Impact-Site-Verification: 41b53a0c-6d04-458b-a457-fe9e29acde1a
Expert insights on domain valuation, portfolio management, and market trends.
City strings on .com, ccTLDs, and geo gTLDs like .nyc are three different asset classes—not one SEO shortcut. Google’s own guidance, documented sales, and legal precedents show where geographic domains pay off and where investors burn renewal fees.
ICANN Registration Data Policy effective Aug 21, 2025: public redaction is default, accurate data still mandatory, RDAP replaces WHOIS port 43.
The old guide ended with a broken example.com link and a four-tier filing system. Receipt-first rewrite: model annual renewal burn with Verisign wholesale math, ICANN ERRP expiration cliffs, Hold/Develop/List/Drop SKUs, and Afternic/Sedo/Efty distribution—before you buy another spreadsheet template.
Expired ≠ instantly available. gTLDs pass auto-renew grace, 30-day RGP, then 5-day pending delete before drop catchers compete. Here is the filter stack that avoids toxic history.
NameBio's 6.8M+ sales show .com still drives ~72% of dollar volume—but AI.com at $70M and Fuse.com at $2.1M prove premium and brandable aren't opposites. The split is investor liquidity vs end-user strategic fit.
NameBio logged $135M+ in $100+ sales in 2026 YTD—but median Sedo exits sit near $549. Here is sourcing, carry cost, commission math, and when flipping beats development.
Verisign Q4 2025: 386.9M total registrations, 161M .com. .ai crossed 1M with ~95% YoY growth and $70M AI.com—here's what the tape says, not hype.
Sedo median sale: $549. NameBio 2025 volume: ~$244M. Automated appraisals miss buyer type and venue—here is the comp workflow professionals use before bidding.
We benchmarked eight bulk checkers against verified limits—5,000 on Namecheap Beast Mode, 100 on Porkbun, 50 per Namecheap API call—and three lookup architectures. Here is how to pick without losing your search list to a registrar.
Registry wholesale, ICANN fees, registrar markup, premium tiers, restore penalties—and why the $0.99 .com banner is not your five-year budget. Receipt-first pricing with cited Verisign, ICANN, and registrar data.
