Domain Owl

For every blog entry you can write urging newbs and experiences seasoned domainers to scan for every opportunity, the real news never fails to astonish. Even one domain nugget of gold mined from the mountains of domains pitched through the auctions can still make domainers goggle.

Domainers this week were goggling at a reg fee domain purchase of a top tld. To pay D.Tv and P.Tv for only $22 at reg fee is almost unheard of for a virgin domain land grab. Even more puzzling is the practice of registrars withholding premium short and one or two letter domains. These would repay the  registration expenses and  raise the most money, repaying the funding of any new venture. So holding back domains of premium value makes no sense.

So the big mystery of the day is how did these 2 letter .TV domains wind up getting registered for less than $22 each? Domainers are wary of this news because in the list of premium .TV domains released by Enom last night these were not available. Dot TV names are growing because everybody all over the planet has a TV or watches one.

The income model for domains of this caliber and brevity usually happen by auction sales to the highest bidder. Yet the buyers were originating from China, a nation whose government is making news for limiting and restricting its citizens from owning domains and starting online businesses. This domain could easily resell for multiple of $100,000. Some might say it should have the first time out.  So how did this happen?

Domainers are watching both the China market for domains and every new piece of global top level domain real estate possible. The Single Character Domain market is considered one of the most premium and hard to get domain name items in the world. The price should range in the five to six figures easily, especially for a tld like “TV”.

Bur fairness and market pricing is hard to control when the real estate originates in a place like China (or Russia). Liberation of such restricted domains for such a low price in such a limited quantity either signals corruption in the portal security handling, or a vulnerability in the purchasing mechanism.

It also may be the case that Chinese law and Internet enforcement may have “approved” the purchase of these domains.  If the process in China to approve Internet ventures spurs the domain purchase, then domains purchased under this program may officially list at low prices. But there may be hidden red tape costs.

Domainers are keeping a close watch. The first China domains land grab is being controlled by government forces in China, and any opportunity to leverage a vulnerability will be exploited by domain name owners and buyers worldwide.