.merch

"A namespace for creators, artists, and brands to sell official merchandise directly under a recognizable commerce label. The .merch TLD gives the creator economy's commerce layer its own address. Its mission is to serve the merchandising ecosystem - celebrities, influencers, creators, artists, musicians, podcasters, sports organizations, and brands selling official merchandise, plus the print-on-demand and fulfillment platforms behind them. Intended registrants are creators and rights-holders selling official goods and the platforms that power them; intended users are fans seeking authentic merchandise directly from the source. The TLD will enable direct-to-fan storefronts (bandname.merch) that shorten the path from content to commerce, platform integrations where a creator's store address is provisioned automatically. The string will be popular with hosting platforms, social media and influencers with partnerships with creator-commerce platforms. Distribution will be performed through ICANN-Accredited registrars. Sustainability follows the structural growth of direct creator monetization: the creator population expands annually, stores renew with careers, platform integrations produce durable registration bases, and the registry's conservative financial plan reaches renewal-sustained operation within three years."

The mission of .MERCH is to provide a namespace associated with the concept of merch as merchandise or goods offered for sale, particularly products associated with a brand, creator, organization, or other entity. The .MERCH gTLD is intended to serve a broad range of registrants and users, including individuals, businesses, organizations, communities, projects, and other entities that identify with, relate to, or wish to be associated with the concept represented by the applied-for string. The purpose of .MERCH is to enable registrants to establish online identities using domain names that correspond to this concept. To achieve this purpose, Bird Pepper, LLC will make .MERCH available for registration through registrars and other appropriate distribution channels; maintain a secure, stable, and reliable registry infrastructure; implement registration and operational policies that support the availability, security, and integrity of the namespace; and provide ongoing administration of the gTLD to enable registrants to register and use domain names within the namespace. The purpose of .MERCH is sustainable over time because decentralized digital assets will continue to play a fundamental and enduring role in the digital economy. As society and technology evolve, organizations and individuals will continue to establish online identities associated with the applied-for string.

The proposed .merch top-level domain represents merch - the everyday short form of merchandise - goods offered for sale, and in the word's familiar modern sense, the shirts, prints, accessories, and other items that creators, performers, venues, events, and businesses of all kinds offer to their audiences and customers. Intercap Registry proposes to operate .merch as an open namespace, available for registration by the general public without restriction. Intended registrants include individuals, creators, businesses, and organizations of all kinds that offer goods to the public and want a clear, memorable address for doing so. Intended users are members of the general public browsing and shopping for those goods. Intercap Registry will make .merch names available worldwide through ICANN-accredited registrars, promote awareness and adoption of the namespace, publish its registration policies ahead of launch, operate the TLD openly, respond promptly to reports of abuse, and comply with applicable safeguards. Demand for this category is sustainable: offering goods connected to a name, event, or following is long-standing commercial practice across every sector, and "merch" has settled into everyday vocabulary - a category not tied to any trend, technology, or single company.

Link Freedom Group (LFG) aspires to become a best-in-class, vertically integrated domain name registration authority, see linkfreedomgroup.link. This TLD is part of a carefully curated portfolio of strings that LFG intends to pursue in ICANN’s 2026 New gTLD Program. In assembling this portfolio, LFG focused on securing meaningful, memorable, and commercially compelling strings that resonate strongly with end users and offer long-term growth potential. Over the past four years, LFG (Nova Registry) has successfully grown its flagship TLD, .LINK, from approximately 125,000 to more than 300,000 domains under management. This growth has been driven by innovative distribution strategies, the expansion of registrar partnerships, and a granular pricing model that has enabled .LINK to remain competitively priced while avoiding the significant fee increases implemented by some other registry operators. LFG’s experience in the domain name industry has reinforced one of the key lessons from the 2012 application round: long-term sustainability is strengthened through portfolio diversification. By spreading operational costs and mitigating revenue fluctuations across multiple TLDs, LFG is better positioned to withstand market volatility and invest in continued growth. Accordingly, LFG believes that even obtaining a subset of the TLDs for which it has applied will establish a diversified portfolio capable of supporting long-term economic stability, operational resilience, and sustainable growth.

1. Mission and purpose: The mission of .merch is to provide a namespace for merchandise: the commerce layer of fandom and brand affinity. Intended registrants include musicians, creators, athletes, teams and entertainment properties selling merchandise to their audiences; print-on-demand, fulfillment and e-commerce platforms; and brands and retailers of branded goods. Intended users are the fans and customers who buy merchandise worldwide. Following delegation, the applicant will, as registry operator of the .merch TLD, conduct a phased launch, implement all ICANN-required rights protection mechanisms, and distribute the TLD through ICANN-accredited registrars, supported by marketing and outreach to build awareness and adoption among the intended registrant and user groups. The TLD will be operated under a comprehensive DNS abuse prevention and mitigation framework covering the full range of abuse types, combining proactive and reactive controls. Abuse reports will be investigated and actioned in line with applicable policy requirements. The objective is to maintain .merch as a high-quality, trusted namespace for registrants and end users. 2. Sustainability: Merchandise is a core, durable monetization channel for music, sports, entertainment and the creator economy, industries that are themselves permanent, and "merch" has been standard vocabulary in those industries for decades. As more creators and brands sell directly to audiences, the population needing merch-commerce identity grows.