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A look back at 2019, including December’s top stories.

Top 5 etched into a rubber stamp

The domain name industry finished 2019 with a bang, and it’s off to the races in this new decade. What will be in store? Listen to the 2020 Predictions Podcast for forecasts from 15 different people.

Over the holiday break, I published analyses of some of the top stories in the domain name business last year.

Of course, the big news was a private equity company announcing plans to acquire .org after ICANN lifted all price caps.

Other top stories include Alpnames shutting down and a  record-smashing domain sale. On the lighter side, a lot of dead people got domain names in 2019.

Also, I hope you are enjoying having Kassey Lee cover the Chinese angle on domain names for Domain Name Wire. It seems that people like his stories; 2 were among the top five in December!

China can be mystifying to people like me, so it’s great to have Kassey breaking down why specific domain names are worth more than you think. He’s also analyzing the market for certain TLDs in China and much more. You can read all of his stories here.

Here are the top five stories from last month, as ranked by pageviews:

1. A four character domain for $16,500? Here’s why – Kassey Lee breaks down why 23ZW has meaning to this Chinese company.

2. Namecheap adds cool new feature to domain search – It could help domain name investors.

3. This elite startup uses a long numeric domain – Another story about a Chinese company’s domain name was popular this month.

4. This is how thieves trick customers into wiring money to them – Thieves use typo domain names to trick people into wiring money that is due to another party.

5. A fractional domain ownership idea – Aron Meystedt offered shares in his domain NNR.com. Expect more fractional domain ownership opportunities in 2020.

Miss a podcast? Listen now

2020 Predictions episode – hear predictions about the domain industry from 15 people.

Sending out the Bat-signal – Learn how to get someone’s attention to do a domain deal.

Last year’s predictions – Listen to the 2019 predictions episode to see who was right and who was wrong. One of my predictions just came true: Verisign will pay ICANN as part of a deal to raise prices on .com domains.

Doron Vermaat – The Efty co-founder talks about domain sales trends and landing pages.

Shakeup on the .com leader boards, Namecheap tops 5 million

by — Domain Registrars 3 Comments

Lots of shifting and Namecheap hits a milestone.

Image of man running up column chart with words "Top 10 Registrars"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers September 2019.

There was a lot of shakeup this month.

On the new registrations chart, Xin Net fell out of the top ten after its monthly volume reduced from 220k to 51k. Hosting Concepts B.V. d/b/a OpenProvider, an at-cost registrar, surged into the top 10.

On the total .com leaderboard, GMO replaced NameSilo in the #10 spot after giving it up to NameSilo the month before.

Namecheap hit a big milestone, surging past 5 million .com domains under management.

Finally, on the clerical side, I’ve added Crazy Domains to Web.com’s totals starting this month. Web.com acquired CrazyDomains’ parent company Dreamscape last year.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 855,287 (862,732 in August)
2. Chengdu West 222,511
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 180,825 (187,769)
4. Namecheap Inc. 163,226 (161,107)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 138,929 (141,014 )
6. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 124,810 (126,603)
7. Alibaba (HiChina) 105,294 (136,895)
8. GMO 95,565 (66,910)
9. Web.com++ 71,894
10. OpenProvider 67,647 (n/a)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of September 2019.

1. GoDaddy* 51,253,800 (51,098,287 in August)
2. Tucows** 13,047,695 (13,123,695)
3. Web.com++ 7,031,650 (6,607,353)
4. Endurance+ 6,873,843 (6,886,901)
5. Alibaba 6,118,945 (6,189,184)
6. United Internet^ 5,549,036 (5,549,520)
7. Namecheap 5,051,943 (4,978,908)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 4,518,714 (4,575,392)
9. Google 2,845,811 (2,755,721)
10. GMO 2,183,060 (n/a)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions, Register.com, and Crazy Domains
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

.Com Winners & Losers: NameSilo enters top 10 overall

by — Domain Registrars 1 Comment

NameSilo bumps GMO off the list.

Image of man running up column chart with words "Top 10 Registrars"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers August 2019.

NameSilo has broken into the top 10 for .com domains under management, pushing GMO off the list. On the monthly charts, there was a bit of place-swapping but the same 10 registrars are the list for August that were on it for July.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 862,732 (854,643 in July)
2. Xin Net Technology Corporation 219,802 (321,742)
3. Tucows** 187,769 (NASDAQ:TCX) (194,581)
4. NameCheap Inc. 161,107 (161,790)
5. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 141,014 (134,583)
6. Alibaba (HiChina) 136,895 (126,586)
7. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 126,603 (129,559)
8. Dynadot 87,388 (131,601)
9. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 69,045 (89,027)
10. GMO 66,910 (66,323)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of August 2019.

1. GoDaddy* 51,098,287 (51,022,025 in July)
2. Tucows** 13,123,695 (13,192,663)
3. Endurance+ 6,886,901 (6,896,718)
4. Web.com++ 6,607,353 (6,599,516)
5. Alibaba 6,189,184 (6,232,572)
6. United Internet^ 5,549,520 (5,550,220)
7. Namecheap 4,978,908 (4,915,798)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 4,575,392 (4,469,021)
9. Google 2,755,721 (2,662,532)
10. NameSilo 2,127,096 (n/a)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions and Register.com
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Namecheap adds cool new feature to domain search

by — Domain Registrars 9 Comments

Customers will understand more about the domain’s history.

A Namecheap search for Money.com, showing that the domain was registered in 1995 and who owns it

Namecheap’s search provides additional information when a domain is already registered.

The message domain searchers get when a domain they want is taken is usually just “not available”. The customer then needs to move on.

Namecheap just launched a nifty feature that adds context to the result. When a domain is taken, Namecheap shows when the domain was registered. I think this is helpful, giving some context to the searcher. They didn’t just get beaten out to this domain; in many cases, it’s been registered for ten or more years.

If you click on the date, you get even more information (see picture above).

Namecheap CEO Richard Kirkendall told Domain Name Wire that the company plans to add sales data in the future. If the domain name previously sold, Namecheap will display the sales price (when available).

All of this adds up to more awareness for end users who search for domains. They will become better educated about the value of domain names, and it will hopefully nudge them to understand the aftermarket better, too.

Namecheap launches Validation.com for identity verification

by — Services 2 Comments

System makes it easy for businesses to verify the identity of customers.

Picture of a selfie next to a government-issued ID on Validation.com

Validation.com makes it easier for businesses to verify the identity of customers.

Namecheap has launched a new identity verification service using a great domain name: Validation.com.

The service lets businesses confirm the identity of customers for various purposes, including chargeback prevent and Know Your Customer (KYC) rules.

Businesses using Validation.com create a submission link for their customers and select which identity documents need to be submitted. This can include a government-issued ID, a utility bill, etc.

Typical scenarios include a company validating a government-issued ID against a selfie or verifying that the name on a credit card matches an identity card.

Validation.com does not check the information against databases. Instead, it’s a self-service tool for businesses to carry out the validation level they are comfortable with.

This type of process might sound familiar to domain investors; users of Escrow.com have to provide similar documentation as part of the company’s KYC rules. But setting up a process to handle this sort of verification is beyond the reach of many small businesses, and a hassle for larger businesses.

The product solves another big problem, too: while companies can do identity verification manually, that means receiving sensitive data. Between GDPR and regulations coming to the U.S. (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act), small businesses need to avoid handling sensitive data. Validation.com does it for them.

It also gives trust to the consumer who has to share the information. Using a great domain like Validation.com certainly lends credibility to the process.

Plans start at $19 per month.