In a blog post today on Realtor.org, the National Association of Realtors is warning its members and I guess anyone else who about thinking about preregistering a domain name in the new gTLD .Realtor not to bother doing it at Godaddy or anyone traditional domain name registrar:
“Domain sellers such as GoDaddy are beginning to promote a list of top level domains which will become available, including .REALTOR. These domain sellers have no relationship with NAR or the sale of .REALTOR domains. ”
“NAR members should not pre-register or pay money to an outside company for a .REALTOR top level domain because NAR will oversee registrations for .REALTOR when it is approved by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Only NAR members are eligible for a .REALTOR domain and membership will be verified via the NRDS system at registration.”
“Additionally, NAR plans to provide members a free .REALTOR domain that is associated with their name for one year on a first-come, first-serve basis. NAR’s goal is to ensure the trademarked term, REALTOR®, is used properly—that is, to denote a member of the National Association of REALTORS®.”
.Realtor is a Brand application and will be allocated by the registry apparently free to members of the National Association of Realtors.
For anyone else don’t worry there will be plenty of alternative new gTLD’s in the same vertical from .Realty to .Realestate to .Real to .Property
Can it get any more confusing?
Unfortunately, yes.
The GTLD drama is unfolding. Each new day bring an aha moment like the domainincite tiered pay article yesterday and now this. Grab the popcorn as RS says, This will be a feature length film that will last for years IMO.
is confusion the ultimate “stop sign” for new things ?
see, whether or not people think the gTLD’s are beneficial it seems like a lot of peoples main point the entire time is: “this is confusing and confusing ideas never ever pan out”
we all know that isnt true.
*predictable expected disclaimer: i dont know how the gTLD thing will end out but i do know sometimes confusing ideas eventually become NOT confusing if they’re beneficial enough or there is A LOT OF MONEY TO BE MADE BY A LOT OF PEOPLE (some who were traditional domainers before)… and sometimes ideas stay confusing and obscure. its just not the ultimate test of whether an idea as a whole will eventually pan out. you dont have to like that the registries and new registrars that pop up is a new way of domaining – but it is. its silly not to accept it.
**secondary disclaimer repeated again so i can be right now matter what: i dont know how the gTLD thing will plan out.
any registrar willing to pre-reg for .realtor is really not doing their homework. everyone and their mom knows that realtor is a protected term only allowed to be used by licensed realtors.
IMO bordering in a “deceiving business practice”… when there is zero chance of getting the domain.
is there an ulterior motive in behalf of the registrars to do this? or are they really that stupid?
the email addresses are going to be a little funky:
listings@Johnnysellsalot.realtor ? vs JohnnySellsalot@realtor.com
ontheinterweb wrote:
> is confusion the ultimate “stop sign” for new things ?
No, most companies try to confuse their customers as much as they can. I was at Nordstrom the other day, and they had the ‘Ladies Department’ labeled as ‘Men’, and the ‘Men’s Department’ labeled as ‘Dog Toys’.
Needless to say, I came home with some very interesting new styles of clothing. (Plus a nice silk tie that my dog loves to play ‘tug of war’ with.)
ontheinterweb then wrote:
> we all know that isnt true.
It seems your ideas tend to be very much in the minority, so “We all” should probably be changed to “I”.
nice example – except its completely ridiculous because:
beyond being JUST confusing what would labeling the mens department as the womens offer as a benefit?
is there money to be made from that? i dont understand your angle. oh wait yes i do just being goofy.. alright then.
All I can say is my dog loves that tie!