Over 7000 .uk reduced in price

[Whois-Search]

Thanks guys - yes to sell 4000 out of 8000 has been fun.

We are still keeping 2500 .uk for a rainy day.

I see someone likes three letters today

 

[Nigel]

The vultures have certainly descended - still a bit of meat left there

 

[Sam]

The vultures have certainly descended - still a bit of meat left there

Someone will pick them all up....

 

[Ben Thomas]

Yes, v. clever process here. Dropping all of these names after hosting a firesale type event is probably in the long run going to be to your advantage anyway. You no longer have to pay so many renewals, but also, if some of these .uk's are bought by companies and end-users, there's a high probability they'll see where the .CO.UK is. And where is the .CO.UK?

 

[LCHappy]

Yes, v. clever process here. Dropping all of these names after hosting a firesale type event is probably in the long run going to be to your advantage anyway. You no longer have to pay so many renewals, but also, if some of these .uk's are bought by companies and end-users, there's a high probability they'll see where the .CO.UK is. And where is the .CO.UK?

Completely wrong way round in my eyes. Why would they want to buy a longer extension? I don't believe there has ever been a trend in the longer direction.

Drop the .co.uk's and keep the .uks and that model makes sense in my opinion.

 

[starbird]

Yes, v. clever process here. Dropping all of these names after hosting a firesale type event is probably in the long run going to be to your advantage anyway. You no longer have to pay so many renewals, but also, if some of these .uk's are bought by companies and end-users, there's a high probability they'll see where the .CO.UK is. And where is the .CO.UK?

I bought some names from whois-search brilliant service. Anyway to your point. You can build a brand on ANY domain, if you know how to market. I prefer the .uk, it's shorter and looks better (IMHO). Money wise, of course it makes sense to drop some, be assured in a years time a good few of those caught today will drop. The .uk means for those will big portfolios, decisions will have to be made due to renewal costs.

I think whois-search did a win win with this fire sale. I'd imagine everyone who bought from him is delighted and , most importantly, he offered the chance to guarantee to get the name. If it dropped you wouldn't so lucky.

The next big window is June and October (fresh catches from July last year) will offer opportunities as well. These windows offer an opportunity for many to build a portfolio. After October it will be slim pickings.

Alot of people going for quick flips on domainlore and ukbackorder and some are simply giveaways for the price they are selling for. I believe in a smaller portfolio but better quality.

 

[Ben Thomas]

I think you must have me mistaken, I wasn't saying .co.uk is better than .uk I was saying that usually, end-users like to secure their top-level domains. This is an age-old concept, which helps secure the brand away from other potential competitors. So I think a lot of end-users buying into .uk will go looking for their .co.uk.

I'm sold on .uk, I think the shorter version is preferably (at least to me) and I think that more and more people are looking to grab their .uk domain.

I believe in a smaller portfolio but better quality.

Indeed.

 

[Whois-Search]

Completely wrong way round in my eyes. Why would they want to buy a longer extension? I don't believe there has ever been a trend in the longer direction.

Drop the .co.uk's and keep the .uks and that model makes sense in my opinion.

While we do hope they come back for the older .co.uk (which you could say is the wrong way around)...

We are under no illusions that:

1. Giraffe has had the matching .co.uk since 1997-1999 and it hasn’t sold in over 20 years. So what chance does the .uk have selling in the next 5-10 years? You would have to renew them both at double the rate and wait for .uk to become popular....looking for the same buyer we haven’t found in 20 years? While we do have 8000 three letters we sell only 100-200 a year. So do you want 16,000 three letters costing more than you make a year? We had too many names for the new Nominet price of £3.90 x 2.

2. Nominet gave us 10,000 free .uk two years ago. We didn’t pay for them and so selling off 4000 at an average of £10 made sense. If you have 10,000 to renew , keeping 2000 , selling 4000 and dropping 4000 also makes sense. In a few categories we have also dropped the .co.uk in the last two years.

3. The popularity of .uk just isn’t there at the moment mainly due to shady forced registration tactics by large registrars. You will note the renewal fees at the big registrars have also shot up to £11.99 or even £14.99. So if your average Registrant has one name, one email, one site... are they going to pay them £30 for two names? Or will they just drop one ? That’s why a million have dropped since Christmas.

What .uk actually requires to succeed is new businesses, new individuals , new startups to use it. The whole idea of mirroring .co.uk was floored to start with? To succeed an extension needs use and people to use it , not redirects to the .co.uk.

For .uk to get to 10 million (like .co.uk) is going to take a very long time indeed now as it’s already dropped from 3.5 million to 2.5 million and heading towards 1.5 million by the end of the year. Also .co.uk is still (even today) 10 times more popular 4000 vs 400 new registrations a day.

So...

Rather than pay to renew 10,000 .co.uk and 10,000 .uk. We have gone down to 8,000 .co.uk and 2,000 .uk (the very best ones).

Back below 10,000 soon - have that Nominet !

 

[LCHappy]

I was saying that usually, end-users like to secure their top-level domains. This is an age-old concept, which helps secure the brand away from other potential competitors.

But .uk is the top level domain, .co.uk is second level

I think you mean most popular, when you say the top level, but that is getting less important every day as more .uks launch with sites.

Hardly anyone will go backwards for their .co.uk. I have about 15 .uk's and certainly wouldn't.

Drop the .co.uk's and wait for them to come for the .uk's is a better use of this tactic

 

[Ben Thomas]

But .uk is the top level domain, .co.uk is second level

I think you mean most popular, when you say the top level

What you think and what I mean do not coincide. Top-level for me is .com, .co.uk, .uk and very possibly .net for a UK business. Most businesses would want to have these, larger businesses sometimes go much further than these.

Hardly anyone will go backwards for their .co.uk. I have about 15 .uk's and certainly wouldn't.

Drop the .co.uk's and wait for them to come for the .uk's is a better use of this tactic

I believe that's because you're a "new age" investor in domain names (me included). You're in an era where yes, the .co.uk has been around 20 years, and .uk has only become popular recently because of RoR etc. are you in a bubble? Perhaps. Perhaps talk to some end-users about which domain name they would rather. CO.UK has built up some incredible backing over the last 20 years and it will very hard to make the same happen for .uk, especially right now. I'm not saying people aren't adopting .uk, they are (me for example, my portfolio is almost entirely made up of .uk). But there are thousands more registrations of CO.UK over .UK even now and to be honest, it's anyone's guess whether it will eventually take off. I'm yet to see a TV advertisement using a .uk

 

[LCHappy]

What you think and what I mean do not coincide. Top-level for me is .com, .co.uk, .uk and very possibly .net for a UK business. Most businesses would want to have these, larger businesses sometimes go much further than these.

erh? top level in domaining means directly after the first dot - .com .uk .net .co etc, second level is .co.uk .org.uk .me.uk .com.au

That's not just me, that's the standard industry understanding of the term top level.

 

[Ben Thomas]

erh? top level in domaining means directly after the first dot - .com .uk .net .co etc, second level is .co.uk .org.uk .me.uk .com.au

That's not just me, that's the standard industry understanding of the term top level.

No shit?

 

[LCHappy]

Top-level for me is .com, .co.uk, .uk and very possibly

No shit?

Bizarre and frightening at the same time

 

[Ben Thomas]

Bizarre and frightening at the same time

I agree, .uk is top level, .co.uk is subdomain but in my opinion most people see .co.uk as top-level. Just so a pedant like you doesn't get confused again, let me make it easier for you.

I THINK, most people prefer to secure their .com, .uk, co.uk and possibly .net. I think you're in a dreamland if you think people are just going to come buying your .uk if the .co.uk is available.

 

[LCHappy]

I was saying that usually, end-users like to secure their top-level domains.

I think you mean most popular, when you say the top level, but that is getting less important every day as more .uks launch with sites

What you think and what I mean do not coincide. Top-level for me is .com, .co.uk, .uk and very possibly .net for a UK business.

I agree, .uk is top level, .co.uk is subdomain but in my opinion most people see .co.uk as top-level.

I just get confused easily. I'm tapping out of this one.

 

[lazarus]

Giraffe has had the matching .co.uk since 1997-1999 and it hasn’t sold in over 20 years.

Maybe on these lower quality domains, buyers were not buying previously because the parked page states that the price is generally £3000+vat and upwards.

 

[redbird]

There is at least 3 .uk drops today caught/registered where the .co.uk is available

 

[lazarus]

There is at least 3 .uk drops today caught/registered where the .co.uk is available

They must have been real stinkers?

 

[Hay]

There is at least 3 .uk drops today caught/registered where the .co.uk is available

LLL? I parsed every row and checked .uk / .co.uk and i didnt see any LLL's flag up.

Me and GLOBALNETNAMES/COMPUSOLVE appear to be battling it out and the min to reg as many as possible - Maybe i am mad after all but its worth a few grand to give it a risk, im expecting .uk to be have a big push this year to see if the they can make it work and not turn into a flop otherwise thats 90% or so .uk's not renewed which most where given out for free anyway during the RoR promotion!

 

[redbird]

LLL? I parsed every row and checked .uk / .co.uk and i didnt see any LLL's flag up.

No not LLL's, Just surprised that ANYTHING would be caught as .uk where the co.uk is still not registered