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Orphaned domain listings still mucking up domain sales process

Andrew Allemann — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:22:00 +0000

When domains change hands or expire, “for sale” listings remain.

[Update: I received a message from GoDaddy saying a solution is in the works and should be complete within a couple weeks.] In October I wrote about how domain name marketplaces still struggle with “orphan listings”. These are domains listed for sale that have either expired or were listed by their previous owner.

A couple people have recently relayed to me issues related to orphan listings and how this has become a bigger issue with listings being syndicated to GoDaddy.

In one case exactly like the one I described in October, a customer tried to hand register a domain on GoDaddy.com that had already expired. The domain was still listed on GoDaddy Auctions, though. GoDaddy.com said the domain wasn’t available for registration but could be purchased on GoDaddy Auctions. The user ended up having to use the GoDaddy app to register the domain. (GoDaddy doesn’t show auction listings in the registration path to mobile users.)

I discovered another person on NamePros who won an expired domain backorder and promptly listed the domain for sale on GoDaddy Premium Listings. He was surprised what he saw when he searched for the domain on GoDaddy. Instead of showing his Premium listing, the site showed an old Sedo “buy now” listing from the previous owner.

I know there are domains I own that still show up for sale on Sedo that were listed by previous owners. This can cause a whole slew of problems. I keep waiting for the day that someone files a UDRP on one and claims I listed it for sale on Sedo…when it was really someone else.

There are solutions, at least when it comes to fixed priced domains. Both Afternic and Sedo have mechanisms in place to monitor domains listed with instant transfer capabilities. But that doesn’t cover all domains, as was the case here.

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DealDash buys defunct Swoopo.com domain name (and 22 other end user sales)

Andrew Allemann — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:57:52 +0000

DealDash buys defunct rival’s domain name.

Remember Swoopo.com, the auction site where you had to pay for each bid? It shut down amidst controversy, and now a competitor has purchased its domain name via Sedo. UK based DealDash Ltd paid 10,000 euros for Swoopo.com and now forwards it to DealDash.com.

This was just one of many “end user” domain purchases over the past week. Here’s a look at 22 others. All took place at Afternic unless otherwise noted.

College Travel Experts bought FallBreak.com for $1,500. That’s a very smart purchase at a great price.

Property management company The Landlord’s Agents, Inc. paid $1,688 for RentalSuccess.com.

Publicly traded Pethealth Inc. bought PetsLocal.com for $2,000.

St. Louis based Automation Service bought AutomationServices.com for $3,788. Its main web site is AutomationService.com.

Digital Measuring Service, Inc bought DigitalMeasuring.com for $1,695.

College social networking site CampuSquare.com made a very necessary purchase, picking up CampusSquare.com for $1,500.

UMB Financial Corporation bought UMBBank.com for $2,000 at Sedo. This is interesting given that the company recently used UDRP for a domain name — and lost. (It was a different domain.)

The Land of Nod bought LandofNod.org for $795 at Sedo with the help of domain recovery firm CitizenHawk.

VisionCritical bought InnovationForum.com for $3,188.

McKinley Mortgage Company bought BackyardBanker.com for $1,095.

Law Bulletin Publishing Company paid $1,595 for LawyerPort.com

Someone bought Egg.org for 3,500 GBP. Was it Citibank, which owns Egg.com?

Freight company MegaPack bought SingleDelivery.com for $1,195. That’s a clever domain for a freight company.

TFH Gazebos, a UK company that sells pop-up Gazebos, bought PopupGazebos.com for $1,500. A perfect domain purchase.

Proactive Publications Ltd, which owns InsideIndustry.net for its magazine Inside Industry, bought InsideIndustry.COM for $1,650. Smart move and a cheap price.

Jorge Cruise, who promises to help you lose weight, bought SixPackDiet.com for $1,788.

Real estate firm LJ Hoocker Palm Beach bought PalmBeachHolidayRentals.com for $1,688.

Germany’s Metalive covered its bases by purchasing Metalive.com for only $1,000. It owns Metalive.de. Very nice buy for Metalive.

LCNB National Bank bought YourHometownLender.com for $2,588.

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association bought FlightTraining.org for $5,977.

Aqua Laboratories, Inc. shortened its domain from AquaLaboratories.com to AquaLabs.com for $3,900 at Sedo.

Cole Street Consulting also shortened its domain. It bought ColeStreet.com for $1,488. It currently uses ColeStreetConsulting.com.

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6 questions about DOMAINfest answered

Andrew Allemann — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:11:07 +0000

A look back at last week’s DOMAINfest conference.

Before heading to DOMAINfest I posed six questions that would be answered by the end of the week. Here are the answers.

1. How will Oversee.net’s new leadership present itself?

Just before the conference began, Oversee.net announced that co-presidents Debra Domeyer and Scott Morrow had been promoted to co-CEOs.

I haven’t seen many “co-CEO” type situations end favorably, but they seem to be handling it well so far.

Most people I talked to at the conference were positive about the new leadership. Domeyer will be more visible to domainers since she handles the domain monetization side of the business. Morrow covers the vertical markets properties.

The new leadership gives Oversee a “fresh start” after a rough few years.

2. Will Oversee.net address Moniker?

Yep. KeyDrive, which owns NameDrive and Key-Systems, announced that it acquired both Moniker and SnapNames. That leaves a lot of of questions up in the air, but I think this is a good thing. Oversee had been trying to get rid of these properties for at least a year. It’s good to have them in the hands of a company that wants to invest in them. More on that in a future article.

3. Will the new parties make up for the (lack of) Playboy Mansion?

I think both parties were good. But I’ll let others chime in here.

4. How many people will be there?

About 600 people were expected to attend. More on that in a future article.

5. Can DOMAINfest successfully include topics outside the typical domainer realm?

Confession time – I didn’t really go to any of the sessions. But they were well attended, with 200-400 people in many of the sessions. I’d say it was another step toward bridging the domainer and internet marketing communities. These are two communities that historically haven’t understood much about each other.

6. What big company announcements will be made?

Sedo announced a big deal with GoDaddy, but KeyDrive probably grabbed the most attention with its acquisition.

…

Now, a bigger question: where do Oversee.net and DOMAINfest go from here? They have emerged a smaller, leaner company after the sale of Moniker and SnapNames. Now they have a vertical markets division and DomainSponsor. They’re a smaller part of the domainer lifecycle and have only about 100 employees, down from 200 just a few years ago.

Is DomainSponsor alone enough to justify holding a large conference each year? Will it team up with KeyDrive for future domain auctions at its conferences?

Will the conference eventually morph to a point where it no longer makes sense to put “domain” in the title?

Coming soon: Domain/Affiliate/LeadGen/SEOfest, presented by Oversee.net.

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What domains American Airlines and others bought last week

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:02:28 +0000

American Airlines, The Nature Conservancy, New York Life, and other end user domain buys.

I tried to do last week’s end user domain sales report during DOMAINfest, but some whois servers didn’t like my mobile connection. So it’s a bit late, but hopefully just as useful.

Let’s start off with sales from Afternic.

American Airlines bought the name of its Chairman, TomHorton.com, for $1,000. This was a smart move given that the company is about to battle its unions in bankruptcy. Its public relations firm owns TomHortonSucks.com.

Nashville Wraps, which sells wrapping paper, gift bags, and other packaging supplies, paid $1,700 for GiftWrap.net.

New York Life bought ExecutiveBenefit.com for $1,510.

Dance entertainment producer Break The Floor Productions bought DanceNation.com for $7,500.

Precious Moments, Inc., maker of collectible figurines, paid $X for YourPreciousMoments.com. for $1,088.

Ontario rock climbing gym Climbers Rock Inc. bought KeepClimbing.com for $1,521.

Used bicycle retailer Cycle reCycle of San Jose, California bought BicycleBlueBook.com for $6,500. It’s safe to say the company is working on a used bicycle price list.

The Wind River Visitors Council bought WindRiver.org for $2,788.

Lawyer referral service MyLawsuit.com picked up PatentReview.com for $2,250.

Bloomington, Illinois dentist Mike Milligan paid $1,200 for SnoreStoppers.com.

The Nature Conservancy bought PlanetChange.com for $2,625.

These two sales were at Sedo:

Social Finance, Inc., which hopes to shake up the world of student loans, upgraded its domain from Sofi.org to Sofi.com for a five figure sum (the sale price was retracted).

Virgin Music (EMI Group) paid $8,000 for TheNight.com at Sedo. Any music fans out there know what this is for?

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6 questions to be answered at DOMAINFest this week

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:58:20 +0000

A preview of the week ahead in Santa Monica.

The largest domain name conference, DOMAINfest, takes place in Santa Monica this week. There’s a lot to look for in the 2012 edition. Here are six questions that will be answered before the end of the week.

1. How will Oversee.net’s new leadership present itself?

Oversee.net branded itself largely with former CEO Jeff Kupietzky. Now Oversee.net has new leadership with co-presidents Debra Domeyer and Scott Morrow. Domeyer attended TRAFFIC last Fall, but for most people this conference will be the first introduction to the pair.

2. Will Oversee.net address Moniker?

It’s one of the industry’s worst kept secrets that Oversee.net has been shopping around Moniker. Also this month we saw the departure of some of Moniker’s longtime account managers. As a Moniker customer, I received no notice of the account manager changes.

Will Oversee continue to be silent about Moniker? Or will it address the changes head on to instill confidence. Confidence, after all, is one of the most important things people consider when selecting a registrar.

3. Will the new parties make up for the (lack of) Playboy Mansion?

There’s no trip to the Playboy Mansion this year. After over 100 people got sick last year I think that’s probably OK with most people.

But there will still be a Playboy element. .Co is sponsoring a party at Petersen Automotive Museum that will include some playmates as well as the star of the GoDaddy .co Super Bowl commercial Natalia Velez.

The final night party will be at House of Blue and includes “edgy, sexy and interactive entertainment”. It will be interesting.

4. How many people will be there?

DOMAINfest has attracted 700 people in recent years. That’s about the peak I could imagine if it’s mostly domainers. But the show is shifting — just like the company — and is attracting more from the lead gen, affiliate, and SEO spaces.

5. Can DOMAINfest successfully include topics outside the typical domainer realm?

This year you’ll hear a lot more about lead gen, SEO, and affiliate marketing at the show. It will be interesting to see how this shift is managed.

6. What big company announcements will be made?

Domain companies tend to make big announcements during domain conferences. Already this morning Sedo announced a deal with GoDaddy. What big deals and announcements will we hear this week?

There you have it. Six big questions that we’ll know the answer to by the end of the week.

See you in Santa Monica.

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GoDaddy joins SedoMLS network

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:34:27 +0000

Sedo gets a big win with GoDaddy partnership.

The world’s largest domain name registrar has joined the SedoMLS network, giving more exposure to domain owners selling their domains through Sedo.

Domains that are listed on Sedo with a fixed price will automatically show up when a GoDaddy customer searches for the exact domain name. This will be possible because the domains are listed on GoDaddy auctions, and GoDaddy now shows auction listings when someone searches on its main web site.

Much like the similar deal GoDaddy has with AfternicDLS, customers will have to go through the GoDaddy Auctions shopping cart rather than the main GoDaddy checkout process in order to buy a domain name.

Also, the process does not allow for instant transfer, so domains will have to go through the standard escrow process. However, this means that you don’t have to have your domains at a SedoMLS participating registrar in order to list your domains.

Sedo will charge a 20% commission on any sale through the GoDaddy partnership.

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Sedo clarifies listing levels and a price comparison with Afternic

Andrew Allemann — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:02:02 +0000

Sedo publishes fact sheet about its promotion and pricing levels.

I have to admit I’ve been a bit confused by the various listing levels now offered at Sedo, especially when it comes to the SedoMLS system.

Sedo has published a new fact sheet that compares the levels, and it makes more sense to me now.

Here’s the basic gist.

There are three levels: Sedo, SedoMLS Basic, and SedoMLS Premium.

If you list your domains on Sedo, regardless of the options you choose the domains will show up on Sedo.com (and its international sites) as well as select SedoMLS Basic partners. That said, most SedoMLS Basic partners will only display your name if it has a “buy now” price.

If your domain sells on Sedo’s web sites you pay a 15% commission unless the domain is parked with Sedo and has a fixed price, in which case you pay 10%. If the domain sells on a partner site, you pay a 20% commission with no discount for parked domains. There are also minimums.

For maximum exposure you need to list your domains with SedoMLS Premium. This is akin to Afternic DLS Premium. At the premium level you must list a fixed price for your domains. Customers of partner sites can instantly purchase your domain on those sites, so your domain must be registered at a partner registrar. The commission is 20%.

There are a couple notable differences between pricing at Sedo and Afternic.

Afternic offers “DLS Network”, which is fairly similar in concept to SedoMLS Basic. DLS Network charges only a 15% commission compared to Sedo’s 20%, and if you park your domain with Afternic the commission drops to 10%. With Sedo you get similar pricing only if your domain sells on Sedo’s web sites.

Second, at both company’s premium levels the commission rate is 20%. However, with Afternic it’s only 15% if you park your domains with them. Sedo does not offer a parking discount if your domain sells anywhere except its own web sites.

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