DomainKing’s 10 Step Guide to Selling Domain Names!




Morning Folks!!



Sales are about Buying. Buy shit, get shit. People lose the sale at the beginning. Buying is the start. They lose the sale by what they say. SO STOP TALKING!! SHUT-UP!! Knowing WHEN to SHUT-UP is the #1 key to sales.



Some people teach the world to sing. I want to teach domainers how to sell. Not only how to sell, how to extract maximum value for your assets. YOUR job is to appraise. YOUR job is to believe. YOUR job is to compare & show the value. YOUR job is to be strong. YOUR job. DO IT!



Here are my 10 steps to be a better salesperson.



Lesson 1: If you give a price, YOU LOSE!! Ask a question don't give a price.



Lesson 2: If you give a counter-offer just because they made an offer, YOU LOSE!! You only give a counter-offer when they give you an offer inside your realm of value. Other than that, NO WAY!! They can keep making offers. NEVER counter until they are in the realm. If you have a $1 Million home and someone offers you $75,000, you don't counter. Not at $100k, not at $500k. Not at $750k. You counter when you get a TRULY BONA-FIDE offer! PERIOD! Or YOU LOSE! Why dance to their tune?? YOU set the parameters!



Lesson 3: Don’t negotiate. That’s when you turn it into a conversation. Ask a question. Ask another question. Probe. Discuss. Tell them your own profitable plans. You did buy the domain for a reason. Right?? If not, you are not buying the right names. I buy focus on domains I have an idea for and I can build a future if that was the only name I owned.



Lesson 4: Don't do REASONABLE, Don't do CURIOUS. How to handle "Curious" inquiries "I am curious about the price" 2 responses: 1. Toss it 2. Ask "Why?" That's your opportunity to get info w/o wasting your time. "Reasonable" IS a total waste of time and usually another domainer. If you are selling to other domainers, you are far from getting maximum value. Actually, you are getting minimum value. Reasonable is for losers!



Lesson 5: Don’t wet your pants. So you got an inquiry. Big deal. Don’t get too excited. Don’t jump up and down, calm down. Now is the moment to do the research on your own domain names to find the current value. I'm not going to tell you how to do that. Figure it out! A domain's value can go from Zilch to millions with new products, news, or events. Pre-pricing domains are not the best approach. The day smart glasses came to be in the news, I snapped up smartglasses.com for $3500. I rest my case.



Lesson 6: Don’t be sucked in by BS and shiny object chasers. Let an email marinate!! You don’t need/want a “Hot” lead. You want a strong one! Strong ones don’t lose interest in 24hrs Weak ones do! When you waste time w/ weak, you lose time & opportunity.



Lesson 7. A Domains value is Fluid. Do the research at the time of inquiry. Put your own value on it and stick to it. Assign a value worthy of the domain name. Don’t price it out $1200 cuz the mortgage is due. Want to be a millionaire? Think/act like one.



Lesson 8: Sales is about buying. Buy shit, get shit. Most success or failure happens at the beginning. The end is simply when you find out about it but don’t necessarily figure it out. So the beginning of a sale is the purchase of the domain name itself. Choose wisely. Stop buying crap. If you buy crap, what the hell do you expect?



Lesson #9 Invest in dotcom. You invest in dotcom, you gamble (and lose) on .whatever. Stop reinventing the wheel. Stop spitting in the wind. Start smarter. The internet starts and ends with .com domains so give up the .crap and you will live well.



"You build nightmares on gTLD Domains But there's a solution... When you wake up from the nightmare, the dream is just a dot-Com away!"™ -Rick Schwartz



Lesson 10 Domain Names that are easy to spell are easier to sell. Spelling test = Can an 8th grader spell it right? Radio test = Are there multiple ways to spell or even hear wrong? Hair/Hear/Here Must be easy to remember & pass on (word of mouth advertising is key)



In Review: Part1 Lesson 1: If you give a price, YOU LOSE!! Lesson 2: If you give a counter-offer just cuz they made an offer, YOU LOSE!! Lesson 3: Don’t negotiate. That’s when you turn it into a conversation.



In Review Part 2 Lesson 4: Don't do REASONABLE, Don't do CURIOUS Lesson 5: Don’t wet your pants. Lesson 6: Don’t be sucked in by BS and shiny object chasers.



In review Part 3 Lesson 7: Value of domains is fluid. Stick to your value! Lesson 8: Sales is about buying. Buy shit, get shit! Lesson 9: Invest in dotcom. Invest in dotcom, you gamble (and lose) on .whatever. Lesson 10 Easy to spell means easy to sell.



Remember one thing, you are selling a unique asset. Act like it!



All business people need to be good in sales. Sales takes talent and you get that by practice and rehearsing. Saying the right things. Knowing when to SHUT THE F*ck up! Sales is about LISTENING not TALKING. Listen CAREFULLY. Know what to answer, know what to ignore, know what to look for, know how to answer.



Stop leaving your family's future on the table or putting your future into the pocket of others. Learn to sell. Learn to create value. Learn to be tough, not desperate. If you want to be a millionaire, you MUST think like one, act like one, and make decisions like one! This is your roadmap. GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!



Rick Schwartz






Domain Investors are Used and Abused!! ICANN NEEDS to be FULLY Investigated!


Morning Folks!!



Hey Domain investors, aren’t you sick of getting used and abused? Whether it's ICANN as Konstantinos wrote about yesterday or is registries, registrars, auction houses, Mechanical Valuations, PPC companies, Google, Yahoo or anyone else, DOMAIN INVESTORS will always get the shaft. Ya know why? Because they can, and we aren't organized. Like I have said there is NO DOMAIN INDUSTRY! There are just thousands of soloist renegades that can't see past today. They party like drunken sailors regardless of the leaks on the ship and the threat at hand.



You know what the worst part is?? We are the ones that enriched these people. We are the ones that helped grow their companies and gave them the power they have. We are the ones that have been taken advantage of at every stage.



We are not the bad guys. We are not cybersquatters. We are the capitalists that create wealth and opportunity for us and others. We are the people that invest our time energy and money into something selfish, but that’s what opportunity is all about. But this selfish opportunity is very widespread. It's a worldwide opportunity. Why don’t they look at a person in Nigeria that had perhaps no chance at a decent life and he’s making his fortune on the Internet. With domain names. With many domain names. It’s a passport out of the wilderness and into the mainstream. Why would anyone mess with that??



The Internet has probably lifted more people out of poverty than every governmental program in history combined!! It's so obvious. Why mess with that??



The Internet and domain names have been the greatest equalizer the world has ever known. Never before in world history have so many benefited so quickly. As bad as things are there has never been more opportunity worldwide than there is at this very moment. NEVER!!



As domain investors we created an ecosystem that many companies have made a lot of money with. I believe without what we did as investors and risk takers the entire picture would have looked quite a bit different than it is now. We made people very rich!!



Now, unfortunately, there’s a lot of bad apples in what we do that go over the line and abuse the privilege of what they have. Like I have said many times, some people can be put in a diamond mine full of diamonds for free and they’re still steal something or do something that’s not right or otherwise abuse something that shouldn’t be abused.



I am proud to be a domain investor. I’ve never ever been ashamed of it for a moment. I did something that was taught to me all of my life: become successful. And many of us have found that same success. And of course in time they would want to take that success away from us. They did that in American history, it’s nothing new. They've been doing it in Europe for centuries. Governments seize land that it wants. That's valuable.



Of course this will be happening with domains I saw that. the day I got online. I’m just shocked and surprised that it took a quarter of a century. Thank goodness for that!



But that’s also why I’ve been very conservative with domaining. To me, it's like "Musical Chairs". The music will eventually stop. Those that are overextended will be destroyed.



See what happens, you are flying along and then SMACK! You are dead meat. You owe a lot of $$. You had a fantastic year. But then after the income stops, the tax man cometh. Many have been destroyed cuz the good year was followed by a terrible year and they can never dig out of that tax debt and what they owe on cars, mortgages and toys.



So expect to get it up the arse as time goes by and prepare. We did have a lawsuit at one time that may have prevented this fiasco, but it was not supported and eventually we had to give in. That's what happens when an industry has no organization and has no purpose. And it's even worse when there is no industry to fight back and make their case.



The price of pigeon shit farming is about to go up so maybe time to focus on prime domains. Remember, 10 really good domains make you a domain investor. 1000 silly names, will make you go broke and you are a pigeon shit farmer. The only good thing, farmers will ALL be washed away!



I got into this when domains were $100 a pop. If they go back to $100 so be it! All I know is for $10 you can be worldwide in a moment and change your destiny forever! It's the greatest bargain the world has ever known. It's the greatest opportunity the world has ever known. It's just amazing!



BUT!



In my STRONG opinion, ICANN is a corrupt racketeering organization. It's a crime syndicate that advances interests of a few insiders at the expense of the masses and the general good. They have abused their power and their role.



Racketeering refers to crimes committed through extortion or coercion. A racketeer attempts to obtain money or property from another person, usually through intimidation or force. The term is typically associated with organized crime. The law defines 35 different offenses that constitute racketeering in the U.S.



I think ICANN and each member should be investigated FULLY and I would go back to the origins of the new gTLD program. The demolition derby of corruption. ICANN leaders profited from their conflicts of interest, and they never did it for the purpose they were chartered to do. They abused their leadership roles and profited PERSONALLY many millions of dollars. To me, that is corruption at the worst!



Is ICANN Corrupt??? Many think so! Count me in that camp!



Rick Schwartz


Reflections of the Past, Applied to the Future. Asheville, the New Delray!


Morning Folks!!



So when I found the 2004 picture of me in front of the Grove Park Inn yesterday I started to reflect on the similarities and differences between TRAFFIC 2004 and the Asheville Meetup. Let me share some thoughts with you.



For one thing, I had never produced a trade show before nor had I ever been on stage in front of people of which I was terrified. I never fed 135 people 3 or 4 meals each or put a menu together. I never did a host of things that now I have done 28 times. But I always rise to the occasion no matter what it is in life. I even surprise and impress myself sometimes.



TRAFFIC 2004-2007 were sensational events by all accounts. The success of TRAFFIC had a very specific recipe and to be honest, it was lost when the interests of domain investors took a back seat to the needs of sponsors and others. My original recipe was no more.



In 2014 it was time to get out of the way of the GTLD trainwreck. Sometimes it just makes sense to sit it out. Get out of harm's way and allow the dust to settle. Once the dust settles, and folks are clear-eyed once again, the original need want and desire remain and come back with a fury. Meanwhile, there is nobody in the industry on the record like I am when it comes to gTLDs.. Literally, HUNDREDS of posts articulating and exposing the pitfalls. They poisoned a thriving industry and NOW it's time to recover!



TRAFFIC 2004 was unique because it brought so many people together for the first time face to face. Before that, we had interacted on "Ricks Board" for 4 years since 2000. Relationships that were forged 15-20 years ago have endured the test of time. The trail never changed, I just had to sit and wait 5 years for a failure that should have been recognized in 5 minutes!



I have created intersections that have been life-changing. Bringing people together that have something in common and would have never met without bending destiny just a tiny little bit. That's the way I give back. It's the way I change people's life. Many that I have never met nor will I ever meet. But I have some street cred after 20 some years of consistency.



What's different now is the fact that besides knowing each other over a long period of time we are now armed with so much more knowledge and understanding. The universe itself has changed so much. They have gotten so much more sophisticated as well.



My recipe always included slowing things down. Take folks out of their everyday frenzy of activities, calls, and appointments and allow very smart and very creative people do what they do best. Be smart and creative with each other and at the same time receiving an energy transfusion that lasts a very long time. It reinforces our belief in ourselves and our assets.



When you come back and taste the original recipe and the show done for the original reason you will know in the first moments that it's like coming home to have your favorite dish and how mouth-watering delicious it is.



This time we are a self-funded, not for profit get together that is going to provide something special, fun and unique and still do 3 days of business and have a group of high power players without the noise. As a soloist, I don't need to make a profit or make a living from a show. My personal motives are different. I need to accelerate the future. Especially after a horrible 5 year detour.



This idea I had 15-20 years ago was shared for the first time on February 8th. I ran it by Berkens on the 7th. Told him about my dream and my idea. Host hotel contacted and had signed the contract on February 21st. The first business day was just last Monday the 25th. On Tuesday the 26th we exhausted the first block of rooms I contracted for and added more. Thanks for the confidence. It means alot.



So at this point, we have more actual domain investors paid and registered than came to either of the last 2 TRAFFIC shows. Mostly high-level investors. A number of them with great portfolios but have never been to any show. It's their TRAFFIC 2004 for sure. And that is in just 4 days for an event 5 months away. WOW!



As I posted early on if it were just Berkens, Messer and Schwartz it would have been a great time. But to be joined now with dozens of other truly professional domain investors and many more to come is going to be so much better.



When I tossed out a number to Berkens early on he asked how many domainers coming would be good and what you hope to expect. I said 18-36. But when I posted the idea and folks were excited about it, I signed the contract based on 60 attendees.



We will likely blow past 60 and am now planning for 130. Once we sell 130 tickets, I will close registration, and I will crunch some numbers. There are 60 tickets at $295, and there are 70 tickets at $395. I want everyone there for $295. But I am planning and financing this a long way in advance, and you still need to have a reason and sense of urgency to sign up.



https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1st-annual-asheville-professional-domain-investors-meetup-family-outing-registration-57272887749?aff=affiliate1



That brings me to the next thing. Once you register, getting your hotel room is very important. This is the first week of August and easily their single busiest week of the year. This little town and great digs are going to redefine "Vibrant" for you. But please make your reservations now! The hotel does not mind waiting and getting another $200/night more per room. They know from experience that they will be sold out.



Rooms are still $349 but I expect the next round of rooms to be raised to $399 which is still much less than the lowest rate of $479 I can find right now. As we get closer to the summer, I would expect rates to be between $599-$699 until they sell out. If you get an error message, it means the second block of rooms have been sold out. Please drop me a line if that happens.



https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/asheville-grove-park/meetings/1st-annual-domain-investors-08012019



Also, airlines. The 2 major hubs other than some direct flights to Asheville are Atlanta and Charlotte. It is best to fly in early in the day if possible. Summer can get backed up in the afternoon plus pm thunderstorms and I don't want anyone to miss the incredible opening cocktail party that is going to mark the start of a new era in domain investing. Come in a day early but don't miss it!



As I announced on Twitter, the Ghost tour has been booked, and our guide is no slouch. We are going to have the one and only Christian MacLeod! He is a pro-paranormal investigator who has been in the NYTimes, on Coast to Coast AM national radio, ABC news affiliate, etc; and, he is the current Master of the Masonic Lodge.





Fabulous.com/Directnic.com have stepped up to sponsor the Friday lunch. Thanks, guys! Could not have picked a better Inaguaral sponsor! Going back to the future!



I do have a few openings for other things like tours or busses, a possible breakfast, but I think it is essential to be selective given what I have learned. While attendance is open, sponsorships are going to be restricted. And to answer your burning question, the answer is "No." No, this event will have no gTLD sponsors. They are welcome to attend, but sponsorships would be like me selling out at this stage and at this time.



Looking into the future! Want to see what I see?


All I can say is this is a labor of love. I do what I do in the months before the event and then get out of the way once the show starts. It's your show. As I started before the show came to fruition, I don't even want to touch the money. I will finance and fund it, I will organize it, I will guarantee the contract, I will do all the grunt work. But I don't want to make a business of it. Using Eventbrite helps me do that. I elected not to get a check from them until after the event is over. That keeps the bookkeeping much simpler.



If anyone has any dietary restrictions, please let me know, and I will make arrangements. That said, come hungry because there is some delicious food coming your way.



When you take a detour and, you end up in the wrong place, in my world, you go back to the starting point and try a different path. In this case, a tried and true path that works. So we will take out the noise, take out the gTLD's, take out their sponsorships and get back to the BUSINESS of domain name investing!!!



Rick Schwartz


It’s Official. Contracts Signed! Asheville Multi-Day Meetup Agenda Announced!


Morning Folks!!



The only difference between a dream and the reality is action. The only difference between wishing and reality is action. The only difference between hoping and reality is action. The only difference between anything in life and reaity comes with action No action no results. No results mean you’re stuck. Bad results indicate you’re going in the wrong direction. Good results mean to keep on keeping on.



Two weeks ago today I decided to have this intimate get together in Asheville this summer. Then decided it would be better and more fun if a few more domainers showed up. So a new show was born. Going back to basics.



My dream was born in Asheville (and I hope to have your dream born in Asheville as well) the first time I went to the Biltmore Mansion. I was sitting at their outside cafe and the call came from Kaplan Educational in New York City came in on my Motorola Flip Phone. They had agreed to buy eScore.com for $100,000. Theory turned into reality for the first time. No longer was investing in domains some crazy idea. Now it was proven. And the fuel to go to the next step was re-ignited.



We have an agenda planned. Hope you like it it’s a work in progress. But it will be based around certain objectives that I will explain more in depth when a podcast I did the other day gets published.



Now it's official!! The contracts are signed the deposits are given and I must say it was an interesting sprint doing this in just 14 days. In 28 shows I produced with T.R.A.F.F.I.C., none ever went this smoothly or quickly.



Thursday, August 1, 2019...7PM-11PM Cocktail Party. Open Bar from 7-9 and lots of food!



Friday, August 2, 2019...11am-5PM General Session and Luncheon. What do you have? What's your dream? What's the one domain you have you can't believe you still have and should be a business? Where to from here? Hopefully, we will each introduce ourselves and in 5-10 minutes, tell us what you are about and where you are going. Just lay your cards on the table and allow the other great minds in the room mull it over.



When great people that have a degree of success in life actually know what they are doing and don't have an agenda get together, GREAT things happen! I have proved that many times over the years. This is T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2004 redux armed with 15 years of knowledge, progress, and more grey hair. A model I devised and others have copied and have lasted a long time. But it was always hijacked by sponsors that were worried about their bottom line but not our bottom line.



So, now after a 5-year show business retirement so that I could get out of the way of the gTLD noise, it is time to show and time to go back to the future! Trust that I have a good recipe or I would NEVER EVER ask you to leave the comfort of your home. Come armed to help others and you will help yourselves.



Friday Night August 2, 2019...8PM-9:30PM Asheville Ghost Tour



Friday Night August 2, 2019...10PM Until ??? The Asheville night life is unique and vibrant. You won't soon forget it. Asheville is also the capital of Rooftop Bars. So while everyone is on their own, we will be gathering at the best one in town!



Saturday Morning, August 3...9AM Incredible Breakfast Buffet at the Blue Ridge Dining Room. Not part of the official show agenda but if you decide not to sleep in or have room service, those that wish to have breakfast can group together at that time and continue the discussion.



Saturday August 3, 2019...1PM-5PM Asheville Micro Brewery Tour.



Saturday Night, August 3...10PM You are on your own with fellow investors to enjoy multiple music venues as well as the aurora of Asheville and maybe something sweet. I suggest a visit to the French Broad Chocolates. The line moves fairly quickly.



Sunday August 4, 2019...By now we have spent a lot of time together and discussed many things. Some folks will be staying a few more days or might come to Asheville early. Or maybe you just have some extra time. Here are the 5 things you might enjoy that the area is famous for.



  1. White Water Rafting. Some of the best anywhere.
  2. The Biltmore House.
  3. Exceptionally beautiful golf courses
  4. If you need to gamble, Harrah's is in nearby Cherokee.
  5. Exceptional and unique restaurants


I signed yesterday for $23,467 to put on this event. Win lose or draw.



Right now I have 25 folks indicating their intention to come. As you know, this is a SELF-FUNDED event. It is a NOT FOR PROFIT event. It is for the benefit of DOMAIN NAME INVESTORS! Those that come will share the expenses. All I am doing is fascillitating and financing.



As of right now, I am basing on just 50 coming and the shared cost is about $250 per person. However, that cost will be going DOWN, not up. We have a domainer friendly sponsor that will be helping out.



And speaking of sponsors, I think being selective is important. Any sponsor coming has to shut off the marketing pitch. This show is not going to be hijacked with your agenda. Look at it via our eyes and what you are going to do and help us with. We already know what you got. Now help us do some heavy lifting in a casual environment. This will not be a spam fest.



It takes the hotel about 2 weeks to set up our page to reserve the block of rooms at the discounted rate I negotiated. Shortly after that, I will set up a registration page, and away we go.



Rick Schwartz


Sales: The Art of Persuasion​​. Then SHUT-UP!


Morning Folks!!



Sales are about the "Art of Persuasion. Persuading someone with no interest to have great interest and eventually buy. Persuasion starts with a seed followed by reason and benefit. Not the benefit of the seller, but the benefit of the buyer.



The benefit of the buyer? How do I do that? I don't even know the person. Well, you ask questions. But you have to be delicate in the way you ask those questions. Again, you must have finesse. You may even go over the line, but you can reel yourself back in.



You don't sell by pandering. Pandering means you tell folks what they want to hear even tho you know full well you are lying through your teeth. Once a salesman is caught in a lie, GAME OVER! You lose. The hard truth will Persude. A hard truth instills trust. It gives credibility and even respect. Especially if the last salesman they talked to looking at whatever they were shopping for did not disclose whatever it is you did.



As long as a customer is asking questions and trying to stump you, you are on the path to a sale. Objections in a courtroom are not good. An objection in sales is like a steering wheel. You can't make a sale without it. You want them to throw everything including the kitchen sink at you. Once they run out of ammo, you got the sale. Just ask.



Selling is so easy once you learn to stop selling. Your job is to be factual, not to sell. Your job is to answer questions, not to sell. Your job is to expose your own weak points before the customer discovers them, not to sell. Your job only comes at the end. If you do your job well, the sale is as easy as asking for it at the very end. And when they say yes, and they will, SHUT-UP and WRITE!



Most so-called salespeople lose the sale after they have it! Why? They TALKED!! A good salesperson will never open his or her mouth again until the transaction is complete. SHUT-UP!!



The gTLD guys got me as their gadfly. WHY? Because they are some of the biggest liars, I have ever seen in sales in my life and I wanted to clearly separate myself from it. Have you EVER heard a gTLD guy expose their own weak points? Have you ever seen them explain the headwinds they might face or the pitfalls? The leaks? The 150 other Achilles heals I have exposed over the years? Nope! And that is why they will fail. They dd not persuade. They LIED and LIED and LIED! Lying is weak. It's also deceitful.



And since everyone is a friend, they just stand by and allowed it. They participated or turned a blind eye. They encouraged. The domain name industry was hijacked. The hijackers are dropping like flies now. Consolidation is happening and many will and ARE dying on the vine as I predicted. The truth always surfaces and the truth is the biggest persuader there is.



So, just like I can see the EXACT MOMENT that a salesperson loses the sale, I can also see the exact moment that this "Thang" all went to hell.



A Sale is about persuasion. Politics is about persuasion. Dating is about persuasion. Life is about persuasion. But if you LIE in any of those situations, YOU LOSE, and it all falls apart!! Wise-up!



Rick Schwartz


Historic Grove Park Inn Selected Host Hotel for 1st Annual Asheville Professional Domain Investors Meetup & Family Outing!!


Morning Folks!!



I just love when a plan comes together. I have envisioned a domain get together in Asheville for many years. Long before Asheville was a destination. Few ever heard of the place 15-20 years ago. Not an easy place to get to and back then very difficult. Today much easier and a few airlines fly non-stop right into the city.



The Grove Park Inn is the epitome of Asheville. This 106-year-old property is the only place I ever considered holding such an event. I have dreamed about it for years. I guarantee you will fall in love with this place and Asheville at the same moment. But what makes Asheville so very special is how creative the town and the people are. When you see what they have created, and it's all "Home-grown" I think it will help us develop our own creations. This is my "Field of Dreams" and I hope to make it yours as well.



The things that I am still taken aback with when I come to Asheville are George Washington Vanderbilt of the famous Vanderbilt family who built the largest privately owned home in the USA (you can tour the 175,000 sq. ft. home and the entire 8000-acre property) and the fact that Asheville has an incredibly large and cutting edge medical community. It's all homegrown and unique. Just like domaining.



The Historic Grove Park Inn. Host Hotel for Rick's 1st Annual Asheville Professional Domain Investors Meet-up & Family Outing August 1st-3rd 2019.


So, I am in the process of scheduling our Meet-up Starting the afternoon of Thursday, August 1st. Then followed by a "Working Luncheon" on Friday the 2nd. Friday night we will party in Asheville and Saturday we will end with a brunch and a fun-filled day of activities. That's the plan. It's not in stone. It's a framework until I know how many and how long folks want to stay.



As for the hotel, if you book a room direct today or at Hotels.com, it is $479. I will secure a group rate of at least $100 less per night. There are other hotels to stay in town and around starting at $150-$200. I have to personally guarantee 60 room nights to start, but the rate will only be available for 14 days once the hotel link is active. I will announce on the blog when the time comes.



August is their #1 month of the year. So if you are TRULY serious about attending, then booking early is critical. I have to limit attendance. I have no choice. I am not going to be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars as I have in the past. This is a dutch-treat event. There is no financial motive. We all pay our own way. But I still have to give personal guarantees and deposits. The rooms alone are $25,000 plus taxes, and the food is another $10 grand. That's just at this venue.



So you can help me take an initial head count of who would stay at the hotel and how many nights you would stay there. I am not out to make money on a get-together nor do I even want to touch the money. I want all payments made directly to the hotel. A truly self-funded event.



I am out for us to make history with domains. And this time it will stay focused on domains investors and furthering OUR SELF-INTERESTS not the agenda of others. It's my vision, and I hope you share this experience with me and others. But whatever your decision is, it must be made soon, and if you decide later on, I am going to have to say no, and I really don't want to do that. It's strictly first come, first served.



I am trying to keep this event private, small and compact. I am not looking for a job so I have a number in mind that is good for the hotel and works for me. If we exceed that number it becomes an ordeal and that is not what "This Years" meet-up is about. Bigger isn't always better. Qualified is! Also, attendees of the first meet-up have first refusal rights on the next one. As charter members, you should be recognized for acting early. Isn't that what REAL BUSINESS is about? What domaining is about? Recognizing the opportunity and seizing opportunity EARLY. Action is the main difference between those that have found success investing in domains compared to those still looking for it.



So, if you are sick of the noise, sick of the slick, sick of swallowing crap for the benefit of others, then it's time to go back to the future when it all began. Let's start anew armed with over 20 years of new information and progress. Let's each walk away with one or more new projects. We are in the mountains, maybe my famous 18-wheeler story will make more sense there because it was in those mountains of Asheville where it takes place!



This is a show by Domain Investors for Domain Investors. It's not a show where all these companies get stage time to push their wares or new gTLD's and domains, and domainers are pushed aside. If we have any sponsors at all (and it looks like we will), it will be to help us not sell us. And also lower the financial burden on attendees. I want to get it as close to free as possible! On the other hand, you will have expenses for lodging and travel. But if all goes well, the food and entertainment will be an incredible bargain as will the deals, relationships and progress made.



I often talk about our "friends" in the domain business and how we should be suspect. However, relationships are different. They don't start with an agenda or a motive. They don't start with one trying to sell the other whatever the hell they have. It's not an opportunity to do face spam. lol, those are NOT friends. They may be colleagues, they may be partners, they may be a lot of things, but friendship is not always one of them. Relationships start with like-minded professionals breaking bread and talking about need, want, desire and common points, or goals and see if anything dovetails. You compare findings.



If you look at my history and look at the history of Domain Investors, you will see that since before 2000 and my original chat board, I have brought folks together. Most friends and relationships in domaining started on my chat boards or at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Whatever some think of me, I have a history of changing lives for the better, and I'm not quite done.



So now that you know more details, you can email me directly. My email addy is on the left side of the page. As you can see with my original announcement and comments that follow, qualified folks are coming! I have a simple goal inspired by George Washington Vanderbilt, Let's make history!



Rick Schwartz


@DomainKing Rick Schwartz Returns to Twitter. Led Exclusively by Brand Protection.


Morning Folks!!



As some of you may know Valentine's Day was especially sweet this year. I can't go into the details, but Capitalism is alive and well. I was able to get my @DomainKing twitter handle and my trademarked name back on Thursday afternoon.



When I left Twitter on 12/312017, there was a note that in 30 days the account would be permanently deleted. However, if you are a verified user with a Blue Check, (which I was), you get 1 year. So I put a reminder on my calendar. 10 months later I tried to reactivate and no way Jose! Maybe I should have tried a direct contact but I don't have much faith in contacting twitter directly.



https://twitter.com/DomainKing/status/1096757072497205248


There are some advantages to having a new and clean Twitter account since anything and everything you say on Twitter can and WILL be used against you. So a Twitter re-birth may be a good thing!



Until the other day, I had been under the impression that once a twitter handle was retired it was never available again. That would have been okay and no need for me to get it back. But just like the 1-year deal, that was not true either. So once it was out there again, I had no choice but to secure it. It's embedded in me. Branding is about not having leaks. If the @DomainKing door does not exist there are no worries. But if the @DomainKing were to bring you to another destination, that is a huge branding faux paux.



Domaining for investing and having a "Domain Strategy" as an end-user is the holy grail of the Internet and what we all do. End-users have a DUTY to protect themselves in every way they can on the Internet. So that includes domains that are close or might be easily misspelled or are confusing.



That's why a gTLD without the corresponding .com exact math is DEAD IN THE WATER. They can point to whatever success they like, any funding they want but they are FOOLS, FOOLS FOOLS and they are FOOLISH when they IGNORE gaping holes in their branding strategy. Would you get on a ship with a captain that wants to leave port with a gaping hole, water pouring in and he just ignores it?? There is NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever! Both are fools and what does it say about professionals that don't realize something so SIMPLE??



For years there has been a battle between Facebook and Twitter. I have to anoint Twitter as the absolute winner as far as identity and business. Facebook is for the family. Everyone I see in print and TV uses their Twitter handle. 2 years ago it was not that way. Facebook led and Twitter was second string. No more! Facebook has been exiled and Twitter rules. The International conversation is on Twitter!



I have 5 pages and many years of blog posts about Social Media and the effects. The way to see the future is by calibrating the past and seeing how it dovetails with the current reality. You will see warnings from many years ago that are clearly evident today. You or I don't have to get it all right. But we do have to get the big stuff right. In business, Marketing, Branding, and SALES are the big stuff followed by LEAKS! Who ignores leaks?? FOOLS! And "Branding" is about circulation and how good your product or service is. My brand is my solid advice and different ways of looking at domains and business and being way ahead of the curve with a record of nearly 25 years. I add to my brand with every post or bit of info that helps me or my readers with valid and tried and true info or when events I predict long in advance actually materialize. On the record, for the record.



Rick Schwartz


What does “Studying History” have to do with Domain Investing? Here’s the PERFECT Example!!

Afternoon Folks!!

Many of you know Danny Pryor. Yesterday he left a comment on another post. But it deserves its own post along with my reply. It's not often you get to study history when it comes to the domain industry. Schwartz vs Schilling is now 5 years old. Don't you want to know the ending? It was a mystery back then, but much of the story is written today.

See what the landscpe looks like 5 years later. Nobody got it all right. What was said then and how it dovetails after you fast forward 5 years is priceless. It will make you money because it will calibrate all the things you have ever heard into a new form and formula.

Some of the comments will be absolutely mind blowing when you listen to it today. You will laugh your ass off.  Are you brave enough to go back and listen or are you an ostrich? Scared of history? You may hear what you want to hear. On both sides. Maybe you won't. Probably cut both ways. But if you are not brave enough to watch, you may leave some important knowledge out there that might have helped you starting right now.

Monte talking about .Tickets is kind of funny looking back. https://ntldstats.com/tld/tickets

Frank has some whoppers. I have my own.

Really, some of this stuff is hysterical looking back.

Danny said: "Perhaps it’s time to revisit a couple old videos, those original “debates” on the new gTLDs, as they were rolling out in 2013. This is TRAFFIC at the Ritz Carlton in Fort Lauderdale, by the way, so it’s nearly five full years since this event, which was dubbed “gTLD Madness”. Part I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYug6bPnDHU and Part Deux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsxteuqhv8. Enjoy! ;)"

My Reply: "Danny, I don’t think those invested in GTLD’s have the stomach to watch. See what was said THEN, and see how it dovetails with NOW! That my friends is how you STUDY history and don’t RUN and HIDE from history!!!"

Let’s see if ANY watch and see how many things they predicted actually unfolded.

Domains with value are like Gas stations. Gas Stations go on intersections. Intersections with traffic. They don't put many gas stations where there are no people in the middle of a swamp of an unknow town with no population.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

The Rick Schwartz Equation

Morning Folks!!

Go brew a pot of coffee, this is going to take a few minutes. What started as a simple equation blossomed into all types of adventures and mis-steps and examples in real-time that absolutely support my equation. An equation that may be all but lost in the clutter of events that just had great timing and so here we are. I think the word "Clusterf*ck" is just going to be more spot on with every passing day. I thought it would happen in very slow motion, but it is accelerating even faster than I would have imagined and I suggest there will be popcorn to replace the coffee by the end of this post.

We all see what we see and we all know what we know.  I come to conclusions early based on certain elements that fit in my personal equation. This equation filters out CRAP, HYPE and NOISE. It filters out the losers FIRST and spotlights the winners NEXT. That makes my job easier and pisses off the ones that don't win and/or don't count as much. Those folks have a tougher job to convince me and other people whether domainers or end users to buy into their vision.

Each new gTLD has or SHOULD HAVE a separate vision.  Is that not a reasonable assumption? I have learned many do not as stunning as it sounds. So is it my fault for asking about the "Vision" thing?

I have been writing this blog post for over 2 weeks now and I have been deciding whether to post it or not. Meanwhile I just keep working on it and whether it sees the light of day will just depend on who knows what. But events just keep unfolding that dovetail with what I have been saying.

I have written extensively about the new gTLD's EARLY to be on record and to be REAL and that showed a vivid difference in how and WHEN  I view the world compared to many others. And in my view of the world, nothing happens until a sale is made and I did my best to explain that. And while people throw around invisible sales numbers without actually ever making a sale, well, that is a MAJOR red flag to me. I know how hard sales is. I know how hard sustaining sales is. I know how hard growing sales is. I also know the difference between a solid sale and a weak sale. A sale that will survive and a sale that will collapse or end up being a loss.

I see things early for a reason and it is based on an equation.

I have gotten several emails about Moniker.com and their problems this week and folks want me to write about it. Well I did, 3 YEARS ago when I transferred all my domains out. It was not my first post on the subject as you will see. The Moniker mess happened 3 YEARS ago but the train wreck happened last week. Folks had AMPLE opportunity to heed the warnings. I still have about 14 domains there. Mostly .tel. But thousands were moved away. 

There will be a lot of elbows flying in gTLD land as we have seen with the firestorm of last week with Negari and Network Solutions, that just continues and now the plot thickens as Berryhill, Corwin, Negari and the ICA join others in the industry for a circular firing squad.

The skirmishes will intensify and broaden as there are a lot of competing interests. There are a lot of ponies in this horse race and the rails on either side are not enough to contain them. So you are going to see a vivid example of some raw nerves between other gTLD operators develop. You can't see this coming? Really?? REALLY????

Why is this a sure bet???

SALES BABY! SALES! They NEED sales. They are drowning without sales. They are choking for cash as it is in many cases. That is THEIR reality.

Not only that, but If you play in a game you set up with no rules, then don't complain when somebody breaks the rules or extends the boundary lines. Where does HYPE turn the corner and become DECEPTION? There are the nuances that are in play here. The debate is wide and the fallout is still in progress. The answers are murky. Deal with it. It's just part of the clusterf*ck that will play out in time.

I also understand that many bloggers are under a lot of pressure from different camps to write positive stories about them or gTLD's in general. Some have just about lost their entire credibility. Even Howard is pressuring me not to post things I am about to say. But I could give a rats ass about getting another sponsor or not. I won't sell my soul for that. If they can't figure it out, so be it. I will say what I BELIEVE and not what my FRIENDS want me to say.

Hats off to those like Konstantinos Zournas, MIke Berkens, Ron Jackson,  Kevin Murphy and others that report whatever facts they can find and I know for a fact that the pressure these bloggers are under is IMMENSE. And they are getting it from both sides. 

Sales have to be created and WE and everyone else has a RIGHT and a DUTY as well as an obligation to be skeptical if you are a serious investor.  You should EXPECT to have you feet held to the fire. Especially since we already had prior evidence that only a fool would ignore of how previous tld's have fared in our short history.

How do you create a sale?

You start with NEED, WANT and DESIRE. And in our case you can add SUPPLY and DEMAND. Other variables as well as you are about to see. And there are even more obstacles than I am going to discuss that is why I wrote so many posts coming at things from various ways and all of them had huge pitfalls. These are compounded obstacles and I am not sure any can survive them all. Especially when they are blind to them.

That said......

How do you create sales when you don't start with NEED, WANT and DESIRE from the right party and the supply is unlimited and the demand is almost non-existent and self-made??? And keep in mind, over 80% of all registrations are by domainers and the Registry's themselves or closely held companies. aka, Bag of smoke. Some say 90%. They say 33% and that is just laughable.

How do folks KNOW they need something they don't even know exists to begin with? This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exponential. Many icebergs because everyone at least gets hungry. Of course business may suck if you are a hamburger stand setting up shop at a vegetarian convention and you have no veggie burgers.

Hold on to your horses, it will all make sense soon to anyone that can have a warped thinking process like me.

This is NOT bashing gTLD's. It may as well be zoombibie stands. The RESULT would be almost the same.  What's a "Zoombibie stand"? A Zoombibie stand is as foreign and unknown to you as gTLD's are to the end-user.  Got that? Do you need one??? How long have you lived without a zoombibie?? Really?? Whose job is it to sell you that Zoombibie that you don't know about and probably could care less about? What color is yours? What happens when a competitor comes in and they have to SPLIT the zoombibie market?? Are only distributors buying zoombibies and they can't resell to the end-user?

The commodity you have does not matter. Coffee shops, hamburger stands. Lemonade stands, pizza joints. You name it. The thing with gTLD's, they are exponentially harder and few want to take the time to truly examine why.

The keyword is CREATE.

Zoombibie has to CREATE sales!

But to create sales, there has to be a DEMAND to begin with.

And you do that with REASONS.
REASONS are the SEEDS of PERSUASION.

(Reasons have to be valid. In sales, when you get caught in a lie, game over)

But first you have to CIRCULATE.

And you have to know how big your AUDIENCE is.

So that you can TARGET them properly.

Assuming there is DEMAND

We know there is DEMAND by several groups. The Registry, the Registrar and the speculative domainer. The speculative domainer is not the customer of the Registry as they have made pretty clear. But the same Registry is depending on the market makers who are the speculative domainers to make things happen. Sounds like a HUGE disconnect to me and many are starting to pay the price for that wrong-minded thinking process.


How big is the zoombibie audience? You still don't know what a zoombibie is? This isn't your grandfathers zoombibie. This is a much better and bigger zoombibie that will allow you to do more things. Just don't ask about what specific things they are. Way too deep.

Sorry for the caps in this post but this is more of an equation and a theory than paragraphs. And you also have to know that THEY (the consumer in any form they come in) are in control of all of their destiny's. If they don't eat the smelly fish or the rotten meat, the restaurant closes and goes out of business. PERIOD! No matter the hype.


Nobody on this planet woke up this morning looking for a zoombibie. But you NEED it because I said so. Isn't that a good reason?? 


Today alone we say .Berlin start giving their extension away for FREE! When you can't sell something, you give it away. They more than doubled their 48,000 registrations in less than 24 hours. EXPECT others to follow suit. That is definitely going to screw up the marketing plans of other registries that are already choking for cash. It gets UGLY from here on out folks. Can't see that one either?? REALLY??

 

So if you subscribe to this quasi-equation, and I do, then many will be able to see what I see and why I don't take MOST of the gTLDs seriously at this point in time.  That does not mean I am right and that does not mean I can't be PERSUADED.  But my job is not to persuade myself. That's THEIR job and they need many reasons that are VALID to get there. Tough questions are survived by straight answers and that is how you tell a solid and good product or service. Then I might buy a zoombibie. Right now, I can live without it. 


This just means that I have a method behind my handicapping that has served me well for decades and I am just sharing my mental process of one of the ways I might reach a conclusion or form an opinion. But that does not mean I can not be persuaded. But that only comes with solid information and benefits. A VISION that holds up against reality and scrutiny. Imagine a car salesman being afraid to answer questions about the vehicle he is selling. He wants to make a quick buck and you are looking for long-term reliable transportation. Not exactly a win-win. Once he lies about one thing, you can only do one thing. LEAVE! And that is exactly what most folks would do.


Someone wins, someone loses. If you invest unwisely LIKE SO MANY DO, you are going to be at the wrong end of that equation. As long as you are prepared and EXPECT to lose 100%, then you are okay. No worries.  But expect to lose 100% TIMES however many years you keep each domain name.


Folks want to hear what they want and they want to ignore what they want. Folks are afraid to state the obvious or even truly examine both sides to get to a proper balance without forcing the wanted outcome. To me .ceo,.rich and .horse are extensions that are in real danger of dying on the vine. They will be joined by many others. How can I be so certain??? Please just study the equation. It is a roadmap. Look at the STALLED daily registrations. .Rich has had THREE registrations in the last FIVE WEEKS! STUDY the numbers, they are pathetic at best. This is their debut. Demand does not look very high and a new broom sweeps clean.


Just days before the original launch in January I posted this on my blog about .Club and how they were the ones doing it right and now you can look back and see how it DOVETAILED with REALITY! It appears they have the most human placed registrations.


Figuring it out and getting it RIGHT EARLY counts and it is the equation above that makes picking winners and losers EASIER! Cutting to the chase has value. Knowing the answer before the question is asked has value. Great value in some cases. And I am not conceding that the most registrations = the most valuable gTLD or the one to invest in if any. But this is the yard stick many seem to be using for the sake of discussion. So it is our only measuring stick at the moment since there is little else to point to. Just keep this yardstick in mind as well. .mobi as a Registry is a total success. .Mobi as an Investment is a total failure. Can't folks LEARN and understand that equation?? I could give a rats ass about the success of a Registry. We are talking about investing. Until you separate the two, good luck going broke!


With 1400 new extensions those that think they will all survive and then also be meaningful are either not dealing with reality or have not been in business long enough to understand how business works. How sheer numbers work. So if they were to LOGICALLY look at the 1400, and right now we have about 125 LIVE, they can already see which ones are in DANGER of either dying on the vine, never getting any recognition or traction or just not being meaningful or relevant at all. PigeonShit gTLD's for a lack of a better phrase. This is the first heat of TEN segments to get to that 1400 number. I think I clearly picked the winner of this phase. Until I see the CONSUMER actually EMBRACE these new extensions, it's all inside baseball. The consumer hold all the wildcards.  There are several layers of consumers. But I am talking about end users and the actual person on the street.


So the first thing to do logically is remove the DEAD HORSES OFF THE TRACK!


Did you watch the race on Saturday? Imagine that race with 1400 horses in the SAME gate and the LOGICAL first question would be how many would be TRAMPLED in the STAMPEDE getting out of the gate!?? How many other horses will trip on the dead horses and also go down? Just logical questions. The ultimate question is who will win the race? I guess if you were LOGICAL you would say to yourself that I may not be able to pick the winner right away but if I pick the top 10 horses and isolate them I have a much better chance. Most bet on one horse and MOST lost. Even the gtld tracker tracks the top 10 and all the "Others" are lumped into one category. "other". Why?? Who came in 10th in the race n Saturday? Nobody knows and nobody cares.


And that means that 1390 gTLD's will be NAGS  Or maybe it will be 1300. Not a huge difference. Most will be meaningless is the only point I am trying to make. MOST. The majority. So that means they did not die on the vine, they are just as irrelevant as .aero and .travel are today along with many more that nobody wants to really invest in. How many times do you have to see the same SAD movie and still hope for a HAPPY ENDING?


How many want to bet on California Chrome to win the Belmont and the Triple Crown today? Place your bets! He LOST! Sorry. We all rooted for him to win. But he LOST. REALITY! See that is not being against gTLD's folks, that's called not being stupid and dealing with reality. We can do the what ifs all day long. But he lost. Yes, he lost because of a GASH inflicted by another horse and we will see that with gTLD's as well.  So if a gash did the damage to change history imagine what 1000 dead horses will do to change it.


Sorry folks. There is no happy ending to this movie. Get your Kleenex out!


And then all this wraps right back around to:

How do you create NEED, WANT and DESIRE?

The keyword is CREATE.

And you do that with REASONS and BENEFITS.

REASONS are the SEEDS of PERSUASION.

BENEFITS are what is important to your customer not what is important to the seller.

And you make the sale with a LOGICAL argument to support your vision.


What grade would you like to give the marketing so far folks? Invisible marketing seems to be on top of that heap don't ya think? If you don't buy into my zoombibie, you are a moron and you are old school and you are an idiot. lol. GREAT marketing!


Efficacy, the ability to produce a desired or intended result. I don't see that as a widespread ability when it comes to gTLD's.  Do you??


Besides all these GIVEN headwinds, it is my belief that many of these guys already missed their window of opportunity to market their extensions. As even Michael Berkens has said many times, these are the weaker extensions for the most part. So that means when they DID have their day in the sun they were incapable of taking advantage of THEIR "Unique Opportunity in time". The train is gone for many of them already. I hear they did not have the money to promote and all the rest. Whose fault is that? Whose lack of vision was that? Whose going to be holding the bag when it is all said and done?


Sure there were ICANN delays. Well in business you have to expect things like that and be prepared for it.


So that TRAIN leads DIRECTLY to consolidation. They can't see that one either?? Really? REALLY????


See in my silly view of the world I think it is unreasonable to see why .ceo would be a good investment because no coherent argument can be made for the viability and a REASON to PARK money there. And when the registry comes out with "Their" reasons, they don't dovetail with reality. Everyone laughs and dismisses.


Now I don't mean to pick on .ceo all the time but it is the most glaring example next to .Rich which is just too funny to even spend any time on. And I think .Horse has no better chance of being important and worthy to INVEST in as betting TODAY than California Chrome will win the Triple Crown last Saturday. In any test you usually look and set aside the top and bottom scores. .Web for me is the top score on the chart and .Rich is the bottom score on the chart for me.Actually the bottom is CRAMMED with losers yet to be declared DEAD ON THE VINE.


And let me also state for the record that number if registrations is not the yard stick for measuring success of ANY gTLD.


CONTENT is the key to the survival of any extension. And in this cases, BETTER content is going to be EXPECTED.  So when you look at this onion you can peel it so many different ways and into different conversations. Just be prepared to hold on to those as long as I have to hold on to .mobi. I have great keywords. Big deal!


And there are so many obstacles now after that. Consumer acceptance is always the key to any success. Beta was better. Did not matter. Ask Sony. So these obstacles and facts can even contradict each other. And my main point is the path forward is not straight it is splintered and the pitfalls immense. And as we have seen and as I have said for over a year now, one bad deed with one spills over to all. Anyone doubt that one now?? We have just seen the beginning of this show and the abuses. I am sure a site will pop up that will chronicle all the abuses that are taking place. I have already lost count. It WILL get MUCH worse.



I always started with my parents. They were my test cases throughout most of my life. They represented Mid-America and how the majority would react to any given new thing. Their input was more valuable than anyone else. So I do miss that part of my equation.



You can see once you talk about gTLD's one thing leads to another and the whole thing just has not been well thought out and with 1200 MORE to go, the ABUSE and the HYPE has not even started. I have written over a dozen posts just in regards to the horse race and how important and how hard it will be to pick the winners at THIS stage. And what happens to these "Weak" extensions when the strong ones like .web come to life?


We are an intelligent group and we get to ask tough questions and if folks don't like it because they have no answers, that is their choice. I say the numbers are pathetic. Let me define it with this. The day .Web comes to market (and I am not touting .web, but it is just the Odds on Favorite) is the day you will see pathetic defined.  That is an extension we will be counting by the millions and they will LIKELY have more registrations in the first few HOURS than all the gTLD's in the first few MONTHS. Just a FACT waiting to be BORN. Can't see it from here?? Really?? But you can see the value of gTLD's in 10-20 years?? Sorry, that dog won't hunt with me. Don't talk about 10-20 years when some folks doing the talking can't see 10-20 hours, days, weeks or months in front of them.


Is there money to be made in the new gTLD's by domain investors? YES.  But Registry's making money on YOU have nothing to do with your gamble/investment. Chances are more money will be lost 100 times over than made. We can only predict and see how things unfold. But ignoring and not examining all sides of an issue because of peer pressure...........really? Investors NEED to be skeptical regardless of the WANTS and DESIRES of others.


As I said yesterday and will repeat often: "NO DOMAIN INVESTOR has ANY OBLIGATION to support ANY new gTLD whatsoever, so don't buy into that nonsense. On the other hand the gTLD's have an obligation to treat domain investors a lot better than they have.  They need us not the other way around.


We had a superhighway come to be in the early 1990's. It was well thought out and had already been around for a very long time for military use. It had to work right. They built a super-duper worldwide interstate roadway system that changed the world. Now we have over a thousand interstates coming out and many have no real destination, direction or even a plan. If you go down one of those, you are GUARANTEED to run out of gas and you will have no money left to buy anymore. So as long as you are prepared and can afford to lose 100% or more of your investment, you are fine and good to go. But picking the winners is still the single biggest hurdle and only 10% of the extensions are now out. Multiply all the nonsense we have seen by 10 fold and you will see this will not be an easy road. A road that can only get harder to navigate and there are consequences most would just like to ignore and not talk about. Sorry, as investors we DO get to talk about it and your job is to address those concerns if you can.  And if you can't, just get out-of-the-way.


All that said, I will be looking and searching for successes and when I find one, I may place a bet or two. Time tells all and the shakeout we will see is absolutely, 1000% forseeable.  Maybe waiting until the dust settles is not the worst strategy as you will avoid being sucked in by the noise and hype. That way you get to sit back and enjoy the show. I DO NOT see gtld's as a threat. I have seen them as an opportunity from the get go. Brings a lot of eye balls our way. But on the way to opportunity, there is going to be a lots of events. Hype, noise, crashes, clusterf*cks and a lot of dead horses and it will eventually be known as SURVIVOR! Popcorn anyone?


And there is a flaw in this Rick Schwartz equation in this case. There seems to be no end to the pitfalls, obstacles and the dividing lines that are coming. Lots of folks entering the crossfire. Welcome to my world fellas.......better have a thick skin.



Rick Schwartz

The Walls of Jericho Fall on .xyz

Morning Folks!!

You can only ask questions and let folks answer them as they see fit. They get the rewards if it works and they suffer the consequences when it does not.

The minute I saw the answers by Daniel Negari to the questions posed, I knew his troubles had just begun and was about to get much worse. He just dug a deeper hole. My job was to let things unfold in a natural way and they did. There was little for me to say but to step aside and watch the implosion and the fallout as his non-answers would be picked apart by you the reader in the comment section and would cause the fury that would erupt as it did. My job was not to force the issue. But I could see everything that was about to unfold as it did the moment I read the answers. My very first thought was "The walls of Jericho are about to fall."

Mike Berkens has been writing about and discovered many of the goings on including:  "NSI is responsible for over 80,000 of the 96,246 registrations. If you netted out the NSI registrations .XYZ would have somewhere around 16,000 registrations which would have placed it around number 12 on the list.”

Others like Konstantinos Zournas have exposed this from the get go and he calculates they would be in 34th place not first.

I think folks like Ron Jackson, that has been covering Negari and .xyz for a while, feel duped.

Many others had their say as well and opinions are VERY strong.

I only posed one follow-up question and it went like this: "My only question is did you know about the network solutions deal in any way shape or form?" And I got the standard NDA answer.

I think the NDA violation would have been less damaging than the fallout already suffered by both these companies. 

I thought Negari would have come here and fielded the questions and concerns. I think not doing so only hurt his cause further inside the domaining community and made the firestorm much worse and will last much longer. I have been in this business a very long time and I don't think I have ever seen this level of anger by so many different corners of the industry. They feel as if a hoax as been perpetrated on them and the anger has grown each day that it has continued.

And when it comes to Network Solutions, they have done damage akin to Moniker years ago. I think they both need to DESTROY the NDA and come set the record straight. I think the one with most exposure is Network Solutions and where is ICANN?? No NDA is worth pissing away your reputation for.

I just hope when the next gTLD tries to pull something cute, the outrage is just as great. Friend or foe. RIGHT???

Now you KNOW what HYPE looks like in the RAW form but don't think for a minute that others are lily-white. Please! The shenanigans are way over the top. My advice, stop the bullshit and run clean businesses before you are ALL linked by the belly button. So stop the clawbacks and make sure you speak out loud the next time that happens.  It did not affect me personally but I think the practice is absolutely disgusting and I will continue to bring it up.

I guess it will be a few more days before they really get to 1 million registrations.

Lastly, NO DOMAINER has ANY OBLIGATION to support ANY new gTLD whatsoever, so don't buy into that nonsense. On the other hand the gTLD's have an obligation to treat domainers a lot better than they have.  They need us not the other way around.

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Rick Schwartz