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> the domain I bought would cost in the 10s of millions if it was a .com

I don't know much about the pricing of domains, so please excuse my ignorance.

Isn't that just due to the fact that your name was already taken on .com so you had to use a TLD, where is was still free? The 10s of millions you don't have to pay to registrar, you have to pay it the current owner of the domain, who like an owner of anything can dictate the price.

If that is correct, then how is 'google one of the best things to happen to domain registrations'? I guess this is not refering to pricing, because 1k$/a sounds like a lot of money for a domain.

You are right - it relates less to pricing and more to having a trustworthy registrant to partner with. And it’s very easy to adjust various DNS setting with Google, the whole process is very well done. Highly recommend them here and many others do too.

Re pricing, I’ve noticed a few others bringing it up on 1,000 per year. This is a premium domain and instead of some scalper grabbing it up, by setting the annual price high, an actual end user like myself gets to buy one. In a perfect world we will be the first to snag up a domain, but this model of charging premium prices for domains, as long as it’s not exorbitant, works better for both end users and registrants.

1,000 sounds a lot per year, but when the .com is in the millions, it’s much fairer.

> (...) but this model of charging premium prices for domains, as long as it’s not exorbitant, works better for both end users and registrants.

I don't understand how it can be argued that arbitrary price hikes works better for those who have to pay those arbitrary price hikes, specially if it's under a scheme where anyone can swipe your domain out of your hands regardless of how much you've invested in it without you being fairly compensated for it if their pockets run deeper.

You make a valid point - my underlying assumption is that this would not be done. I am hopeful for brand name registrars like Google they will not do this.

Also it would kill their brand equity and the overall value of the extension, so I am hopefully for considerable price increases of 10% per year but not 50% or 100% etc.

In the eyes of someone else you are now "some scalper" when it comes to this .dev domain. It's a matter of perspective after all.

I actually wouldn't see them as a scalper. I don't think it's just an equivalence. I've always been fine when looking around for a domain and one is taken but it's being used productively. The thing that feels annoying is finding a domain where the only thing it's being used for is as an advertisement for itself. It feels kinda like coming across a billboard that says "advertise here!".

The economist in me had to struggle to remember that if the prices are smart, it will lead to allocative efficiency. But it still feels a little ugly.

How do you determine that the domain is being used for something productive? Is my personal email domain up for grabs because I don't have an http presence?

No. That's something productive. If your domain were just advertising that you'll sell it for $xxx and doing nothing else, that's what is at issue here.

The differentiating factor is that I will lose money on the domain by itself. Paying 1,000 per year on registration fees on a domain that can potentially have an unlimited price increase means the value of the domain in any sale will very rarely compensate for the money I invest into it.

The key thing about .com is that once you buy the domain, the annual registration fees are more or less nominal — that’s what allows for very high sale prices. If I could buy my .dev name in .com for even 10,000 I would do it. Alas it is easily in the millions, IMO at least 10m+ as apart from protection for future material hikes in registration fees, .com is still THE gold standard.

For me, it made sense because I am actually using the domain, and I can make it my brand name, eg “Name.Dev” incorporated. This helps me from a trademark perspective as well, so for a small time guy with an idea, it’s a great feeling to get a chance to get a good name that I can put to use.

Presumably the OP is actually using the domain for something rather than just sitting on it awaiting a buyer.

An individual can sell the transfer rights for as much as they like, but that is separate from the registrar fees.

How do google justify charging £1000 a year in the first place though? It's so much higher than most other domains.

Certain domain names are in high demand. What more justification is needed?

Google gets more money, and a domain name investor would have bought up all common words instantly if they were normal priced. Like a lot of people have held on to .com domains for decades with no intention of doing anything except selling them as an investment.

The parent said it was a premium domain. Think cars.dev or similar.

Is money and we like money lol -- Google

> In a sea of unscrupulous players (who track what names you search and grab them before you do in case they are any good)

Not really… There are many reputable ones. Gandi, namecheap and cloudflare are ones I can immediately think of. It’s just that some shady ones like GoDaddy do a lot of marketing.

I’ve been with Namecheap for years and they’ve been great. No complaints.

Gandi has started locking some TLDs away behind a 'corporate membership' subscription at €60 per month.

Fair point. A lot of the dodgy stuff happens in the secondary market, which biased my original note, I’ll edit it if I can

I wouldn't fear Google imposing price increases, I would fear Google eventually jettisoning their registry business because it doesn't make Google-scale money or serve a strategic purpose.

FYI, TLDs cannot be killed off (for good reason; dropping a bunch of domain names would be harmful to the Internet). The worst that can happen is that they're transferred to another registry operator. ICANN requires daily escrow deposits as a condition of running a TLD, which allows emergency registry operators to step in and ensure TLD operation continuity if that becomes necessary.

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/ebero-2013-04-02-en

I think that's unlikely. It can't cost them that much to run and it does serve an important strategic purpose of preventing anyone else from gaining control of a key piece of infrastructure that their whole business depends on.

I would fear Google introducing a new product or five, then sunsetting two, letting one old product hang on while they only add new functionality to another before deprecating both to resurrect an older product, then deciding they have put enough pressure on others to accomplish their goal (competition lower prices or introduces new features) so they can kill all their domain products now.

Yep that’s my fear! Oh well, nothing in life is certain.

However I am hopeful it has a strategic purpose - for anyone using Google Cloud Services, it would be more convenient to have the domain registration bundled in. Similarly, Google sell you you@yourdomain.com as an add on in Google Suites.

> Google is one of the best things to happen to domain registrations.

Thats Google lobbying laterally through other industries but you just can't see it

Could you expand please? It affects me a lot so definitely want to know as much as about this area as possible.

I see Google Domains as a strategic division that supports their cloud services and Google Suites (note how Amazon also sells domains now, I think and hope they both see it as a necessity and don’t kill it like other Google projects they have abandoned).

Google being "Google" a/k/a using Ad-net Integration Model (Ads&Network) heads towards buying out all competition and then killing it forcefully (if it stands in a way); this way they [Google] stay on top of the every industry line on the www (which crazy enough, includes domain registers). It's basically lobbying for the company greater good, see: Entrepreneurship 101 =) There are many reputable domain registers like NameCheap and alike, that offers so much for less price. But, try typing domain registration in the Google and see what is the first URL offered to you (ta-da: it's Google Domain Registrant and GCM integration).

Thanks, that helps :)

Google is unnecessarily expensive than namecheap.com.

As a user of both domains.google and namecheap, I'd recommend namecheap.

Usually, in both the cases, I immediately move registration to Cloudflare-run registrar.

The ease of use with Google is pretty good. Yes I pay a bit extra, but the overall package is very well done.

I’ve heard good things about namecheap too.

I'm not sure I understand your last sentence. If you're going to move the registration to Cloudflare, why not start on Cloudflare?

They don't offer new registration

> Google have been conducting themselves very well in the domain registration market.

Except, of course, for the lies they used to enter the market[1].

Repeated throughout: "Members of the public will not be able to register domain names in this new gTLD."

1. https://gtldresult.icann.org/applicationstatus/applicationde...

Interesting. Looking over that, it seems you're right.

Wonder why this isn't more widely known?

Curious what your domain is?

Secret for now :) Need a good 1-2 years before it’s ready to launch.