XXX Names

[Toby]

Originally Posted by LAJ

$60 is the rock bottom wholesale price. I'd be interested in knowing what percentage of people are actually paying that low price. I wouldn't take it for free.

That $60 was preliminary, pre-approval. I believe I saw a figure of $70 or $75 in a post ICANN approval statement from ICM. That would be the wholesale price from ICM to registrars, plus any applicable fees to ICANN etc.

GoDaddy and others are adding a sizable markup. I just can't see anyone buying up a bunch of these. A few will be thinking they have to protect their brand, and a few trying to cut in on someone's .com brand, but at $200+ per domain there won't be much speculating going on.

Unless I'm missing something major I just don't see how ICM is going to recoup the millions they've already spent. Now isn't that a shame *insert sarcasm smiley here*

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by Toby

Unless I'm missing something major I just don't see how ICM is going to recoup the millions they've already spent.

This is a scam that is years and millions in the making.

My hunch is there's another shoe to drop at some point.

[RawAlex]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

This is a scam that is years and millions in the making.

My hunch is there's another shoe to drop at some point.

The other shoe they were counting on (but won't work) is to have .XXX mandated as the "only place for porn". Part of their marketing is no doubt to make .XXX appear to be "the" porn tld, and then to push from there.

Thankfully, in most Western countries, any move like this by governments would be met with resistance on all sides. The conservatives would scream that it gives porn legitimacy, and the liberals would scream that it limits free speech.

In the Eastern block, they would just ignore it.

The .XXX people just don't have a ton of cards left to play, that is why we are seeing high priced domains as they attempt to fleece back as much money as possible up front. I am betting that the "support for the industry groups" goes to shit fast enough, and there will be plenty of "where did the money go from .XXX" threads at GFY in about a year or so.