Monthly Archives: October 2005

Fri 14th October 2005
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DomainMart launches domain name investment funds - DomainMart is offering investors a chance to invest in managed domain name funds. Returns are in the form of PPC parking revenue and sales of domains in the investment portfolio. The initial service appears to be for all domains and has a $50,000 minimum investment. It is more of a managed individual account than a fund pooling service. You can see the prospectus here. Just looking at this prospectus makes me shiver. Would you trust a company with $50,000 when ... read more ...
Thu 13th October 2005
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy changes watchful duration for TDNAM failing domains - GoDaddy has apparently changed its waiting period after expiring domain name auctions end before you take ownership of the domain. In a press release the company said the waiting period is only 2 weeks after the domain auction ends. This is much shorter than I’ve experienced in the past (see GoDaddy aftermarket – I finally got my domain). Can anyone verify they are receiving domains within 2 weeks of the auctions? ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UK domain name fraud artist in court - Peter Francis-Macrae is currently on trial for alleged death threats he made as police closed in on his domain name scams. Francis-Macrae ran two domain name scams: 1. .EU registrations. He sent spam to thousands of people offering to register forthcoming .eu domains for them. One client got bilked for £5,780. 2. Domain renewal scam. He sent letters to people offering to renew their domains for them. He grabbed the information about the expiring domains from ... read more ...
Wed 12th October 2005
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
All Video iPod domains registered - Apple officially launched its new iPod today with video, dubbed by fans as the Video iPod. But Apple doesn’t own the VideoiPod.com domain. It was registered over 2 years ago. Here are VideoiPod.com and iPodVideo.com domains and when they were registered: VideoiPod.com 9-19-03 VideoiPod.net 5-23-05 VideoiPod.org 7-18-05 VideoiPod.org 7-19-05 VideoiPod.biz 9-19-05 VideoiPod.us 8-31-05 iPodVideo.com 3-2-04 iPodVideo.net 8-24-05 iPodVideo.org 7-18-05 iPodVideo.info ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Harriet Miers dot.com domain name for sale during Sedo - Sedo has just listed HarrietMiers.com for sale. According to a press release from Sedo: “Brian Wolk of Plantation, Florida, a lawyer and web enthusiast, figured the experts had it wrong when their lists of potential Supreme Court candidates did not include the White House counsel, and registered the domain name harrietmiers.com just a week before she was nominated to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Conner. It was the only domain comprised of potential ... read more ...
Tue 11th October 2005
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
So we wish to be a registrar? - A number of domain name investors ponder the question “should I apply to start my own registrar?”. There are obvious benefits, not the least of which is being able to return domains for a refund within 5 days if you decide you don’t want them. If you want to start your own registrar you need to have some cash. Here are the costs: -$2500 non-refundable application fee -$4,000 annual accreditation fee -$.25 per name fee on gTLD registrations, renewals, and ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.US domains continue to sell, King.com grabs $155,000 - Can anything stop the incredible string of sales of .US domain names? This week saw two more 5 figure domain sales, according to DNJournal. GourmetFoods.com sold for $10,750 and OrganicFoods.us sold for $10,000. There’s only one catch: the buyer is the same one that bought Foods.us for $20,000 last week. Without this particular buyer the sales wouldn’t be grabbing headlines. That said, VOIP.us, Industry.us, Business.us, and CellPhones.us have all sold for ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
MSN readies pay-per-click complement MSN adCenter - MSN is gearing up for its entry into the pay-per-click search engine market to compete against Yahoo and Google. This will also create another option for paid domain name parking services to provide relevant ads. I am participating in the MSN adCenter beta and will keep you posted on my results. You can apply to participate in the beta. Check out JenSense for details on how to apply. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo to horde UK domain name conference - The T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain name conference is next week, but traveling to the event from overseas is cost prohibitive for many people. I just received a message from Sedo that they are holding a UK conference this fall that will focus on the future of the .co.uk market. It looks to be interesting, especially for people on the other side of the pond. Here are the details from Sedo: Sedo is proud to announce its UK event which is taking place in central London on ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ParkingSite upgrades templates - ParkingSite has just updated its templates. Now you can have the same images on the top header as the side column. See an example here. This is much better than the old style which had sometimes irrelevant graphics on the right side (see NYCvacations.com for example). See my review of ParkingSite here. ... read more ...
Mon 10th October 2005
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Riding on Expiring Domains – my opinion - In a recent article posted on CircleID, author “Talented Fool” writes about registrars taking over domains when they enter the expiration grace period in an article titled “Riding on Expiring Domains”. These registrars replace the domain owner’s site with a parking page, and often sell these domains through expiring domain services like SnapNames. Talented Fool suggests that this is a violation of the domain owner’s property rights. I can’t disagree ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DomainSponsor to supplement non PPC links? - A note at DomainSponsor says that its paid parking program is adding new features to boost revenue for domain name owners. The changes will integrate DomainSponsor with Oversee.net, which owns DomainSponsor. After reading the note, my guess is that you will start to see pay-for-performance affiliate links on domain parking pages–when these result in higher revenue than PPC. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain name discussion starts Oct 18 - There’s just over a week left before the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain name conference kicks into high gear. This year’s Fall event, again held in Delray Beach, FL, is sold out with 250 registrants. Top attractions include a keynote address from Internet Real Estate Group’s Andrew Miller and Mike “Zappy” Zapolin and a live domain name auction featuring premium domains. The event is managed by Howard Nue and controversial domain name investor Rick Schwartz. You ... read more ...
 
Fri 7th October 2005
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verisign buys Weblogs.com - In an all cash deal, .com/.net registry Verisign has purchased Weblogs.com. This is not just the domain name but also Weblogs.com’s RSS ping service. Still, the domain name is worth a big chunk of the selling price. Want a Weblogs domain name? I have Weblogs.ws available. Contact me at editor[at]domainnamewire.com. Read more at News.com. ... read more ...
Thu 6th October 2005
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TrafficClub.com paid domain parking examination updated - I’ve long talked about my favorite paid domain parking program, TrafficClub. You can see my previous reviews at the bottom of this post. The purpose of this update is to let you know my latest stats from TrafficClub. These are for the month of September: Overall revenue per 1,000 views (RPM) $25.71 DomainSponsor RPM $26.34 Adsense for Domains RPM $26.96 SBX RPM $4.60 Remember that TrafficClub automatically optimizes your domains among various parking services ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Closing shortly during Afternic - The following domains have met reserve and are closing soon at Afternic. Click here to go to Afternic to bid on these domains. Name Current Bid/Buy-It-Now LFCU.net $260/$600 Web-Cam-Chat.com $525/$975 Date-Chat.com $525/$1,000 YouSubmit.com $115/$180 FreshFlowers.biz $1,365/$2,500 iLoveBlog.com $210/n/a Notaria31.com $210/$500 SueSomeone.com $105/n/a sb3.net $315/$1500 ExpatItaly.com $430/$985 ... read more ...
Wed 5th October 2005
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Should we buy domains on eBay? - This weeks DNJournal mentions the sale of ULY.com on eBay for $1,699, which reminds me of a common question for domain name buyers: should you bother looking for domains on eBay? First, let’s look at the positives. You can occasionally find a good deal on domains at eBay. ULY.com at $1,699 is a fairly good deal, and other domains have sold below market value. Another advantage is…well, I can’t think of any. Now for the negatives. The first big drawback to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
BBC paid $375,000 for BBC.com - Through a freedom of information act, the UK press has discovered that The BBC (UK public broadcasting company) paid $375,000 (£212,000) for the BBC.com domain back in 1999 at the top of the domain name market. Previous estimates for the domain’s sale price were £20,000 to £200,000, according to The Register. Why make a fuss about it? The BBC is funded by everyone in the UK that ones a TV. So far BBC.com just forwards to BBC.co.uk, but it has a lot ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Are .US domains going to be a prohibited New TLD? - A .US domain name sale has turned heads for the second week in a row. DNJournal reports that Foods.us sold for $20,000 at Sedo. Last week Business.us sold under NDA, but reports suggest it was for over $50,000. Add on top of that a few other .US sales this week: EasyCar.us for $2,443, Nuts.us for $1,650, and ECD.us for $600, and you have to start paying attention. Why the sudden interest in .us domains? It might not be so “sudden”. After all, almost all ... read more ...
Tue 4th October 2005
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Amazon.com wins domain names - Amazon.com has won domain disputes involving 14 domain names it deemed were trademark violations. The domains included amazzone.com, amzaon.com, and amazln.com, among others. Unlike a recent Yahoo case, the registrant tried to defend some of his registrations. I have a concern about the National Arbitration Forum issuing press releases about both the Yahoo and Amazon decisions. Would NAF have issued the press released if it had found in favor of the original registrants? ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain name cost comparison - What’s the cheapest registrar for .com domain registrations? What about .org? What’s the cheapest way to backorder domain names? You can find out at Midano.com. Midano.com is a price comparison engine for domain name services. It’s like PriceGrabber or Froogle but for domain names. Launched at the end of last month, it shows a lot of promise and should get even better as more domain extensions and registrars are added. Midano.com is another site to bookmark ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Name King means well, gets duped - Self-proclaimed “Domain Name King” Rick Schwartz, the man behind the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain name conferences, meant well by setting up the AirKatrina.com web site to ask for donations for a pilot claiming to assist Katrina search and recovery efforts. There was only one problem: the pilot lied. He was not involved in the recovery efforts, and made up stories about flying a kid to Florida for a transplant (among other things). Schwartz himself donated $1,000 ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Afternic sells RealEstateAgency.com for $20k -

Domain name aftermarket Afternic only posted a sale of RealEstateAgency.com for $20,000. They also sole Loan1.com for $10,000 yesterday. That’s a high cost for a domain with a digit, though a value is transparent for a loans company. DNJournal’s sales list for final week should be posted this evening.

Via: domainnamewire.com

 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Parking Dots vs. Parking Site - September was a fairly quiet month in the Domain Parking field. Sedo has been gradually increasing their PPC numbers, while Parking Site recovered nicely from August’s DNS attacks. Several services continue to experience growing pains. Parking Site is a service developed by the Adam Dicker and his crew at DNForum. They use Google’s ads, but claim to offer a higher payout than other Google-based services. (As the Editor here pointed out, they actually claimed ... read more ...