Author Archives: DomainNameWire

About DomainNameWire

Domain Name Wire is a blog that deals with the domain name sector. The blog covers a range of domain related topics ranging from issues concerning expiring domains, monetization, domain registries and registrars, ICANN, policy, law etc. The blog began in March, 2005, after Mr. Allemann had dropped out of meetings to become involved in domain portfolio company, iREIT. The project began as a hobby to keep him involved in the domaining business, and then became his full-time business.

Wed 13th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
The good Domain Name Wire consult fraud - Someone went through quite a bit of effort to game this year’s survey. The 8th annual Domain Name Wire survey has now closed. I do the survey every year, and I think it provides a pretty good snapshot of what’s going on in the domain industry: how domainers are doing, what they think of various domain companies, etc. Of course, every year there’s a bit of ballot stuffing. It’s not a scientific survey and anyone can respond. Companies sometimes ask their customers ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
American and US Airways play opinion to merge, so those domains will come in handy - Company registered domains related to merger nearly a year ago. Last March I wrote about how a number of domain names related to a combined American Airlines (AMR) and U.S. Airways had been registered, signaling a possible merger. Now, nearly a year later, it looks like those domains will be able to be put to good use. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the boards of the two airlines have approved a merger. The domains included a number of combinations of the ... read more ...
Tue 12th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Do domain companies hatred bloggers? - I can’t blame them much of the time, but it’s a two way street. Over the weekend I read Shane Cultra’s write-up of Webfest. (Great seeing you Shane, by the way.) It was a good write-up, especially his last point: The domain companies don’t like the bloggers that bitch all the time. Several conversations included companies asking why we don’t try and contact them directly before writing. I’ll give one example. Talking to the nice representatives from ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Colbert for pope? Over 100 “pope” domains purebred yesterday - A retiring pope? Some smell a profit opportunity. After the sudden resignation of Pope Benedict XVI yesterday, I wrote about some of the likely names for the next pope and their registration status. (Hint: they’re all registered.) Although the likely names were taken long ago, that didn’t stop people from registering over 100 .com domain names yesterday that included “pope”. A lot of the domains are bets on who might be next, including popejuliusiv.com, popeposterous.com, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cincinnati Zoo gets CincinnatiZoo.com eleven years later - Zoo moved slower than a turtle but will now get CincinnatiZoo.com. It took them a while, but one of the nation’s oldest zoos now has its .com domain name. A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has ordered the domain name CincinnattiZoo.com be transferred to the Zoological Society of Cincinnati, dba Cincinnati Zoo. The zoo has used the domain name cincinnatizoo.org since 2001, which was the same year the .com was registered. A lot of people likely went ... read more ...
Mon 11th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
gTLD Strategy Congress takes figure with Google, .Boston, and more - More speakers announced for new top level domain conference taking place in March. Next month’s Digital Marketing gTLD Strategy Congress is coming together nicely with more speakers and representatives from large TLD applicants. The event takes place in New York City March 11-12. First, L’Oreal has switched speakers to Brigitte King, Senior Vice President. Her keynote is called “The L’Oreal Story: Building Beauty Brands with Digital, Data and Direct Relationships”. ... read more ...
 
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
AdExchange.com and other finish user domain sales - An ad exchange buys AdExchange.com and more end user domain sales. I was at Webfest all last week so I’m behind on end user sales reports. Here’s last week’s Sedo end user report. Think Money Group Limited in the UK bought InvestmentsDirect.co.uk for 1,000 GBP. TV gaming company NetPlay TV Group Limited paid 7,000 GBP for SuperSports.co.uk. Online advertising company Hi-Media bought the category-defining domain name AdExchange.com for $12,000. Redfinger Trading ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Religion drives Afternic’s large sales week - Religious domain names fill the collection plate. Afternic had a big week-before-last, selling nearly $1.6 million worth of domains. It typically sells around $1.0 million, but was aided by several high dollar sales. Two of the big sales were religious — Pastor.com for $45,000 and Pulpit.com for $25,000. The owner of Sermons.com and Clergy.net bought Pulpit.com for $25,000. Although Pastor.com is still in escrow, I’d bet its the same buyer. Another big sales was ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cardinals group to Rome as domainers group to their keyboards - Want to register the domain of the next pope? You’re probably too late. After the shocking news that Pope Benedict is resigning, the rush is on to figure out the “name” of the next pope and to register the corresponding domain names. You’re probably too late, at least if the next pope takes one of the likely names. Here’s a run down: Pope Clement XV An Illinois man was quick on the news today, registering PopeClement.com as soon as the news of Pope Benedict’s ... read more ...
Fri 8th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Stratfor aims to take down site about hack - Intelligence firm wants to take down site that discusses 2011 hacking incident. Stratfor Enterprises, LLC, an intelligence firm that was famously hacked in 2011, is trying to get control of a domain commemorating the attack. The company has filed a complaint with World Intellectual against the owner of Stratfor.co. Stratfor.co shows an image of what Stratfor.com looked like after it was hacked and defaced in 2011. The hack, carried out my members of anonymous, resulted ... read more ...
Thu 7th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Forget “The Kiss”: GoDaddy.co Super Bowl blurb was a genuine winner - YourBigIdea.co drove more business activity than Bar Rafaeli’s kiss. Go Daddy ran two commercials during the Super Bowl on Sunday. The one that’s getting the most media attention is Perfect Match — aka “The Kiss”, in which supermodel Bar Rafaeli kisses ubernerd Jesse Heiman. But is that commercial the one that resulted in a flood of business at Go Daddy on Sunday and the company having its biggest sales day ever on Monday? It turns out more credit should ... read more ...
 
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Dick’s Sporting Goods buys 3 domain names for $395,000 - Retailer purchases sports-related domain names. Sporting goods giant Dick’s Sporting Goods has purchased three sports related domain names for $395,000. Garry Chernoff sold Runners.com, SportGear.com, and SportsGear.com to the company in a package. The deal was brokered by Andrew Hunovice, who previously helped Chernoff sell BowlingBalls.com for $225,000. You can read about some of Chernoff’s other sales here. Chernoff’s exciting story about getting into the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Moniker Snapnames Auction hauls in $564k - Two letter domains headline domain name auction in Los Angeles. The Moniker Snapnames auction during Webfest Global yesterday sold $564,365 worth of domains. The high sales total was aided by two two-letter domain names: JF.com at $240,000 and XU.com at $210,000. Both domain names sold to online bidders. 22 of the 61 lots sold. As usual, I expect some of the unsold domains to sell in the weeks and months after the auction. An extended auction featuring 231 domain ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Woman arrested after being indicted of holding former employer’s domain names - Woman accused of taking control of domain names she registered on behalf of former employer. A Steamboat Springs woman has been arrested for theft after allegedly taking control of her former employer’s domain names. The news was first reported in Steamboat Today. Donna “Tonie” Roberts was given a company credit card and was asked to register domains for Ghost Ranch Restaurant when she was employed there. After she left, she allegedly called Go Daddy to “shut ... read more ...
Wed 6th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tumblr files 9 cybersquatting complaints - Blogging platform cracks down on cybersquatters. Blogging service Tumblr has filed 9 separate cybersquatting complaints in the last two weeks. The complaints, filed under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy with World Intellectual Property Organization, cover typos of its main Tumblr.com domain name. The domains include: tumlr.com tubmlr.com tumbllr.com tublr.com tumbl.com tumblor.com tmblr.com wwwtumblr.com tumbr.com The domains all show different owners ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Kim Kardashian talks entrepreneurship and amicable media - Kim Kardashian talks about her early entrepreneurial ventures and how she leverages social media. Oversee.net CEO Debra Domeyer had a fireside chat with Kim Kardashian at Webfest today in Santa Monica. Kardashian related her stories about early entrepreneurial ventures and how she’s leveraged social media to build her brand. She told the audience of online entrepreneurs and domain investors about how she borrowed money from her dad to buy scarce shoes and resell ... read more ...
 
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Domainers lift $40,000 for purify water - Domainers raise $40,000 for The Water School. The domain name industry raised about $40,000 for The Water School at Water Night last night. The event, held to coincide with Webfest Global in Santa Monica, attracted about 250 domain name industry professionals that paid $50 to $100 to get in the door. Attendees kicked in another $20,000 to get domain name investor Richard Lau’s head shaved, including a $10,000 match from Oversee.net. NameCheap paid for the event ... read more ...
Tue 5th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Humorous Twitter review between Name.com and Go Daddy - Two domain registrars have fun with each other on Twitter. One thing Name.com does better than most (all?) domain name registrars is have a good social media presence. It has the right mix between humor, special offers, and support. Name.com also likes to take jabs at Go Daddy, like this parody Super Bowl commercial. So I found this Twitter conversation between @namedotcom and @godaddy rather humorous. (Note: this conversation is from before the Super Bowl.) I hope ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Domain Name Wire consult closes this Friday - 8th annual Domain Name Wire survey closes Friday. Want to join over 1,500 people and make your opinion heard? You have until Friday. That’s when the 2013 Domain Name Wire Survey closes. This is the eighth annual survey, which gives a good baseline to compare trends in the domain name industry. Once category that’s particularly tight this year is domain parking. The domain registrar category, on the other hand, is a runaway. Which domain forum is best? There’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Oversee.net CEO kicks off Webfest discussion in Los Angeles - Webfest attendees will hear a lot about mobile this week. The last time she took stage at a Webfest conference, it wasn’t even called Webfest. One year after her debut domain conference talk, Debra Domeyer is now CEO instead of co-CEO of Oversee.net, and the conference is called Webfest instead of DOMAINfest. Domeyer kicked of this year’s Webfest conference in Santa Monica with a clear message: mobile, mobile, mobile. It may seem cliche as everyone is talking ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DomainSponsor releases new iPhone and Android Apps - Updated app includes notifications of domains for sale. DomainSponsor today announced the release of its updated apps on both Apple and Android. The app has a number of features, as explained by Oversee.net VP GM Internet Monetization Dwayne Walker this morning. Some of the features are exactly what you’d expect on a domain parking app: Account summaries Domain level statistics Portfolio level statistics Quick view of top 100 domains Data by country But one feature ... read more ...
Mon 4th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Go Daddy Auctions sells 35,156 in January - Go Daddy has a good month for aftermarket sales. Go Daddy Auctions saw an uptick in sales last month, completing 35,156 domain sales. That’s higher than previous months by about 2,000 domain names. The top 10 sales were: numotion.com $45,750 – purchased by an advertising agency in Albuquerque, New Mexico. discountloans.com $39,000 washingtondcrealestate.com $28,500 – sold by Frank Schilling, hasn’t transferred yet. topapps.com $25,000 – bought by the owner ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
My conflict with a Google Malware warning - The past 15 hours haven’t been fun for me. It all started around 8 pm last night when I started getting emails like this: “Hey, when I try to visit Domain Name Wire I get a warning that your site is infected with malware.” If you tried to access the site last night via Chrome or Firefox, you probably saw such a message. You also saw a warning in Google search results. The timing was pretty bad. Super Bowl Sunday is usually a high traffic day on Domain Name Wire ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Co says best Super Bowl ad yet - .Co happy with Super Bowl ad results. Last night was the third Super Bowl ad .co has run in conjunction with Go Daddy (or should I say GoDaddy.co). I reached out to .Co Internet founder Juan Diego Calle to ask how it went: “Sweet! Much better for “our” brand than all of the previous ads.” This commercial was very different than the previous GoDaddy.co commercials. The commercial itself was actually about registering domains instead of strip teases. It was ... read more ...