Murphy says
Excellent post.
onlinedomain says
Solved:
Go Daddy Refunds EAP Pre-Registration Fees to Affected Customers
excitemental says
least they refunded it.. small victories i guess
page howe says
Ditto.great post. Spot on.
tom barrett says
Successful innovation can be messy and oftentimes involves a lot of failure first.
There is no question that there will be some misfires in the new gtlds. But mistakes can be corrected. Registry Business models will continue their experimentation and will evolve.
In a few years, the last few months will just be a blip on the timeline.
James says
and so will the gtld’s
Meyer says
“In a few years, the last few months will just be a blip on the timeline.”
Maybe, they couldn’t get any interface programmers because they were all working on federal and state websites.
Not trying to be political but isn’t that what Obama says about his ObamaCare?
As someone said last week, Icann is laughing all of the way to the bank.
HowieCrosby says
Yes, very good post.
Do any of the new gTLDs resolve using the add bar yet? None that ive tried!
Rob Golding says
Every GA newgtld resolves just fine in the address bar of a browser – if you’re having problems (I know of someone who cannot access .construction on their iPad) that’s generally down to your choice of ISP/DNS provider or software.
In the first year-ish of .cat being available iphones took people to the .ca – dodgy code in the default browser not undertanding the gtld/extension.
Andrew Allemann says
I’m confused – you say it’s up to your ISP/DNS provider but then say it was up to your browser in .cat.
In this case it’s an issue with the browser, not the ISP. I can access the domains just fine on FireFox, but not Safari.
Acro says
How many gTLD domains do you own, Andrew?
Andrew Allemann says
None yet. I still plan to buy some eventually. Hoping it gets easier with time.
Acro says
So this entire post is based on a non-personal experience, correct?
Ryan says
If you follow Andrew he did try to register some, one of which you took off his list, it was not a very smooth experience .recipes .careers etc… From following this blog, I would not discount this authors experience, and lack of registrations as non personal experience.
Acro says
I have 35-40 (lost count) gTLD domains, at 101Domain and eNom, one at Uniregistry. I didn’t experience any ‘shock and awe’, ‘hair pulling’ glitches as described in this post. Maybe I’m doing something right? So my experience is based on actual domain registrations and money spent.
Andrew Allemann says
That must be it. You’re just smarter than the average bear.
Andrew Allemann says
“So this entire post is based on a non-personal experience, correct? ”
Huh? What part is non-personal experiences?
Acro says
You already stated that you have no gTLDs registered personally. So you’re painting a picture based on a cursory report and with no real world experience on the subject.
There are 270,000 gTLD domains registered, would that be possible if the process was so impossible to comprehend and facilitate? I don’t disagree on the lack of promotion by the registries, but essentially you’re befalling the concept based on a safe approach from your digital couch.
I think one needs to spend more time – and their own money – before reporting on things that *might* not work. For example, Konstantinos did that.
Kassey says
Great post. .com is still my favorite.
Longer View says
.com = .dinosaur
Time turns carbon to diamond, and no one can predict what the TLD landscape will look like in 10 years. All that we can be certain of is that it will change. I have some pretty killer new TLD domain names and have had zero problems attaining them. Furthermore, how you might measure success for a TLD may not be how the new registry measures the success of their TLD. No one went into this thinking they were going to be the new .com – it is all about the ROI as a function of time. Is 1 month really an appropriate indicator of anythings success or failure?
Andrew Allemann says
You haven’t read my posts about how I think you can get an ROI investing in new TLDs, have you?
Regardless of whether you’re a fan of new TLDs or not, it’s hard to argue it has been smooth sailing so far.
Rob says
“.com = .dinosaur”
lol. are you for real? to put it politely that’s a real silly ting to say.
“Time turns carbon to diamond”
time also turns excrement to compost. yeah, there will be a few domain.newtld combinations that stand out from the crowd (eg: being very memorable) but .com will always be the default. ie: type anything into a browser and it always defaults to anything.COM. everything else, .net .co .info .happy .whatever are all secondary. yep, go make money in new tlds… it’s there… but nothing will ever kill .com or come close to it.
Rob Golding says
>I’m often told a domain isn’t available when it is
Not available for purchase *through that registrar* is not the same as *might not be in the zone file” as well you know 😛
Andrew Allemann says
I use whois, not the zone file, to check for availability
PageHowe.com says
“So this entire post is based on a non-personal experience, correct?”
Hey you dont have to go outside to tell if its raining!
Page Howe
Andrew Allemann says
Page, you’ve bought a number of new TLDs, right? What has your experience been?
PageHowe.com says
the whole thing should be marked beta and subject to change if its not ready. They hide behind a terms and conditions when things go wrong, yet market like everythings perfect……just send us the money. Yes, Lots of false positives. Most domainers response is cool , somehow this will benenfit me becuase everyone else will stay away. Just dont tell me we helped the internet. after 60 days were still the same as .com – good names taken and expensive – whether from domainers or registries custom pricing…. lots of available names for reg fee. Waste of a billion dollars.
Domainer Extraordinaire says
Everyone contracted out the former Obamacare developers.
Daines says
Just registered house.build to be told it was already reserved by the registry. They have refunded my money but I’m not happy!
Andrew Allemann says
What registrar took the order? Was it a pre-order?
Daines says
I didn’t pre-order but the domain was showing as available and the registrar took the order. Several hours later I was told that the registry has the domain reserved and they had made a mistake. I’ve questioned them but they are not budging.
Andrew Allemann says
Which registrar?
Daines says
123-reg