Monthly Archives: May 2010

Mon 17th May 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Peaches.com Headed to Auction - Peaches.com owner Kelly Pitts tells how he got the domain — and why he’s putting it up for auction. The next Sedo Great Domains auction kicks off Thursday, and my pick for the top domain name on the list is Peaches.com. It’s a spectacular category killer domain name that also has branding potential. I reached out to owner Kelly Pitts to find out when he acquired the domain name and why he has decided to offer it for sale. When did you originally register/acquire ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Go Daddy User Generated Ads Hit a Mark - Commercials show what Go Daddy actually does. That’s refreshing. Last month I lamented that most of the submissions to Go Daddy’s commercial contest followed the same-old GoDaddy script. Now that the ten finalists have been selected, I’ve changed my mind. Sure, most of the finalist commercials use some sort of sex appeal, but the majority of the message is on how Go Daddy can help you get online. The visuals actually make you pay attention to the idea of ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Magic Bra Gets Stuffed in Domain Name Dispute - Bra company fails in domain dispute. A H Sportswear Co., Inc., which holds two trademarks for “Magic Bra”, has lost a UDRP case for the domain name MagicBra.com. The domain name was registered by Hu Yanlin of Beijing in 2001 and he says was never aware of A H Sportswear’s marks. He also said the term was descriptive in nature: The Respondent submits that the term “magic bra” is a descriptive term which not only refers to a brassiere which will make ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Kills Two More Domain Name Registrars - ICANN cites two registrars for breach of contract. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has de-accredited two domain name registrars for violating their accreditation agreements. The two registrars — Mobiline USA, Inc., and Western United Domains, Inc. — were sent termination notices on May 14. Mobiline, which has a web site at DomainBonus.com, was warned on April 15 that it was in breach of its contract with ICANN for failing to escrow ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Names, Not Apps, Rule on a iPad - Is the iPad changing how we consume web content? In January I wrote a post about the iPad and how it could be bad for domainers. Devices such as the iPad seek to replace traditional web browsing with apps, thereby rendering the URL useless for accessing content. Domain Name Wire reader Gavin sent over an interesting view from Jason Fry writing for Nieman Journalism Lab. After using the iPad for a couple weeks, Fry says that web browsing still rules on the iPad; ... read more ...
Sun 16th May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About .CO; Our Exclusive Interview With The CEO Juan Calle - With the LandRush for the .Co just a little over a month away, we got this exclusive interview with Juan Diego Calle who is the CEO of .CO Internet S.A.S., the company which is operating the registry for the ccTLD. Juan, thanks for taking the time to educate myself and my readers on the .CO extension. 1. Tell us a little about yourself and your career background. A: I was born in Columbia and come from a very entrepreneurial family. We moved to the US when I was fairly young and by the time I got ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Browser Usage Shows Domainers Are Early Adopters - No surprise — domainers are ahead of the curve on new browser and operating system usage. It’s been a while since I looked at the Google Analytics section for visitor browsers and operating systems. But this week someone pointed out that Domain Name Wire wasn’t loading correctly in Internet Explorer 8, so I checked to see how many people that affected. As far as browsers are concerned, here are the rankings on DNW: Firefox 45% Internet Explorer 32% Chrome ... read more ...
Sat 15th May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN
The Miami Herald Covers The Live DomainFest Auction - In what I consider to be a pretty positive artcile on the industry, the Miami Herald Published a story covering the Domainfest auction. Always good to see the mainstream media covering the domain industry. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Draft Advisory Could Put Chill on Domain Proxy Services - Draft advisory is a stark reminder of the legal liabilities and limitations of domain proxy services. I’ve argued before that providing whois proxy service (commonly referred to as whois privacy, although technically they are different) isn’t free. A big reason is legal repercussions of serving as a proxy. Technically, a proxy service is the registrant of the domain name and the service merely “licenses” it to the person who actually wanted to register ... read more ...
Fri 14th May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Pizza.net Hits a Auction Block At TRAFFIC Vancouver - MediaOptions.com announced today that they have been selected as the exclusive broker for the domain name, Pizza.net and that the domain will be auctioned off by RickLatona.com at TRAFFIC Vancouver Expected auction reserve range looks to be $200K-$350K. Here are some interesting tidbits about the domain, from MediaOptions: ·         In the 1995 award winning movie “The Net” starring Sandra Bullock, Pizza.net makes a guest appearance when Sandra Bullock orders a pizza from home directly ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Sedo 1st Q: 12,000 Domain Names Sold; $23 Million in Sales - Sedo.com released its 1Q Domain Market Study for the 2010 yesterday. Some of the highlights: Sedo, saw an 18.6% increase in the number of sales in 1Q 2010, compared to Q4 2009. “Overall, 11,942 domains changed hands for $23,177,253″. “This marks Sedo’s highest quarter for domain sales since 2008.” “.com remains the most popular top-level domain extension, accounting for more than 42% of all sales on the Sedo marketplace and 76% of all gTLD sales” Nice report and good to see domain sales ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
When It Comes To Predicting Auction Results, This Week, You Guys Suck - We ran two polls over the past couple weeks, one for the auction of Slots.com and one for the Domainfest Live auction. You guys suck. Out of 196 votes on the Slots.com auction only 13 of you correctly predicted that the domain would sell between $5M-$7.5M and only 22 predicted the domain would sell for over $5M at all. Yikes. For Domainfest over 25% of you didn’t think any of the $100K+ reserve domains would sell. 2 did. To your credit, of those of who voted for any domain to sell at DomainFest, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Friday Afternoon Domain Musings - Settling some misinformation, hat tip to Moniker, and TRAFFIC. Don’t Make ASSumptions I try not to make assumptions. I pick up the phone and call when I have a question. Why? Every time I do make an assumption, it comes back to bite me. You know what they say about making ASSumptions, right? So let’s set the record straight on Sedo and the EverythingEverywhere.com domain name sale. They didn’t throw anyone under the bus. I think that was quit clear even ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Here Come Subway’s Lawyers for “Footlong” Trademark - Dumb and Dumber. A representative for Doctors Associates Inc., known for its Subway sandwiches restaurants, has filed a trademark for the term “Footlong” for restaurant services. The company is claiming a first use in commerce date of 1967. The company then sent a cease desist letter to Coney Island Drive In, which sells footlong hot dogs and uses the web site GotFootlongs.com. Apparently that letter was sent due to “clerical error”. But clearly the company ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Live Current Posts a Profit (Sort of), Plans to Develop Boxing.com - Live Current goes into the black thanks to domain sales and leases. Live Current Media posted a small profit of $84,078 for the first quarter of 2010, the company announced today. But that profit was only possible thanks to a $250,000 “Gain on settlement of amounts due regarding Global Cricket Venture” and $600,000 from “Gain from sales and sales-type lease of domain names.” But the company says it is now fully funded through 2011 thanks in part to cost ... read more ...
Thu 13th May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Official DomainFest.com Results; Almost $2.4M In Sales - Moniker.com has just released the official results from today’s DomainFest.com auction. Although some have reported that TreasuryBonds.com and Hobbies.com sold under reserve, that does not appear to be the case. dating.com                      $1,750,000 boardgames.com           $  450,000 therapists.com               $  50,000 antidepressant.com      $  30,000 golfresorts.com             $   22,500 efp.com                           ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
DFG UPDATE: Dating.com Sold For $1.75 Million, BoardGames.com For $450K - While the live auction from DomainFest Ft. Lauderdale is still going, so far two of those category killer domains have sold. Dating.com just sold for $1,750,000 and BoardGames.com sold for $450K a little while ago. The bidding got as high as $2M on Jeans.com, but no sale. You can see the final results of our poll, which I closed for voting right before the auction started. So far you guys picked out the two domains that sold (of course not counting the 37 of you that thought none would sell) We will ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Its All About .Me, As SnapNames Auction Pulls In $150K - The .Me auction of registry owned domains concluded yesterday on Snapnames.com and they have just published the final results. The auction I think can only be described as quite successful In all 35 domains sold for a total of just short of $148,913. Trade.Me and Click.Me lead the way. Here is the complete list: Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Domaining.com Launches “Closing Auctions” Service - Domaining.com today launched a new “Closing Auctions” list which tracks all the public auctions on various platforms, on domains closing in the next 24 hours. Currently the service, which can be found on domaining.com main page under the  “Closing Auctions” Tab, tracks the auctions from: Afternic.com, BargainDomains.com, Sedo.com, GoDaddy.com and Latonas.com  and in the next day or two, Domaining.com will be adding AuctionPus.com and in the next week or two, SnapNames.com The list not only ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
20 Great Expiring Domain Names To Backorder Now - Take a look at these 20 pre-release domain names. I don’t usually share expired domain name tips on Domain Name Wire. But the mood struck me today to do some research. Here are 20 pre-release .com domains at NameJet that you should consider. All domains are at least 8 years old and many are more than a decade old. I checked all of them today to verify they were still in pending delete status. Most of them don’t have any bids yet. RetireWealthy.com MiamiMortgage.com edoc.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Texas Governor Rick Perry Domain Name Expires - RickPerry.com domain expires; official site is hosted on .org. Texas Governor Rick Perry is in the middle of a gubernatorial race, which isn’t a good time for the RickPerry.com domain name to expire. The governor’s main campaign web site, operated by Texans for Rick Perry, is RickPerry.org. But that doesn’t keep people from visiting the .com address by mistake. For the past year RickPerry.com has forwarded to or mirrored the .org web site. Then the domain ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Jackpot! Slots.com Domain Name Sells for $5.5 Million - Slots domain name sells for a whopping $5.5 million. I have received confirmation from domain name auctioneer Moniker.com that Slots.com has sold for $5.5 million — making it the largest reported domain name sale of 2010 and one of the top 10 most expensive reported domain sales of all time. The domain name was listed for sale in a SnapNames auction. The auction concluded without a bid reaching the reserve, but Moniker worked with both parties to close the deal. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
China’s .Cn Domain Name Loses 39% of Registrations in 4 Months - No surprise: .cn falls. It should really come as no surprise. As I predicted a couple months ago, China’s crackdown on the .cn domain name has led to a precipitous drop in the number of registered .cn domain names. Data from HosterStats.com shows that the registered base of .cn domain names has dropped 39% in the first four months of the year, from 13,459,133 at the end of 2009 to just 8,254,681 at the end of April 2010. The drop is due to a number of changes ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ResellerClub Launches Language Localization Program - Domain name and web hosting reseller launches program to localize its control panels. With all the talk of non-latin top level domain names hitting the web, ResellerClub’s latest news is very timely. The company is rolling out Localization Partner Program, a way to use crowdsourcing to help translate its control panel into multiple languages. English has been the primary language of the web, yet much of the growth is coming from people who do not use English ... read more ...
Wed 12th May 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Our Thoughts & Picks For The Live DomainFest Auction - Tomorrow May 13th,  Moniker.com will be holding a Live domain auction at the one day Domainfest in Ftl. Lauderdale. Remote bidding will be available on SnapNames.com The auction starts at 4pm EST. The auction is for only 122 domain or roughly half as many domains of past  Moniker.com TRAFFIC and Domainfest live auctions. Out of the 122 domains up for auction 24 of them or 20% are have a reserve of at least $100K. Here they are: NewlyWeds.com                    $100,001 – $250,000 SpywareBlockers.com          ... read more ...