An example of how one new top level domain registry is releasing its expired domain names.
Last week, .Club domain names that were registered at the beginning of general availability over a year ago started dropping.
The company reported a 75% day one renewal rate. It hasn’t published rates post day one, but that’s certainly a good start.
.Club CEO Colin Campbell told Domain Name Wire that he told investors to expect a 60% renewal rate. He doesn’t think it will stick at 75% in the long run due to promotions, but it’s ahead of what he promised.
Instead of going through a traditional drop, .Club is sending fully expired inventory through SnapNames. The auctions are attracting a fair amount of attention so far.
Campbell explained the choice to auction domains off through SnapNames:
We strongly believe in the domain investor community who can support .CLUB by getting these names placed (albeit at higher prices) in the hands of prospective customers. We had the option to claim every name and put them into our registry reserved but decided to offer them up on the drop at SnapNames upon expiry as an alternative.
If you’re heading to THE Domain Conference next month, .Club is offering a free $69 SnapNames bid to each attendee.
Big mistake. It keeps the domains in the domainer/PPC parking chain and deters ordinary web developers and businesses getting them. A direct result will be lower web usage and development for the TLD.