Shortly after Aaron Strong commented that he bought the single letter x.Ventures domain name, I purchased three single letter new gTLD domain names: n.Ventures, n.Holdings, and g.Holdings. I later learned that a whole bunch of single letter new gTLD domain names were registered, perhaps even all of those that were available to purchase.
In light of this, I thought it would be appropriate to write a brief post mortem to reiterate why I made my purchases and my thoughts on buying new TLD domain names. There are several things I want people to understand about why I bought these three domain names and my plans for them.
For me, these purchases were purely speculative. Unlike my .com domain names, I do not believe an aftermarket has been established, and I have no idea when (or if) there will be a strong aftermarket for these domain names. I think there is upside potential, but I can afford to take risks. As Sukhjin pointed out, single letter domain names aren’t guaranteed to sell profitably. I hope another company wants to buy them in the future, but who knows. There are going to be so many options, the profit potential is more limited than my exact match .coms.
I would not recommend that other people purchase new gTLD domain names. I personally have no idea if the names I bought will ever be sold profitably, but again, I am in a position where I can afford to hold these and possibly never sell them profitably. I am gambling/speculating, and obviously people who can’t afford to lose money should look at these as highly illiquid purchases. I also don’t want to look back and think that I missed the boat.
If you buy new gTLD domain names, I think you need to be sure the keyword or letters make sense. I could theoretically see myself naming a company G Holdings or N Ventures, but I don’t see why some single letter .Whatever keywords would make sense. With hundreds of new domain names coming out and thousands of single letter and number domain names as well, many will not be valuable.
Buying domain names because I bought something similar is not smart. Additionally, just because others are buying a bunch of domain names does not equate end user demand and value. Don’t buy names only because you see others buying them. I have my reasons for buying these three names, and I could certainly lose the money I spent.
If you have any comments or questions about the new gTLDs I bought or others bought, I welcome them in the comment section of the article I posted earlier. There is lots of good feedback and a good discussion happening.
