Lower .XXX Domain Prices Have Been Negotiated

MANWIN AND ICM COME TO AGREEMENT
May 1, 2013 LUXEMBOURG Following a dispute that began in November 2011, Manwin and Manwin DP have come to an agreement with ICM Registry to bring the dispute to an end.


One of Manwin?s key motivations was to make .XXX pricing lower and more competitive.


Manwin has negotiated a lower price for newly-created .XXX domains created in the month of May 2013. .XXX domains will be made available to registrars at a substantially discounted wholesale price of USD$7.85, which is the current wholesale price of a .com. ICM will run similar price promotions in future years as well.


Furthermore, ICM has agreed to contribute USD$2 for every new .XXX domain name registration created after April 30, 2013. The monthly contribution will be made to a fund designated by Manwin to support the adult entertainment industry. These funds are in addition to ICM's contributions to IFFOR.


Beyond the financial agreements, Manwin will now permit content from or advertising for .XXX websites on its Tube sites. In addition, Manwin related properties will allow websites hosted on .XXX sites to participate in any of its affiliate and promotional programs generally available to other website operators.


In the agreement ICM also acknowledges that websites hosted on their adult-specific TLDs are not the only responsible and safe adult content websites.


Both parties feel that these arrangements will set precedent for trade and consumer benefit and protection for the online space.

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Unprecedented Prices for New .XXX Registrations


Palm Beach Gardens FL, May 1, 2013 ICM Registry, the registry operator for the .XXX toplevel domain (TLD) for online adult entertainment, announced that new .XXX domain registrations created from May 1 through May 31, 2013 will be available at .COM prices. During this limited time only, registrants can lock in prices, as low as $ 8.99 for up to 10 years.


Customers looking to take advantage of this limited promotional offer, should contact their usual registrar or one of the many participating registrars at www.icmregistry.com/buy. With both Search.xxx and XXX.XXX showcasing and driving traffic to developed .XXX sites, together with the recent launch of the Search.xxx ad platform, there is a growing awareness of the value of the .XXX domain, said CEO of ICM Registry, Stuart Lawley.

ICM is also making significant moves to protect .XXX participants with its recent applications to operate three additional adult entertainment-related TLDs .SEX, .PORN and .ADULT. If awarded these new TLDs, ICM Registry will offer an unprecedented grandfathering clause and will automatically reserve matching names at no additional cost to those who already have .XXX domains. .XXX registrants can chose to do nothing and the matching names will never be released under the new TLD suffixes. If however, registrants choose to register the new names for use, there will be a nominal fee.

This means .XXX domain holders can potentially quadruple their exposure and the value of their holdings, while brand and trademark holders who own or have reserved .XXX domain names are automatically protected and will not have to register or reserve those names in the new TLDs.

Each .XXX website is malware scanned to protect both website operators and consumers.

Every .XXX site also comes with a MetaCert electronic Family Safety label making it easier for users, organizations and parents to adjust their browser settings to restrict access to websites that are clearly labeled as potentially adult oriented content.

"Our goal is to serve the adult industry by continually creating new initiatives and platforms that increase the inherent value of each .XXX website", said Lawley.

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So let's talk about this. Will this change in pricing, etc have you buying the .xxx extension? Will you drop your .com versions over time? If you're a program, advertiser or list owner, will you now allow the .xxx domains to participate with your program/property?

Why would I want to register such a domain now? It was never a question of the price and even if they gave away the domains for free I wouldn't take one. The reasons for not supporting ghetto building haven't changed.

But I can see many of the bigger companies changing their mind and start allowing to promote them from those domains, even though they were quite vocal before about not supporting the system.

Honestly I can't blame them. If you have employees to pay and need to shove profits down the throats of investors or owners, there is little room to stick to moral standards. It would be hard to explain to an investor that only cares about money, why you would pass a good opportunity to rake in some more money.

It would just be nice to not see grandiose announcements about not supporting something, only to see another press release a little later, praising their own 180 grade turn, just because there might be money to make.

I'm guessing those that have already bought aren't going to get the credited difference of the new lower rate.

I'm comfortable with ".COM" for the moment , and comfortable with "NATNET" , and comfortable with "CANON/NIKON/SONY" Cameras , and comfortable with ... :)

- jim

I had some domains that expire tomorrow (June 1) so when I went to renew them today on Namecheap I decided to look for a few more I've been thinking about adding. To my surprise I kept seeing the .XXX version of the names on sale for $9.95. I thought this was a typo or a trick but did a Google search and found the above press release. I typed in a few of my "dream" gay porn domain names that were never available as .COM and a few came up as available in .XXX so I think I'll go ahead and get them... but for at least 5 years. I figure that I can probably sell them at some point down the road and make back my $10 per year cost. If anyone else is interested the "sale" expires at the end of today (May 31st).

I was never a fan of .XXX but it appears that it is not going away so I guess I'll go over to the "dark side" and buy a few names. To my fellow webmasters, please forgive me for my sin.

I don't see the average guy thinking to use .xxx to find a domain, and at present I'm not sure if G**gle is giving xxx preference over any other extension. I may be wrong, but it just feels like another way to have "big brother" watching and providing them a means of control.

What if the price increases to $200 in five or ten years? I'll stick to .com.