Domain Wizard

Looking at the likes of 123-reg, some of the domains are coming up as taken and others free so I assume they have a database of pre-ordered domains. Either that or they just have a database of .XXX domains registered on their own website.

What I wouldn't want to do is register several .XXX domains only to find out they're all going to auction at the end of landrush as some sites like 123-Reg don't offer any refunds, or a very small portion potentially leaving you significantly out of pocket with nothing to show for it.

I'm assuming this site is of no use unless it's already been grabbed in Sunrise? http://www.icmregistry.com/whois/

pred

i wouldn't waste your time or money on this garbage

Domain Wizard

Out of interest, why do you believe it to be a waste of money?

Anyone else have any ideas in regards to my original question?

GreyWing

Why would you register anything that wasn't going to auction? The fact that they go to auction shows that at least one other person on this earth thinks it is worth the reg fee. So if you reg a name that doesn't go to auction, that should tell you there isn't another single person alive and attached to the internet that thinks the name is worth anything.

The reason pred holds the views he does is because this nonsense keeps popping up each year, .eu .tel .mob .co .xxx ........

The list of useless extentions just keeps growing and the list of those taken to the cleaners keeps growing, take preds advice and don't get yourself a place on that list.

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Domain Wizard

So you've never registered a domain yourself, only bought off others? I think there are plenty of unregistered names left to make money for the right people and I wouldn't mind having some good .eu and .co names as I suspect they'll be worth a bit in the future. Same with .xxx.

Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this. In regards to my op I assume that unless a domain was registered in sunrise then it will show as available so someone please correct me of I'm wrong.

sdsinc

I would ask the opposite question. Since it is unproven, why do you think it's worth a try. I could give you plenty of reasons why .xxx is an inferior and problematic extension. But I could not give you one single reason why it is superior to other extensions

And there is no shortage of newcomers, who will pick up where the previous generation left.

.eu isn't exactly new, it has been around for 5 years and it's clear it isn't doing well. The market (the lack thereof) for .eu can already be assessed. Why wait more, the trends are clear and won't change overnight.
Renewing no-revenue domains every year while not making sales = negative cash flow.

Personally I prefer to invest in extensions that are already selling today, rather than take a gamble on extensions of dubious value.

Newer TLDs have all performed below expectations. A few people will make money out of luck or hindsight but in general they are a domainer trap. When you remove domainers and purely defensive TM registrations out of the equation you will see new extensions are seldom embraced by end users, and they will typically go for regfee domain and not buy from domainers. If they won't find their chosen keyword they move on to another TLD.
It's always harder to sell a domain when the extension is not desirable.

Domain Wizard

Because the adult industry are some of the most searched for terms on the Internet and unlike .co which is for Colombia or .eu, this is a tld that's global. Yes, some places may block it but equally, if it does become quite popular then there maybe a fair bit of traffic from type-ins. The adult .com domains have gone for very large amounts and while .xxx is obviously very different and can't be compared, I'm sure some of the more generic terms could be worth a lot in a few years. Gay.XXX has already sold for half a million...

I appreciate it's not brand new but it's newer than .com and .co.uk and that's what I meant. Values are only likely to go up as less and less generic .co.uk names and others are available IMO.

Agreed that's it's more risky but potentially quite high reward too. Maybe .XXX will be a complete flop but I suspect it will do better than some of the more recent tlds. Who would ever have thought .com and .co.uk domain names would go for what they do now 5-10 years ago. Just my opinion.

sdsinc

If you intend to buy domains for resale, then I think you need to be even more picky.
If you're going to develop them it's another matter. Quality is less important.

The vast majority of domains in any extension are worthless. Perhaps even less than 1% of the supply has value.
GreyWing has a very good point: why would you want a domain that did not even get one bid ? Chances are it's not premium at all.
A few uberpremium keywords will have resale value, and you can bet all those names will go to auction. Everything else, hardly anybody wants. If you're going to take a chance on a fledging TLD, at least get yourself a super-strong keyword. Otherwise what's the point of it

If you really are adverse to the idea of paying more than regfee for a domain there are still decent occasional drops in .com.

Blossom

There are more uses for domain names than just selling them off to other people you know...

Erm, everyone I'm surprised they aren't more. Pre-1995 I would say yes, it might have been surprising.

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Domain Wizard

Depends how premium I suppose. All the really good ones are reserved anyway but point taken. I'm not against going to auction, just don't want to lose several application fees.

You know what I'm saying though, value is likely to go up over time. I suppose it depends on just how many tld's get released once there's the influx in 2012.