4 ms·

Devil's advocate.... what percentage of .com registrations are parked/squatted domains looking for a sucker to buy at huge markups from the registrar price? I'd

Devil's advocate.... what percentage of .com registrations are parked/squatted domains looking for a sucker to buy at huge markups from the registrar price? I'd be very happy if this made the math on squatting a little less desirable. Edit: Don't get me wrong. If the reported profit margins at Verisign are correct they are clearly continuing to exploit their privileged market position unreasonably

est31 5y ago
High fees don't prevent high value domains from being squatted. They do have an impact, but it will only be felt in low value domains.
whichdan 5y ago
I'm sure it's a huge percentage but I doubt 54c/yr/domain is really going to make a dent.
nrmitchi 5y ago
I'm not sure if a 10% increase on registration price is going to materially change the math on squatting. My understanding is that squatting is like the VC game; you expect many of them to be complete losses, with a couple giving outsized returns. If you want to address squatting, then address squatting. If you want to address people squatting on new domains (as if there are many squat-able .com's left), then change the registration for new domain registrations only (and not renewals). A change like this will primarily affect small domain holders in a way that is financially not worth fighting back against individually. I don't really see a "devils advocate" position here.
- amichal 5y ago
  Yeah... my intuition was/is it wouldn't make a big dent, but an interesting thought experiment. That said. I think the small renewals are the part that makes holding onto these domains for years possible... Random example. 20 years ago I had a one person local IT consulting side-gig. The domain was a not very useful, active less than a year and grabbed by a speculator as expected when I let it expire. It's been parked many places for years by various folks, current parking pages quote says they might be able get it for me for $120 [1] -- I could care less but if someone with less tech experience wanted it for their new small business they would likely bite. Is there a economic mechanism you recommend to prevent this sort of thing? [1]https://www.godaddy.com/domainsearch/find?isc=GPPTCOM&utm_source=godaddy&utm_medium=parkedpages&utm_campaign=x_dom-broker_parkedpages_x_x_invest_a_001&tmskey=dpp_dbs&domainToCheck=100-acre.com https://www.godaddy.com/domainsearch/find?isc=GPPTCOM&utm_so...
  - nrmitchi 5y ago
    How about "If it's parked, or actively for sale (within the last X months), you don't get the renewal price."
BitwiseFool 5y ago
I prefer the term "Domain Scalping". Domain Squatting has a specific legal definition and it really only applies to people trying to sell a domain name that involves a company with a pre-existing trademark.
- bdcravens 5y ago
  I think it's more speculation than scalping. Scalping implies exclusivity, and there is some legal recourse if a domain is your trademark.
  - BitwiseFool 5y ago
    There is absolutely speculation involved. But a domain name is and inherently exclusive thing, is it not? Sure you can have different TLD's (.com, .co, .net, .org, etc) but there can be only one owner and that person is the sole determiner of how much they want in order to transfer ownership. It's also my understanding that the trademark rule only applies if the trademark was made before the scalper purchased the domain name. If you're a startup or just someone who wants the domain then you're out of luck. Your only options are to pay the asking price or hopefully wait until their claim on it lapses and they don't renew.
monkeybutton 5y ago
Last I checked about half are registered but don't point to anything. I can't tell you how many are squatters hoping for a big pay day vs peoples' aspirations of starting a blog or small business that never went anywhere though.
fabiospampinato 5y ago
Maybe the price should increase exponentially the more domains a single entity owns to incentivize owning fewer domains. I suppose squatters could create companies left and right just to hold onto more domains more cheaply, but still it would cost them more and it would be a pain in the ass to do it this way.
bluesign 5y ago
It will only increase the price of parked/squatted domains

est31 5y ago

High fees don't prevent high value domains from being squatted. They do have an impact, but it will only be felt in low value domains.

whichdan 5y ago

I'm sure it's a huge percentage but I doubt 54c/yr/domain is really going to make a dent.

nrmitchi 5y ago

I'm not sure if a 10% increase on registration price is going to materially change the math on squatting. My understanding is that squatting is like the VC game; you expect many of them to be complete losses, with a couple giving outsized returns. If you want to address squatting, then address squatting. If you want to address people squatting on new domains (as if there are many squat-able .com's left), then change the registration for new domain registrations only (and not renewals). A change like this will primarily affect small domain holders in a way that is financially not worth fighting back against individually. I don't really see a "devils advocate" position here.

amichal 5y ago
Yeah... my intuition was/is it wouldn't make a big dent, but an interesting thought experiment. That said. I think the small renewals are the part that makes holding onto these domains for years possible... Random example. 20 years ago I had a one person local IT consulting side-gig. The domain was a not very useful, active less than a year and grabbed by a speculator as expected when I let it expire. It's been parked many places for years by various folks, current parking pages quote says they might be able get it for me for $120 [1] -- I could care less but if someone with less tech experience wanted it for their new small business they would likely bite. Is there a economic mechanism you recommend to prevent this sort of thing? [1]https://www.godaddy.com/domainsearch/find?isc=GPPTCOM&utm_source=godaddy&utm_medium=parkedpages&utm_campaign=x_dom-broker_parkedpages_x_x_invest_a_001&tmskey=dpp_dbs&domainToCheck=100-acre.com https://www.godaddy.com/domainsearch/find?isc=GPPTCOM&utm_so...
- nrmitchi 5y ago
  How about "If it's parked, or actively for sale (within the last X months), you don't get the renewal price."

BitwiseFool 5y ago

I prefer the term "Domain Scalping". Domain Squatting has a specific legal definition and it really only applies to people trying to sell a domain name that involves a company with a pre-existing trademark.

bdcravens 5y ago
I think it's more speculation than scalping. Scalping implies exclusivity, and there is some legal recourse if a domain is your trademark.
- BitwiseFool 5y ago
  There is absolutely speculation involved. But a domain name is and inherently exclusive thing, is it not? Sure you can have different TLD's (.com, .co, .net, .org, etc) but there can be only one owner and that person is the sole determiner of how much they want in order to transfer ownership. It's also my understanding that the trademark rule only applies if the trademark was made before the scalper purchased the domain name. If you're a startup or just someone who wants the domain then you're out of luck. Your only options are to pay the asking price or hopefully wait until their claim on it lapses and they don't renew.

monkeybutton 5y ago

Last I checked about half are registered but don't point to anything. I can't tell you how many are squatters hoping for a big pay day vs peoples' aspirations of starting a blog or small business that never went anywhere though.

fabiospampinato 5y ago

Maybe the price should increase exponentially the more domains a single entity owns to incentivize owning fewer domains. I suppose squatters could create companies left and right just to hold onto more domains more cheaply, but still it would cost them more and it would be a pain in the ass to do it this way.

bluesign 5y ago

It will only increase the price of parked/squatted domains