On April 7 a new gTLD .FLOWERS entered a general availability phase. And the first day was pretty fruitful – 24 194 names were registered in the domain. However, there are some circumstances that do not allow to celebrate the achievement. The problem is that North Sound Names, which belongs to Frank Schilling, registered 98% of all names. He is also the owner of the Uniregistry that operates .FLOWERS domain zone. This fact is hardly a coincidence.
This is not it though. Several private domain investors at the same time reported another oddity. Right before the launch of the domain into general availability, investors pre-ordered some names. However, as a result all of these names were unavailable for them, they were all registered by North Sound Names. This is strange considering that initially these names were not premium and no restrictions applied to them. Michael Berkens, a well-known domain investor and blogger is one of those who wrote about that.
Angry domain investors accuse Frank Schilling of dishonesty. Not only haven’t they got the names they wanted but also the funds paid for pre-order will by blocked up to 4 weeks. For small investors this is a serious problem. Moreover, some observers believe that Uniregistry and North Sound Names simply studied the list of pre-orders and left the best names for themselves. Legally registry can reserve any number of names for its own use. However, the list of names obviously should have been prepared in advance and not changed a day before the launch.
