The .shop new gTLD gained a lot of attention when GMO Registry paid $41.5 million for it at auction. Today there are almost 328,000 registrations. It’s the 13th largest of the new gTLDs by domains under management and has around the industry average number of parked domains at 58.34% indicating a reasonable usage. So from a registrations perspective, it’s performing well.

But as Online Domain points out, “it will take them many years to recoup their investment, if ever.” It’s hard to disagree unless registrations jump dramatically. Even allowing for their approval for Chinese registrants Time will tell of course! But your correspondent will have to rethink their earlier thought GMO’s purchase of .shop “looking like being a great investment”.

The amount paid at auction though is dwarfed by what Verisign has paid for .web, a whopping $135 million. Which means Verisign will have to have registrations in the millions for it to pay off. Today that seems very hopeful. At best.