.London which launched last week has just over 39,00 domain name registration in the zone file as of today, which many regard to be less than impressive.
The population of London’s metropolitan area is the largest in the EU with a total of 13,614,409.
So out of over 13 Million residents not counting all the businesses and organization in the area, 39,o00 registrations isn’t that terrific in my opinion.
Minds + Machines is operating the registry with active cooperation from the city.
We got a hold of the .London premium domain list.
The premium domain list for .London totals over 66,200 domain names, and here is the list:
Premium .London List(excel)
So with over 66,200 domain names, the number of Premium Domains outnumbers the amount of registered domain names.
There may also be and most lightly is a reserved list in addition to the premium list containing possibly thousands of more domains.
Not a good sign.
When the a registry has a premium priced list of domains that outnumbers the registered domains by a factor of almost double that spells trouble.
Premium .London domains are being sold like Donuts strings and all other Minds + Machines strings, at premium registration and annual renewal prices.
The price of a normal non-premium .London domain registration on Godaddy is $41.99.
The lowest premium priced domain I found was Mp3.London which is at $92, not bad until you see that the domain CdPlayer.London is priced at $499.99 a year.
Hum.
Do they even sell Cdplayers anymore?
Why would an old technology product be priced more than 5x as the cost of a shorter domain with current technology?
When customers see prices that have no relation to the other, it puts into question all the premium prices.
On the other hand a domain like d0r.london (the letter d the number 0 and the letter r) is priced $104.99 a year or 2 1/2 times the cost of a normal registration as is all sorts of three character combos of letters and numbers.
Basically every three character .London domain seems to be on the premium list including one’s with numbers and letters mixed.
So lets just say this;
00j.london (the number zero repeated with the letter j) F8G.London, and thousands of others like them are not premium domain names.
You would be lucky to get anyone to register those domain for the normal registration fee much less than 2 1/2 times the cost.
Lets look at some other premium domains:
fenwaypark.london is premium priced at $209.99 per year. Of course Fenway Park is located in Boston not London, so while the domain its definitely a “premium” domain in .Boston extension not so much for .London
The domain breastfeeding.London has a premium annual price of $599.99
I have no idea of how that domain relates in anyway to the city of .London and why it would be a Premium domain priced at 15 times the cost of a normal .London domain registration
Cocaine.London is priced at $2,099.99 a year.
Admittedly I have only been to London once for a couple of week but I’m assuming its illegal to sell cocaine in London.
Not only should a domain name like Cocaine.London not carry a premium price but it should have been blocked by the registry so the domain could not be owned by anyone.
Which brings us to another issue which is whether consumers will accept .London to be an extension closely alligend with the interests of the city to bring more commerce to the city and make the city a better place to live and raise families.
A registry, especially one which represents a city, in my opinion needs to have a very large list of prohibited terms.
Domain names like Childporn.London and NakedChildren.London both of which are available for normal registration prices, should have been blocked by the registry. The N word .London can be registered.
Failing to block highly offensive domains is one issue.
Charging a premium price for the domain names, makes it many times worse.
Check out some of these “premium” domains:
Hate.London $599.99 a year.
Terrorist.London is priced at $559.99 a year
Bomb.London is priced at $559.99 a year
Explosions.London is priced at $559.99 a year
Isis.London is priced at $559.99 a year.
Analsex.London is priced at $559.99 a year
Blowjobs.London is priced at $1,049.99 a year
Attack.London is $1,049.99 a year
Rape.London is priced at $2,099.99 a year
Guns.London is priced at $2,099.99 a year and I thought it was illegal for private citizens to own Guns in the UK.
Fucking.London is priced at $5,599.99 a year.
I can’t image the city of London is thrilled if anyone winds up owning these domain names and puts up sites around them.
The fact that they are making a big profit off some of these domains names makes it even worse.
.London is off in my opinion to a slow start and didn’t help themselves by placing domains on a premium list which are clearly not premium.
Allowing domains to be registered that can only embarrass the city, and reduces the credibility of the registry and charging extra money for many such domains in a venture where the city gets a share of the revenue makes it even worse.
This is the “make everything premium and worry later”. See who bites and act accordingly.
Mike,
yeah, if you do a city TLD that’s one of the first exercises: Create a blocked list. We had a blocked list for .berlin already as early as 2005.
I do not agree that names like rape.london or cocaine.london should be locked away. Instead those should be awarded to applicants who use them to EDUCATE the public. You won’t “hand out” the domain – they can just use it. So you can retain control if things go wrong.
rape.london could be redirected to rasasc.org.uk for example!
These would be also EXCELLENT marketing instruments – and eventually picked up by the media; eventually creating awareness for the TLD brand.
I am consulting cities in regard to the offers they receive for the 2nd gTLD round. All they get offered is usually a percentage in profits – and as much as most cities are in debts the higher this percentage the more favorable the deal looks. But: What’s 70% of almost nothing? What’s with everything other than the profit? The active management of a city TLD has so many aspects – and cities usually have zero in depth knowledge what to demand – it’s a challenge. A city TLD is YOUR cities identity online. Maximizing the registry operations profit shouldn’t be the only priority. You want to maximize the benefits for your city and its constituents. It’s part of your infrastructure. Which other part of your cities infrastructure creates a positive revenue stream (other than maybe the Airport – and not even these always do)? None. They all cost. Why should your city gTLD all of sudden be a cash cow?
I am thinking about city TLD management since a full 10 years now (we started .berlin in autumn 2004) – and have spoken to a myriad of people who are acting as guardians of cities in many countries (including btw in the USA). This first wave of city TLD’s is kind of a “test” – the early adopters. From their experiences and mistakes the next wave will profit. A city TLD can be your “Poster Child”; or can be a “whore”. Some cities will learn that the hard way.
Alexander Schubert
The official gTLD for one of the World’s only two Alpha++ cities (the other one being NYC) managed in a very unprofessional way… ridiculous!
Wow, i wasn’t following .london pricing at all. I cant believe they are screweing people that much, with such pricing scheme no wonder they let everyone register. I feel rather then optimizing development of sites, they are limiting it due to the obscene premium name list.
NYC has i think few thousands premiums, i know i gotten a number of 3 letter good domains for reg price. Since .nyc sells everything for reg price.
If .nyc did similar pricing to .london i likely would have very limited participation in it to a large amount. I feel they are doing money grab, rather then development for .london , get money upfront and see what happens later. When somebody have to pay 1k+ pounds a year for an ok domain, thats an extortion.
Alexander
Domains like Cocaine and Rape can be used for a good purpose, but they need to be reserved by the registry so the registry can control who those domains go to under an agreement that insures that they will so be used for “good purposes” ongoing.
Also you can’t charge someone over $2,000 a year for the privilege of educating the public or doing good with such a domain.
Mike,
You seriously think someone would use rape.TLD for cocaine.TLD for some illegal purpose? That would be idiotic unless of course you are holding some of these name to sell to some loser. Be realistic here…blocking common bad words as domain names does nothing. A registry can block rape.TLD but then where does it stop? Should therapist.tld also be blocked or do you think a qualified therapist might actually want that name…at a premium? Rather, just make the name expensive…so no one would actually buy it…there are multiple ways to protect a TLD but you seem to be short sighted because you view this purely from a domain investment point of view. I say good for London for making all 3-character names premium and good for them for making some of these others available at a premium price…if someone truly wants those names then they will have to pay for them won’t they…then who benefits?
Paid for a .london preorder at enom, won the pre-order it had multiple bidders, so namejet auction email sent, pre registered for namejet auction, then .london pulls auction, and puts domain up for sale at $955 per year?
Zany
I have seen a lot of bad stuff out on the net. I have no idea what someone might or might not use the domain for, but the registry in my opinion should have reserved those domains and made sure they got into the right hands and not put it on the open market and allow anyone who wants to spend over $2K a year on them to register those domains, no good will come from it.
This is not a purely for profit registry. Its the extension for the city of .London and the city and its citizens would have been better served if these domains went to protection and other non–profits for free.