Holding back and reserving what one would consider “premium” names is nothing new in domaining. Verisign has taken back drops on premium .tv domains many a time. Certain new gtld registries have done the same.
There is usually not a desire to hold back average or what some might even consider below average names.
I was reading a post on Namepros and a member (Crysis) uncovered a bunch of .co names being reserved that are mostly average.
From the post:
For the past few days, I have been observing that .Co registry has been reserving many of the pending delete domain names for themselves.
For ex: The domain names listed below were supposed to drop yesterday and become available for hand registration. Now, if you check the whois, it’s showing as RESERVED.
Some Examples
- HaveFun.co
- SpaceLabs.co
- Eits.co
- Wast.co
- Adrienne.co
I can understand if premium .co domain names like Idea.co, Talent.co are getting reserved by the registry. However, in these cases, even mediocre domain names are getting reserved for the past few days.
Some Examples (These are just a few examples. There are many more domain names which are getting reserved)
- Locatelli.co
- SoulFire.co
- Bergamo.co
- Wova.co
- Wiku.co
- Furmanite.co
- Nxstage.co
- OnlineIncome.co
- PureBliss.co
- TraderOnline.co
Have any of you observed the same thing?
Is this ethical?
Namepros Member Kate wrote:
At the very least, it’s not healthy.
Registries are in a privileged position. In the real world (that the domain industry is able to escape), there are laws and regulations to avoid or limit abuse of a dominant position, and the conflicts of interest arising from such a position.
Maybe something is going on, or there is a technical glitch, I don’t understand reserving names like PureBliss.co or Nxstage.co.
Will they park them to make $$$?
Umm, I’d say more like $ or c rather than “$$$”.
.co is one of the more often used extensions when the .com isn’t available, and has many of the top sales spots on the 2018 country code sales chart (e.g.: feed.co, cbd.co, nurture.co, rival.co). I see what you’re saying, the examples of names you gave that are not obviously great but being held back. The .co registry must be seeing something in registration patterns or trends. Perhaps they are automatically holding some back for review and will end up releasing some, and keeping some. Ones like HaveFun.co, SpaceLabs.co and PureBliss.co are not premiums, but at the same time I could see a company using them. Part of it might be about having an inventory of names that can possibly sell for higher than reg fee. In a market where new G’s might be starting to weaken, perhaps extensions like .co and .io are transforming into the runners up to .com, at least for some users.
Actually not only domains that should have dropped have been reserved, but also domains that were free before.
Namely all 4L domains, just check brsw.co or qzta.co for example. This happen between 07/10 and 07/11
McDonald’s would never hold back the McNuggets. First come first serve.
CRYPTO.CO is worth a pretty penny. Great
CRYPTOCURRENCY slang domain name
are you selling crypto.co?
sohail roshni
So funny, “Registry holds back crap names”. Good luck to them.
It should say
“a crappy tld ( .co ) holds back crappy domains”
I suspect the registry does not see a financial future from just registrations so they need to find an additional profit center. I guess this might be a signal of the end of .co .
They are starting to see the value in names and making them more expensive. – But in a squatter kinda way.
On this list of .co’s: A famous person’s last name, a great name for an already existing yoga studio, names of corporations, LLLL’s and more established .com equivalents.
My question is, Is it an algorithm or bot doing it? Or are they hiring people to suggest it’s new sale value?
– Most Interesting Domains
Wow funny timing, for the first time ever here in Australia today I spotted a billboard sized sign for the .Co registry. Stating to get a .co name via Go.Co and now I read this, strange stuff indeed
Maybe they want to punish auDA for choosing another lover?
Somehow though I think plans of .co domination will fail. It is a .com world and .com’s share of the Australian market is growing.
Very rare to spot a .Co out in the wild here in Aus
It may be a strategy to prevent Chinese from registering “CHIP” in bulk. In China.co recently made a promotion in the major registrars “8 CNY=1.1 USD first year registration.
The end of the promotion at the end of July, let us wait and see.
Predatory registrars ? Par for the domaining course.
Wild West systemic, chronic domaining status quo.
Downright criminal behavior.
Why not, nobody cares, really.
The inmates are running the asylum.
ICANN and IANA complicit.
Soooo anyone going to buy up all the GoDaddy expiring .co auction listings?
Sounds like they are going reserved after they pass through as unsold. Over the last year some really nice single word .co passed through the expiring auctions. I was surprised to see that and picked up a few myself.
Cursory glance appears to be a bunch of really awful worthless domains I wouldn’t take for reg fee and probably wouldn’t take for free either, certainly not renew if I did.
.CO Domains Get Approved In China
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/co-domains-get-approved-china-bazil-gohil-/
Some news, .inc is currently offering private deals of $2,000/yr without tiers for pre-release. And .llc appears to be using tiered pricing which you can validate by typing into GoDaddy one or two words to see the price difference. And now .co?
I was told by “The .Co Team” by email that on September 1, 2018 there was going to be a tier pricing update. That is why they are reserving domain names as they drop, for example. No change in pricing for current customers.
I have not been able to find any pricing tiers listed for .llc and .co. If anyone finds these two or has the tier info please paste or link here. Thank you.