I think I’m going to start buying and selling IDNs. If you don’t know what they are, this Wikipedia article does a great job explaining them.

Historically, I’ve been a pure .com guy but about a year ago I started getting serious with .net names as well. It’s time to grow my base again so I’ve been going over the options.

As most of you know, I loathe .mobi names and .tv names are too confusing to me due to the annual fees. Info, biz and the rest have potential but they aren’t there yet and I think it will be a long time before they are.

I’m going to place my bet on IDN names for growth. I’ll only deal in IDN.com names and I’m going to be cautious as first because admittedly, I don’t really know what I’m doing yet in this new area.

I’ll only look at the doing deals on the best of them as well. Meaning, actual city names or category killers are the only ones I’m interested in. Please, don’t send me your IDN names unless they are really great. 

I’m no longer going to ignore this market. Excuse me if I ask a lot of questions when you contact me because I am a newbie once again.

               

10 Responses to “I’m Going To Enter The IDN Market”

1. Sammy Ashouri on March 29th, 2008 at 10:17 pm

   Contact me on MSN if you need some help. Not always on, but if you do catch me I can help you with any specific questions. BE CAREFUL! When I first started, I wasted some cash buying “wrong” terms.

   IDNs have been one hell of a ride. I’m loving it. There were TONS of “haters” two years ago–being where I am today leaves with ZERO regrets getting in on IDNs when they were being bached. There has been debate on IDN.IDN… Screw it. .com/.net are GLOBAL brands. There will not be anything that will overtake the awareness. It would be like release .asia and confusing the hell out of people by trying to say it is a new extension.

   I’ve been monitoring the browser growth and we ain’t seen nothing yet. Waiting for global awareness and people holding “generic” IDNs are good to go. It has been a mini gold rush ever since. Prime terms are gone, but you can get lucky.

   Ah. Need to leave, but I made some points. Probably a little more than I should on a public blog. Enjoy Rick! Best of luck. Remember to research…!

2. Mak Ossa on March 29th, 2008 at 10:57 pm

   Rick, that is what you always say don’t send me this, don’t send me that, then to change your mind later. I think you need to change your mindset completely about some ext. Sometimes, as a businessman you need to think like ordinary people to see where the world is going. I can bet that .net and info are mature for domainers. I think they much better than most country codes. There would soon become the hottest iproperties in the shortage of .com

3. Rick Latona on March 29th, 2008 at 11:02 pm

   Mak,I do deal in .net names but not .info names at this time. I’m not into speculating on what will have value in the future. I deal in today’s value on .com, net and now IDN names.

4. Rick Latona on March 29th, 2008 at 11:02 pm

   Mak, I think you also missed the point of my post.

5. Conor Neu on March 30th, 2008 at 12:27 am

   Glad to hear of your support of IDN’s. The only thing lacking in the IDN market right now are real world examples and established company awareness. The more large scale support and ensuing natural marketing that comes from it, the faster IDN’s will flourish and really take hold internationally.

6. CouchPotato on March 30th, 2008 at 5:34 am

   Hi,
   First post to your blog here. It looks like a fast food restaurant!

   So, you decided to place your bet on IDN.COM. May I please inquire as to what it was that turned the light bulb on for you? Also, which languages and character sets do you think hold the most promise?

   I am also curious about your expectations as a buyer, as this might provide some indication of the “ASCII domainer mindset” in general regarding IDN valuations. Do you realize that “category killer” IDN.COM domains with decent populations and economies behind them are already selling for well into the 6 figure range? Mid-sized cities are well into 5 figures. These names have real value to natives, and their value in USD is already so high due to the extremely poor state of the US Dollar on the international money market. So you can expect to pay a lot when paying in USD, or be prepared if the sellers ask you to pay in EURO.

   Looking forward to your insightful answers regarding the light bulb moment, most promising languages, and your pricing expectations.

7. Murphys Law on March 30th, 2008 at 6:29 am

   Coming into this market at what could be regarded as ‘very late in the game’ I would say you will have a hard time persuading those who do hold the ‘cream of the crop’ to part with top tier IDNs .. Many have been holding for years .. a few since 2000 and another year or two will make no difference. When the native speakers of those languages wake up and realise foreigners hold all the top keywords / cities etc it will be far too late, prices will undoubtedly be high and top names will not go for peanuts. IDNs are like being back in the 90’s when good .com’s could be picked up for registration fee .. as things stand now a lot of languages have been cleaned out .. call it learning from history if you like. There was/is a lot of confusion amongst the ASCII domaining set .. one example being that some seem to be under the impression IDNs are not .com’s .. there is no need for languages other than American .. err .. I mean English Some cant seem to grasp the fact that there are 1.3 or so billion people who live in China .. a lot of whom can’t / don’t want to speak English .. so It’s a good idea to use a URL in Chinese to sell your product in China or do we stick to good ole English .. a language they can’t read or understand? Some would argue that English is the business language of the world .. well I would beg to differ .. try buying your widgets in China with your English and you will likely go home empty handed.
   I could go on and on .. but I won’t .. for now anyway
   Good luck Rick .. Enjoy the ride!

8. IDNconsulting.com on March 30th, 2008 at 8:06 am

   Congrats ! Would love to have a chat with you.

9. Mak Ossa on April 2nd, 2008 at 5:14 pm

   Hi Rick, you got me on this one. I think I was sleeping-typing while making that comment (above). I remember wanting to go to bed, that night, but the “bright orange color” of your site kept awake longer. And never mind Mr.COUCHPOTATO who said the site “looks like a fast food restaurant.” The background is really cool, unique, and attractive but maybe not for those who are color-blind.

   Your take on IDNs is a good idea. It’s got me thinking of creating some DNs in my native African dialects. I never thought much of this before - I should be ashamed of myself, really.

   Thanks for the shedding light on this……

10. Jeff on April 4th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    So… do you currently own any IDNs since your last post? Which ones? Are you buying any on the after market?

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