So, how about that domain market?

[Commerce]

Seems like the market is a bit soft these days.

My take (and from other's who have shared):

#1 Reason: Economy.

Yours?

-Commerce

[draggar]

Too much debt, too many expenses, not enough incoming revenue.

I'm dropping domains left and right (on average 10 a month).

[Edder]

1) Money flowing from stocks (and domains) to commodities ($145 oil)

2) Inflation in general + cruddy economy

I definitely think its a buyer's market though as far as domains go....

[JMJ]

First 5 months sucked, last month decent but nothing to write home to mom about. Theres more to it than just the economy. Ive been saying it for quite some time that everyone is spending their cash with the drop catchers. There is no buying and selling going on amoung domainers. The registries aren't doing any buying that's for sure. To sum it up all money is going one direction. Add to that the parking revenue drop and you've basicly slashed two forms of revenue. Compounded then by the economy.

[Edder]

I think the arrival of new extensions hampered the reseller market, too... the dot asia auctions sucked up thousands...and now .me is set to mirror that.

[hugegrowth]

It's 2001/2002 all over again, deals to be had

anyone pressured to sell is probably doing so because of factors outside the domain market - e.g.: need more money for rising living expenses.

the internet is still looking good relative to other markets, advertising online is growing by double digits and more people coming online.

people will drive less, vacation less or shop less, but they won't give up their internet surfing - might even increase it if they are doing less of the other things.

and I think the growth in advertising dollars will make up for the fact people may spend less online - also some people may spend more online if they don't want to travel and shop in stores - might find a better deal online and don't have to leave the house...

and I think some of that increase in advertising will come from brand awareness type ads like those on tv - to make people more aware of a business or new product - every click on an ad doesn't necessarily have to result in a sale right then . Analysts think you just have to track clicks vs. a sale, but how many sales happen in the store days or weeks after a person clicked on an ad but waited to buy later??? That point is often missed and untrackable.

[NetworkMsia]

I am still making sales as usuall

[HarveyJ]

General anxiety of purchasers may have something to do with it.
IP4 Vs IP6 has a LOT of people outside of domaining confused... my g/f was all "Oh, I heard they're getting rid of URLs for IP6" the other day... (Don't worry, I gave the The Eyebrow to set her straight).
Also the whole thing with D.I.Y. TLDs probably has the people in marketing visions salivating, but people in Accounts asking WTF.

[Bill Roy]

Hugegrowth, a very good post.

I gave up on the parking sphere some time ago, my names were never able to somehow convert that profitably. Then again I did not respect the share parking companies took, that's if they would ever tell you, the figures occassionally made public showed that what the companies 'said' did not match the 'leaked' or accidently posted figures!

I am lucky in that I am developing now on two projects, both of which should ride the down-turn in the economy very easily, but I am liquidating a fair number of domains to help fund the projects, but even here there are few buyers in the market at the moment.

The outlook for domaining is surely to develop sites, and I would suggest that anyone with any time available starts to do this. The domain market will bounce back, it is just quiet at the moment, but parking is on a long downhill trend.

[acesfull]

It all depends on the quality of your domains.

[DNCredit.com]

Over the last month, DNCredit.com has been seeing less loan applications for acquisitions and more for refinancing (i.e. domainers looking to free-up equity in their portfolio).

[David G]

Barely anyone in this thread has mentioned the proposed unlimited numbers of new tld's coming likely next year as a factor.

That is a major negative to the current market and likely will result in less traffic to some other extentions, especially dot-com in the future. A number of big firms will no doubt buy their own extension and may market that more then the .com i.e. www.dell.com vs www.dell

[Banned: theinvestor]

trader, i don't think you can buy out an entire extension.

[David G]

trader, i don't think you can buy out an entire extension.

You sure are not very up to date on things! Where have you been the past week?

[Banned: theinvestor]

Trader, let me get this straight...so for 100k..i can buy .sex...and own anything and everthing .sex.

I do not think so. 100k/domain not per extension.

[acesfull]

Trader is telling you straight up. You may have a little competition with .sex though.

Here's a thought ... what if they auction the TLDs?!

Trader, let me get this straight...so for 100k..i can buy .sex...and own anything and everthing .sex.

I do not think so. 100k/domain not per extension.

[David G]

Go Here:

http://www.dnforum.com/f521/what-ica...ad-308836.html

Trader, let me get this straight...so for 100k..i can buy .sex...and own anything and everthing .sex. I do not think so. 100k/domain not per extension.

[Edder]

Barely anyone in this thread has mentioned the proposed unlimited numbers of new tld's coming likely next year as a factor.

That is a major negative to the current market and likely will result in less traffic to some other extentions, especially dot-com in the future. A number of big firms will no doubt buy their own extension and may market that more then the .com i.e. www.dell.com vs www.dell

It hasn't been mentioned because it may not even be a factor. If fortune 500 companies have spent the last 10+ years promoting the .com versions of their sites, why would they spend even more money to rebrand? (Especially with a lagging US economy on their hands, money is kind of tight for them as well..) If they were to rebrand, the only winner would be ICANN; the losers are companies that play into ICANN's trap and consumers who will be even more confused than before. If it aint broke, why fix it.. I really don't see any serious impact on the value of existing TLD's. The bottom line is current demand continues to go up while supply shrinks. Unless ICANN passes some kind of eminent domain resolution aka blatant money grabbing technique to "free" up unused domain names through public auctions.... I can't see how we're at a loss.