I have been following dot us drop lists very closely for a little under a year and periodically following .us drop lists for 8 months prior to that. I feel as if I have my finger to the pulse when it comes to the day to day activities of the dot us drops. I watch for what names are registered and then check the Whois to see who registered the names. Time and time again it was the same circle of people registering the names (of course with exceptions). However, a funny thing has happened in the last 30 days or so, more and different names are showing up in the Whois and the only name that I am seeing over and over again is SnapNames. There is a lot of competition these days for dot us drops and that is causing more back orders to be placed for these names.

The Unofficial Results

For today, July 11, 2010 I had 49 .us domain names on my initial list. Within 30 minutes after the drop started there were only 13 names left from my list. I tried to catch 8 names and all of them ended up at SnapNames.

Yesterday, July 10, 2010 I had 103 names on my initial list, here we are a day later and there are only 12 names left.

I am involved in 4 auctions at SnapNames with a combined 34 bidders. My favorite name, Sarasota is at $430 with 23 hours left. I knew it would go fairly high but this name is on pace to break through the $xxxx ceiling and then keep going.

Names that normally would not get back orders were back ordered with multiple bidders. I had to make sure that I wasn’t accidentally trying to get dot com names!!!

Tying It All Together

Historically this period of time from late May through early/mid July has seen higher quality .us domains dropping, what is different is how quickly some of the “lower-tier” names are being scooped up and the amount of names that are being back ordered. Here’s my theory on that:

Yes, I think there are more people buying dot us domains, certainly domainers who are diversifying their portfolio as well as learning the quality names that are available. I also think that those same people are used to getting “lower tier” dot com and dot net names and so a “lower tier” dot us (which is still a great name) seems that much better to them. I also think that people get caught up in the excitement and register names that they normally wouldn’t in order to get something, anything.

As for my investment policy, it has not changed at all. I only place a back order if it is a killer domain and then I set a limit as to how high that I will bid. I pick the names that I want prior to the drop and I don’t deviate from that list, if I get my names then great, if not then great. Too much of my early domaining career was spent impulse buying, I’m not going to relive those days.

What about you??? Leave me a comment and give your thoughts on this….

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1. Today Was An Exciting Day For Dot US Drops
2. The greatest landrush drops in dot us history
3. Join Us For a Patroitic Celebration of Fireworks, Dot US Style
4. My Picks From The SnapNames .us Showcase Auction
5. Now I know why they call it a “drop list”