Are .UK names starting to come into their own?

[Jiblob]

Hello all,

I'm wondering what your thoughts are as to whether .UK is coming into it's own. It seems that .UK names are garnering decent prices at auction, especially if it's a decent 1 word .UK.

I keep seeing more and more of them on TV and in media, like this one during the cricket today...

I haven't measured anything, it's just a hunch that I feel like they're not quite as undesirable as they were when they were first released or during RoR.

There are still a few surprising ones that are slipping through the net imho, some seem criminally undervalued at auction. But what I'm seeing is that they are getting decent prices.

Generally lll.uk names are going for tuppence or less, but they are arguably not as useful as a strong 1 word.

Just wondering what others thoughts are all these years on?

 

[ukbackorder]

No point asking on here, 90% hate .uk because they made the wrong call and the other 10% use it's - perceived - failure as an excuse to lowball sellers.

As that's 100% of people apparently which one are you?

Seriously though there are many of us that don't fall into this 100% claimed. However it doesn't matter what people here think, it's what the world thinks and does.

 

[ukbackorder]

I assume if people want to buy the .uk they'll pay what they think it's worth to them. I doubt the average person cares how someone got hold of a domain or who has invested/not invested in domains - if it is owned and they want it they'll make an offer. If it isn't owned (as so many aren't now) they'll just register it. However the only people I see backordering domains are speculators. The only people I see letting domains drop (and in many cases not get reregistered) are speculators. The general public and endusers just don't seem that interested in .uk. Hardly surprising when nominet introduced it two decades late.

 

[Jiblob]

However the only people I see backordering domains are speculators.

That doesn't surprise me. Considering people know so little about domains they probably don't even know that domains can be caught, let alone what services are reliable for doing it. Then the fact it's .UK or .co.uk there's likely even little chance of knowing about it (than for .com, say)

 

[ukbackorder]

Well I do get quite a few non-domainers backordering co.uk. So it's not that they aren't around just that they don't seem interested in .uk. However I guess it's the kind of domains that people think should have value in .uk which the general public aren't realistically going to want. JoeBloggsThePlumber.uk might have been more interesting to Joe Bloggs when the co.uk was first created but now domains like this sit unregistered. Nothing to do with the industry. Still.. it's not like this extension is going to get taken away.

 

[DJ]

Ultimately this is Nominet's failure, if they hadn't of treated the .UK as a cash raising excersise, they could have simply dropped the .co from .co.uk, instead of running both concurrently. Failing that, they should have made the .uk free when registering a .co.uk name.

Sadly they saw the pound signs, and have now decided to abandon it. Until they invest money in marketing the .UK again, the public won't know about it.

 

[ukbackorder]

I think the public will end up advertising it to the public - like jiblob showed at the beginning. Other people will see the extension and slowly become more aware of it. Nominet will not do a single thing to help this extension now they've killed their golden goose and given Russell his yacht.

 

[DesD]

I believe AI will drive a new wave of entrepreneurs who will want to create premium brands and sign post their [increasingly easy to produce] content. So, I remain confident that there will be greater demand for premium dot UK domains as these early adopters look to stake their claim online.

I also believe there will be an increase in non-core domain usage, where domains will be pointed at social platforms like YouTube, making it easier for 'followers' to find specific channels and brands on incredibly busy platforms.

I think we'll see this use case increase as people look for more easily manageable ways to market and distribute content, aligned with how much easier it will be to create content.

I've invested in building a small, but high quality portfolio of highly targeted premium dot UKs. I've also invested in the tech to deliver a full service offer; platform, video production, branding, marketing - in addition to the domain. People are going to be looking for simpler solutions - that's an opportunity for domain investors to add further value and push prices up.

Driving awareness is our biggest obstacle as domainers today, and that's why I applaud the efforts of @Ryan, @Helmuts and others as they look to develop their platforms and light a fire under UK domaining. I suspect the mum and pop sale days are over - if we want this space to flourish, we're going to have to change it and change with it.

 

[dee]

I don't think your average punter knows or cares much about whatever extension other than the familiar...so com and co uk at moment. The uk is slowly creeping into the landscape though, and will make it into general populous, even if taken longer than initially thought.

What's coming next though in terms of addressing systems and the next land grab ? AI? Web 3 ? And even if web 2 isnt going away for quite a while there's something changing I think...web 3 and blockchain seems to be poking its head above the wall a lot at mo.

 

[Lovekraft]

It's still very much in the shadow of the .co.uk extension. I have been seeing the odd case where I see a .uk extension on the back of a van or even used by bigger brands occasionally but the likelihood is they registered the .uk due to it was available rather then any sense of trying to champion it as an extension.

Good .uk one worders still have value but it's still usually a fraction or up to maybe 50% if it's really strong of what the.co.uk equivalent would be, personally I think prices have dropped on them in recent years. Certainly compared to around the RoR release they were actually fetching decent prices for those who punted them at auction but those prices didn't last long in general.

I don't think they're completely useless as an extension, I just amen't seeing them coming into their own as suggested.

 

[websaway]

de dot fi $100,000
topfx dot eu $108,000
normal dot es $65,000
hout dot nl $33.000
pioneer dot us $24,000
sales dot co $24,000
etc
etc
etc
infinitum

source dnjournal

 

[DesD]

...When you stop looking at domains from an emotional stand point and instead view them objectively, it becomes obvious that the smart people are those buying .uk because they're getting a superior domain for a fraction of the cost.

The really smart people are those who are developing them rather than treating them as nothing more than lottery tickets.

Exactly this.

 

[baldidiot]

I think a lot of normal people just haven't heard of .uk, which makes it less attractive to real world businesses. Especially if they don't have the corresponding .co.uk.

Real world example - a couple of weeks ago I was talking to an old friend in the pub who was thinking about starting a website. I happened to have a .uk that would fit and wasn't that expensive so I said:

"I have domain.uk - you can just have it if you want it"

He said:

"Oh, yeah, domain.co.uk could work"

 

[Jiblob]

You lads need to get out more and start talking to people about your domain hobby/business. You'll quickly learn, not only how dull you are

I think you'll find that my friends would think I'm anything but dull!! If I had any that is...

but also that the general public consumes the web via Google and doesn't give a shit about domains.

This alone isn't something that matters. Because we're not trying to attract the general public, we're trying to attract business owners that do or should care what domain they choose to develop on. It's pretty vital.

the smart people are those buying .uk because they're getting a superior domain for a fraction of the cost.

The really smart people are those who are developing them rather than treating them as nothing more than lottery tickets.

Agree

 

[Ben Thomas]

You lads need to get out more and start talking to people about your domain hobby/business. You'll quickly learn, not only how dull you are but also that the general public consumes the web via Google and doesn't give a shit about domains. All these pointless debates just end up as a pissing contest between those who are invested in .uk and those who aren't. I registered my first .co.uk domain in 1997 and I've bought and sold 000's since then, the vast majority are still with the same domain investors that bought them, in some cases 25 years ago! The fact is that most of you will take your best domains to the grave or sell them to another investor who will take it to their grave.

As for .uk, it's perceived as a shit investment because most of the big investors and portfolio owners decided they were turds but so what, they rank just as well and they're aesthetically better. When you stop looking at domains from an emotional stand point and instead view them objectively, it becomes obvious that the smart people are those buying .uk because they're getting a superior domain for a fraction of the cost.

The really smart people are those who are developing them rather than treating them as nothing more than lottery tickets.

Have to agree with you, the majority of money earned during my time in domains was via other domain investors. You look at some of the domains years later, still sitting on the same landing page.

Probably less than 10% of my domain sales via dropcatching were to end users.