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Buyer Beware .biz and .info Claims
Chances are you've gotten some junk e-mail about the .biz and
.info domain name acquisition. And it's likely that the info you've
been given is confusing or even deceitful. Either of these two
new top-level domain names offer organizations an opportunity
to protect trademarks, protect market positioning or acquire a
better domain name than they presently own. Just remember: Buyer
Beware.
First, understand that two different organizations are getting
ready to sell the .biz and .info domain names. The exact rules
and some cost information for trying to acquire either type of
domain name is available on their respective Websites: Neulevel
for .biz at domain names at http://www.neulevel.com/;
Afilias for .info domain names at http://www.afilias.com/.
While some organizations may have an interest in a .info domain
name, I believe that most marketers won't enthusiastically pursue
purchasing .info. First, consider the five top-of-mind domain
names that already exist: .com, .net, .edu. .gov and .org. Second,
.info is four characters long, not three, so it breaks the mold
and may confuse people.
The .biz domain names, on the other hand, seem more likely to
attract major competition. Registrars are betting that .biz will
sell big. The purchasing process is, however, troubling at best.
For starters, Neulevel offers the owners of trademarks a notification
of registration -- the purchaser is not guaranteed the domain
name, but does have a faster option of disputing the acquistion
made by someone else.
Aside from paying this type of fee, let's suppose you want to
actually buy a .biz domain name. Well, these domain names will
be sold in a raffle ticket or lottery fashion – that is,
they will be awarded randomly based on who has applied for one.
Worse yet, you can apply as many times as you like. In short,
trying to get that hot .biz domain name you seek is like trying
to win a Lexus by buying a raffle ticket. Network Solutions, one
of the many registrars that will eventually be selling .biz domain
names, gleefully reports that if you're willing to buy at least
100 domain name "raffle tickets" you only have to pay
$3 per domain name per raffle ticket. How much will someone spend
for multiple chances to win bank.biz or love.biz or xxx.biz?
You can buy raffle tickets up through September 17, 2001. On
September 18th, Neulevel, through its registrars, will start notifying
the lucky winners. Keep in mind, however, that if you actually
"win" a domain name, you're only winning the opportunity
to pay for it and own it. Minimum registration is for two years.
Neulevel's leaving it up to the registrars to decide how much
to charge, exactly, for the two year period. Network Solutions
isn't saying what it plans to charge for .biz domain names, but
$60 per year is one possibility.
As if all the above wasn't complicated enough (and remember,
the procedure for .info domain names is different) ICANN has approved
more top-level domain names for future use. These include: .name
(restricted to individuals), .museum (restricted to, believe it
or not, museums!), .pro, .coop. Throw all of these into the mix,
which includes, .tv and .cc by the way, and it's a murky mix.
With this many options, we may see domain names end up being like
area codes or zip codes – something we just have to memorize.
Within a year, we'll certainly have alphabet soup when it comes
to domain names, and we'll have confusion. Marketers know that
the top-of-mind domain name will always be .com. Just consider
the fact that "dot com" has entered our vocabulary:
we have dot com companies and dot com strategies and dot comers
(people). What about everything else? I think the smart money's
on the original five, plus .biz. But for now the only money that
can be spent is on raffle tickets, and the rest is up to chance.
This article first appeared as a column written
by Dave Tedlock, NetOutcomes' president, for the Inside Tucson
Business and/or the New Mexico Business Weekly.
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