Several new gTLDs already delegated to the DNS root will be auctioned off in October of this year. Kevin Murphy, respectable domain journalist and blogger, reports it “according to a reliable source”. Murphy says that the auction will be invitation-only, names of participants and the very domains that are heading to auction are kept secret.
The event is remarkable because it will be the first time already delegated new domains will be sold in an auction. In a sense, it is a start of an aftermarket of the new domains. However, Murphy doesn't give a judgment yet. In his opinion, it is important to wait for the results of the auction. If the domains to be auctioned off are the ones in General Availability phase and the results do not satisfy the owners, this will be a negative signal for the whole new gTLD program. At the same time, if these are domains bought by large market players as portfolio investments, than an auction is quite normal from the perspective of the market.
“Secondary market of domains exists for various years, but top-level domains have never been auctioned off yet. We can suppose that some domain zones were initially created to be resold, it is a sort of domain startup, which develops to be later purchased by someone. At the same time applicants who misjudged their ability to work on this market, might have realized the need to sell top-level domain”, says about the event Marina Nikerova, senior deputy director at Technical Center of Internet.
