Rick and Frank on Gtld’s Circa 2000. Back to the Future! PRICELESS!!!!!! MUST READ!

Morning Folks!!

So, I have 153 blog posts that I have written and never published. This is one of them. My thoughts, Franks thoughts on new extensions from the year 2000. I wrote this back in 2014. Get ready to DIE LAUGHING!

FOR THE RECORD and ON THE RECORD!

Do you know what the difference is between those two lines below that read EXACTLY THE SAME? Do ya??

I know a lot of you don't like my thoughts on the new extensions, but step back for a moment. Well let me tell you the difference. One was written in the year 2000 and one was written this morning.

So let's  leave the hype and hysterics aside before we all puke! The numbers tell a pretty ugly story for anyone will to even scratch the surface of what is going on.

Deja vu all over again?

You need BOOTS to wade through all the crap I have been hearing the last few weeks. If you are normal, your head should be spinning and we have hardly begun. You know I love numbers and they paint the best picture. But what is almost as valuable and many times more valuable is history.

Would you like to be a fly on the wall and read the conversations of 1999 and 2000? Read my posts then as I am posting one below from the year 2000 talking about the NEW EXTENSIONS! Would you like to hear my thoughts? Frank's thoughts on Gtld's in the year 2000? Thoughts from many of the leading domainers that have survived the test of time? And many that have never been heard from again?

Here's just a tidbit of history Make sure you look at the date stamps. Make sure you draw a line from 2000 to 2014 and see where it goes:

"Good morning folks!!


I know a lot of you don't like my thoughts on the new extensions, but step back for a moment.


Let's use Owens pet.com example. 


Will pets.biz make them more or less successful?

Will pets.aero make them more or less successful?

Will pets.info make them more or less successful?

Will pets.museum make them more or less successful?

Will pets.pro make them more or less successful?


Don't like that example?


Let's try it with Amazon.com or priceline.com


The fact is the new extensions are virtually meaningless. But if you WERE to speculate, and you guys still by worthless domains......it will still be worthless. Anything more than a ONE WORD new extension at THIS point in time is SILLLLLY.


Point is.....IF you DO get a GREAT .biz, it won't be GREAT until you build something GREAT there.


Look at human nature.....


He will type in porno.com

He MAY type in porno.net (1 in 100 at best)

He MAY type in porno.org (1 in 1000 at best)


The new extensions will get even less. Especially since the most you are likely to find there is a for sale sign.


I'd rather have a $1500 .com than a 100 .whatevers


As for .biz.......wait for the SALE!!!


Have a GREAT day!!


Rick Schwartz

Mon Nov 20 08:13:15 2000 - 172.169.114.65 - message #7353

 
I want to be the first to go on record as stating that 2000/2001 will forever be remembered as "Year of the Do-Over". First the election and soon to be with the new GTLD's... this is a period in time when nobody seems to be prepared to take no as an answer. It would seem that the only way to settle things is through litigation and whining... Is anyone else feeling this trend?

Franky

Wed Nov 15 01:44:52 2000 - 24.113.74.16 - message #7004

 
Oh.. and by the way.. for the record.. ".info" will be a resounding failure globally. 10 years from now, the only people talking about .info will be the registries that are giving away two free .info's with every new .com purchased; and the suckers trying to give them away in the after market.

Franky

Sat Nov 18 00:05:30 2000 - 216.232.120.63 - message #7231



14 thoughts on “Rick and Frank on Gtld’s Circa 2000. Back to the Future! PRICELESS!!!!!! MUST READ!

  1. GJ

    “I own no .mobi names. If it were possible to own a negative number of domain names to further distance yourself from the name space, I would probably own “negative thousands”

    -Frank Schilling, Domain Investor founder of Uniregistry

    http://www.domainbits.com/mobi/

    Reply
  2. Sergey

    Rick, lets consider the following hypothetical case:

    One owns ngtld portfolio with annual renewal bill of, say, $70k. 90% of ones’s ngtld portfolio are hand regs in, say, 50+
    extensions. This person sold, say, $90k of ngtlds (handful of them) in 2018 to date. All the sales resulted from inbound offers. The person is just ordinary experienced domainer with no relations with registries etc.

    For a record, would you still consider ngtld program as total failure if the above hypothetical case appears to be real?

    Reply
    1. Rick Schwartz

      So the imaginary guy netted $20k In that hypothetical scenario. Is that correct?
      A year invested and $20k. I can’t answer that question until several years down the road. But what I can say he’d be making more money at McDonald’s flipping burgers.

      It’s nice to have a few extra dollars in your pocket every month so if he has a day job And this supplements his income. Fine. But hes hypothetically not making a living from them. And the prospects of him making a living from them are not high.

      Reply
      1. Sergey

        OK, to make it clear, let me add a bit of info to this hypothetical scenario. His annual renewal bill for entire 2018 will be $70k. He already sold $90k worth of ngltds in 2018 with 6 months still left.

        My prediction is it is very likely he will sell at least $90k more of ngtlds in 2018 as the fall is usually good time for domainers.

        Taking into account the corrected info above, in your opinion, would it be sign of ngtlds not being total failure?

        Reply
        1. Rick Schwartz

          Lot of if’s.
          Assuming future sales when it comes to domains does not work for me. I assume $0.
          They are still a failure because maybe you should measure it against trading great .com names.
          Maybe that hypothetical person would have done $900,000. I mean as long as we are using hypotheticals.
          Point is, it’s working harder with greater risk to make less money.

          Reply
    2. Snoopy

      If that is the best case scenario it is highly unlikely to work over ten years. The ROI is borderline in terms of running a business. What happens when sales go down or renewals go up? What happens when you have to pay basic expenses? Lights, isp, accounting? Salary?

      Reply
  3. page howe

    so i wonder why as a customer im drawn to a product thats successful for the provider/producer.

    is it i want to be a success, i want to buy their prestige.

    so the above quote from 2000 (and ive watched this stuff since then as i sent ICANN $50,000 in 2000 to apply for .kids), rick predicts info will be a failure, but it certainly wasnt for the registry and registrars, absentminded renewals alone on saved credit cards have made millions, plus the giveaways that some customer still pay for, then the numbers rage gave them a new shot of registrations…..

    all along they were selling a product that requires NO inventory and has 99% margins (less some amortized tech investment and icann fees)

    the best thing out there til alternative coins came along

    now we (as domainers) apply succcess to mean success in the aftermarket, which hasnt worked out with .info, or most gtlds except the very top combo keywords, .CLUB and the geos

    but im still drawn to invest in the tlds that seem to making the most money as a registries, why? i dont know

    anyone know?

    Reply
    1. Snoopy

      I don’t think anyone other than registries would define success based on registry profit. General public knows for example that .mobi is not a good choice even if the registry can makes several million a year with constantly dropping volumes.

      Reply
    2. Snoopy

      Also the 99% margin stuff is not accurate, big registries/registrars have hundreds of employees and real expenses like any other business.

      Reply
  4. page howe

    on the above summary, i think ricks right, whats your opportunity cost on the money invested, and what ELSE could you have done.

    Now if your talking someone with unlimited monay, of course anything could work out.

    on your hypothetical example your IR can only be counted when you mark your current inventory to market

    and how can you do that when each registry has help back thousands of premiums at zero cost, that they can put on market anytime they need cash, hurting your values.

    Reply
  5. michael m todaro

    i always thought it was a smart move by frankie to get into gtld’s. when you own 400,000 dotcoms buying a little insurance is a good bet. after it was clear they were a failure and he just started pushing them i thought a little bit less of him.

    Reply
    1. Adam

      Someone who invests in something becomes an evangelist for that which they have bought into. . . now to become the kind of slimy evangelist, like you see on TV, that’s a different story.

      Reply
  6. Nick

    if you think DATAWORLD.com is better than DATA.WORLD, then sure you are right.If you think BLOCKONE.com is better than BlOCK.ONE, then, you do not seem to accept the changes. Let time be the witness.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Snoopy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *