discuss Here's why .XYZ will fail

[william]

There has been a lot of hype lately for .xyz because of a small number of big sales. I see a lot of people overextending themselves and pouring a lot of their budget in this extension. Personally, I believe .xyz is doomed to fail. Maybe I'll eat my words, maybe I won't. Here is my case for why I think .xyz will fail:

1) Low number of sales

According to Namebio.com, in the last two years there have been only 867 sales. Only 359 of those have been over $1,000. Yes, these are only reported sales, but unimpressive none the less. Now, compare this with the number of .xyz registered in the past two years, and this number will seem even more minuscule. Most of the names that sold were also premium one word names.

2) No space for innovation

Which brings me to my next point. Because domainers are rushing to register every single available .xyz domain that is decent, it leaves little space for businesses to set up under the extension and promote the extension. This exposure is crucial in order for the TLD to grow. It's getting to the point where you can't find a decent two word .xyz and that's not because they are taken by businesses. Which will certainly stunt its growth.

3) It's ugly

Aesthetically and phonetically .xyz is ugly. It's three syllables, unlike .com, .me, .net, .co... Which makes it harder to say. It looks horrible when it's part of a design or even just typing it. It feels cheap.

4) People don't trust it

Because of all the reasons above and the cheap initial registration costs, there aren't enough legitimate businesses using the extension and there are lot of spammy sites. Starting to type in Google "is .xyz" gives a first suggestion of "is .xyz safe". Same goes for ".xyz domain" (third suggestion).

5) It's not early

I know many of you will say that it's still early for .xyz. But it isn't. It has been around since 2014. It had some initial hype because of Google using it and that hype hasn't materialized. I don't think it ever will.

That's just my two cents. What do you guys think?

 

[Jimmysun]

This is obviously a troll thread but I like it, it’s just that people tend to say something that opposes to their subconsciousness, as more people hated .xyz means more people love it and more people bashed it means more people are afraid of it, so the real situation is when a .xyz dictionary word drops domainers will desperately going to catch.

 

[Armageddon]

Biz doesn’t have numerous crypto and blockchain projects running on it.

Better yet ask Jack Dorsey why he picked this extension.

Who is JD? Aaaa i remember
Why take .xyz ? Because is stupid & american
So i think American Patriotism is just for advertising not something real
Should pickup a .US not a .xyz because web3 work on any extension
But JD is not a patriot like most of americans except only people or companies use a .US & people who promote .US

 

[DNGear]

This is obviously a troll thread but I like it, it’s just that people tend to say something that opposes to their subconsciousness, as more people hated .xyz means more people love it and more people bashed it means more people are afraid of it, so the real situation is when a .xyz dictionary word drops domainers will desperately going to catch.

Just because something opposes your view, doesn't mean it's trolling. Like I said, it's my opinion. You may have another. Especially given the fact that you own a good lot of one word .xyz domains and have made some significant sales. However, this applies to people who are trying to get in on the "gold rush" of "xyz". Though you haven't really made any points on why ".xyz" will succeed as an extension.

Did anyone call this thread? I hope you didnt get some kind of weird dream about .xyz and started this thread.
I can understand your concern about .XYZ. But, I can assure you to buy some good .xyz keywords and hold on to them. You wont regret.
You wouldn't get any advantage on those cctld's like .us or .me if you spread negativity on .xyz.

 

[Armageddon]

.

 

[Jimmysun]

Thanks to @Bob Hawkes the newest post 40 mins ago, that’s a wow for .xyz.

 

[bamboozle]

The truth is .com maxi mostly only attack .xyz but not .io(usually stands for tech company) or .co (users would accidentally type m after) etc. because in deep heart they knew .xyz is the only threat has chance to overturn .com status symbol.

Yes and it’s almost always older folks who are deeply invested in .com and think “.com will be king forever…”

Yeah, ok

 

[Armageddon]

Yes and it’s almost always older folks who think “.com will be king forever…”

Yeah, ok

They are over 150 millions .com reg. so i am doubt that .xyz will achive this or any other extensions until apocalipse will come

 

[bamboozle]

They are over 150 millions .com reg. so i am doubt that .xyz will achive this or any other extensions until apocalipse will come

Essentially your argument is “it is number one now and therefore will remain number one for the foreseeable future.” It’s along the same lines of “it’s always been this way and will continue to be this way.” Conservative mindsets.

Plenty of examples in history where that mindset has led to a downfall of the once dominant thing and led way for things new and initially ridiculed.

 

[Armageddon]

Essentially your argument is “it is number one now and therefore will remain number one for the foreseeable future.” It’s along the same lines of “it’s always been this way and will continue to be this way.” Conservative mindsets.

Plenty of examples in history where that mindset has led to a downfall of the once dominant thing and led way for things new and initially ridiculed.

If .xyz will have 50 millions reg. will be all rich & this is not possible

 

[wallet2it]

One simply analogy:
.com is like apple or Facebook stocks
Very expensive, stable growth, less volatile

.xyz is like new ipo emerging market stocks

Very cheap but very volatile but potentially very very high return rate

It’s all about risk management

 

[Jimmysun]

If .xyz will have 50 millions reg. will be all rich & this is not possible

It’s possible, the vr/meta trend is on the way boom, domin name will not only be a website or email thing, you will be allowed to point your domain name to your virtual land parcel # or a portal destination and exchange your property to your wallet which bond with your domain, .xyz will lead the trend since it’s the only one capable for a new fresh start and that’s why Vitalik chose .xyz as the first domain extension (maybe .luxe) to collaborate bcz .com has a problem of reg congestion for new blood.

 

[Armageddon]

It’s possible, the vr/meta trend is on the way boom, domin name will not only be a website or email thing, you will be allowed to point your domain name to your virtual land parcel # or a portal destination and exchange your property to your wallet which bond with your domain, .xyz will lead the trend since it’s the only one capable for a new fresh start.

When i will sell a .xyz with 9888$ ( or at least over $1000 because i dont go for 200-300$ ) i will trust in this extension until than i go with .US

 

[pchip]

How about the super high registration fee increases based on a valuation model xyz domain owners have no control over?

This is why I don't understand why people continue investing in these alternative extensions. The renewals are crazy expensive and are variable with no control over pricing. I finally dropped my last .mobi. I think the renewal was like $20. Even that was too much for a crap extension.

Take your money and invest in a few solid .com's - way better for long term investing. At least the renewal each year isn't going to kill you.

 

[phantasmagoria]

I think it's untrue when you say "the hype hasn't materialized", this is more than I ever expected xyz to become. Go to the first page of the main xyz thread on namepros and see my post of the names I owned, it's on the first page, even I did not see it becoming what it is today because If I did I would have made sure to continue registering it, but that's trends. I still think xyz is special though.

The hype has more than materialized. Where it might be in the future I really dont know, it might fail, but right now I don't see that happening. The reason I believe it wont fail is because of the numbers of registration .com has.

As far as I know there really has never been a true alternative to com, maybe XYZ is that, I don't know but trying to register .com names is a nightmare, everything is taken. You would have to rely on a new word being created or a trend that comes out of no where to hand reg something worth it.

It's my belief that Daniel Negari knew something going into this, everything he said about .xyz is starting to come true. It's one of the few times where I have seen someone say something and it turns out that way, that people who were registering back in 2015 would benefit greatly and for some it certainly turned out that way. Forget about .com.

 

[pchip]

As far as I know there really has never been a true alternative to com, maybe XYZ is that, I don't know but trying to register .com names is a nightmare, everything is taken. You would have to rely on a new word being created or a trend that comes out of no where to hand reg something worth it.

This is the exact statement that would cause me to turn the other direction. Every extension that isn't .com is an alternative to .com. I would go with .net before .xyz. Even then, I would invest more money in the .com before any other extension.

 

[Lox]

When you have a nuanced understanding of xyz audience and their background, you can identify their - want, need & desire + crypto/chain wallet points. If you market your xyz to the wrong set of people, you'll end up empty hands (frustrated). Your next step is to reach the right audiences across the blockchain / crypto / verse world. With the xyz; there is no time to wait for the best offer. Find the need & Contact. Drive them don't hide them @ aftermarket places.

---

The single most important thing registry can do to ensure domain extension success is;

Spamhaus Botnet Threat Update: Q4-2021

.xyz -
Q3/21 833
Q4/21 396
- 52%

Regards

 

[william]

Did anyone call this thread? I hope you didnt get some kind of weird dream about .xyz and started this thread.
I can understand your concern about .XYZ. But, I can assure you to buy some good .xyz keywords and hold on to them. You wont regret.
You wouldn't get any advantage on those cctld's like .us or .me if you spread negativity on .xyz.

This is a domain discussion forum, where we discuss domains. I understand you may be sensitive to people discussing .xyz as you are heavily invested in it, but that doesn't mean others shouldn't discuss it or say anything negative about it. This is where domainers hang out, not end users.

Also, so far, you have provided 0 reasons why .xyz is actually a good extension.

 

[william]

I think it's untrue when you say "the hype hasn't materialized", this is more than I ever expected xyz to become. Go to the first page of the main xyz thread on namepros and see my post of the names I owned, it's on the first page, even I did not see it becoming what it is today because If I did I would have made sure to continue registering it, but that's trends. I still think xyz is special though.

The hype has more than materialized. Where it might be in the future I really dont know, it might fail, but right now I don't see that happening. The reason I believe it wont fail is because of the numbers of registration .com has.

As far as I know there really has never been a true alternative to com, maybe XYZ is that, I don't know but trying to register .com names is a nightmare, everything is taken. You would have to rely on a new word being created or a trend that comes out of no where to hand reg something worth it.

It's my belief that Daniel Negari knew something going into this, everything he said about .xyz is starting to come true. It's one of the few times where I have seen someone say something and it turns out that way, that people who were registering back in 2015 would benefit greatly and for some it certainly turned out that way. Forget about .com.

I am referring to the initial hype after Google used .xyz. They had a real opportunity to take off and establish themselves as one of the top runners in the domain space. But they didn't.

 

[william]

I saw some people making comparisons of .xyz to .com. If we compared sales of .com to .xyz:

137 mil .com names registered
3.5 mil .xyz names registered

Since .xyz has only 2.6% of the amount of .com names we can use that to find approximately how many sales we should see of .xyz vs .com.

According to Namebio, there were 240,431.com reported sales in the past two years. 2.6% of that should be 6142. In reality, the number of reported sales of .xyz for the last two years on Namebio is 867. That's 86% less.

 

[HotKey]

Here's why the huh?​

 

[jedaprin]

Even if it Does Fail
Atleast We Bought it
We Are Not Liable By Liability

 

[lovely4ever]

As per squadhelp recent 2021 in review report , They found an increase in buyer interest in the last 2-3 months of 2021 for the .xyz .

.​

 

[Henry Y]

@william, to make your essay more comprehensive and convincing, I suggest you to mention the end user side (especially the crypto and web3 end users) which is the real driver of success or failure of a domain extension, any special feature that .xyz has, the sales trend in the recent years (i.e. year-on-year comparisons), and 3rd party credible research to support your arguments.

Just a friendly suggestion to enhance your essay.

 

[Henry Y]

I saw some people making comparisons of .xyz to .com. If we compared sales of .com to .xyz:

137 mil .com names registered
3.5 mil .xyz names registered

Since .xyz has only 2.6% of the amount of .com names we can use that to find approximately how many sales we should see of .xyz vs .com.

According to Namebio, there were 240,431.com reported sales in the past two years. 2.6% of that should be 6142. In reality, the number of reported sales of .xyz for the last two years on Namebio is 867. That's 86% less.

Your calculation method is not proper because number of registrations increases and decreases throughout a whole year, while number of sales only increases. The number of registrations increases by 50% from 2.4M in 2020 Jan to 3.6M today (https://namestat.org/xyz), so your calculation method cannot approximately reflect the reality.

The appropriate way (similar to Asset Turnover Ratio used in accounting) is:
Number of sales of year / [(beginning number of registrations of year + ending number of registrations of year) / 2]

Or a more accurate way (if you have enough info) is:
Number of sales of year / daily or monthly average number of registrations of year

Besides, you better to use 1-year time interval instead of 2-year time internal because there can be significant changes in a year.

Just an academic sharing.

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

There has been a lot of hype lately for .xyz because of a small number of big sales. I see a lot of people overextending themselves and pouring a lot of their budget in this extension. Personally, I believe .xyz is doomed to fail. Maybe I'll eat my words, maybe I won't. Here is my case for why I think .xyz will fail:

1) Low number of sales

According to Namebio.com, in the last two years there have been only 867 sales. Only 359 of those have been over $1,000. Yes, these are only reported sales, but unimpressive none the less. Now, compare this with the number of .xyz registered in the past two years, and this number will seem even more minuscule. Most of the names that sold were also premium one word names.

2) No space for innovation

Which brings me to my next point. Because domainers are rushing to register every single available .xyz domain that is decent, it leaves little space for businesses to set up under the extension and promote the extension. This exposure is crucial in order for the TLD to grow. It's getting to the point where you can't find a decent two word .xyz and that's not because they are taken by businesses. Which will certainly stunt its growth.

3) It's ugly

Aesthetically and phonetically .xyz is ugly. It's three syllables, unlike .com, .me, .net, .co... Which makes it harder to say. It looks horrible when it's part of a design or even just typing it. It feels cheap.

4) People don't trust it

Because of all the reasons above and the cheap initial registration costs, there aren't enough legitimate businesses using the extension and there are lot of spammy sites. Starting to type in Google "is .xyz" gives a first suggestion of "is .xyz safe". Same goes for ".xyz domain" (third suggestion).

5) It's not early

I know many of you will say that it's still early for .xyz. But it isn't. It has been around since 2014. It had some initial hype because of Google using it and that hype hasn't materialized. I don't think it ever will.

That's just my two cents. What do you guys think?

Do you know something @DNGear , Michael Krell and other experienced domainers don't about xyz?