Great Stuff Rick! i will bid on serveral of these!
Oliver

some will be mine

To be honest I thought there will be more .eu domains in local European languages like German, Spanish, French, Polish etc.

100 points to Daniel! It is the same I thought when I saw the list. And english is no local language here in Europe. (except these little islands in the northsee called Britainnnia and Eireland)

Ahoi!
Dietmar

Daniel, I don't disagree with you but honestly we haven't been getting premium submissions in other languages. I can only work with what I have.

Rick, that is only half-true what you said It is maybe more difficult to get premium names in other languages than English and it is more difficult for you to decide if name has any value in other languages but it doesn't mean there aren't good .eu names in other languages for sale.

For example I would definitely try to find some Italian .eu names as the conference will take place in Milan.

Just to put it in some perspective - one of my very few proposals I submited was Wlochy.eu ("Italy in Polish"). IMHO nice name for auction that takes place in Italy Of course - Polish language is used by only some 50 million people but on the other hand - not so small market as for Europe (40 million living in Poland and another 10 million living abroad).

BTW Very good idea to organize such .eu auction with low reserves I hope that next time there will be more "European" domains, not only English ones (next time TRAFFIC goes to Ireland, so English names will not be bad idea at all

Daniel, I'm trying hard to not be the dumb American that doesn't understand the European mindset but hear me out for a second.

Why would an italianword.eu name make sense? Why would someone in Germany, the UK or Poland go to an italianword.eu?

I would think that only Italians would and that Italians would look to .it domains.

There is no dominant language that defines Europe. We all know that. However, we also know what language is dominant on the net as a whole.

Now I'm going to say this only because we are friends and I know you can take the criticism as well. I wouldn't say what I'm about to say to anyone else. I like you and hope you can take it. Wlochy.eu is a crappy domain. Why would anyone want it? Why would it make sense? Why would a Polish person go there much less an Italian?

To me, .eu domains are designed for someone who wants to provide a pan-European service. I fail to see how Wlochy.eu would qualify in that category.

I'm not blindly going through submissions without regard and with a failure to recognize what a good Polish word is. Give me a little more credit than that.

At least give me something like Wlochy.pl. That would make sense.

Criticism taken And thank you for showing me your perspective and being honest. I respect that a lot! For American and European the same thing can mean something different and it is not different in domain business.

So to be honest - Wlochy.eu isn't one of my best .eu names and I just mentioned it, because it means "Italy". In other case I would never give it as an example and I really accept that you say it is crappy name and not accept it to the auction. BUT I also think there are even more crappy .eu names among those listed to be auctioned in Milan

Now - why I think ItalianWord.eu, GermanWord.eu, SpanishWord.eu, PolishWord.eu makes sens? This comes from my experience. While .eu names can be used as a "a pan-European" domain name some day in the future - it is still mainly used as a local domain name. I know that it sounds ridiculous but that's how it works in most cases. MOST of the websites based on .eu names are dedicated to their local markets and local customers.

Companies in Poland buy .eu name if they can't get .pl name. And this of course has a lot to do with European local cultures. And in 20-30 years I don't see this changing much. English language will get more popular but still local languages will be main languages in Italy, Germany, Poland etc.

So how I see this: UK people will use money.eu, German - geld.eu, Polish - pieniadze.eu (or even pieniądze.eu). That's why I do see a reason to invest not only in English .eu names. You also have to admit that 1-2 years ago most of the domainers were VERY skeptical about .eu names (especially US domainers). Now more and more investors look more indulgently on .eu market. Sedo sales statistics seem to back this hypothesis. Would you imagine 1-2 years ago that you will be organizing .eu only auction at TRAFFIC?

I will try to back up my theory in TRAFFIC Milan session dedicated to Polish market I will prepare some cases and statistics for .eu names too.

And last but not least: I may be 100% wrong and you may be 100% right. It will take some time to verify it

Daniel, those are all good points and I can see how those examples would have "some" value. Maximum value will continue to be extracted from pan-European names.

So let me ask you this. In what language would you want a pan-European name? That's the question I'd like to see answered by Europeans.

The answer to that question is.. English

BUT you should also ask if there is a demand right now for pan-European .eu domains? And my answer is NO (domains like hotels.eu can be exception but there are not so many names and websites like "hotel" sites).

The other question is: would Europeans need pan-European services or will they rather choose local service in France, Spain, Germany, Poland? I think they will choose local service / website. At least for now.

The process of getting Europe United has started but there's a loooong long way ahead of us. But when we get there - maybe there will be no ccTLDs in European Union anymore and .eu will replace other country code domains.

But maybe not

"The answer to that question is.. English" - I'll consider this part of the argument won.

As to your other point, keep in mind we are in the speculation business. Betting on the future is our very nature. The entire game of ccTLDs and gTLDs is speculating on what will have value in the future.

When I'm appraising names that generally don't sell for high premiums, like .eu names, I'm only putting value on those that have the maximum upside potential. If it was my money, I wouldn't invest in .eu names that didn't have pan-European potential.

And I for one, believe in a Europe United as an inevitable fact. It'll happen in our lifetimes.

See you in Milan Rick! It will be fun

Rick, I saw this thread and felt I should comment.

For well over a decade I have studied (and invested in) the nexus between domains (ascii and idn), languages (dozens), and tlds (gtld and cctld).

With all due respect, you are indeed missing the correct orientation to the “non-native-English-reading” internet market, which is now the majority of all users online. You stated: “To me, .eu domains are designed for someone who wants to provide a pan-European service.”

It is not about what kind of service one wants to provide – but rather what kind of service will appeal to and benefit the user. This is especially so in the area of the Internet with its now low barriers to entry.

With so many sites and choices, it's all about applicability to the end-user:

1. Left of the dot - a matter of language
Users want sites that are the easiest to consume, most natural to navigate and of greatest relevance in use. This almost always will be sites in their mother-tongue. Would you wish to navigate a Euro-centric travel site in Polish? Then why would a Pole prefer to navigate a Euro-centric travel site in English? Though I myself read several languages, I naturally prefer my English mother-tongue. The days of the (more educated) early adapters and of Internet users being somewhat pushed toward English due to gaps in (language) online content availability are long gone. This of course means that a site’s “DNS marker” or “call letters” (domain name) should signal the above and appeal to the end-user by being in-sync with a user’s natural language preference and instinctive recall abilities.

2. Right of the dot - a matter of geography
Though geo-markets will vary - Gtlds tend to signal to the user a non geo-limited or a non geo-applicable (cyber) orientation. Of course some gtlds have better market share and recognition than others (.com, which due to Internet evolution also gained something of an über-status) and some have pre-limited cross-border geo-applicability (.eu) . Cctlds on the other hand are country and thus society specific, and tend to signal a (limited yet targeted) societal /geo orientation and local user applicability, which also explains their local appeal and growth.

As such:
A. Products or services that are mainly geo-local, or are non geo-centric (cyber) are best done with domains: locallang.cctld or locallang.com
B. Products or services that are mainly non geo-local are best done with domains: locallang.com (or in Europe possibly with locallang.eu)

Just like you would best market a site pertaining to “Rome” to a Canadian end user in the (current) following language and tld order of applicability:

Rome.com (and not "Roma.com")
Rome.net / .info
Rome.eu
Rome.ca
Rome.it

Similarly, in this thread’s example, creating a site relating to Italy (“Wlochy” in Polish) that’s most applicable to end users in Poland, the following would be the current order of language and tld applicability:

Wlochy.com
Wlochy.net /.info
Wlochy.eu
Wlochy.pl
Wlochy.it

Of course there are better domains with Language and Geo applicability for the EU market.

Best of luck in Milan.

Daniel,

On the other hand you can also argue that .EU never will be a pan-European option simply because there are ccTLD's that are too strong locally.

Look at my own country Sweden for example. .EU penetration is VERY poor, and it has even gone down quite a lot since the .EU launch "back in the days". And we see the same with .COM. 88 percent of the companies will instead choose a .SE while only 32 percent a .COM when registering a domain name.

Personally, I've also experienced the almost impossible in trying to market .EU from a registrar point of view, they simply won't sell. An interesting report can be found on the subject at http://www.iis.se/en/2010/01/28/se-domanen-dominerar-svenska-marknaden-medan-com-tappar/

You almost never see a company using a .EU domain name here and when they do register them it is only for brand protection. .EU is really struggling here and it seems almost impossible for them to succeed on the Swedish market

And from my experience this is the case in a lot of other European countries too. So I really do think we'll have to wait many many years before we see .EU taking over as the clear pan-European option, if ever.

Any thoughts on this?

This is just few hours from me..nice!!

Two quality IDN .com spanish domains will be up for auction in Milan:

http://www.tarjetadecrédito.com
http://www.tarjetasdecrédito.com

credit cards and credit card

Honestly: Is the auction inventar reviewed by a European?

"Trucks" are SUV's or simply large work-horse-cars in the USA. In Europe a "truck" is a lorry. Did you knew that, when you accepted trucks.eu?

"Tuxedos" are widely used in the USA. I have never heard of a "Tuxedo" in Europe...

A "PrivatePlane" is something very common in the USA, whilst extremely exotic in Europe.

"HalloweenCostumes" are a "must" in the US. In Europe we know also "Helloween", and some people party, but the amount of people using costumes is very small. And they do not buy them online.

"Billions", well, in the States that is a thousand millions, in Europe its actually one thousand times more, its a million millions. Too much!

Just a few examples of US centered words that make sense as ".com", but absolutely not as ".eu".

I am great ".eu" fan. I sold hotels.eu in 2007 für 250k Euros. I also sold several 5-figure .eu Domains. But mostly german.eu! Why? Well, Germans look for German language domains only. The ".eu" signals, that the service or product is either from somewhere in the EU, or for the EU. Example: anwalt.eu (lawyer.eu): Either a lawyer listing for german speaking lawyers in the EU, or a law firm that practices in all Europe.

BTW: I live in Latvia, and in East Europe ".eu" Domains are popular!

CU you in a couple of days Pal.

Alexander

This thread is the bomb - keep it up! Thanx!
- LT

@ Andrew Snow, I'm glad you said dot net is okay , because I own: EUFahrzeuge.net , which means EU Vehicles. The keywords have more traffic in Germany than in the world, 18,100 exact matches, so I hope it's a good investment - thanx!

Very badly handled, not good enough to say at least we tried. The dot IT domains the same, really PETCRABS.COM ????? where are the Italian language .it / com domains & I know they have been submitted and refused. Better to have not sold for good reason than to have awful inventory.

As Johannes said above, the .eu is a very hard extension for registrars to sell in the old EU. It is effectively dead in Ireland and the UK. In real terms it is around 10-16% of the ccTLD counts in each EU country. Add in the legacy .com counts for those countries and the share drops again. There are some interesting .eu domains at auction but most of them are over-priced junk that were registered during the .eu landrush by people who really didn't understand the EU markets (they assumed that just because a domain has traffic in .com meant it would get traffic in .eu and focused on keyword type domains). Some of these .eu domains seem to be a standard part of these shows. Growthwise, .eu is beginning to resemble .biz gTLD. The only countries where .eu has any real growth potential is in the Eastern EU countries where it is replacing .com as the second choice domain. Good luck with the auction. There are some good domains there but 500 Euro is a bit much for some of them.