Monthly Archives: October 2009

Mon 19th October 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verizon Files Another Cybersquatting Lawsuit - Verizon files cybersquatting lawsuit for Verizon.com typos. Verizon is suing 2Cool Guys.LLC (sic), Warren Weitzman, Arnold Trebach, and several John Does for trademark infringement. In the lawsuit, Verizon alleges that the defendants registered domain names that infringe on Verizon’s trademarks and set up various companies to hide their activities. It alleges that the parties use Lead Networks Private Domains Limited as their registrar, which allegedly works with ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Domain Invest Picks Up 10.2M EUR Investment - Domain investment company gets big vote of confidence from outside investors. Who says outside financing for large scale domain investments is a thing of the past? Luxembourg-based Domain Invest announced this morning that it has picked up a 10.2M EUR ($15.2M USD) in outside investment. Domain Invest buys domain names, making money by monetizing and selling them. The co-managing directors of Domain Invest are familiar faces at domain name conferences, Markus Schnermann ... read more ...
Sun 18th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
Valuations: Get It Right You’ll Be A Multimillionaire, Get It Wrong You’ll Go Broke - The inspiration for this story came in the form of a “joke” press release today. Like most good jokes, the humor worked because it is based on part reality, part exaggeration. The joke brought up a point that I hardly ever see anyone write about, but which maybe the single greatest factor in determining your ultimate financial success; Your ability to correctly value assets. First for the joke press release, which you should read because its very clever and well written; here is the punch line: “”37signals ... read more ...
Sat 17th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
3 Three Letter .Com’s To Drop Sunday - Its pretty rare to see a three letter .com drop on any given day, but on Sunday,  it appears there are 3,  three letter .com going to drop. Even more rare, it looks like each of the three domains are going to be “freely dropped” domains, meaning no one drop service will have an automatic lock on them even though they seem to be all registered at Network Solutions. Normally Network Solutions domains are pre-released to NameJet.com, but these look like they are going to drop on a first come first ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Whether You Park Your Domains Or Not, You Better Hope Parking Stays Around - Over the last few weeks, I have written several post involving, directly or indirectly, domain parking. All the comments I received to these posts can be categorized into three camps. One group basically says; we don’t park our domains, parking is dead get over it. The second group basically says; develop your domains, parking is dead. The third group basically says, parking is off 50% but its still a huge moneymaker. My concerns are with the first two group of commentators. Why? It troubles me ... read more ...
Fri 16th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
Broadway Blog: No One Will Buy BroadwayShows.com At The TRAFFIC Auction - It’s always interesting to see how a non-domainer views of a category killer domain in their industry. The self entitled Broadway Blog, had less than kind thoughts about one of the domains up for sale at the RickLatona.com TRAFFIC auction, BroadwayShows.com. Considering the blog describes itself as writing about: “Broadway news and gossip about all the Broadway Shows currently appearing on Broadway“,  it seems strange it wouldn’t like the domain broadwayshows.com. Well actually its not that ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
SnapNames.com Monthly Showcase Auction For Oct Nets $44K - The Snapnames.com monthly auction ended today with a total of just over $44K in sales. Here is a list of the domains that sold. Domain                                         Sale Price silver.net                                      $17,178.00 quote.org                                     $11,690.00 exerciseplan.com                       $7,750.00 discountloans.com                     ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Registries Clarify Stance on Registry-Registrar Separation - Afilias, PIR, and Neustar explain their position on a critical change to the domain name sales channel. Domain registries have a lot to lose if registry/registrar separation ends with the introduction of new top level domain names. Representatives of several registries, including Afilias, Public Interest Registry, and Neustar, have sent a letter (pdf) to ICANN’s board and CEO that says ICANN is misstating the registry constituency’s position on registry/registrar ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
In Domain Auctions, Less is More - Offering fewer domains can result in more sales. This month’s SnapNames showcase auction ended with only twelve domain sales for a total of $44,149. That’s a dismal 4% sell through rate. Why did the auction perform so poorly? There are a number of possible reasons, but I think one is that there were too many domains in the auction. Previous SnapNames monthly auctions have had fewer than 100 domains; this one had about 300. Given all of the online auctions ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yahoo Wins Yahoo.tel Domain Name in Arbitration - Yahoo picks up .tel domain name. An arbitrator with National Arbitration Forum has awarded Yahoo! the Yahoo.tel domain name. Yahoo was the first major tech company to file arbitration for a .tel domain when it filed its case back in August. The respondent in the case did not file an official response. Instead, he challenged the authority of UDRP proceedings in Spain. Through correspondence dated September 23, 2009, the Attorney of Respondent submitted a written ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Google Adwords’ Ebay Problem - Google Adwords making online advertising easier for local businesses. Google Adwords is now testing a simple, flat rate advertising option for local businesses. Local businesses pay a flat monthly fee for their ads instead of dealing with keyword auctions. Why? Google Adwords is complicated if you’re not an experienced user. And many small business owners aren’t experienced Adwords users, let alone experienced internet users. Here’s a quote from Google ... read more ...
Thu 15th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google 3Q Earning Up 27% As It Beats Expectations, Again - Google announced it earning for the third quarter after the market closed today, easily beating the street’s estimates for both earnings and revenue. Google said sales in the 3rd Quarter totaled $5.94 billion, up from $5.52 billion in the second quarter and $5.54 billion in in 3Q 2008. Excluding traffic acquisition costs, revenue was $4.38 billion higher than the Street’s estimate of $4.24 billion. Google said net income was $1.64 billion, or $5.13 a share, compared with $1.29 billion, or $4.06 ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
UPDATE: The Snapnames.com Oct Showcase Auction Ending Today: Domain With Bids - The Snapnames.com Monthly Showcase auction ends today at 3:15pm Many of the domains we picked yesterday have bids, however some of them have not hit reserve yet. Here are the domains which currently have bids at of 12:30pm EST. Discountloans.com is the most active domain with 8 bidders taking it from no reserve to $1,800 Those with an (r) by them have hit reserve, the others have a the bid as stated, but the reserve has not been hit. To join the auction,  just click on the link so we can grab some ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Quick Poll: Which Live TRAFFIC Auction Will Gross The Most? - Well the lists are out. RickLatona.com announced the list of domains that will be auctioned at the TRAFFIC show a couple of days ago. Moniker.com announced their live auction list yesterday. So the question is, having reviewed both lists, which one do you think will generate the higher total sales in their respective Live domain auction Please vote on the right side of the blog’s polling area, and leave any detailed comments below. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Did Domainers Call The Stock Market Bottom? - I published a poll back on March 7, 2009 asking you to pick the stock market bottom, just about a week before, it hit, what is regarded to be the bottom, (the lowest point hit by the Dow Jones average) Since the Dow closed about 10K for the first time since, I went back and looked at the results. Your choices were: We are at the bottom now 6,000 5,500 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,400 (which represented 90% of all time high) Over 100 domainers voted with 31 saying we were either at the bottom or called ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Beware a Google Adsense “Account Disabled” Phishing Scam - Phishing attempt hits Google Adsense account holders. With all of the talk about Adsense users finding their accounts disabled lately, users should be aware of a phishing scam playing on Adsense clients’ greatest fear: losing their account. Today I received an email purporting to be from Google telling me my account was disabled. And frankly, it’s the closest I’ve ever come to falling for a phishing attempt. That’s partly do to circumstance and partly because ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Epik Buys JustDropped - Epik buys drop catching search and registration tool. Rob Monster’s Epik has acquired JustDropped, an expired domain search and drop catching service. Last week at the SedoPro event in Key West Monster and JustDropped owner Dan Rubin were glued at the hip. I chatted with both of them about the future of Epik, but assumed the reason they were so tight was that Monster was using JustDropped for catching domains for his Epik network. Apparently it was a little bit ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The New Top Level Domain Software Problem - New TLDs may create software headaches. I’ve written before about how new top level domain names might not work in software programs such as browsers and e-mail applications. But admittedly, I have little first hand knowledge of the problem. So it was good to see this post from Patrick Vande Walle, who works for one of the groups vying for .sport. Vande Walle explains how lists of acceptable top level domains are hard coded into many applications, and how an ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Kieren McCarthy Leaving ICANN - ICANN public participation GM announces his resignation. Kieren McCarthy, who officially is ICANN’s general manager of public participation, announced today that he is leaving the organization at the end of November. If you think it’s hard to connect with ICANN now, you should have experienced it before Kieren came on board. He has made it much easier to interact with ICANN and access information from the organization. It was no easy task to get public participation ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Adobe Direct Navigation FAIL - Dreamweaver.com forwards to the wrong URL. I was researching web design software this morning. Knowing that Dreamweaver is one of the more popular applications, I typed Dreamweaver.com into my browser. Here’s what I saw: Ouch. Yes, Adobe owns the domain name Dreamweaver.com, but it forwards it incorrectly. The correct URL for information about Dreamweaver is adobe.com/products/dreamweaver. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Supports New TLDs? Of Course it Does. - VeriSign says it supports new top level domains, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Chuck Gomes, VP of Policy and Compliance, Naming and Directory Services at VeriSign, wrote a post at CircleID about his company’s support of new top level domain names. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone in the industry for many reasons: 1. New top level domains won’t erode demand for .com, which VeriSign manages. .Com will remain king. 2. VeriSign will make ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Your Domain Name’s Reputation Matters for Online Transactions - Consistency in your web site domain name is critical for consumer trust. A couple weeks ago I renewed my subscription to Forbes by sending in a business reply mail postcard. I checked the box to extend the subscription, wrote my credit card number in the appropriate spot, and dropped it in the mail. Today I received an email purportedly from Forbes asking me to confirm my subscription and re-enter my credit card details. I’m 99% sure this is a legitimate email, ... read more ...
Wed 14th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Our Picks For The Snapnames.com Oct Showcase Auction Ending Thursday Oct 15 - We have gone through the 250 domain in the Snapnames.com, Monthly Showcase Auction for October which ends tomorrow,  Thursday at 3:15pm EST and picked out what we believe to be the best domains. So here are our picks. To join the auction,  just click on the link so we can grab some of Oversee’s cash. The price listed Minimum bid but not necessarily the reserve of each of the domains: Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Moniker Releases Live Traffic New York Auction List - Moniker.com released its full auction list for Traffic NY which will be held on Wednesday October 28th at 4pm ET. Remote bidding will be available on SnapNames.com. As usual the reserve prices are stated in ranges. Catalog subject to change. 40.com $50,001 – $100,000 AfricanAmericans.com $250,001 – $500,000 Aging.com $50,001 – $100,000 AircraftRental.com $10,001 – $25,000 Alimony.org $10,001 – $25,000 AllergicReactions.com $5,001 – $10,000 Arachnophobia.com $5,001 – $10,000 Arbitration.com $100,001 ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
New Ruling Today Sheds Light On When Is A “Famous” Persons’ Name Is Proected By WIPO - Most domainers are pretty confused on the question of when is a person name, domain name fair game and when is the domain protected by WIPO/UDRP rulings. Thomas Pritzker filed a WIPO for the domain tpritzker.com Although you may have never heard of Thomas Pritzker, he is a pretty successful guy, to say the least,  described in the ruling as “a prominent businessman, the Chairman and CEO of The Pritzker Organization LLC, Chairman of Global Hyatt Corporation, Chairman of Marmon Holdings, Inc. and ... read more ...