Out of the “landrush” of .TV domains a couple of weeks ago one of the biggest remaining issue is the disparity of those “premium” .TV domains registered before Enom lost its exclusive rights with Verisign, the .TV registry, to sell .TV domains, compared to all those domains sold after March 18, 2010.
I have one such of these domains, Great.TV
I have had that domain for several years paying $3K PER year for the rights to own the domain.
A quick e-mail to Enom confirmed what others were already saying on NamePros.
If you have the misfortune of having one of these Pre-landrush (March 18th 2010) domains, you will have to keep paying the annual premium fee to retain your domain.
If you fail to pay the renewal fee, the domain will drop and become available to anyone else.
However, and here’s the kicker, it seems the new owner won’t have to pay the annual outrageous renewal fees you’re paying.
Instead the domain, will be available in most cases for a one time payment, similar to what we saw two weeks ago.
So what would great.tv sell for if I let it drop and it became available for re-registration?
According to Name.com $435.
Right a one time payment of $435 would get you the domain Great.tv which I’m paying $3K per year to own.
After the one time payment of $435, it would then be subject to a normal renewal fee around $20 a year.
So how can Enom charge me $3K to renew a domain that would SELL for a $425 one time payment to someone else?
No logical reason.
It can’t be justified.
Nothing that would stand up in court.
Yet they are dead set on taking this impossible position.
For me its only one domain.
Other domainers have 5, 10, 20 or hundreds of previously “premium” domains they have invested thousands, ten’s of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in, only to see equally or better domains go from a previous $50K per year renewal fees to a $1,500 one time payment.
Its great if you made the $1,500 one time payment to get the domain on or after March 18th, but if you spent a LOT of money renewing these “Premium” domains, year after year, before that date, only to realize if you let them drop they would be available to be purchased by someone else for a one time payment, of just a small percent of what you have been paying as an annual renewal fee, you have to appreciate it would piss you off.
Big time.
How about the poor guy who owns porn.tv.?
If he dropped the domain it would become available for re-registration.
What would the cost be?
$1,158
A one time payment of $1,158 would buy the domain porn.tv.
What do you think that guy has invested in annual renewal costs since 2000 when it was first registered?
Must make the owner of that domain extremely unhappy
Can anyone say class action?
Don’t take my word for it check out Name.com:
Not sure I see any legal claim in it. You’ve agreed to $3000 per year. Selling it to someone else for far less if you don’t renew doesn’t break any law. Personally I’d say drop it. The name isn’t worth that renewal.
This is really an unfortunate event and a wallet-ripper. I understand your frustration. Personally, I would never invest in any domain where the registration and renewal price varies depending on the keyword.
I agree with snoopy. No claim here, you agreed to the fees when you purchased it
Much like buying a car and then they drop the price $3,000 next week – if you want to keep the name then you pay what you agreed otherwise you take the chance of letting it go to get it back at current pricing. Seems like normal business to me. Fair .. no, but the worlds not fair.
None of these .tv names are worth $3,000 a year imo
^ Snoopy aka TROLL.
This troll has been trashing the .TV tld for years and advises everyone to drop their .tv domains. He spends all his time trolling in .TV forums & blogs telling domainers their .TV domains are worthless.
FWIW, glad someone made a blog post about the premium renewal fiasco. If Verisign doesn’t make an announcement soon, it will derail the .TV relaunch they have been working so hard on.
In some cases the registrant will prefer to continue paying premiums rather than lose the domain. In this case, it might be easier to drop and attempt to re-register the domain. Even if someone else snatches it before you do, you could offer to buy it from them for far less than you would have paid in renewals over the next few years. While many domainers review .TV drops, I doubt many will be fighting to pay even $435 for Great.tv. Just my opinion. In regard to the figures being quoted by Name.com for domains which have not yet dropped, I’m not sure how accurate they are. How can you put a price on something which is not even available yet?
Anti-Troll
“it will derail the .TV relaunch they have been working so hard on”
Come on. The only purpose of this relaunch is to get more NON-domainers to buy names
They already sucked domainers in to investing $1,000’s of dollars a year into “premium” names which made a lot more sense than selling names to the public since the bulk of any new registrations are by domainers and when the initial investment is so high for some of these domainers will always tend to renew these since they are so far in alredy.
I would take 10,000 names at $3,000 a year over 300,000 new registrations at $25 a year any day.
The time has come for Verisign to simply play the numbers game again.
Maybe this time the goal is get another 50,000 names sold at $500 (2.5M) average instead of 500,000 at $25 a year (1.25M)
Whatever the numbers here its easy to make money here by selling less and you will always have domainers trying to pump the value of these names since they have the most invested.
The only value in .TV is the business plan imo
I bet you can’t name 10 .tv sites which are actually popular.
I have a few premiums and will be dropping some …
they will keep milking the cows for every drop instead of growing the extension.
I have a simple question: based on what I see on Great.tv does it make $3k+ a year from being parked?
Anthony
Good question.
I know the figures are accurate because I picked up some .TV domains after the renewal fees dropped and the current stated prices by Name.com are identical to the amounts I paid 2 weeks ago.
Acro
Probably not $3 a year parked much less than $3K per year.
However my post is not intended just for me to bitch about my one domain.
The post’s purpose is to highlight this important issue that is hanging over the .TV extension and which effects a LOT of domainers.
No there is no class action sorry. First off you need $5million in damages for class action.
#2 where were you misled ? I don’t like it but I was never misled. On a certain date you were offered the premium price that you paid. To think there would be no change in the pricing was foolish.
This is a customer service matter. Let me ask do I go after Comcast who is providing my neighbor the same exact service for 40 %less than what I pay ? Plus a free tv giveaway. No because they are going after new customers. What about someone who bought a blackberry for $200 and now the same store where my friend bought one a year ago is offering it for $49 plus get one free.
Again, this is nonsense IMO but lets keep the conversation going in the right direction. There were no laws broken. Two tier pricing LEGAL, offering domains cheaper at a later date, LEGAL.
So this comes down does Verisign care to piss off customers who have supported the extension. Again its been two weeks so we will see but to think a company that moves as slow as Verisign would move right away is not logical IMO.
Michael I have been tweeting about this and have made a lot of calls I think something may get done but again Verisign moves slow.
You are correct we had Name.com verify that those were the prices if you dropped. Some make sense others don’t. I own Tea.tv premium $250 if I dropped it it would be $2784 one time. So no sense and I would never drop the name anyway. But Orlando.tv at $4000 a year would be $584 makes sense. Although there would be competition so the registrant not guaranteed to get the name.
It will be worth watching after the SEDO auction. Again IMO
Alan wrote:
“I would take 10,000 names at $3,000 a year over 300,000 new registrations at $25 a year any day.”
10,000 names @ $3,000 year = $30,000,000 year.
Do you really think Verisign is making that much off .TV premiums per year? If you wish to keep pulling numbers out of your ass without any research or logic to back it up, feel free. Go ahead and make up stats to make yourself feel better. If you don’t want to buy any .TV names because you see no value, then don’t buy any. I’m happy for you.
To Alan’s comment of naming 10 popular .tv sites
Mlb.tv
Tu.tv
Justin.tv
Tnt.tv
Five.tv
GM.tv
Mercedes-Benz.tv
Pandora.tv
Bodyrock.tv
Excercisetv.tv
H2o.tv
Sail.tv
Wfn.tv
TheUnderwaterchannel.tv
Mtv.tv
Nebraska.tv
Beet.tv
Blip.tv
6.tv
Hollywood.tv
Just in the first minute that I could think.
Wow anti-troll – what happened, your wife cheat on you tonight?
Relax man
I was using numbers as an example to show how the business plan behind charging more is much more profitable than than going after consumers and .TV is the perfect example of this
I have no idea what verisign makes with .TV names and don’t really care but the fact is with any extension it takes the embracement by developed sites to add value to theses domains and .TV has never gone anywhere
What verisign has done different than anybody else is charge these premiums so why do they care if .TV ever gets really popular besides domainers gambling year after year – its already probably the profitable extension outside of .com .net and .org for a registry
How this relates to value to end users – it doesn’t since most will never visit a .TV in thir lifetime much like .EU’s
I’m not a hater of .TV just realistic – all these secondary extensions are nothing but gambles
Everything.TV
Nice list but ask anybody that’s not a .TV investor for 10 sites
That’s the real test and most everyone will fail
You are correct Alan .tv is certainly not .com or .org. And should be no more than 10% of portfolio IMO. I can say there was opportunity int extension back in 2004 when I regged Lcd.tv for non premium fee and sold for 150 Fold. Took $500 of that and bought a premium Six.tv the name made $200 a month ppc at the time. Sold for $25,000.
The new pricing is providing an opportunity for the first time in a few years. Plenty of people are getting offers, I have people emailing me to broker some of their new names. We brokered Broadcast.tv last year for $10,000 and that was easier since it had $50 renewal coming off the HRTS auction.
The two tier needs to get fixed IMO so the extension can move forward on a level footing. Again IMO
I would say and I ask a lot of non .tv people they will name, Tnt.tv, Justin.tv and Hollywood.tv. They see two of the 3 on tv all the time.
By the same token when I ask people have they heard of .tv, .info and .biz more say they have heard of .tv.
“^ Snoopy aka TROLL.
This troll has been trashing the .TV tld for years and advises everyone to drop their .tv domains. He spends all his time trolling in .TV forums & blogs telling domainers their .TV domains are worthless.”
///////////////////
I’ve been telling people for many years that the vast majority of *premium renewal* .tv’s are not worth anything, despite people paying thousands per year for them.
My view is that if people like .tv they should drop those names and buy the new regular renewal premiums. That is along way from your claims of me telling “everyone to drop their .tv domains”.
“FWIW, glad someone made a blog post about the premium renewal fiasco. If Verisign doesn’t make an announcement soon, it will derail the .TV relaunch they have been working so hard on.”
/////////////////////////
It won’t derail anything, it will annoy holders of the old names but the reality is they made a bad decision to register those names, it isn’t Verisign’s fault.
Enom is a Demand Media company that are crushing it in the made-for-search content arena. But they’re taking a lot of flack for pumping out crap content and paying producers almost nothing for it http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_demandmedia/all/1
Demand CEO, Richard Rosenblatt championed .tv and then completely dropped the ball– remember the Me.Tv platform?
It seems absolutely unconscionable to me that Enom would be treating its best costumers–the early adopters who believed in .tv and paid the high reg fees– with such obvious contempt. My suggestion is to target Rosenblatt directly.
Here’s my tweet:
I’m calling #bullshit on @demandmedia Richard Rosenblatt’s new .tv price schedule–Punishes earliest and most loyal customers @demandrichard
too big screenshot
The price uncertainty and the terrible management from both verislime and enom are the main reason this extension never took of , and it never will , their last attempt ” to little to late” or ” last kicks of a drowning extension” .
Next year drops will be masive (why hidding the number of regs)
One thing that bothers me is people claiming to have special renovations deals… to bad if true.
Furthermore while all this “shenanigans” are happening at the domainer level the fact is “end users” remain clueless about the extension…
a sale here and there probes nothing.
(nor 10 popular sites…yawn)
Domo
“”One thing that bothers me is people claiming to have special renovations deals… to bad if true.””
Absolutely true.
Many .TV holders made special deals to buy out the annual renewal premiums.
Also some domainers were tipped off about this change that came down on March 18th and were waiting for the big release.
Also some people that were tipped off about the change got some last minute deals before the big drop
Develop the name and talk about how GREAT enom is.
Holy cow, 3k a year renewal fee for that! – EEEEK, so what fee are they charging for something like a city or country .TV ?
Pretty shitty of them to list it as only worth $435 when you’re paying them 3k per year reg fee !!!, that’ll make it far harder to get your money back if an enduser sees that when they check if its available.
…please tell me this is an April fools joke.
Gazzip
Not an April Fools Joke
Thanks for speaking up on behalf of premium .TV domain registrants – whom I’m sure will be boycotting the Sedo auction.
Jon,
I will bet no one will boycott the sedo auction because of this … Thats why the .TV guys don’t really care much about this debate imo. Domainers will pay, just like they have every other time.
Its a great time to have rights to any extension – lots of fools out there.
Alan you are 100% correct, those who own old premiums are still bidding in the Sedo Auctions.
I agree no one will boycott the sedo auction because of the treatment of domains on the premium domains
“I will bet no one will boycott the sedo auction because of this … Thats why the .TV guys don’t really care much about this debate imo. Domainers will pay, just like they have every other time.”
Yep. Most of them have been buying like crazy over the last few weeks. When it comes to the potential for making money nobody is going to boycott anything.
The new pricing structure is definitely an improvement … and long overdue too. I happen to agree with MHB. The initial investors in .TV should be the FIRST people to benefit from the reduced registration fee. To force them to retain the domain at the original renewal price excludes them from a benefit that they have earned imo. Come on, these folks were the ones who took the greatest risk, paying a premium for years, and actually propping up the extension via the high annual renewal fee.
.TV has always been a very good extension with excellent potential. It’s a logical tld with its best days ahead of it. With some pricing predictability on the horizon, .TV can now begin to grow.
I have no inside info, but I do believe they will work out a buy-out deal with existing premium holders.
I am on both sides here. For example, have England.tv, for standard renewal, Spain.tv at $1,000 premium. It will be interesting to see what names such as Japan.tv and Germany.tv sell for at Sedo.tv. I believe there is a chance to could hit $100K each.
Thanks, Jim
Jim
I have no inside info either, but if they are going to “work out a buyout deal” its only because of the pressure put on them from domainers, forums and blogs
Mike,
There are many of us that are really pissed off and we are going to put pressure on them and won’t let up.
Everytime I see Chris Sheridan, who is a great guy, I tell him the only thing holding .tv back is the premium renewals and I talked to him at DomainFest about this as well. I don’t know how much power he has but he did agree. Than the positive changes on March 18 took place. Did the pressure from me and others regarding this had anything to do with this? I don’t know but it could of who knows?
I will continue to do the same regarding existing premiums. We need to keep the heat on. We have a big following at Namepros.com who are very proactive on this.
Thanks, Jim
Yeah, everything is justified… right… Did any of you people noticed that every .tv domain website has dropped on search results for more than 100 places! Hotels.tv for example, they were 1st, and now you can’t find them in first 100!
Anyone has proper explanation?
I’ve heard the ‘story’ about the sinking island of Tuvalu, that is causing big drop of .tv domain websites on search engine results… and lot’s of similar nonsense… Can’t believe this is happening to one of the great domain names!
Can’t find the reason, if anyone knows anything please, please let me know…
thanks!
@Lemings,
Is that just in the United States or worldwide?
Worldwide my man,
I have websites hosted in Europe, and I’m experiencing this search engine constriction here as well!
I do not know what is going on, business is going down, not just for me, but for all the people who invested effort to build great .tv websites!
Do you know anything about this phenomena?