.med launched pre-registrations on May 1 so I asked Ray Fassett of Medistry how this was going? Ray informed me nearly 15,000 .med domains have been pre-registered through May 31.
The caveat is that the registry is not taking any money for pre-registrations. But they are limiting each domain to one pre-registration. So it’s not like there’s 50 different pre-registrations for names like ED.med driving up the volume. Ray said about 7% of the total are premium names, mostly consisting of 2 and 3 characters.
Ray did not feel comfortable sharing which registrars are responsible for the pre-registrations but did say that large volume registrars like Go Daddy, Tucows and Namecheap have not yet on-boarded.
Medistry’s website currently lists 11 registrars such as 101domain, EnCirca and Lexsynergy. There’s also a few brand registrars listed. Ray explained the .med pre-registration window runs all summer. It involves registrars filling out a csv file and sending to them.
Only the registrar with the pre-registration can complete the domain to registration with its RSP, Nominet, starting on September 2. He said he expects more registrars to on-board once .med enters standard operations in September. In the meantime, registrars getting in early seem to be doing pretty well.
The obvious focus for this extension would be in the medical/health/science sectors. Domain hack specialists may seek the best hacks available such as ga.med, fra.med, or fla.med.