A look at which new top level domains are selling.
Donuts published its Domain Trend Report for September this week. The company doesn’t disclose sale prices but its lists are still helpful to understand what’s selling and trending in new top level domains.
The top five premium domain name registrations (by price) last month were:
value.market
land.lease
brief.news
digital.family
acupuncture.clinic
Four of these seem like natural left-right combinations. Brief.news is backward, although it could be used for a site that has concise news bits.
Two single letter registrations — i.management and o.solutions — were also among the top 20.
It’s also interesting to see which words are most commonly being registered as second level domains in Donuts’ 200+ top level domains:
online
life
your
digital
home
tech
health
free
media
world
You’ll notice that most of these are also top level domain names. Registries chose many of the TLDs they applied for based on usage as second level domains, which shows that people register similar keywords in .com vs. new TLDs.
More data is available here.
Snoopy says
They were more than willing to disclose prices 2 years ago!
Sign of the time for New TLDs.
Matt says
You seemed upset when the price of world.travel was announced at $41k. You said that was the end of the TLD. Now you’re saying that no prices being disclosed is a bad signal?!
Please make your mind up because folks might start to think that you’re trying your best to manufacture bad news about new domains, even when the news is positive.
Maybe you should go back to appraising .io domains.
Snoopy says
As I have told you before, please quote what I actually said rather than your own twisted version of it.
Matt says
Only one of us is twisting here Paul.
How is it that you go from only believing in .coms (believing everything else is a waste of $) to offering people your appraisal of their .io domains on Twitter? One I saw you appraised for $20,000 another one for $9,000 – yet you previously stated .ios have no value!
https://twitter.com/wwwsnoopy1683/status/1314356898146123776?s=20
Something a little twisted there, Paul.
snoopy1267 says
Matt, you are once again lying, claiming I’ve said things which were never said.
Unless you can come back with an *actual quote* I will ignore.
Matt says
Snoopy, in case you forgot, here are some of the quotes you said didn’t exist (if I wanted to waste more time on this I’m sure I could find more):
1. “Nobody actually wants to use a .io. It’s like how .net used to be perceived when it was popular back in the day”
2. “.IO is still as shite as it was last year but wholesale prices are up maybe 50% since then.”
3. “io and .co did not fair well”
4. “.IO and .CO are temp domains like Get, Try, Hi etc. Typically used whilst in the startup/fundraising phase. No substantial company will be on one long term.”
5. “Nobody actually wants to use a .io. It’s like how .net used to be perceived when it was popular back in the day,”
6. “.io, .co is seen in the same light as get-, go- domains. These are temporary URL’s for raising capital. If the business works they will change to something else.”
Followed by appraisals like the following:
7. “Free .io appraisals for 24 hours…” – @wwwsnoopy1683
Lotus.io – $9,000
Code.io $20,000
Hmm. Definitely no pivots here!
Here are the screenshots:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UuGBb49R6ETUyML8JkLS6MDp4-A9WfNwuYCCjEq0aaY/edit?usp=sharing
So now explain what I said that was false. Hard to avoid the evidence when presented with it. But sure – you’ve been a fan of .ios from the start!
snoopy1267 says
Of course they are temp domains. Startups use them during the fundraising stage. Doesn’t mean they are worthless, much like a 1997 Cadilliac isn’t worthless.
At least you have come back with some actual quotes instead of the nonsense misquoting that you have been doing.
Think about how even domains that people don’t really want to be on can have value, just like a car nobody really wants to drive.
Matt says
You’re welcome if me posting the quotes refreshed your memory!
Funny how you can bash them so much and yet “appraise” them at up to $20,000.
I guess that the last thing you said above “Think about how even domains that people don’t really want to be on can have value, just like a car nobody really wants to drive.” Is finally your acceptance and understanding that some folks who have the skills can make a return by careful investing in new Gs.
You really have come a long way Paul, I’m impressed.
snoopy1267 says
You are wasting your time trying to associate New TLDs with .IO and .CO. They are not the same, New Tlds are dead.
.IO and .CO took the alt market that New TLDs were predicted to have.
Matt says
Paul, I haven’t tried to connect .io with .digital, .tech, .art or any other new domain but now that you have brought it up, what difference does it matter?
If a company is thinking about a non-dotcom, they are can consider any extension.
You called .io “shite” in one of your tweets, and then you were valuing one .io at $9,000 and another at $20,000 despite saying that they are “temporary domains”.
So what difference does it make .art for a company in that field or .io for a startup or a company in the tech field.
The likely reality is that if you explain .art to someone in the street, they’ll think it’s a bit weird and understand it whereas if you explain .io to someone in the street they’ll not remember it. Or remember it as .oi…
While I really do commend you on starting to be a little more open minded towards non-dotcoms, I really do, you still have a little further to go to remove your blinkers fully
snoopy1267 says
The difference is there is no real market for New TLDs.
.IO and .CO have constant sales and a decent keyword in auction will have several dozen bidders.
If you want to invest in .art and convince yourself it is somehow better than .io that is your prerogative.
Matt says
Your last line about someone being convinced .art is better than .io is illogical. You’ve been making a case for folks investing in .io and surely you do not believe .io is better than .com.
You also mention the difference being there’s a market for .io and not new Gs, but you’re blinkered as:
1. a few years ago that very sentiment would have prevent people from registering the .io domains that YOU now value at $20,000!
2. Solid sales of new domains are happening, even if you try to put your head in the sand. Registries are making those premium sales as are some domainers. Niches are being tapped. If you are running scared you try to undermine those sales, if you are running curious you ask more questions and people are happy to share their sales with legitimate interest.
3. You mention there’s no market – I mentioned above how that’s not true but want to point out there are different markets, different sizes, different levels of liquidity. Just because there’s lower liquidity, doesn’t mean that you should avoid an entire market. It means there are other challenges and other opportunities. Think about it.
Lew says
Very informative article and Matt’s comments. Good to see positive new TLD sales information.