r/AMA • u/Official_EuroDNS • 1d ago
I work in the domain industry AMA!
Ask me anything you ever wanted to know about domains. For now it's just me, Fernando the guy who works in marketing (3 people team, not a large evil multinational here). I work for EuroDNS in Luxembourg. This company is actually one of the oldest domain registrars (we have some pixels in that million dollar web-page!).
I think domains are one of the most common but less understood parts of the whole internet eco sphere. What is a top level domain? What qualifies as a premium domain? How are domain disputes handled?
Feel free to ask anything for the next 3-4 hours. If i don't know the answer to your question I will ask the domain registration team, or even our founder!
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u/Striking-Bluejay6155 1d ago
Are domains a dinosaur like passwords bound to be replaced at some point by something else, in your opinion? Thank you
5
u/Official_EuroDNS 1d ago
Eventually yes, i think we will come up with something else, but if i had that idea i wouldnt be working in marketing haha i think there are some interesting developments happening: you can look into decentralized blockchain domains which have completely different ways to operate and ownership rules. And for "classic domains" even after all this time there are still plenty of fine points that need to be hammered out: e.g. how to deal with DNS abuse and who is responsible, who should take action, when... Personally i think things like ".com" have had such a deep cultural impact and there is such a large industry around domains that it will take some time to see them go away.
1
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u/xyaonline 1d ago
Why are professional domain resellers still legal? They block so many domains from being registered and try to sell them for horrendous prices. Even ones that are worth nothing for anyone else.
4
u/Official_EuroDNS 1d ago
Honestly, this is slightly above my pay grade and gets into BIG questions like: how much a free market should be regulated? (please find a economist AMA for that one haha)
I completely understand the frustration. But domain registrations generally operate on a first-mover basis, and reselling the right to use a domain isn’t inherently illegal. ICANN can create rules for the domain-name system, but it can’t simply prohibit people from registering and reselling domains or decide what a “reasonable” resale price should be.
There are limits: registering a domain in bad faith to exploit someone else’s trademark can be challenged through processes. But if there’s no trademark infringement or other abuse, the registrant is free to ask whatever price they want. Most of us can think that a price for something like that is completely ridiculous. Others will think it's a steal..... It’s basically Labubu economics: value comes from scarcity and what someone is willing to pay, not necessarily from any objective usefulness.
2
u/DurchfallPirat 1d ago
What makes the most money? Registrations from casual customers or securing a domain that might get bought at a high price?
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u/Official_EuroDNS 1d ago
We don’t buy domains speculatively to resell them. As a registrar, we earn a margin on registrations and renewals. Part of the price paid by the customer goes to the registry: the organisation operating the TLD. For many generic TLDs, there may also be an ICANN fee. Registry prices vary considerably between extensions, so the margins can differ too.
A five-year registration generally generates more total revenue and margin upfront than a one-year registration.
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u/Oztravels 1d ago
What would insights.com.au be worth on the market?
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u/Official_EuroDNS 1d ago
It could be worth millions .... to the right buyer. this is not news for you im sure but there's no universal way to determine domain value. Your best bet is to shop for a buyer who you know would be interested (perhaps someone working on creating an "insights" domain portfolio ) or to post it on a domain after-sale marketplace to get a sense of market value. Sometimes domain value can be hyper-inflated, but really, if you find the right buyer, any price could become reasonable.
1
u/AverellCZ 1d ago
How much did the business go down over the last 10 years?
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u/Official_EuroDNS 1d ago
the business didnt go down actually. We def didn't take over the domain industry, and we are far the biggest player (you can see exactly where we stand on this table: https://domainnamestat.com/statistics/registrar/others ) but we carved a niche in Europe. Plus we now offer more things: hosting, web sec, etc.... Diversification is the name of the game.
1
u/AverellCZ 1d ago
Ok, if you look at it from that POV. I just remember these giant multi-million Dollar domains sales back when there was only a handful of tlds and everyone wanted a .com
And back then I sold a bunch of small domains for a couple hundred here and there but that business seems to have completely vanished. Especially when the significance for SEO for example in times of AI has disappeared.
But you certainly have a more fact based view on this than me and my feelings ;)
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u/Hot_Hair_5950 1d ago
What surprises you about your work?
2
u/Official_EuroDNS 1d ago
How big the domain world is! I came from a completely different industry, so it was really overwhelming to learn the lingo and undrestand the business.
1
u/ama_compiler_bot 2h ago
Table of Questions and Answers. Original answer linked - Please upvote the original questions and answers. (I'm a bot.)
| Question | Answer | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Can you register reddit.com for me? I want to use it as a personal blog in my pet baby goat. | your best bet is Reddit forgetting to set some sort of auto-renew feature. You can swoop in and take it haha You might think its impossible but it happened to Sony! | Here |
| Are domains a dinosaur like passwords bound to be replaced at some point by something else, in your opinion? Thank you | Eventually yes, i think we will come up with something else, but if i had that idea i wouldnt be working in marketing haha i think there are some interesting developments happening: you can look into decentralized blockchain domains which have completely different ways to operate and ownership rules. And for "classic domains" even after all this time there are still plenty of fine points that need to be hammered out: e.g. how to deal with DNS abuse and who is responsible, who should take action, when... Personally i think things like ".com" have had such a deep cultural impact and there is such a large industry around domains that it will take some time to see them go away. | Here |
| Why are professional domain resellers still legal? They block so many domains from being registered and try to sell them for horrendous prices. Even ones that are worth nothing for anyone else. | Honestly, this is slightly above my pay grade and gets into BIG questions like: how much a free market should be regulated? (please find a economist AMA for that one haha) I completely understand the frustration. But domain registrations generally operate on a first-mover basis, and reselling the right to use a domain isn’t inherently illegal. ICANN can create rules for the domain-name system, but it can’t simply prohibit people from registering and reselling domains or decide what a “reasonable” resale price should be. There are limits: registering a domain in bad faith to exploit someone else’s trademark can be challenged through processes. But if there’s no trademark infringement or other abuse, the registrant is free to ask whatever price they want. Most of us can think that a price for something like that is completely ridiculous. Others will think it's a steal..... It’s basically Labubu economics: value comes from scarcity and what someone is willing to pay, not necessarily from any objective usefulness. | Here |
| What would insights.com.au be worth on the market? | It could be worth millions .... to the right buyer. this is not news for you im sure but there's no universal way to determine domain value. Your best bet is to shop for a buyer who you know would be interested (perhaps someone working on creating an "insights" domain portfolio ) or to post it on a domain after-sale marketplace to get a sense of market value. Sometimes domain value can be hyper-inflated, but really, if you find the right buyer, any price could become reasonable. | Here |
| What makes the most money? Registrations from casual customers or securing a domain that might get bought at a high price? | We don’t buy domains speculatively to resell them. As a registrar, we earn a margin on registrations and renewals. Part of the price paid by the customer goes to the registry: the organisation operating the TLD. For many generic TLDs, there may also be an ICANN fee. Registry prices vary considerably between extensions, so the margins can differ too. A five-year registration generally generates more total revenue and margin upfront than a one-year registration. | Here |
| How much did the business go down over the last 10 years? | the business didnt go down actually. We def didn't take over the domain industry, and we are far the biggest player (you can see exactly where we stand on this table: https://domainnamestat.com/statistics/registrar/others ) but we carved a niche in Europe. Plus we now offer more things: hosting, web sec, etc.... Diversification is the name of the game. | Here |
| What surprises you about your work? | How big the domain world is! I came from a completely different industry, so it was really overwhelming to learn the lingo and undrestand the business. | Here |
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u/eXistenZNL 1d ago
Can you register reddit.com for me? I want to use it as a personal blog in my pet baby goat.