There are many opinions on what’s right and what’s wrong with the domain industry. In this post give your comments on what you think needs to be changed about the domain industry. What do you see as the most glaring problems or concerns?
If you have suggestions for fixing them, please add that as well.
Keep it respectful, no ad hominem attacks or accusations you cannot prove.
One word: ICANN
Consistently wrong policy choices are being made there, which not enough domain name registrants are following. Perhaps an alternative description of what’s wrong would be another word “APATHY”. The folks doing bad things often rely upon the apathy of others….
ICANN always thinks that it’s not their problem, for everything.
You are so right about the “apathy” factor.
I think one of the biggest problems outside the domain industry is that domain investors are “squatters”, hence why so many uninformed individuals and firms file UDRPs without realizing the consequences. Case in point: the Danish flower entrepreneur who filed a UDRP for Queen.com (a domain Rick has had for several years). Why are domain investors called “squatters”, while real estate investors who purchase prime property that they may not develop, and intend to sell in the future “astute investors”.
The people I’ve met in the domain industry comprise attorneys, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, investors, marketing mavens, journalists, engineers…. and come from all over the world.
So maybe one of the biggest problems is perception of the industry by persons outside the industry.
The term squatter is you get something for free. If you pay for a domain you cant be called a squatter as you legally bought it.
If in a UDRP they use the term squatter you should ask for a correction to be included and the word squatter should never be used in domain dispute as it does not meet correct criterior.
a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land. that does not own that land or building. The fact you buy the domain you cant be a squatter.
The biggest problem in domain industry is, most business entities haven’t know the power of domain names. They made companies, and not secure the match names.
So who collects the domain names? Domainers…
Only small parts of registered domains are used by end users. They bought the match .com name when started going global, at very high prices…
So speculators are offered the domains in very high prices. And when new GTLDs launched, the good names are also very expensives.. Most money is playing only in drop catch service, registry and registrar.
I see most good .coms are directed to Sedo or parked. Most start ups are using .net, .co, co.uk, .cc, bad GTLDs, or even pigeon s*** .coms.
So domaining is mainly a game between domainers and domainers… Some one in this industry has to create a way to make end users aware about the power of domain names.
You nailed it.
The biggest problem I see is the lack of good resources to sell auction /domains with fair exposure
Good one.
To fix some issues:
Get rid of udrp
Change verisign/icann policy so you don’t have to place a phone number in whois section of your domain name
Make it mandatory for web developers/web development companies to not be able to accept payment up front, but rather the funds be stuck in escrow until work it satisfied completely.
Take the monopoly out of google, so search advertising money pool is not just floating around with one search engine
Allow to renew a domain for longer than 10 years
A full on development, honest and open website that records all data for domain name sales
30 day auctions so they see more visibility and the final price should require some funds from buyer in escrow to reduce non payments
Taking down googles bad view on domainers and the bad image of domain parking as a domain name while in ownership/registration should be able to have relevant ads that the owner and ad provider agree upon
More developments and growth in web developing
That would be a good start to improve the industry for everyone, rather than making it happy for a seldom few and annoying the heck out of everyone else
UDRP needs reforming, but getting rid of it without having something to replace it would be a mistake – it serves a purpose – i.e. disputes happen and they need resolving.
But, as with court, there should be consequences to losing and further consequences to a finding of RDNH – if the domain owner loses there are consequences, they lose the domain. So if the complainant loses there should also be consequences – e.g automatic compensation as a percentage of the domains value.
There are too many UDRPs being filed by those who don’t know what they are doing, or just purely speculatively.
I agree to disagree.
Look it’s just like gambling (almost) which way a udrp decision goes. Just based on someones thoughts. Regardless of fundamental things like how long the domain has been owned for, how much it was bought for, why it was purchased.
I know your all probably thinking that some decisions like queen.com are pretty crystal clear, but I’m saying these things shouldn’t ever happen. Why should the owner of queen.com have to go through the process. ??
Until there is a better way, such as people coming to the grieving fact that some good domains are to stay with the original owners, udrp should cease.
Domain theft is different, have organizations tackling real issues. But not who has a right over another over owning a domain name.
Do you go crying to the government or these type of people if you want a particular piece of real estate because you think you have some reason over the ownership of the property, no you don’t. You just have an option to offer money and that’s it. If the person doesn’t want to sell. You can’t have it. Simple.
And domain names should be the same.
You’re ignoring the existing and Intellectual Property Rights, Trademarks and Copyright
If somebody else has registered your Trademark, there needs to be a way to dispute that – may be the courts is the best place, but there needs to be a way.
If someone grabbed a piece of land that belonged to you and build on it, YES you would go “running to the Government” (aka the Law) to get it sorted out.
Some people try to trademark popular business like hotels, aviation. How some one can dispute domain name with keyword hotel and hotels because he has a trademark with word hotel.. I know it can be a trademark in Hilton Hotels, Trump Hotels, but Hotels? It is not only some one business. Since 1800-an there were hotels every where, how can it is trademarked?
Okay you have a fair point about trademarks. I agree there should be a better way to solve domain problems than the udrp process where it seems that people are losing domains left right and centre.
If the domain is registered before a trademark then that domain belongs to the original owner period. It gets murky where multiple people own trademarks on the same term and the domain owner could have it parked to use for a totally different idea. That’s what I was trying to say earlier in not so many words.
In regards to the land building example, you would think that to build on a piece of land you would have to show rights to the land before building.
Anyway udrp is not the solution to domain disputes and the industry needs a fairer way of dealing with this issue. Reverse high jacking should be a criminal offence for starters.
The courts system could end up being similar to udrp. And international issues would make it complicated. I can understand brandables like coke having rights to coke.com but then what about yourname.com there can only be one john.com or smith.com then do you lose yourname.com if you own it because someone else trademarks it?
I guess ultimate solution is own the .com and have the trademark. Maybe registrars should be accountable too if they let you register a domain that gets taken away.
ICANN has become corrupt. They are a huge machine, not a simple non-profit. They have hundreds of millions in the bank. They hire top lobbyists and top law firms protecting their every move. ICANN is all about back door deals and private verbal (wink, wink, nod) agreements. ICANN Board Committee appointments are selected from constituent members who are heavily conflicted and only serves the goals of their sponsoring commercial entity employing such appointee. The “game” is that the big commercial entities, who are contracted parties with ICANN, employ full time dedicated policy people who tirelessly work to obtain a seat next to an ICANN Board member to obtain that direct line of communication for their employer. ICANN enjoys giving the appearance that they are an accountable and transparent organization, which couldn’t be further from the truth. For ICANN, accountability and transparency = liability and they are about as risk averse as they come, to the point of perilization. In the last 5 Independent Review Process (IRP) Declarations ( ), the ICDR arbitration Panels declared that ICANN had violated their own Bylaws in the handling and treatment of new gTLD applications. Clearly not a “one-off.” There is an underlying and deceitful pattern lurking just below the surface and out of reach at ICANN. The DIDP requests are handled by ICANN’s assertion of confidentiality or privilege. Reconsideration Requests stand a 1% or less chance of approval and are basically blankety denied to force an IRP, which costs in excess of $1 million and takes over a year. If you are brace enough and have enough money to stand your ground against ICANN, and you can convince an ICDR Panel that you have standing to bring an IRP after losing your Reconsideration Request, then you have a shot at uncovering the truth about what really happened where ICANN caused you harm. The problem is, to get that information, to get that truth, you will be the only one who will know because you will be bound by NDA. ICANN’s house of cards is collapsing and we should all be concerned.
Sadly, this is true of most government policy – big business donates knowledgeable staff, or employes them on a “consultancy” basis, to sit on committees so they can ensure the interests of that business are represented – they call it “listening to industry”
It is time to get rid of dots in domain names.
How domain names are structured now looks like it is “old fashioned”. For example: are sub-domains necessary anymore? Don’t they add complexity when reading a domain name? Microsoft once invented keywords that you could buy but the offer was then removed for whatever reason.
When looking for the official Lacoste website, one should be able to find it using the “lacoste” keyword only.
You can find Lacoste by just typing in the word – Google does a search on the word it’s the top result.
The problem with one word domain names is that not too many things you want to find on the internet can be expressed in a single word, and if it can they should own the dot-COM. If Lacoste want dot-Lacoste they just have to apply for it.
As the current infrastructure stands, the ROOT server operators would struggle to cope with a zone size in the 100’s of millions of names.
This will not solve the issue of domain investors owning the dot-COM you really wanted to buy – the problem will be transferred to the top level.
And how are you going to do that?
Maybe bring back AOL and CDs?
Unethical domainers and their accomplices are BY FAR our biggest problem. The biggest challenge is from within the industry and always has been! Liars, Cheaters, Thieves, Infringers, and THIER FRIENDS that turn a blind eye to wrong doing!
Agreed, but shouldn’t mean going after every domain owner and making all domain owners look bad. Maybe resources should be put towards making things more transparent and having proper punishments for such bad behavior.
I know for a fact that people in power in the domain industry are going after valuable things and turning a blind eye to bad practices like the whole dnforum guy ripping people off. I didn’t get ripped off by him but have had my real world experiences where you pay someone to do something and only get half of it.
Anyway the beauty of any industry is that it is always evolving and has to evolve to survive so I hope good positive changes come sooner than later.
“Domainers” only? 🙂
Shill bidding and the auction-houses that allow it.
Unfortunately, like every lucrative industry in history few unethical individuals allow greed to make it inevitable that governments will have to pass regulations to stop the conflicts of interest that exist in the domain speculation industry. For example, prior to the Great Depression, there was very little regulation, but the actions of a small corrupt and unethical minority fueled the need for agencies like the SEC. The shill bidders, false advertising of gTLDs and registries that are profiting off expired names needs to be reformed immediately; transparency is severely lacking in domain speculation. Also, RDNH decisions must have a financial reward as punishment to frivolous UDRP actions by overzealous complainants attempting theft of valuable virtual real estate from domain registrants. Finally, the SCOTUS needs to make a nation-wide decision on the definition of domains as property or contracts of service between registries and registrants.
The biggest problem I see is domain squatters. Honest and legit investors are being hated because of them. We must educate the public about the domain market. How to spot a squatter and how to talk to a domain investor.
Far too many new Tld’s. Also way over priced new Tld’s with ridiculous renewal fees. Leave it to ICANN.
agree – on both fronts.
Too many domains has caused customer confusion and hit the choice paradox – but isn’t that the free-makart (US) way – let the market decide. You just have to see how many TLDs are in the catering industry to see there is no where near enough business to support them all.
The fees is not really ICANN’s problem, but the fault of the registry operators – e.g. dot-CLUB has reasonable renewal fees, although they still have premium purchase prices. Its such a shame many went so stupid on the renewal pricing, trying to off load their own business risk onto their customers. Its really put people off. And now the launch noise has died down they may have missed the boat. Dumb.
The “money grab” model and lack of regulation has ruined what could have been something much better than it is now. A Harvard grad lawyer friend of mine once said many years ago something to the effect that he believed domains were worthless or would lose value because they were “infinitely expandable”; i.e, he envisioned the new TLDs long before they were on the radar. The “money grab” model of business certainly leaves me with no concern about that, and if anything appears to have benefited .com overall.
For sure, too many of the new-TLDs seem to have tried to price themselves as if they are the next dot-COM – this was never going to happen – dot-COM has a unique place in history and was the only game in town for many years. NOBODY will be the next dot-COM. There will never be another dot-COM.
Of course, there is only one AUTO.CAR, but there 100s of other very similar alternatives. COMPUTER.BLOG has an asking price of $100K EVERY year (i.e. NEW & RENEW) – this is just plain nuts and completely discredits the registry as its taking their customers for fools and trying to off load their own risk onto their customers – and EVERYBODY can see this, they’re fooling nobody.
Here’s an invisible 800 ton elephant in the room that needs mentioning:
Google
Registration fees are too high!, All domains SOLD should be available to the public, I think we should have the option to pay $50 to keep your domain without any yearly fees! Now, when you sell the domain, the buyer should have the option to pay $50 to keep the domain without yearly fees! That way the owner does not have to drop the domain because of renewal fees that add up.
I agree that the annoying, new gtlds have been a short lived burden and distraction to the domain industry. Now that they are dead and gone, we can get back to the business of business. Good riddance.
new-GTLDs are not “dead & gone” – anybody who expected them to be an overnight booming success was being unrealistic in the first place. Even if 50% of the names registered are “fake”, that still leaves sales of ~13M – that’s not “dead & gone”. Personally, I don’t believe the number is that high, as there are quite tough ICANN rules on this.
Apart from the ICANN tax, sorry fees, the cost of running a registry for one or one hundred TLDs is about the same, so the purchase of Rightside by Donuts will stabilize the long term viability of both and nobody pays $213M for “dead & gone”.
And that’s before we get into all the new BRAND gtld that are coming on in the next round. Yes, one or two may have dropped out, but far more are adding in.
Surely your end user will decide on the right domain.
Estibot (so-called) “appraisals,” and anything like them. ESPECIALLY if they appear anywhere near your sales and auction listings. The may be useful for hungry domainers trying to find a way to quickly go through lists of tens of thousands of domains, but other than that EXTREMELY harmful.
Saving the “best” for last:
The mistaken, misguided, greedy, selfish, proud, arrogant, vain, shortsighted, industry-harmful (both to others as well as oneself), zero-sum game oriented, totally needless, and false dogma, mantra and mindless drumbeat regarding short vs. long domains.
(It goes without saying that the matter pertains to good domains, not just any.)
I’ve already elaborated on it extensively in the blogs these past months and am not in the mood to do that again here right now, perhaps later.
* ICANN lack of regulation and complacency
* Registrars allowed to take domains and auction them when and if they please, going even the extra mile of retaining domains in side companies.
* shill bidding
* domain squatters
* ngTLDs that are a money drain and hurt the industry in the short and medium term
* generally high commissions for marketplaces and even for brokers. we do not see this kind of commission rates in other businesses and surely for 0 value added in most cases.
Well this is certainly a good time to link to my last comment in the recent “biggest problems in the domain industry?” thread over at TheDomains:
https://www.thedomains.com/2017/07/19/see-biggest-problems-domain-industry/#comment-222716
Raymond, this post was meant to go over here: http://www.domaininvesting.com/domain-name-price-guide-startups/#comments
The market isn’t liquid. Connecting with prospective buyers is enormously time consuming. The problem is that all the major domain auction sites from Sedo to Flippa to GoDaddy auctions are populated by investors and not buyers.
Buyers may occasionally drift onto an auction site, but 99% of the traffic is us. And that’s not good for any market.