A few weeks of watching the domain trade and you’ll quickly start learning who the big players are. One of the biggest right now is Garth Piesse behind the Nominet Tag Coherent NZ. It’s rather interesting that a Kiwi can be at the heart of the British domain flipping business, but that’s a question for another post.
I’ve tracked Garth’s domain purchases over the years because he seems to register very high quality domains that I have an economic interest in.. and it’s always good to research your competition. What I’ve noticed recently is quite surprising. He’s actively dumping nearly all of his .uk domain names.
Are domain professionals ditching .uk?
Garth Piesse is not indicative of all domain professionals, but this is a big sign that professional domainers view the .uk extension as less profitable. Based on the evidence, it looks to me like domainers are actively not-renewing .uk domains after the initial purchase.
What does this mean for flipping?
As a flipper you can view this as an opportunity to register some very high quality .uk domains that the domain bankers are not renewing. Alternatively, you can see it as a signal that the .uk domain extension is not worth investing in.
What does this mean for businesses?
As a UK business owner myself and a member of several local trade organisations. I see this is a positive move for UK business owners. If domain speculators are ditching their .uk domain extensions because they think they’re not going to make a profit. It means a lot of good quality .uk domain extensions will be hitting the open market over the next 24 months.
If a .co.uk domain you want is currently registered by a domainer, keep an eye on the ,uk version. It may very well become available.
