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 5th January 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
HTML5.com: An Example of Buying Ahead of a Curve - Old domain is suddenly relevant. There’s been a bit of buzz lately about the domain name HTML5.com, which was redirected to a page at Apple.com about HTML5. A quick look at the whois shows that Apple did not buy the domain name, but it recently came out of privacy with a new owner’s name. [Update: someone else bought the domain on GoDaddy for $5500 in December.] Is HTML5.com worth a lot of money? It’s certainly not chump change. That’s why an archive of ... read more ...
Tue 4th January 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo Ups Personal Brokerage Fee to 15% - Fees increase today, but only for small subset of sales. Today Sedo will increase its fee on personally brokered domain name sales to 15% from 10%. This fee increase only applies to sales that involve a human broker and does not apply to self-serve sales in which buyers and sellers transact on Sedo.com. I had a feeling this change was in the works for a while. Frankly, one of the problems with high touch sales in the domain name industry is that commissions are too ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Lazy Complainants Lose Two Cases to Serial Cybersquatter in One Week - If domain name is registered before a trademark is filed, complainants need to provide good evidence of common law rights. So you’re legal counsel for a company that feels that someone is cybersquatting on your trademark. That someone is “Purple Bucquet” of Panama, which has lost twenty-six UDRP cases since April 2010 to companies as big as Wells Fargo and Intuit. You file a UDRP for the domain name and Purple Bucquet doesn’t even bother responding, yet you ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
TechCrunch Interviews Sex.com Buyer: 125k Visits a Day - Robin Wauters tracks down Clover Holdings Limited. TechCrunch writer Robin Wauters has tracked down and interviewed the mystery buyer behind Clover Holdings Limited who paid $13 million for Sex.com last year. But we still don’t know who the buyer is, as he asked TechCrunch to keep his identity secret for now. But he claims the site receives 125,000 visitors a day and should earn seven figures in a year as a parked page. Those numbers seem lofty to me given how ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
My Thoughts on a Moniker Whois Privacy Incident - It’s an unfortunate incident. Not a scandal. I’ve waited a few days to write about the Moniker whois privacy flap. My first reaction was that this whole thing was being blown way out of proportion, so I wanted to wait and see how I felt in a few days. But I still feel the same way. What happened I really don’t know all the details behind what happened. What I can gather from reading this blog entry is that an Oversee.net employee found out who owned a domain ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
PodNova.com Finally Changes Hands for $90,000, OnlineKredit.net for EUR 100,000 - Podnova.com and OnlineKredit.net make for strong sales week. The domain name PodNova.com has sold at Sedo for $90,000. This was an active web site until earlier this year. Compete.com shows it getting as many as 20,000 unique visitors in February 2010 before falling off a cliff when the site shut down. It currently gets around 5,000 uniques. What’s also strange is it looks like this sale took a long time to close, or at least to transfer to the new owner. It ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Go Daddy Explains Whois Blocking - Company explains access restrictions on third party sites. Users of third party whois search tools have been frustrated in the past few days whenever they look up a domain name registered at Go Daddy. Instead of seeing who owns the domain name, they are given a URL to look up the whois information directly at Go Daddy. Here’s an example from DomainTools: This appears to be occurring on many whois lookup sites, not just DomainTools. For example, searches at who.is ... read more ...
Mon 3rd January 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Convoy (.com) Saved from Attack in Hong Kong - Generic domain name registration stays with rightful owner. The domain name Convoy.com has been successfully defended against an attack in a Hong Kong UDRP. The case was brought by Convoy Financial Services, a company incorporated in Hong Kong, against Rainforest Consulting of Tennessee. The respondent was represented by domain name attorney John Berryhill. This dispute is interesting right off the bat because it was decided by Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
6th Annual Domain Name Wire Survey is Now Open - Give your opinion about the companies, issues, and people that make up the domain name industry. The 6th Annual Domain Name Wire Survey is now open and waiting for you. The longest running and most respected survey for the business of domain names asks your opinion on many service providers including: -Domain registrars -Parking companies -Escrow services -Sales venues -Domain conferences -Domain forums By taking the survey you let your voice be heard and help determine ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
IRS Begins Enforcing “No Whois Privacy” for Online Tax Return Services - Web sites that process individual tax returns must follow domain name rules. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has begun enforcing new domain name rules for online tax return services. The rules apply to online providers of individual income tax returns that own or operate a Web site through which taxpayer information is collected, transmitted, processed or stored: -Domain name must be registered with a domain name registrar in the United States -Registrar must ... read more ...
Sun 2nd January 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Microsoft Buys Kinect.com Domain Name - Microsoft gets domain name to go along with popular Kinect product. Microsoft has purchased the domain name Kinect.com, updated whois records show. The company launched its popular motion based Kinect system for Xbox last year, and it was a hot Christmas gift. Last week the company filed a UDRP to get a typo of Kinect.com, wwwKinect.com. At about the same time, both Kevin Murphy and I noted that Microsoft might be trying to acquire Kinect.com. Apparently we ... read more ...
Fri 31st December 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Deflecting Domain Purchase Inquiries to Network Solutions - A simple way to weed out bad domain name offers. If you receive a lot of inquiries about purchasing your domain names, then you probably get frustrated about responding only to have the person disappear after the first contact. There are many ways you can manage this, but I thought I’d pass along a tip a couple large domain owners tell me works. Whenever you receive an inquiry, tell the person to make an offer to you via Network Solutions’ Certified Offer Service. The ... read more ...
Thu 30th December 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Wow – Cricket.com Hit with UDRP - Cricket.com domain name challenged as cybersquatting. The storied domain name Cricket.com has been hit with a UDRP according to records at National Arbitration Forum. Although National Arbitration Forum does not disclose who the complainant is until after a case is decided, it’s possible that it’s wireless company Cricket Communications. The company uses MyCricket.com as its domain name and has used National Arbitration Forum in the past to recover domain names. Cricket.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Microsoft Goes After Kinect Domain Names - Company files arbitration cases to get domain names. If you registered domain names with “Kinect” in them with plans to develop sites related to the XBox Kinect system, you better watch out. Microsoft has filed 7 UDRP cases at National Arbitration Forum since Christmas, all targeting domain names with “Kinect” in them. Among the domains targeted: MicrosoftKinect.com, KinectWorld.com, KinectPro.com, and KinectReviews.us. Most of the domain names being challenged ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Demand Media Will Never Get Love from a Mainstream Media - Blasting Demand Media is to be expected from the mainstream media. Demand Media’s biggest weakness might not be its reliance on Google for much of its profit (both through search traffic and ad revenue). It’s that the mainstream media will never give it any love. In just the past couple days, Fortune wrote a scathing article while CNN named the company one of the 10 biggest tech “fails” of 2010. These articles focus mostly on Demand Media’s eHow web site. ... read more ...
Wed 29th December 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Surveying a Domain Conference Landscape - What domain name conferences am I missing? Each year on the Domain Name Wire survey I ask which domain name conference is best. The list typically includes major U.S. conferences. But I know there are some good international conferences that should be on the list. Here are the options from last year: T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Domain Roundtable DOMAINfest GEODomain Expo Domainer Mardi Gras I’m looking to add domain name conferences that meet three criteria: 1. At least 100 ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo Sells JF.com for $101,000 - Another two letter domain sale cracks six figures. Sedo has brokered the sale of JF.com for $101,000, leading its sales charts for the week. Soon it will also close TZ.com, which it auctioned off for $80,000. Here’s a look at other notable sales from Sedo this week: .COM character.com 23500 USD newsboard.com 22000 USD 079.com 12579 USD realwater.com 10000 USD teras.com 9000 USD bulkdeals.com 7000 USD fr9.com 6000 USD freesociety.com 5500 USD casinoonlinegames.com 5500 USD daga.com 5251 USD jeux-flash.com 5100 EUR trendland.com 5000 USD globalsense.com 5000 USD ieproperties.com 5000 USD ccTLDs finanzen.ch 19000 EUR officechairs.co.uk 17625 GBP breastimplants.co.uk 13000 USD yoli.de 10000 EUR mus.es 7000 EUR 5.to 5000 USD voice.it 5000 EUR razors.co.uk 4000 GBP Other laptopgiving.org 21000 USD rentenversicherung.net 19500 EUR glasstiles.net 11250 USD kx.net 8911 USD rouletteonline.org 7777 USD scorpio.net 7500 USD pillows.org 6000 USD Afternic’s ... read more ...
Tue 28th December 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Two Smart Financial Moves for DOMAINfest Conference - Conference cost increases next week. The domain business’ biggest conference of 2011 is a month away. But you can make two smart financial moves by buying your DOMAINfest conference pass by the end of this week: 1. The price goes up $100 on January 1, so you can save $100 by getting your pass this week. 2. By purchasing in 2010 you can record your expense on this year’s taxes, thus lowering your current tax liability. (You can also do well by purchasing your ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Top 10 Domain Name Wire Stories of 2010 - A look back at 2010 on Domain Name Wire. 2010 is drawing to a close, but let’s not look forward without looking back. Here are the top 10 stories on Domain Name Wire in 2010 based on total page views. 1. .Co Domain Name is .Coming – the headline may have been an understatement. .Co made headlines across the tech world this year, and will get a mainstream boost when Go Daddy features the extension in its upcoming Super Bowl commercial. 2. Bank of America Wants ... read more ...
Mon 27th December 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Survey: Call for Online Domain Name Sales Venues - Which online domain name sales sites do you use? It’s almost time for the Sixth Annual Domain Name Wire Survey and I need your help. One of the questions on the survey is which online domain name sales venues you use. It’s hard to keep up with these as new services pop up just about every week. So please take a look at the list below and let me know if I’m missing any major domain name sales sites. Sedo/GreatDomains Bido NameJet (non-expired only) Domaining.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN to Neustar: Yes, You Can Own a Registrar - Registry-Registrar separation will create interesting circumstances for established registries. ICANN Senior Vice President Kurt Pritz sent a letter to Neustar Vice President Jeff Neuman last week (pdf) regarding registry-registrar separation. ICANN’s board dropped a bombshell in November when it said there would be no restrictions on registrars owning registries for new top level domains. Observers questioned how exactly this would work for existing registries ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Avoid This Domain Parking Scam - A domain parking scam to avoid at all costs. Over the past year several Domain Name Wire readers have forwarded emails to me from someone promising to boost revenues to parked domains that didn’t receive any traffic. I received one such email on Christmas with the title “Merry Christmas to domainer!” The email promised: without any extra cost needed and no complicated development work, we can help you increase your no-traffic and non-earning parked domains. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Go Daddy Crosses 45 Million Domain Name Mark - Registrar group hits another milestone. Yesterday at 6:02 PM MST, The Go Daddy Group topped 45 million domain names under management across its registrars. This comes about 9 months after the company crossed the 40 million mark. This is an incredible accomplishment, as the nearest competitor has about 10 million domain names under management. There are just over 200 million domain names registered worldwide, meaning that Go Daddy has over a fifth of the market. ... read more ...
Sun 26th December 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Repossessed TZ.com Domain Name Snags $80,000 Bid during Sedo - Two letter .com domain name held by Domain Capital will sell this week. The domain name TZ.com is on auction at Sedo after receiving an $80,000 offer. TZ.com was previously financed with Domain Capital, a domain name financing company, but the buyer defaulted. According to DNSalePrice, four publicly disclosed two letter .com domain names have sold so far this year: SZ.com for $125,000, OY.com for $90,000, XI.com for $100,930, and KF.com for $123,504. Given the typical ... read more ...
Sat 25th December 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Squawk Box Squawks About Bank of America Domain Names - Plenty of attention to recent Bank of America domain name registrations. Over the past few days the mainstream media has picked up on a story I first wrote about regarding Bank of America. The company defensively registered over 300 domain names that included many derogatory terms attached to its executives’ names. Most of the domain names included an executive’s name followed by “sucks” or blows”. I was quoted in a Financial Times article as well as ... read more ...