I’m writing this as the .VC tld is about to try to get their domain extension on the .CO and .IO bandwagon with a deep discount sale. While these are technically ccTLDs (Country Code Top-Level Domains) and not actual ngTLDs (New Generic Top-Level Domains), they, along with others like .TV, .ME, .GG, .AI and the afore mentioned .CO and .IO. have been repurposed into more generic non-geo-specific domain extensions (although some have been repurposed into very narrow specific niches not much wider than their original geo-specific intent).
Over the last year or so we’re seeing an increased number of particularly .CO, .IO and .AI domains start to sell into the 5-figures. Some even high 5-figures. A couple of weeks ago a domainer sold two .VC domains within a day at about $5,000 each and created a fairly big buzz (the likely reason the .VC registry is trying to take advantage of the publicity by doing a big discount promotion).
Whether coincidence or exploitation, this fact the .VC registry is about to start a discounted sale on new registrations of their domains in turn leads me to write this very strong warning to all domain investors not just about .VC domains, but about most of these “repurposed” ccTLDs and even ngTLDs in general …
The big problem with these extensions is that when one of their domains do sell in the 4 and 5-figure range, it becomes big news. But deceptively does not make “the news”, is the fact that it’s almost only exclusively the very strongest one-word domains that sell at these levels and frequencies.
Continue reading “WARNING: The ngTLD and ccTLD Fallacy and Trap”