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Unread items (100)

• September 03, 2010
• 11:34

  Special price promotion on registrations directly under .MX

   » ‎ DomainNews

  From 1 to 30 September,you can register your .mx domain name from only $15 per year registering for five years .

• 10:36

  Voke.com sells for $35,000

   » ‎ DomainNews

  Sedo has brokered the sale of Voke.com domain name for $35,000 .

• 10:24

  .eu DNSSEC chain of trust complete

   » ‎ DomainNews

  EURid, the registry for the .eu top-level domain, is pleased to announce that .eu has a complete ‘chain of trust’ for Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), an Internet security standard, with the addition of .eu DNSSEC key material to the Internet’s root zone.

• 3:24

  FOLE.com and AKEB.com on Auctions

   » ‎ Domain Magnate

  I started two $60 no reserve auctions today on sedo for these two great 4 letter domains:

  FOLE.com

  AKEB.com

  It’s been a while since I auctioned anything on Sedo, especially without a reserve, so it’s a bit of a gamble and I’m curious to see how they do. So.. wish me luck, or better yet go place a bid

• 3:10

  Backorders Explained

   » ‎ The Official Name.com Blog

  We recently announced some updates and improvements to our search page, and one of those was the addition of backorders to the search results. We thought it might be helpful to clarify how this works, in case you’re not familiar with our backorder service.

  

  Now when you search for a domain and that domain is already registered by someone else, you will see an option to backorder that domain regardless of when it expires. The idea is that if it ever expires and becomes available to register, be it two weeks or two years from now, you will already have it backordered and you will have a good chance at getting that name. You can always try to manually register a domain once it becomes available, but using our backorder service greatly increases your chances. The best part is if you end up not getting the name, or you decide that you don’t want to wait that long (understandable), not to worry — you will receive a full refund for your order. Not a bad deal, eh?

  In some instances, you may want to consider who the current registrant is and the likelihood of the domain name becoming available. If you take my example in the screenshot, lesley.com, and look at the whois data you’ll see that Lesley University is the current registrant. Now if I had to guess, I’d bet that these guys are not going to let their domain name expire and drop..much to my dismay. So realistically it might not be the best use of my money to backorder this domain. But then again, you never know! Stranger things have happened, and since it’s no risk, what have you got to lose?

  We hope this helps avoid any confusion if you see this backorder option on your next domain search. As always, we welcome your feedback and questions.

• 1:54

  Jason Davis Strikes Again with Recruiter.com

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Jobs domain pro merges one of his companies with Recruiter.com.

  Jason Davis has struck another large domain name deal by merging his RecruitingBlogs.com with Recruiter.com.

  Although technically a merger, Recruiter.com’s domain name was its main contribution to the puzzle. Recruiter.com owner Ashley Saddul will join the merged entity as CTO and founder.

  I first talked to Davis after he sold CEOjobs.com to Harry Joiner last year. I ran a profile about him the next day, and he talked about some of his domains including WirelessJobs.com and StartupJobs.com.

  Davis and Joiner connected again later last year for an interesting domain transaction.

  Among Recruiter.com’s plans are:

  -Growing RecruitingBlogs.com
  -Delivery of HR.net to be a major publication for HR executives (Davis owns HR.net)
  -Delivery of RecruitFest, a recruiting conference in partnership with Monster Worldwide

  A press release about the deal is here.

  

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. DNW Interview: Jason Davis, the Jobs Domain Master
  2. A Creative Three-Way Domain Name Deal
  3. CEOJobs.com Purchase was No-Brainer for Headhunter
• September 02, 2010
• 23:10

  Juniper Networks Loses Case for Juniper.tv

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  $15B company loses UDRP case.

  Juniper Networks has lost a domain name arbitration case to get the domain juniper.tv. Despite having a market cap of nearly $15 billion, the arbitrator noted that it’s entirely plausible that the registrant of the domain name hadn’t heard of the company because it’s a business-to-business company.

  Also working against Juniper Networks is that juniper is a generic term. The registrant had registered other seemingly generic .tv domain names such as atmosphere.tv, lightbulb.tv, and regions.tv. (Of course the latter one is also the name of a bank, and the parked page at the domain currently shows banking ads.) The arbitration panelist wrote:

  Here, the parking website formerly associated with the Domain Name was not focused on the Complainant’s or competing products, although both could be found through the layers of advertising links. The fact that ad server software would logically associate the Complainant (as well as other commercial enterprises) with the word “juniper” does not prove that the Respondent likely had the Complainant’s mark in contemplation when he registered the Domain Name, which is what would be required to establish bad faith in the registration and use of the Domain Name.

  It would be easier to infer such an illicit intention if the Complainant’s mark were not comprised of dictionary words

  Incidentally, Juniper Networks does not own Juniper.com, and instead uses Juniper.net as its main web address.

  

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. ScotiaBank Loses Case for Caribana Festival Domain Name
  2. Dow Jones Loses Marketwatch.net Domain Name Case
  3. Dough! Mrs. Fields Loses 1800cookies.com Case
• 20:36

  The Truth About NameMedia, Afternic, and BuyDomains

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Here’s why NameMedia sells more of its own domains than clients’ domains.

  Every once in a while I feel like going on a rant. So here goes.

  There’s been a lot of talk on both my blog and others about NameMedia, which operates BuyDomains and AfternicDLS.

  NameMedia owns its own portfolio of domains which it sells through its platform. It also allows other domain owners (i.e., you) to sell domains via its AfternicDLS system, which then syndicates through its sales network.

  Here’s the issue people raise: when NameMedia used to report its weekly sales, most of the domains that sold were NameMedia’s own domains. Why was there not a proportionate number of customer domains selling?

  I’ll tell you why. Because NameMedia has a disproportionate amount of reasonably priced and categorized domains for sale on its premium distribution network.

  Priced (reasonably) and categorized

  When you list with Afternic you have a choice of listing a price or as “make offer”. If you list an actual price your domain is much more likely to sell to an end user.

  You can also categorize your domain. Domains that are categorized are 2.8 times more likely to sell than uncategorized listings.

  So if you haven’t priced your domains and categorized them, you won’t sell nearly as many as NameMedia does. And if you don’t price your domains within the end-user sweet spot of under $5k (more like $1k-$2k), it will be even harder to sell.

  Promotion Levels

  You have three choices when it comes to selling your domains with NameMedia through AfternicDLS.

  The first is Basic Distribution. This means your domains are just listed on Afternic.

  I suspect that most people who complain about lack of success with AfternicDLS choose basic distribution and don’t price their domains.

  There’s absolutely no way you can sell the same percentage of your domains on AfternicDLS as NameMedia does if this is how you’re listing your domains.

  The second level is Expanded Distribution, which syndicates your listings to 20 partners. This is definitely a step up from basic listings, and all things being equal your domain on Expanded is three times as likely to sell as on Basic.

  But the magic is in the third listing level, Premium Distribution. These domains also show up when people search for domains at Network Solutions and Register.com. More importantly, customers are able to buy the domains directly at those registrars and instantly get the domain in their account.

  Domains listed in Premium Distribution have 18x the sales velocity of domains in Basic Distribution.

  So let’s assume you have actually priced all of your domains reasonably and categorized them well. Let’s also assume your domains are comparable to NameMedia’s own portfolio and you have as many domains at the company owns. But you list them on Basic. NameMedia is still going to outsell you 18-to-1.

  You’re really comparing apples to oranges if you gripe about that.

  Now there’s only one advantage NameMedia has to you if you actually use the Premium level and all other factors are kept constant: NameMedia’s own domains are syndicated through the GoDaddy registration path. That is not currently an option for its customers (although you can do that directly with GoDaddy).

  But isn’t there a salesperson conflict of interest?

  This is a fair question. Wouldn’t NameMedia’s phone sales reps have an incentive to sell the company’s own domains rather than yours?

  The answer is yes, only if you don’t price your domains correctly and list them at the Premium level.

  Sales reps make the same commission selling one of your names as one of NameMedia’s. But let’s put yourself in a sales rep’s shoes.

  Phone rings. Person is interested in two domains, one of which is a customer domain and one is the company’s own domain. I can quote the buyer a price on the NameMedia domain and sell it to them instantly, which is a big advantage for me as a salesperson. If the AfternicDLS customer has priced the domain, I can quote the price and sell it instantly only if it is priced and listed at Premium level.

  Now the customer starts to bargain. Both domains are priced at $3,000 and the seller wants to spend $2,000. For the NameMedia domain I can run down the hall to my sales manager and see if he will let it go for $2,000.

  I can’t do that with the client’s domain. Or can I? Actually, yes. If the client put a floor price on his listing, I can negotiate directly with the buyer without even contacting the seller.

  So, in a nut shell, here’s how to get a NameMedia sales rep to sell your domain on part with its own:

  -Price it reasonably
  -Add a floor price
  -Choose Premium Distribution so they can sell and transfer the domain immediately to the buyer

  The bottom line

  Have you ever purchased a product at Amazon.com that was sold by a third party? It’s interesting. Amazon actually lists its competitors and their prices next to the product. You can either buy it from Amazon or buy it from a partner and Amazon takes a commission. They don’t discriminate; if a third party seller offers it for less they’ll actually list the competitor above Amazon.com in the purchase options.

  It’s the same thing here. If you compare apples to apples, NameMedia will sell the same proportion of your domains as it does its own.

  I’ll leave you with one thought: if NameMedia sells so few client domains, why does it spend so much money courting domainers to sell on its system? Surely it should just cut domainers out of the picture and concentrate on selling its own domains. That would save a lot of hassles.

  Hmm. I hope the tides never change so much that NameMedia considers doing that. That would be a big loss for domainers.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. In Battle Over Retail Distribution, NameMedia Leaving Sedo in the Dust
  2. NameMedia (BuyDomains, ActiveAudience) buys Afternic Domain Name Marketplace
  3. 10 Reasons You’re Not Selling More Domains
• 19:45

  Want to Bid on Sex.com? Deposit $1 Million.

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  If an auction occurs, expect to put your money where your mouth is.

  We might never see an auction for Sex.com. But if we do, expect to put up a significant deposit if you wish to bid.

  Court documents show that the bankruptcy sales procedure for Sex.com will include three phases.

  In the first phase domain broker Sedo will do a worldwide outreach and prequalification of interested parties. The second phase is a negotiation period with qualified parties. The third phase will include further negotiation and, if necessary, a private auction.

  This “private sale period” is 90 days long. If it doesn’t result in a sale at a minimum specified price, Sedo will hold a public auction within 30 days of the end of the private sale period.

  If a public auction is held, each bidder will need to meet a number of financial requirements and must make a $1 million deposit.

  Sedo and the debtors aren’t disclosing what the minimum sales price must be for obvious reasons. That information, along with Sedo’s sales commission, is redacted from court documents.

  If you’ve been sitting on the fence about buying the domain (and I know many of my readers have been looking for coins between the couch cushions to come up with some spare cash to buy the domain), you should probably get in touch with Sedo during the private sales period rather than waiting for a public auction.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. .Org Domain Hit 7 Million Registrations
  2. Gregory Ricks Sells 199.com on 4.cn, 500.com is Next
  3. NBC Tries to Wriggle Out Of $1 Million Women.com Sale

• 19:12

  Domain Traffic May Be Black Gold, but Domain Development is the Alchemist’s Stone

   » ‎ DotSauce Magazine

  

  Frank Schilling published an editorial recently that was well received, even proclaimed to be the most important post of the year. I would like to respectfully disagree and provide my own perspective.

  Frank crafted an interesting metaphor between the early days of oil drilling and the present day perception of direct navigation domain name traffic. Direct navigation is when people type in a domain name instead of doing a search. This type of traffic is extremely targeted. On most generic words it flows in daily by the barrel full.

  The editorial did not necessarily apply to me personally because my domain names do not receive any significant amount of traffic. So dismal in fact, that I have stopped parking entirely. That’s the hard reality that many domainers who got their start around or after the .COM bubble or may not have capital to invest in generic domains.

  However, hope is not lost for the countless domainers who do not have a steady supply of black gold.

  Like the mythical Alchemist’s Stone that transmutes common metals into pure gold, we can transform virtually any domain name into a source of traffic by developing it.

  Development through content creation, marketing and web design enables you to transform an “undiscovered” domain into vibrant virtual real estate. We can essentially create our own streams of traffic through a little hard work and know-how.

  The future of our industry is heading towards web development, lead generation, affiliate marketing, direct advertising and paid content. Trade-in that parking account for a content management system and start working towards building your empire of truly developed websites.

  I believe we can overcome the challenges and time-constraints to make this work by innovating and adopting the latest technologies. Quality websites built today will become the leading destinations of tomorrow.

  This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

  
  
  Domain Traffic May Be Black Gold, but Domain Development is the Alchemist’s Stone

• 15:35

  3Character.com Price Guide is Way Outdated and Incorrect!

   » ‎ Domain Magnate

  With all the respect to Zesty for keeping and maintaining the 3 char domains price guide, which has been a valuable resource for domainers for many years, lately it has become quite outdated and some of the price figures in it have little to do with the reality on the market. Here are some examples:

  1. LLL.com min price has gone quite below $4k despite the guide putting it at $4750. Recent sales on sedo: whz.com $4,050, aoq.com $3,499, xtq.COM €3,050. There are also quite a few low quality LLL.com’s available for sale on dnforum which can be easily purchased for around or below $4k.
  2. Low quality LLL.biz, LLL.info, LLL.us have become almost worthless, having no liquidity, except for good, premium letters, or meaningful combos.
  3. Min 3 Char prices (CCC.com) are also below the nominal value:  LLN.com and NLL.com have a $245 and $200 min prices in the guide respectfully, however many recent sales on Sedo and GoDaddy auctions fetch considerably below that:  0xi.com $160, ui0.com    $165, tq0.com    $135, 0qj.com    $115, aq0.com    $115, 0mx.com    $120,  1zg.com    $165
  4. The biggest joke of all: N-N.com - despite their extreme rarity: only 100 are available are selling for roughly 3-4 times less than the guide’s value. There were no recent sales reported, however the latest one: 2-9.com for $617 on sedo from half a year ago is pretty close. Since recently this incredible deal was offered on DNF - with no interest at all:  4 decent N-N.com’s (with no zeros) plus an LLL.info for only $1950 - which comes down to below $500 per N-N.com compared to the $1700 minimum reseller price mentioned in 3char guide.
  5. L-L.com - not many sales happened lately,  but a few months ago we’ve seen a few of them on Sedo auctions: q-i.com   $752, z-l.com $702 - despite the noted min reseller price of $2200 for L-L.com.

  Hopefully we’ll soon see 3char price guide values changed to reflect the market and being updated based on the market data to be once again a great help to domainers.

  The main question on everyone’s mind is of course what will happen with the short domains in the near future, especially LLL.com’s which are the domain resellers favorites: they are easy to appraise, rather liquid and hold good value. Two and half years ago at peak times we’ve seen the min prices for LLL.com reaching $8k and after that prices  started to plummet and have been falling ever since. While there are always opportunities for quick flips on auctions and forums, personally I wouldn’t advice people buying low quality LLL.com’s taking advantage of low prices as an investment - it’s hard to predict how the prices will change, they might as well keep falling and reach new lows.  However the good quality LLL.com’s - with no bad letters such as: Y,Z,X,Q or even without J,W,V may represent a good investments due to the good potential for end user interest and affordable prices below $10k.

  Moral of the day: Do your own research, check the recent sales and demand vs supply on the forums and marketplaces; don’t rely solely on guides!

• 13:59

  T.R.A.F.F.I.C. and Facebook Team up to Solve a Big Problem

   » ‎ DomainNews

  Many people who want to attend T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conferences want to know who else is coming,so they can meet up and schedule time together.Up until now this was not possbile because of privacy concerns.

• 13:57

  Jerusalem.com sells for $510,000

   » ‎ DomainNews

  Jerusalem.com domain name was recently sold through Sedo for over half a million dolars.

• 10:30

  T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2010 Nominations announced

   » ‎ DomainNews

  Nominations for the 7th annual T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Awards are in .There was a record number of nominees in almost every single category.

• 10:27

  Arbitrator hands DisneyOffer.com domain name to Disney

   » ‎ DomainNews

  The National Arbitration Forum announced that a ruling has been issued in favor of Disney ,regarding rights to the Internet domain name DisneyOffer.com .Disney,represented in this case by J. Andrew Coombs,submitted a complaint to the National Arbitration Forum,asserting legal rights to the disputed domain name.

• 10:22

  Sedo launches new search

   » ‎ DomainNews

  Sedo has recently launched  new domain name search techniques .You can now ,using Sedo's new domain  search techniques,to discover the most relevant domains to suit your individual business needs.

• 3:13

  Back to My Old Stomping Grounds For a Family Wedding & Research on a GeoDomain Project

   » ‎ Domain Name Journal
  I'm currently in Sarasota, Florida where our son will be getting married on the beach this weekend. While I'm in Sarasota - the place where I began a TV sporstcasting career - I will also be researching a possible geodomain project. More details in what will be my last Lowdown post until Tuesday.

• 0:46

  Due Diligence Before Buying a Domain Name

   » ‎ Elliot's Blog

  If you’re a domain investor, it’s likely that you’ve either been offered a stolen domain name or seen one advertised for sale, whether you knew it was stolen or not. Buying a stolen domain name can cost the buyer quite a bit of money (once the name is recovered) and it could hurt his reputation if he sells it.

  In my opinion, it’s the buyer’s responsibility if he buys a stolen domain name, and all buyers should perform due diligence on a domain name before making the acquisition or risk losing his investment and domain name. Just like with physical property, if a purchase is found to be stolen, the person in possession of it will probably lose it and will likely not see his funds returned (I am sure there are cases where this isn’t true – especially when something is bought in good faith, but it’s an assumption).

  There are a lot of seemingly obvious clues that can be seen when a stolen domain name is offered, including ridiculously low price, top domain name offered by a new member of a forum without any previous feedback, or someone emailing you in private with a too good to be true offer. While not all of these necessarily mean a domain name is stolen, they are clues that a buyer should note and should set off red flags.

  A buyer should use the Whois History tool offered by DomainTools to see if there are any suspicious changes in the Whois data. For example, if a Whois record seems to remain the same for 10 years and the most recent change notes a simple email address update while the rest of the record is the same, that is a big red flag.

  A couple of years ago, I was emailed by someone offering a pretty good domain name at a great price that looked to be owned by a lady in New York, although the contact email had recently changed. I was able to get in touch with the lady shortly after domain investor Richard Lau had already done the same, and she was able to recover her domain name by contacting the registrar. Had I not done due diligence, I could have bought this name, which surely would have been taken from my account and given back to the rightful owner once they determined that it had been pilfered from her account.

  Due diligence is especially critical when you are purchasing intangible property like domain names.

  Related posts:

  1. Importance of Due Diligence When Buying a Domain Name When you have secured a deal to purchase a domain...
  2. Hijacking Domain Names for $200 Sahar shows us why it is of utmost importance to...
  3. Use a Payment Plan When Buying Domain Names to Lower Your Risk Here’s an idea I had a while back and have...

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• September 01, 2010
• 23:28

  Breaking: Buyers of DomainName.com Registrar Revealed

   » ‎ Domain Name News
  

  Richard Kirkendall and Richard Lau photographed by Kamila Sekiewicz at DOMAINfest 2010

  As DNN has learned the buyers of the DomainName.com registrar and customer base sold by DomainConsultant, are non other than Richard Lau of DomainManager.com and Richard Kirkendall of NameCheap.com. The two, also known as “The Richards” partnered up on the purchase and are planning to transform the company into a new brand.

  Richard Kirkendall told DNN about the purchase: “We’re excited about the acquisition of DomainName.com and plan to launch a premium registrar geared towards domainers and business. It will operate as separate brand from Namecheap. With all the features: dns, whois privacy, webhosting, SSL at extremely competitive pricing.”

  According to information provided by the company NameCheap now has 1,5 million names under management for their clients. DomainManager provides free DNS for over 53,000 domains according to Zone File records.

  (c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

  Advertisement
  Upcoming Domain Industry Events, Conferences & Auctions

  
  

  

• 23:04

  September Promo!

   » ‎ The Official Name.com Blog

  

  Another month, another great promo! For the month of September we are offering $8.49 .COM & .NET registrations with the code FALLTIME10 . This code will be valid on one-year registrations until Thursday 9/30.

  Don’t forget we have a few other sweet deals going on (no promo code required):

  • $6.99 .IM registrations and renewals
  • $3.99 .US registrations
  • $10.99 .TV registrations

• 21:57

  ARF is Now an IETF Standard

   » ‎ CircleID

  When a user of a large mail system such as AOL, Yahoo, or Hotmail reports a message as junk or spam, one of the things the system does is to look at the source of the message and see if the source is one that has a feedback loop (FBL) agreement with the mail system. If so, it sends a copy of the message back to the source, so they can take appropriate action, for some version of appropriate. For several years, ARF, Abuse Reporting Format, has been the de-facto standard form that large mail systems use to exchange FBL reports about user mail complaints.

  Until now, the only documentation for ARF was a draft spec originally written Yakov Shafranovich (CircleID) in 2005, and occasionally updated originally by him and later by other people including myself. Earlier this year, the IETF chartered a working group called MARF which took that draft, brought the references up to date, stripped out a lot of options that seemed useful five years ago but in practice nobody ever used, and this week it was finally published as RFC 5965.

  ARF (or now MARF) is quite simple, a version of the existing Multipart/Report message format that includes information about the report, such as the address of the recipient, descriptive text for a human reader, and a copy of the offending message. Having a standard format for reports, simple though it is, makes them much easier to process. For my tiny system, for example, nearly all of the trickle of reports are about mailing list messages. When a FBL report arrives, an automated script looks at the report and the message, and in the usual case that it's from a mailing list, it creates an unsubscribe request to remove the person from the list. Otherwise, it passes the message along to the human manager so I can decide what, if anything, to do about it. Larger mail systems also use them to collect statistics about their mail-sending customers.

  The IETF process works particularly well when it standardizes existing practice, and ARF/MARF is an excellent example of that. The differences between the earlier drafts and the final version make it clearer and more precise, and it's now a proper standard we can cite:

  Abuse Reporting Format! Ask for it by name: RFC 5965!

  Written by John Levine, Author, Consultant & Speaker

  Follow CircleID on Twitter

  More under: Email, Spam

  

• 21:45

  Hump Day Light Humor

   » ‎ Elliot's Blog

  When I was in graduate school earning a degree in Direct Marketing, my thought about an ideal first job was to work for Lester Wunderman, the person considered the father of direct marketing (he didn’t go by “Direct Marketing King” although he could have). As it worked out, when I graduated in 2004, I was hired as a Project Manager (and then later promoted to New Business Associate) at Wunderman, the company founded by Lester Wunderman and a part of Y&R Brands.

  I was going through some old emails yesterday and I found the email I sent to colleagues announcing that I was leaving the company to start a new position at AIG. I thought I would share it here because I think it’s somewhat humorous.

  Hi Everyone,

  As many of you know, today is my last day at Wunderman.  My life-long dream of becoming a professional basketball player has finally come true.  After years of practice, I have officially been signed by the New York Knickerbockers of the MBA – not the National Basketball Association, but the MBA – (Midget Basketball Association).  For those of you who are unaware, we play Tuesdays and Thursdays at Madison Square – the Park, not the Garden.  I know that the life of a professional athlete is one filled with money, alcohol and groupies, but I certainly will not forget all of you.

  All kidding aside, I wanted to take a moment to tell you all how much I have enjoyed working with you.  I have learned so much from all of you, and am lucky to have had the opportunity to work with you….

  Working at Wunderman was a great experience for me, and it allowed me to work on the agency side of the advertising business, which was helpful in my next job. Some days I actually miss working for a fun company like Wunderman, but the advantages of self-employment certainly are great!

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• 21:12

  Reseller in Focus – Easy Internet Solutions

   » ‎ ResellerClub Blog

  We’re proud to introduce Easy Internet Solutions Ltd. as our latest Reseller in Focus. Easy Internet Solutions, a UK based Web Services Provider that focuses on web hosting, online networking and search engine optimization (to name a few), have been leveraging our API to resell Domain Names since 2004. MD, Mark Esho takes out a few minutes to answer some of our questions.

  

  Company: Easy Internet Solutions Ltd

  Contact/Position: Mark Esho, Managing Director

  Website: http://www.freevirtualservers.com/

  Favorite Control Panel Feature: While not a visible part of the control panel, the ResellerClub API is by far, our favourite feature. We use it extensively to register and maintain domain names for our customers in a control panel that is familiar and easy to use for the novice or professional.

  I Choose ResellerClub Because: In such a competitive industry, pricing is a key factor and ResellerClub, for many years, has offered an unbeatable combination of pricing, features and services.

  
  

  Q1) When did you enter the Web Services Industry and where do see your business going?

  Easy Internet started in 2000, initially offering Search Engine Optimization services. That gradually expanded into offering Domain Name registration and Website Hosting in 2001, along with Website Design, Online Storage and Dedicated Servers. These are all growth industries and business continues to grow year on year.

  Current and future plans include improvements to our hosting plans with increased competitiveness, all the while retaining the stable service, with fast and polite support, that we’re well respected for.

  Q2) Could you tell us an interesting story or anecdote about your company?
  Our most memorable stories come from our interactions with our customers. In an industry where technical support has a bad reputation it comes as a pleasant surprise to see genuine happiness from our users when they receive a response that goes above and beyond solving their problems and leaves them with a big smile on their face. I’m pleased to say this is a common occurrence at Easy Internet and serves to demonstrate that excellent customer service is worth its weight in gold!

  Q3) What do you think sets Easy Internet Solutions apart as a Web Services Provider?
  We’re not afraid to break the mould and challenge typical business models – having completed an MBA myself, I’m well aware of the standard business models; the methods I’ve chosen to use for Easy Internet have proved very successful, despite perhaps appearing to go against the grain. Not being afraid to leap into the unknown has kept us ahead of the competition.

  Our website hosting brand Free Virtual Servers, for instance, offers a fully-featured free website hosting package with full cPanel access, hosted on fast UK based servers, without any adverts or banners, and we also provide daily backups and 24/7 technical support! Nobody else in the UK offers such a feature-rich service at an unbeatable price. Despite offering so much for so little money we’re able to provide the service in a fashion that is sustainable for us and many thousands of website owners. We also provide packages for larger websites and dedicated servers for those with very busy or complex websites.

  Q4) Tell us a little about doing business in the UK. What are the most unique aspects of the market?
  Having operated free & cheap hosting services for 9 years, we know that it’s a very popular product around here. There’s a consistent demand for budget website hosting as people become more affluent and start their own websites – perhaps for a personal blog or a family photo gallery, and frequently for new businesses looking to get off the ground.

  For a lot of our first-time users price and ease of use are the most important factors, coupled with enough support to help them familiarize themselves with all of the technology that’s now at their fingertips. Tools such as Fantastico are available to allow even novices to set up a new blog or CMS in mere minutes, without getting their hands too dirty. Today, professional looking websites are within the grasp of beginners without huge up-front costs.

  Q5) What, in your opinion are the few things new entrants should keep in mind before entering this Industry?
  New entrants must ensure they’ve got plenty of determination to succeed and a strong work ethic to match. Many aspects of the web services industry, especially Website Hosting, require constant and tireless attention – it’s not a 9-to-5 business that you can set up and forget about while the cash rolls in. Offering the right product mix is also key to your success; what will set you apart from the thousands of others offering similar services? Who else is doing that? How well are they doing it? Can you do it better, cheaper or faster?

  Q6) You have been with ResellerClub since 2004. What do you think has changed over the years?
  Over the years ResellerClub has bettered itself by adding more functionality and, importantly, increasing its stability. New features provided by ResellerClub, accessible via the API, can be passed on to our customer base with relative ease.

  The website hosting industry itself has changed significantly with increased competition pushing pricing well down. This is excellent news for the consumer as the cost of having a website is now lower than it has ever been. For website hosts it’s imperative that the users are kept happy – if they’re not happy, there are plenty of other hosts who would like the opportunity to do so! We keep our users happy by providing a consistently fast, affordable and stable service with the best possible support.

  Q7) How has having ResellerClub as a partner helped your business?
  With ResellerClub taking care of the complexity of managing domain names we’ve been able to put a greater focus on other things that are important to our clients – providing world class support and operating a fast and stable service. Not having to worry about domain management allows us to achieve those goals a lot more efficiently.

  The Easy Internet Solutions Team

  A big thank you to Mark Esho for taking out the time to talk to us and all the best to Easy Internet Solutions for all their future endeavours!

• 20:43

  World Trademark Review Conducting Survey About New TLDs

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Survey seeks opinions on new top level domain names.

  World Trademark Review is currently running a survey to understand attitudes and plans around the launch of new top level domain names.

  The survey is targeted to three groups: In-house trademark lawyers, private practice trademark lawyers, and marketing, web, and communications professionals. Each group receives slightly different questions on the survey.

  For example, in-house trademark lawyers are asked about trademark protection and Uniform Rapid Suspension. Private practice lawyers are asked if new TLDs provide them with a good business opportunity for their practice. Marketing professionals are asked how their company might use a new TLD and which departments within the company have expressed an interest in them.

  World Trademark Review claims the survey “will collect opinions from the widest respondent base ever consulted on gTLD strategy. Through canvassing the marketing community in addition to the legal profession, the study will ensure that the views of all interested parties are considered and therefore present a unique viewpoint on new gTLDs.”

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. Support for New TLDs Still Limited Amongst Domain Industry
  2. Sharing Domain Parking Stats is Easy with DNW Certified Stats
  3. Trademark Holders Shouldn’t Rush to Get New TLDs
• 19:37

  DreamHost.co and AOLmail.co Among First .Co Domains Hit with UDRP

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Trademark owners go after their names on .co.

  A dozen companies have filed 13 .co domain name arbitration disputes since the relaunch of .co as a a generic domain name.

  The most recent UDRP filing was for Dreamhost.co by the owner of the large web host DreamHost.com. This is a somewhat surprising case given that surely a web host was aware of the release of .co domains.

  Other companies have also filed cases. AOL wants aolmail.co and L.A. Fitness is going after lafitness.co. Other companies filing complaints include:

  Akbank Turk A.S.
  Linode, LLC
  Karl Storz GmbH & Co. KG
  Barry’s Ticket Service, Inc.
  Dormeuil Freres
  Tilda Limited
  Rautaruukki Oyj
  Spa Esprit Group Franchise Pte Ltd

  .Co domains are subject to a UDRP procedure similar to .com, except that only World Intellectual Property Organization currently hears the cases.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. Verizon Gets Back Into UDRP Game
  2. Sharing Domain Parking Stats is Easy with DNW Certified Stats
  3. 7,000 Domains Won Through UDRP Have Expired
• 19:07

  Cost-Per-Action Search Engine Patent Headed to Auction Block

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Patent could potentially target Google and Microsoft.

  A U.S. patent directed at cost-per-action advertising on search engines as well as cash-back search is headed to the auction block.

  Sunnyvale, California based AnchorFree Inc. has enlisted ICAP Ocean Tomo to auction off U.S. patent number 7,647,305 (pdf) at its November 11 intellectual property auction in Napa, California.

  The patent covers two main things. First, it covers charging search ad customers based on a CPA model rather than cost-per-click. Google has already toyed around with this sort of idea, charging customers based on an action (such as a sale or lead) rather than per click.

  Second, the patent covers giving a portion of advertising fees back to the searcher. This is similar to Microsoft’s CashBack search, which rewarded searchers with a percentage of Microsoft’s affiliate fees when customers made a purchase. Microsoft has shut down the service, but many similar services exist.

  Can’t wait for the auction? The patent has a buy-it-now price of $2 million.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. Will Cost Per Action Replace Cost Per Click?
  2. Yahoo Awarded Patent for Human-Enhanced Search Engine
  3. Google Awarded Patent for Local Search Integrated with Whois

• 17:33

  One- and Two-Character .TRAVEL Domains Coming Soon

   » ‎ DomainNews
  One- and Two-Character .TRAVEL domain names will be released in the near future following ICANN’s approval of the proposal to release all of the domain names.
• 17:24

  Nokia Considers TLD Application

   » ‎ DomainNews
  Nokia appears to be interested in applying for the .NOKIA top level domain according to a Domain Incite report.
• 17:18

  Is ICANN Handling Too Many Policy Issues?

   » ‎ DomainNews
  Responding to a Domain Name Wire article on whether there is "policy overload" at ICANN and whether they are "handling too many policy efforts at once", David Olive responds on the ICANN Blog saying the answer with a definitive "no".
• 15:31

  InternetService.net hits $20,000 in Sedo's Marketplace auction

   » ‎ DomainNews

  The auction for InternetService.net is live on Sedo.So far,InternetService.net receive just one bid of $20,000 .However,there are stil five days left until the auction closes.

• 13:59

  What Should We Do About Non-Paying Buyers?

   » ‎ Domain Magnate

  This happened with me yesterday. One of the not so nice sides of domaining. In short: a member blue777 was asking for cvcv.com domains to buy and I pmed him a list of my names, including hace.com which is a great cvcv.com domain with many meanings and over 100 million results in google, asking him to make his best offer and if I like it I might accept, so he offered $3,000 for hace.com and I accepted it. But a few hours later he replied withdrawing his offer.

  It’s not the first time it happened to me, domainers face this kind of thing frequently. Usually however from “end users” or other newbie domainers. In most cases it’s ignored, sometimes people would post/complain about it, or leave a negative itrader. But the fact that it was an established member who’s been around DNF for years and had many itraders, as well as the fact that he felt he could retract his offer (even after it was accepted) as easily as he could make one made me post about this.

  Have you encountered this kind of behavior, what’s your opinion on the matter? What should we do in such cases?

• 10:12

  Almost 500,000 .CO domain names registered

   » ‎ DomainNews

  The number of .CO domain names is getting closer to half a million .The number of domain names registered to date hit 469,639 .

• 10:11

  DomainConsultant sells DomainName.com

   » ‎ DomainNews

  DomainConsultant announced that DomainName.com domain and registrar have been sold .

• 10:07

  Angels.com tops Sedo's weekly sales list

   » ‎ DomainNews

  Angels.com domain name topped Sedo's weekly sales chart at $200,000 .Highlights include also Progress.nl,sold for 20,000 EUR and hostel.info,sold for 7,900 EUR .

• 4:43

  Choosing a Good Domain Name

   » ‎ The Official Name.com Blog

  You’ve decided you want to start a website, either for your business or a personal site. Now what do you do? If you guessed that finding a good domain name was at the top of the list, you’d be correct. This process can be somewhat daunting, so we’ve come up with a list of guidelines to help you pick a good domain.

  Generic vs. Branding

  Generic domain names are usually dictionary words with a broad range of applications, e.g., Books.com, Coffee.com, Golf.com, and so on. Generic domain names are great because they can lead to direct navigation traffic. This means that people in search of these specific things can bypass search engines entirely. These generic names are often very expensive.

  But if you’re an everyday Joe looking to build your personal or company brand, choosing a domain name that matches your brand is the way to go. This not only increases your branding, but it will make it easier for your visitors to remember your name. Your brand is also what sets you apart from everybody else, so having a unique domain name that matches your brand will do the same for your website.

  Just think if youtube.com went with something like streamingvideo.com. Not very memorable is it?

  Hyphens Begone

  In researching what others have said on this topic, I came across my new favorite domain name:

  http://www.the-name-i-wanted-was-already-taken-so-i-used-a-lot-of-dashes.com/

  Sure, it’s a little snarky, but it gets the point across. You want to avoid using a hyphen in your domain name if you can. It might be slightly better for SEO, but it doesn’t look very good and it can make your domain name harder to remember. It’s also harder for someone to verbally recommend your website if there are one or more hyphens in the domain name.

  Keep It Short and Simple

  Get creative! Try using two really good keywords; three or four if you must. Once you start using five or more keywords things can get a little ugly. Again, you want your visitors to remember your domain name, so you want it to be as easy as possible to type.

  However, keeping it short doesn’t mean you should resort to acronyms, especially if those letters spell anything funky.

  You also want to be conscious of using keywords that share the same first and last letter, like hattricks.com or doggroomers.com. Sometimes you may not have a choice, but be aware that those double letters can be confusing.

  Embrace Alternate Extensions

  Despite what some domain purists may tell you, alternate extensions are your friend. In a world where most of the good .COM domains are already registered there are plenty of other options available to you.

  • Have your own video production company? Try using companyname.tv.
  • For a personal blog or resume site you might try using .ME or .IM to add a personal touch.
  • Non-profit? You might go with a .ORG domain.
  • If your business is only based in a specific country, why not use that country’s ccTLD (.US, .MX, .CA) to represent your business?

  When it comes to alternate extensions you want to try and avoid using what are called domain “hacks”. This is when you use the domain extension to complete a word in your domain name. Sure they look pretty clever, but they don’t do much for you in the “easy to remember” category. Some examples of hacks would be: aweso.me, ilovefrenchfri.es, ridiculo.us, etc. There’s a reason delicious.com switched from del.icio.us, nobody could remember where the heck the dots went!

  Be Careful With Trademarks

  To quote Elmer Fudd “Be vewy, vewy careful.” Trademarks are no laughing matter and if you register a trademarked name, you can bet that the lawyers will be after you.

  Check Your Spelling

  It’s always a good idea to double, or even triple check your domain spelling before hitting that purchase button. Sometimes you think you’re getting a steal, but upon a second glance you realize you just registered pronnight.com instead of promnight.com. Doh!

  The moral of the story is to get creative with your domain name. You want something that is unique, simple, and memorable. But remember, be careful not to step on any trademarked toes and always check your spelling!

• 2:47

  Sedo Weekly Sales Report, Lead by Angels.com

   » ‎ Domain Name News

  Sedo reported their sales for last week. Highlights include the already reported angels.com sale at 200,000 USD, progress.nl as the top ccTLDs sale at 20,000 EUR (appx. $25,250 USD), and hostel.info leading the other category at 7,900 EUR (appx. $9,950 USD).

  See all of the reported sales after the jump.

  Domain name	Date	Price	Currency	Translation
  .COMs
  angels.com	2010-08-29	200,000	USD
  raygen.com	2010-08-30	16,500	USD
  payrollcard.com	2010-08-23	12,000	USD
  elga.com	2010-08-25	10,000	EUR
  8o.com	2010-08-23	10,000	GBP
  카지노.com	2010-08-25	10,000	USD
  justpay.com	2010-08-23	9,000	USD
  fullbridge.com	2010-08-25	7,000	USD
  spanishvilla.com	2010-08-24	6,998	USD
  criticschoicemovies.com	2010-08-26	6,500	USD
  asbestoscancermesothelioma.com	2010-08-23	6,478	USD
  telefoonboek.com	2010-08-24	6,150	EUR	Telephone Book in Dutch
  cardblanche.com	2010-08-24	5,000	USD
  u247.com	2010-08-24	5,000	EUR
  tupiso.com	2010-08-25	5,000	EUR	Your Apartment in Spanish
  vanitybag.com	2010-08-23	5,000	USD
  rightaction.com	2010-08-27	5,000	USD
  ichauffeur.com	2010-08-27	5,000	USD
  hotelpricer.com	2010-08-25	4,700	USD
  bulkammo.com	2010-08-24	4,000	USD
  alamos-autos.com	2010-08-23	4,000	USD
  corelegal.com	2010-08-30	4,000	USD
  xtq.com	2010-08-25	3,700	USD
  lhdr.com	2010-08-24	3,600	USD
  dynamic-systems.com	2010-08-26	3,600	USD
  nutripro.com	2010-08-30	3,600	USD
  elitim.com	2010-08-25	3,500	EUR
  n-energy.com	2010-08-26	3,350	EUR
  sendtotv.com	2010-08-27	3,300	USD
  art4life.com	2010-08-23	3,000	USD
  ablar.com	2010-08-24	3,000	USD	Slang for hablar (to talk) in Spanish
  tabeebak.com	2010-08-27	3,000	USD
  gantuan.com	2010-08-27	3,000	USD
  iboutiques.com	2010-08-24	2,900	USD
  bring24.com	2010-08-26	2,600	GBP
  suitup.com	2010-08-25	2,513	USD
  i-chips.com	2010-08-25	2,500	USD
  ibella.com	2010-08-25	2,300	EUR
  glassworld.com	2010-08-24	2,250	USD
  cotoo.com	2010-08-24	2,200	USD
  thetailor.com	2010-08-25	2,200	USD
  e4n6.com	2010-08-24	2,000	USD
  kilifi.com	2010-08-24	2,000	EUR
  textilservice.com	2010-08-24	2,000	EUR
  worldkidsclub.com	2010-08-24	2,000	USD
  libertysafes.com	2010-08-30	2,000	USD
  suzytakesthestage.com	2010-08-27	2,000	USD
  nevro.com	2010-08-26	2,000	EUR
  dealblaster.com	2010-08-24	2,000	USD
  beautyfriends.com	2010-08-30	2,000	USD
  rapidcontact.com	2010-08-25	1,988	USD
  spaki.com	2010-08-24	1,800	EUR
  mccd.com	2010-08-27	1,800	EUR
  nywt.com	2010-08-24	1,800	USD
  traveljet.com	2010-08-27	1,800	USD
  brooklyncolleges.com	2010-08-24	1,799	USD
  thebrander.com	2010-08-26	1,750	USD
  bluerevue.com	2010-08-26	1,750	USD
  k121.com	2010-08-26	1,700	USD
  bestprosthetics.com	2010-08-26	1,700	USD
  gardenvideos.com	2010-08-25	1,673	USD
  warpaint.com	2010-08-26	1,659	USD
  bargainb.com	2010-08-24	1,600	USD
  ecodwell.com	2010-08-27	1,599	USD
  eurosoulmates.com	2010-08-24	1,575	USD
  tractorattachments.com	2010-08-25	1,575	USD
  grønn-energi.com	2010-08-25	1,500	USD	Green Energy in Danish
  due-south.com	2010-08-24	1,500	EUR
  donottrack.com	2010-08-24	1,500	USD
  almig.com	2010-08-23	1,500	EUR
  soosk.com	2010-08-24	1,500	GBP
  inveny.com	2010-08-23	1,500	USD
  timesharesecrets.com	2010-08-26	1,500	USD
  gestionambiental.com	2010-08-24	1,500	EUR
  f3s.com	2010-08-25	1,500	USD
  igram.com	2010-08-27	1,500	USD
  thecantina.com	2010-08-30	1,500	USD
  crdf.com	2010-08-26	1,500	USD
  christiandegree.com	2010-08-27	1,475	USD
  boatlist.com	2010-08-24	1,400	USD
  citrat.com	2010-08-24	1,400	USD
  fonme.com	2010-08-25	1,350	USD
  brandboom.com	2010-08-29	1,350	USD
  movieinsiders.com	2010-08-30	1,350	USD
  tube-galore.com	2010-08-30	1,300	USD
  2denmark.com	2010-08-27	1,300	USD
  mtwapa.com	2010-08-24	1,250	EUR
  apostasfutebol.com	2010-08-30	1,250	EUR	Football wagers in Portuguese
  epor.com	2010-08-23	1,200	USD
  jobsearchup.com	2010-08-23	1,200	EUR
  christianrealty.com	2010-08-25	1,200	USD
  overbet.com	2010-08-27	1,200	EUR
  playgoal.com	2010-08-24	1,199	USD
  travelrest.com	2010-08-25	1,125	USD
  unitedlowlands.com	2010-08-24	1,120	EUR
  zear.com	2010-08-30	1,052	USD
  megustaxd.com	2010-08-26	1,000	USD	"I like" in Spanish
  net-bets.com	2010-08-24	1,000	USD
  electromotivediesel.com	2010-08-30	1,000	USD
  baneservice.com	2010-08-25	1,000	USD
  onegg.com	2010-08-23	1,000	USD
  hot-art.com	2010-08-24	1,000	USD
  dolphin-media.com	2010-08-24	1,000	USD
  nomadia.com	2010-08-30	1,000	EUR
  bsdtools.com	2010-08-30	1,000	USD
  kredit-fuer-selbstaendige.com	2010-08-27	1,000	EUR	Credit for the self-employed in German
  dvour.com	2010-08-25	1,000	USD
  willisauto.com	2010-08-25	999	USD
  dsltarifrechner.com	2010-08-25	999	USD	DSL rate calculator in German
  starred.com	2010-08-27	999	USD
  american-football.com	2010-08-26	995	USD
  recipepro.com	2010-08-30	995	USD
  brüllkäfer.com	2010-08-27	975	EUR	Screaming beetle in German
  mobileboutique.com	2010-08-26	945	USD
  solmov.com	2010-08-26	940	USD
  me100.com	2010-08-30	900	EUR
  teethwhiteningtrays.com	2010-08-25	900	USD
  diajet.com	2010-08-27	900	EUR
  dollydagger.com	2010-08-24	888	GBP
  marketresearchreports.com	2010-08-24	850	USD
  lidating.com	2010-08-24	850	USD
  dishstuff.com	2010-08-27	850	USD
  coloriageaimprimer.com	2010-08-26	840	EUR	colouring pages to print in French
  spectate.com	2010-08-27	801	USD
  rogersplace.com	2010-08-24	800	USD
  findaresort.com	2010-08-23	800	USD
  dentalcaresource.com	2010-08-26	800	USD
  negocioenlinea.com	2010-08-27	799	USD	On line business in Spanish
  samplestuff.com	2010-08-27	799	USD
  medical-hemp.com	2010-08-27	788	USD
  paintballguide.com	2010-08-27	750	USD
  howardcc.com	2010-08-26	750	USD
  twlf.com	2010-08-25	750	USD
  livedesigngroup.com	2010-08-30	750	USD
  dakil.com	2010-08-26	750	USD
  hyperbaricchambers.com	2010-08-26	738	USD
  suxus.com	2010-08-24	700	USD
  blueboxsolutions.com	2010-08-24	700	USD
  hdrsoftware.com	2010-08-24	700	USD
  lisingles.com	2010-08-24	700	USD
  lingli.com	2010-08-24	700	USD
  8939.com	2010-08-24	700	USD
  8438.com	2010-08-25	700	USD
  CC TLDS
  progress.nl	2010-08-23	20,000	EUR
  kredit-ohne-schufa.de	2010-08-30	12,500	EUR	Credit without a credit check in German
  stream-tv.de	2010-08-27	12,000	EUR
  www-wetter.de	2010-08-30	8,800	EUR	Weather in German
  babyshop.dk	2010-08-25	6,700	EUR
  summerjobs.ca	2010-08-24	6,600	USD
  scoop.it	2010-08-30	6,000	USD
  phones.de	2010-08-30	5,100	EUR
  hypnoseschule.de	2010-08-30	5,000	EUR	Hypnosis school in German
  cta.de	2010-08-30	4,400	EUR
  secret.at	2010-08-23	4,000	EUR
  rugby.kr	2010-08-30	3,800	USD
  sciencedaily.fr	2010-08-25	3,000	EUR
  gartenmoebel.co.uk	2010-08-30	3,000	EUR	Garden Furniture in German
  onlineprintservice.de	2010-08-27	3,000	EUR
  le-jardin-potager.fr	2010-08-30	3,000	EUR	Kitchen Garden in French
  feuerlöscher.ch	2010-08-26	2,500	EUR	Fire Extinguishers in German
  secret.be	2010-08-24	2,420	EUR
  amateurvideos.de	2010-08-25	2,050	EUR
  reisen.si	2010-08-25	2,025	EUR	Travel in German
  trias-verlag.de	2010-08-27	2,000	EUR	Trias Publishing House in German
  hochzeitskarten.eu	2010-08-25	2,000	EUR	Wedding invitations in German
  ptm.eu	2010-08-30	2,000	EUR
  saunamanesse.ch	2010-08-27	1,900	EUR
  joy-club.de	2010-08-24	1,890	EUR
  youtoo.de	2010-08-23	1,800	EUR
  secret.se	2010-08-27	1,700	EUR
  knickmeier.de	2010-08-24	1,650	EUR
  smartphoto.de	2010-08-27	1,600	EUR
  handtasche.eu	2010-08-26	1,500	EUR	Handbag in German
  botanic.it	2010-08-30	1,500	EUR
  beautyfriends.de	2010-08-24	1,500	EUR
  russisch.ch	2010-08-27	1,500	EUR	Russian in German
  futa.de	2010-08-24	1,400	EUR
  casinogamesonline.co.uk	2010-08-25	1,325	GBP
  bed-and-breakfast.be	2010-08-27	1,300	EUR
  schnell-kochen.de	2010-08-30	1,250	EUR	Cooking in a snap in German
  jobbörse-frankfurt.de	2010-08-23	1,200	EUR	Job Market in German
  kot.it	2010-08-23	1,200	EUR
  bewerbungs-vorlagen.de	2010-08-25	1,199	EUR	Job Applications in German
  coopers.de	2010-08-27	1,011	EUR
  sofortrente.eu	2010-08-25	1,000	EUR	Instant Pension in German
  swipe.it	2010-08-26	1,000	EUR
  verabredungen.de	2010-08-26	1,000	EUR	Appointments in German
  counter.us	2010-08-24	1,000	USD
  leanlogistics.us	2010-08-27	1,000	USD
  mein-chef.ch	2010-08-30	1,000	EUR	My boss in German
  eventcrew.de	2010-08-26	981	EUR
  männer.tv	2010-08-26	950	EUR	Men in German
  fitnessbilliger.de	2010-08-27	950	EUR	Fitness on the Cheap in German
  kueschall.de	2010-08-25	900	EUR
  interrailer.de	2010-08-27	900	EUR
  123dabei.de	2010-08-30	856	EUR	123 Participate in German
  optimaitalia.it	2010-08-24	850	EUR
  array.de	2010-08-23	850	EUR
  fiz-conferencelab.de	2010-08-25	850	EUR
  liposuction.de	2010-08-26	844	EUR
  taxweb.de	2010-08-27	800	EUR
  audiforum.pl	2010-08-25	800	EUR
  taschenguides.de	2010-08-27	800	EUR	Pocket Travel Guides in German
  ladyboy.de	2010-08-30	800	EUR
  tada.tv	2010-08-27	800	USD
  klick.es	2010-08-25	750	EUR
  gelbras.co.uk	2010-08-27	750	GBP
  jobs-in.co.uk	2010-08-24	750	USD
  lasertonercartridges.co.uk	2010-08-26	750	GBP
  enfemenino.tv	2010-08-27	750	USD	Feminine in Spanish
  rocx.eu	2010-08-24	750	EUR
  haceka.de	2010-08-24	700	EUR
  OTHER TLDS
  hostel.info	2010-08-30	7,900	EUR
  kitchenremodeling.org	2010-08-30	3,500	USD
  platformbeds.net	2010-08-27	3,500	USD
  onlinemastersdegrees.net	2010-08-26	2,700	USD
  remortgagedeals.org	2010-08-25	2,500	GBP
  texasapps.net	2010-08-23	2,250	USD
  taxhavens.org	2010-08-26	2,150	EUR
  buyphentermine.org	2010-08-25	2,000	USD
  liquidus.net	2010-08-26	1,820	USD
  roulette.biz	2010-08-25	1,551	USD
  kidsacademy.org	2010-08-24	1,500	USD
  aggregator.net	2010-08-27	1,500	USD
  skiholidays.info	2010-08-27	1,400	USD
  sparked.org	2010-08-30	1,200	USD
  smartdating.net	2010-08-25	1,199	USD
  gesellschaftsrecht.mobi	2010-08-23	1,190	EUR	Company Law in German
  goodluck.net	2010-08-27	1,110	USD
  vaska.net	2010-08-30	1,100	USD
  football365.mobi	2010-08-24	1,000	USD
  leanlogistics.org	2010-08-27	1,000	USD
  domene.net	2010-08-29	1,000	USD
  casinoaction.net	2010-08-30	1,000	USD
  offshorebank.info	2010-08-30	999	EUR
  streamtime.net	2010-08-24	988	USD
  sportsbars.net	2010-08-30	938	USD
  roupa.net	2010-08-25	900	EUR
  epipla.net	2010-08-24	899	USD
  languagetranslators.net	2010-08-30	899	USD
  wacs.org	2010-08-25	880	USD
  zinsen.biz	2010-08-24	850	EUR	Interest (finance) in German
  myquestion.net	2010-08-24	800	EUR
  mydir.org	2010-08-25	800	EUR
  myprice.org	2010-08-26	800	EUR
  flx.net	2010-08-26	800	USD
  emprestimopessoal.org	2010-08-26	777	USD	Personal Loan in Portuguese
  luxuryhotels.biz	2010-08-25	750	USD
  languagetranslators.org	2010-08-30	749	USD
  pokerodds.net	2010-08-27	720	USD

  (c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

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• 2:32

  CareerBuilder and Monster Want to Stop .Jobs Domain Expansion

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Group forms to object to .jobs expansion.

  A group calling itself The .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition is asking ICANN’s board to reconsider its decision to open up the .jobs top level domain name to non-company name registrations. The coalition’s members include major employment web sites such as Monster and CareerBuilder, along with a number of associations.

  In a letter (pdf) to the Committee of the Board on Reconsideration, the group argues that:

  -The .jobs phased allocation program violates the .jobs charter
  -The members of the coalition will be harmed by the by the expansion of the .JOBS space beyond employers without any of the customary and usual protections against abusive and infringing registrations
  -Other people will also be harmed by the expansion
  -The board’s decision should be stayed pending the outcome of reconsideration
  -ICANN’s staff-prepared comment summary was flawed

  A number of job boards have been vocal opponents of the plan. Much of the opposition suggests that the purpose and charter of .jobs (an sTLD) has been violated. But I suspect we’ll see more of this sort of backlash as new top level domains are introduced in the coming years.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. .Jobs Expansion Approved, .Travel to Release 1 and 2 Character Domains
  2. Battle Over .Jobs is Growing
  3. The .Jobs Backlash Has Begun
• 2:11

  DomainName.com Domain and Registrar Sells

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  DomainConsultant.com reports that domain sold during auction today.

  DomainConsultant.com, which organized an auction today for DomainName.com, is reporting that the name has sold.

  Due to non-disclosure requests on both sides, we unfortunately cannot publish buyer or final selling price. We can tell you that, as predicted, DomainName.com name, site and registrar were sold today in a private auction.

  We can also tell you new owner will prosper and thrive, we have no doubt whatsoever.

  It’s unfortunate that a non-disclosure will keep the price from being public, but if multiple parties participated in the auction then word might eventually leak out. The domain included an accredited domain name registrar and about 8,000 existing registrations. The reserve was originally listed at $1 million.

  DomainConsultant.com says it will hold another sales event in a couple weeks and is seeking domain submissions.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. DomainName.com To Be Auctioned Tuesday
  2. Sharing Domain Parking Stats is Easy with DNW Certified Stats
  3. Porn.com Sells for $9.5M Cash

• 2:11

  DomainName.com Registrar Sold by DomainConsultant

   » ‎ Domain Name News

  According to a post on DomainConsultant’s site, the registrar DomainName.com and related assets have been sold today. The buyer and final selling price have not been disclosed. At the same time the company announced an upcoming auction with an 8% commission and is now accepting domain submissions via email to mike (at) domainconsultant.com.

  Disclaimer: Adam Strong, Managing Editor of DNN, also is a consultant with DomainConsultant.com.

  (c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

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• 2:02

  NBC Tries to Wiggle Out Of $1 Million Women.com Sale

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  NBC wants lawsuit over domain name dismissed.

  NBC Universal has filed a motion to dismiss (pdf) a lawsuit filed by DONE! Ventures over DONE!’s failed purchase of Women.com. DONE! claims it had an agreement to buy women.com and women.net from NBC, and that NBC later backed out of the deal that was brokered by Sedo.

  NBC’s first line of defense is that it hadn’t reached an agreement with DONE! because communications only referred to Women.com, not .net — so key terms hadn’t been agreed to:

  The Complaint makes clear on its face that no binding contract was formed because there was no meeting of the minds on a material term: the property for sale. Plaintiff alleges that it made a $1 million offer for two domain names: women.com and women.net. Yet, the correspondence from the NBC Defendants’ broker, which Plaintiff attaches to the Complaint and specifically incorporates by reference, states that the NBC Defendants would accept $1 million for women.com alone. Thus, the parties never agreed on what could be purchased for the $1 million price.

  Its second line of defense is that Sedo told DONE! it would need to complete a bill of sale with NBC before completing the transaction. NBC argues that no bill of sale was completed, so there was no breach of contract:

  Further, the parties’ correspondence states that the NBC Defendants required specified information about the Plaintiff and the completion of a bill of sale before a deal could be consummated. As Plaintiff admits in the Complaint, no bill of sale was ever drafted or signed. Therefore, even if the parties had reached a meeting of the minds about what property was for sale and at what price, which they did not, at most, there was an unenforceable agreement to agree. Plaintiffs breach of contract claim thus fails as a matter of law.

  If the court doesn’t buy either of these arguments, NBC wants it to move the case from California to New York.

  So here’s the (literally) million dollar question: if DONE! would accept just the .com domain for $1 million, would NBC go through with it?

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. NBC Universal and DONE! Fight Over What to Do With Women.com
  2. DONE! Ventures Sues NBC Universal Over Failed Women.com Deal at Sedo
  3. Ad.com Sale Falls Through, Lawsuit Filed

• 0:26

  Google Voice: Race to the Bottom for Telephony - or Something Else?

   » ‎ CircleID

  Just when you thought making phone calls couldn't get any cheaper, along comes last week's news from Google about their latest iteration of Google Voice. There have been several steps along the way for Google to get to this point, and there are a host of reasons why this news is of interest to service providers of all stripes. I often write about how certain technologies and disruptive forces change the business of being a service provider, and this is but the latest example.

  Ever since Vonage came to market, residential carriers have been faced with declining revenues for landline service, which itself is quickly losing ground to wireless substitution. Then Skype came along and brought desktop VoIP to a whole new level of adoption. Along with that came a new value proposition for voice. Whereas Vonage was offering a lower cost monthly plan, Skype was offering free or near free voice, driving the price down to levels that no conventional service provider could sustain.

  Google has its own take on voice, which is why this story should be of interest to service providers. Vonage is marketed primarily as a replacement service for POTS, making it a direct competitor to telcos. Nothing complicated there—it's really just a price game, but telcos do have more options to bundle telephony with other things—and of course, even more so for cable operators.

  Skype is primarily a Web-based IM/chat service, on top of which they do voice very well, and at low cost to subscribers. As popular as Skype is, their proprietary technology keeps them a bit inside their own sphere. They are still a major threat to telcos, but when positioned a bit differently, they can be a very good complement.

  The latest news with Google, though, is something entirely different. Their calling service—Google Voice—is mainly an add-on to Gmail, and works a lot like Skype. As such, it's not a pure telephony service like Vonage, and it's not really built off IM/chat like Skype; it's built around email. Of course, Google has all these other tools, but email is ubiquitous, and Google has been successful building a strong user base here. Gmail binds the user more deeply than IM/chat, making it a great platform for both business and personal usage. I'm not alone in noticing these days that when you get a personal email address as a backup for someone you're working with, more often than not it's a Gmail address.

  Google already has GTalk, which supports free online calls between Google users—and is comparable to the free calling Skype users have among themselves. Google Voice is much bolder and is their answer to Skype Out/In, and gives Gmail users a PSTN interface to make calls to the rest of the world. In the short term, this may take a bite out of Skype in that Google Voice calls within the U.S. and Canada will be free until year end (but maybe longer). Longer term - along with Skype - Google Voice is more of a threat to telcos as they accelerate the race to the bottom, bringing the value of a voice call pretty much down to where email is.

  Why are they doing this?

  In my view, it's not to put the telcos out of business. They're offering domestic PSTN calls for free, in the hopes of subsidizing them by charging two cents a minute for international calls. Fair enough, but I don't see that happening, and Google really doesn't need to make money with this service. Of course, free beats paid any day—so long as the quality is comparable—and I see them making the voice pie bigger, much the way Skype has. The key for me is more about how Google Voice interacts with Gmail. By escalating an email message to a free phone call, users will stay longer in the Google environment, and the ability to transcribe voicemail will certainly appeal to some.

  However, I think there's more to the story. Am mentioned, Google is coming from a different place than Skype, who depends almost solely on those Skype In/Out minutes for revenues. VoIP service is not expensive to provide, and Google has spent relatively little to get in the game. I would contend that the vast majority of their Google Voice capability comes from three small acquisitions that cost them maybe $150 million. When you think about the annual Capex budget of any incumbent, this really is pocket change. Going back to 2007, they acquired GrandCentral; last year they acquired Gizmo5, and a few months ago, they added Global IP Solutions. Collectively these companies have given them the pieces to offer a very appealing VoIP-to-PSTN service globally, and if they never make a penny from it, so be it.

  As mentioned, free beats paid, and there's no better incentive to get people to use your service. Look how long Vonage has been around, and they barely have two million subscribers. Unlike Skype, Google doesn't have to build its user base from scratch, and it won't take long for them to start logging millions of calls. Just consider what happens when school resumes next month, and students will be falling over each other to make free calls home from those super-retro red UK phone booths that will be popping up on college campuses (and solar powered to boot).

  As such, Google Voice will be one more reason to cut the cord, and the race to zero just picked up some speed. Thanks to Gizmo5, Google Voice is SIP-based and works nicely on both softphones and hand-held endpoints. Short term, there will be some cannibalization with Android by competing with voice from data plans, but Google will figure out how to make all these pieces fit. This is actually where the GIPS acquisition comes in, with their ability to support both voice and video over mobile devices, which in turn can make Google Voice a great add-on for businesses.

  While Google Voice is primarily an outbound telephony service, I think they'll be able to take free calling beyond the desktop, and that's really what service providers need to be thinking about. Free on the desktop is one thing, but when you push out to mobile devices, things get more complicated. If this isn't enough, I think there's a separate agenda at work here, and it's something I've commented about elsewhere for quite some time.

  Google is really interested in the voice business, not to make life difficult to telcos, but as a source of raw material—snippets from voicemail and live calls, if you will—that can be harvested for search. I'm not sure about the regulatory issues around this—and apparently Google has been vague here—but certainly for voicemail, free calls will generate a huge cache of "content" that they can apply speech recognition algorithms to and build an archive of audio-based search prompts. Once those audio cues are transcribed into text, they can become hugely valuable for the next frontier—mobile search. This sounds a bit on the dark side ("do no evil" as we're told), but it's a far better way to monetize voice than charging a few cents a minute or a few dollars a month. When viewed from this lens, Google Voice is a very different business than Skype, Vonage, or any telco for that matter. Disruption comes in many forms, and we're seeing a new one with Google Voice. Don't let the race to zero fool you; I think it's just a side-show compared to what Google really has in mind.

  This article of mine originally ran today on my Service Provider Views column on TMCnet.

  Written by Jon Arnold, Principal, J Arnold & Associates

  Follow CircleID on Twitter

  More under: Email, Telecom, VoIP, Web

  

• 0:13

  Sedo Retools Domain Searching

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Domain marketplace release new search system.

  Sedo has released new searching tools that make it much easier to sift through the site’s 7 million domain names for sale.

  The new search allows you to add and change search criteria and get updated results on the fly. Limit the number of words in domains, price range, and even parking traffic (if the domain is parked at Sedo). You can also preview a listing by clicking on the domain rather than loading an entirely new page. DomainsBot technology is integrated to show synonyms and domains similar to the keywords you provide.

  As you search you’re able to add domains to a watchlist for later review. You can also create RSS feeds for your saved searches.

  The need for improved search features had developed as the number of domains at Sedo has grown. These new search features will hopefully boost sales as quality domains will be easier to find.

  Given browser constraints and the speed of real time updates, you might have a better experience viewing the search tool in Google Chrome instead of Firefox or Internet Explorer.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. Sharing Domain Parking Stats is Easy with DNW Certified Stats
  2. Sedo surpasses 3 million domain listings
  3. DNW Certified Stats Now Works with Parked.com

• August 31, 2010
• 23:25

  Buying Trademark Domain Names

   » ‎ Elliot's Blog

  Anyone who owns or has registered more than a handful of domain names has probably owned one or more names that infringe on the trademark of another company, whether its intentional or unintentional. Figuring out what domain names are dangerous to a domain portfolio is a big part of doing business as a domain investor.

  Sometimes blatant trademarks pose no threat because the trademark holder doesn’t seem to care, and other times seemingly generic domain names become issues when overreaching companies attempt to take domain names using the legal system – or threats of the legal system. You need to be aware of the risks involved with domain investing before jumping in head first.

  On average, I receive a few emails a month that go something like this: “I own the domain name xyz.com, and I am not sure if it’s a trademark. What do you think?”

  Although I would love to give my educated opinion when I get those emails, I almost always recommend that the person speak with a lawyer, since I have no legal experience. When I first started buying domain names around 2003, I registered some names that may have infringed on the trademarks of other companies. In fact, I received a couple of cease and desist letters. At different times, I reached out to Brett Lewis and John Berryhill who both gave me very good advice.

  If you have real concerns about possible trademark names in your portfolio, it’s best to ask a domain lawyer rather than another domain investor. A domain investor may have some experience with trademark issues, but there’s no substitute for a legal professional. Just like you wouldn’t ask your dentist about a toenail problem, you shouldn’t expect a domain investor to answer your legal questions.

  Related posts:

  1. Valuate.com Adds Trademark Checker Valuate.com has launched a trademark checker engine in conjunction with...
  2. Using Trademarks in Domain Names I was searching Google for an accessory for a new...
  3. Contributory Trademark Infringement Ruling Could Impact Parking Companies Mike posted an article about a case that I read...

  Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

• 22:32

  Angels.com Sells for $200,000

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Broker sells Angels.com domain name.

  Sedo has sold the domain name Angels.com for $200,000 according to the company’s updated sales feed. The domain name is currently pending transfer.

  Earlier this month I pointed out that the domain being listed for auction presented another chance for Major League Baseball to pick up the domain name. Major League Baseball tried to get the domain name through a UDRP filing earlier but failed. At the time the seller wanted $300,000 for the domain.

  At $200,000, I’d be shocked if MLB didn’t buy this domain. Angels.com is one of just 7 team names that the league doesn’t own. It passed on a chance to buy Athletics.com at the DOMAINfest auction, but don’t be surprised if they come to a deal on that later. The league forwards the domains to its MLB.com web site.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. MLB Has Another Chance to Get Angels.com
  2. Los Angeles Angels Lose Fight for Angels.com Domain Name
  3. Giants Play Ball for GiantsBaseball.com

• 22:03

  How to ‘Make the Most’ of a Promo

   » ‎ ResellerClub Blog

  Every now and then, when we launch a promo we sign off asking you to “make the most” of the pricing offered. What exactly we mean by that is not always clear – so I thought I would put together a short article on doing just that.

  Pricing

  Setting the right price is the first and the most important step when it comes to Promotions. You have to factor in various aspects like the short term growth in terms of profits, the lifetime value of a Customer and the competition in your market.

  You can choose any one of the three strategies:

  • Lower Margins for Higher Volumes: This works well for price sensitive markets and also for those who are trying to capture a competitor’s market share. However, with this strategy you run the risk of lower profits if the promo doesn’t increase volumes.
  • Maintain the same Margin: This protects you from the risk of lower volumes as you will maintain your profits as long as you maintain your regular Domain numbers. Obviously, this strategy will not work in highly competitive markets.
  • Higher Margin for Higher Profits: This allows you to make greater profits off every Domain sold as long as you can still be competitive. This strategy can work for you if you have competitors that are more expensive or if you cater to a market that is not highly price sensitive.

  Awareness

  Once you have set your Promo Price, the next step is to make sure that everyone knows about it. Mailers & announcements are the most efficient and cost effective ways of reaching your existing Customers. Another way of spreading awareness is having banner ads and other marketing collaterals on your website. So delegating time and resources for the same is crucial to the success of any promotion!

  • Mailers & Announcements: You can get in touch with all your existing Customers in a few steps using the Reseller Control Panel. Using the ‘Send Mail’ option you can mail your existing clients. Announcements are messages that are shown to your existing clients when they login to their Control Panels to manage their Products and Services. It is shown as the first screen on a successful login and hence ensures that your clients read the message about the Promotion.

  In your Control Panel: The Send Mail option is available from:
  Customer/Sub-Resellers >> Send Mail To set Announcements:
  Customers/Sub-Resellers >> Announcements

  
  

  • Website Banners and Banner Ads: Another great way of promoting your offers is by placing banners on your website so that every visitor knows what’s on offer. You can also choose to display banner ads on other relevant industry websites. For both these modes you can use the ResellerClub Resource Center for readymade collaterals and banners.
  • Some other online modes that you can employ are Press Releases to relevant news portals, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Social Media Marketing. All three of them require a certain amount of expertise but you can definitely speak to your Account Manager and get a little help.
  • However, all said and done the activities that will probably give you the best ROI is local marketing. No big registrar or outside competitor can ever compete with you on your turf so make sure that everyone in your town/city/state/country knows of the discounts offered.

  Some Quick Tips:

  Opt-in for the Promotion: Lower prices will always boost your volumes and profits so make sure that you opt-in for promos and then pass on the discounts offered to your Customers and Resellers. They also help spread awareness about your brand which may lead to long term benefits.

  Contact Existing Clients: They are your biggest assets so make sure they know of the latest offers. They have already purchased from you once and more likely to buy again.

  Promote the Promo: We usually give you at least two weeks notice for all big promotions so use that time to create some hype around the promotion, this in turn allows your Customers and Resellers to plan for their purchases.

  Send Reminders: Once the promo kicks off, contact your leads and existing clients and make sure that they are informed. Sending Reminders and follow ups can also go a long way in increasing your Promo numbers.

  I hope this was good read and helps you increase your profits with every Promo :) In fact, with Mega Bargains Month beginning tomorrow, you can start right away!

  

• 21:30

  High Value of Generic Domains Cited in New Interviews With Oversee.net & Swap.com CEOs

   » ‎ Domain Name Journal
  The high value of generic domain names was the topic of conversation in two new interviews with industry leaders - Jeff Kupietzky of Oversee.net and Jeff Bennett of Swap.com. One was printed by a Boston business publication and the other kicked off a new video series from Simon Johnson's DomainerIncome.tv.

• 21:24

  Stopping the Flow of Online Illegal Pharmaceuticals

   » ‎ CircleID

  Reading through Brian Kreb's blog last week, he has an interesting post up on the White House's call upon the industry on how to formulate a plan to stem the flow of illegal pharmaceuticals:

  The Obama administration is inviting leaders of the top Internet domain name registrars and registries to attend a three-hour meeting at the White House next month about voluntary ways to crack down on Web sites that are selling counterfeit prescription medications.

  The invitation, sent via e-mail on Aug 13 by White House Senior Adviser for Intellectual Property Enforcement Andrew J. Klein, urges select recipients to attend a meeting on Sept. 29 with senior White House and cabinet officials, including Victoria Espinel, the Obama administration's intellectual property enforcement coordinator.

  "The purpose of this meeting is to discuss illegal activity taking place over the internet generally, and more specifically, voluntary protocols to address the illegal sale of counterfeit non-controlled prescription medications on-line," the invitation states.

  Klein did not return calls seeking more information. A spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed the event, but declined to offer further details. The meeting appears to be a continuation of the administration's Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement, an initiative unveiled in June that promised to "address unlawful activity on the internet, such as illegal downloading and illegal internet pharmacies."

  According to the World Health Organization, approximately 8 percent of the bulk drugs imported into the United States are counterfeit, unapproved, or substandard, and 10 percent of global pharmaceutical commerce—or $21 billion—involves counterfeit drugs. LegitScript.com, a verification service for online pharmacies, is currently tracking more than 45,000 rogue Internet pharmacies.

  It is unclear to me whether or not the goal of this initiative is to stem the flow of online crime in general or to reduce the flow of illegal pharmaceuticals flowing into the United States (since presumably this cuts into the profits of large pharmaceutical companies… who would naturally want to see their profit margins increased in return for pledging their support for health care reform that was passed earlier this year). Assuming that the target of this are the online pharmaceuticals, there are a few things I can think of. Unfortunately, a three hour meeting really isn't enough to get this off the ground because it is a series of interconnected events that would need to take place. Anyhow, here's a list of things I'd do:

  1. Stopping illegal pharmaceuticals piggy-backs onto stopping illegal <anything> on the 'net. Spammers who advertise illegal software, or fake degrees, or fake enlargement pills, or fake mortgages are all basically doing the same thing. So, any strategy that is aimed at stopping those other things will extend to stopping fake pharmas as well. My point here is that concentrating only on fake pharmaceuticals may exclude strategies that scale to others.
  2. Registrars need to get their act in gear. When a website advertising cheap Viagra goes up, somebody somewhere needs to register that site. Whoever registers is needs to do a better job of verification of the identity who registered it. The problem here is that so many of these sites are registered by registrars in foreign countries which is outside the jurisdiction of the US. However, just like in the Wizard of Oz, there's no place like home and the government can pressure domestic ones to do better proactive abuse mitigation.
  3. WHOIS protected services are questionable. I don't deny the need for WHOIS-protected services in some cases. However, any time I am looking up a suspicious site and the WHOIS registration is protected, that's pretty much all I need to make the determination that the site is abusive. It doesn't cost much to shield your WHOIS information. If you want to do it, that's fine but there should probably be a stricter set of criteria who shielding your information like this requiring you to jump through a couple of more manual hoops.
  4. Crack downs on spammers will go a long ways. One of the chief mechanisms of advertising illegal pharmaceuticals is through the use of spam. We all get it in our inboxes. Of course, there are other avenues of advertisement such as black search engine optimization. However, because it is not particularly difficult to send out a lot of spam and make money off of it, and because there is little chance of repercussion, spammers continue to do it. If law enforcement had more resources dedicated to prosecuting spammers such that it became more de-incentivized, then the supply part of the equation would start to dry up. In other words, putting spammers in prison will help in this regards, and this requires a prioritization of law enforcement resources. Whether or not they are willing to divert resources from one area of law enforcement to another is an open question.
  5. Perhaps walled gardens are a good idea. In Australia, some ISPs kick infected computers off of their network if the ISP can detect that the machine connecting to it is infected with malware. Or, they redirect them to a sandbox and alert the user that they cannot continue until they clean their system. If more ISPs made this a policy, then maybe we'd have less malware abuse flowing back and forth in cyber space. I don't think I'd want government to enforce this, but perhaps ISPs might be willing to voluntarily comply with this.

  This is a small list of things that could be done but by no means it is exhaustive. Running up-to-date software is a good idea, and so is running the latest patched version of one's software. What other ideas do you have to cut down on the flow of illegal online pharmaceuticals?

  Written by Terry Zink, Program Manager

  Follow CircleID on Twitter

  More under: Cybercrime, Domain Names, Domain Registries, ICANN, Internet Governance, Spam, Whois

  

• 21:10

  WIPO Director General Welcomes Moves to Enhance Protection of Traditional Knowledge & Folklore in Africa

   » ‎ WIPO Press Releases
  WIPO Director General Francis Gurry has welcomed the adoption by member states of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) of a new legal instrument that seeks to protect African traditional knowledge and folklore.

• 21:09

  MyHealth.com Saved at National Arbitration Forum

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Case over generic domain name denied.

  A National Arbitration Forum panelist has rejected a company’s claim to the domain name MyHealth.com.

  My Health, Inc registered its mark for “My Health” in 2009. But the registrant of the domain name acquired it prior to that (in 2007) for $150,000. Making matters worse, when My Health, Inc filed its complaint it thought that the respondent had owned the domain name since way back in 1995. Regardless of which date you choose, the complaint must fail because there was no way for the registrant to register it with the non-existent (at the time) trademark holder in mind.

  Another interesting aspect to this case is that the panelist brings up the issue of reverse domain name hijacking even though the respondent didn’t request it — but then declines to find RDNH because it wasn’t requested:

  It appears from the facts of this case that Complainant established its business and trademark rights while aware that the disputed domain name was already registered by another entity. Indeed, it appears that Complainant brought this arbitration proceeding only after negotiations to purchase or join with Respondent failed. Lastly, as noted above, Complainant has alleged bad-faith registration notwithstanding the fact that it did not even exist (or own any trademark rights) at the time of Respondent’s registration.

  Paragraph 15(e) of the Rules provides inter alia that the Panel may find that the Complainant brought an arbitration proceeding “in an attempt at Reverse Domain Name Hijacking or . . . primarily to harass the domain-name holder.” … However, the Respondent has not alleged Reverse Domain Hijacking and the Panel declines to make this determination where the parties have not raised the issue or been given the opportunity to brief the Panel on their respective positions.

  A panelist does not need a party to raise the issue of RDNH in order to rule on it. But the fact that he brings it up in his decision shows his opinion on the matter.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

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  Related posts:

  1. National Arbitration Forum FAIL
  2. MIA.com Saved in Arbitration, But Who’s This Lazy Panelist?
  3. National Arbitration Forum Provides Shortcut to UDRP Arbitrators
• 20:34

  A Look at Go Daddy’s Growth (in Numbers)

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  An official look at Go Daddy’s revenue numbers.

  I still remember a conversation just before the Super Bowl in 2005. I was eating lunch with a bunch of techies and the topic of Super Bowl commercials came up. Someone asked “who is this Go Daddy company, anyway?”

  Flash forward to 2010. If you ask someone on the street where they would go to register a domain name, they’ll likely say “Go Daddy”. About half of all newly-registered domains are registered at the company.

  Go Daddy continues to grow like gangbusters. I’ve reported some of the company’s numbers on Domain Name Wire before, but yesterday I had a chance to get an official historical look at the company’s growth from Ryan Corder, Senior Director of Finance for the company.

  
  Sources: The Go Daddy Group, SEC Filings

  The company’s growth since the opening up of registrar accreditation has been staggering. In 2001 the company grossed $4.3 million in GAAP revenue; last year it hit $610 million. I had previously reported revenue of $750 million for 2009, but this was actually sales. (As a growing company, GAAP revenue lags sales because sales are recognized over a period of time.) For 2010 the company forecasts between $940-$950 million in sales.

  Perhaps more important as a privately-held company is Go Daddy’s cash flow. The company forecasts an operating cash flow of $140-$150 million for 2010.

  Go Daddy’s employee base has grown with the revenue, bringing much needed jobs to Arizona and Iowa. In 2003 the company employed 323 people; it now keeps 2,700 (and growing) on the payroll.

  No wonder Bob Parsons is always smiling.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

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  Related posts:

  1. Go Daddy Marches Toward $1 Billion
  2. NBC Approves Two Go Daddy Ads for Super Bowl
  3. GoDaddy Still Growing on Inc 5000

• 20:25

  Sedo Launches New Search

   » ‎ Domainers Magazine

  Sedo.com proudly invites you to check out the new innovations on their revised domain search. With revolutionary new domain search techniques, you’ll be able to quickly and efficiently discover the most relevant domains to suit your individual business needs!

  Many of the updates were based on member feedback and suggestions. Sedo's global community of users assisted us in crafting the industry’s most comprehensive and user-friendly domain name search engine. To get you started, Sedo has pulled together some of the top newly added features:

• 20:09

  DomainName.com Registrar & Company to be Auctioned Today

   » ‎ Domain Name News

  

  [Update] The registrar has been sold.

  DomainConsultant.com, mostly known for their Domain Madness auctions so far have a special item that is being auctioned today – an entire domain registrar business. The business is an ICANN accredited company that has about 8,000 domains under management and uses “DomainName.com” as their brand. You can find a breakdown of their existing registrations, for which they currently charge $29.95(!) per year, below. The customer base also includes 200 hosting accounts with an annual revenue of $200 each.

  While the Buy It Now price of $3,000,000 USD expired yesterday, bidders are welcome to bring forward their bids by visiting DomainConsultant or send an email to Mike Fiol at mike (at) domainconsultant.com.

  The auction started at 9am EDT today and will end at 3pm EDT.

  Disclaimer: Adam Strong, Managing Editor of DNN, also is a consultant with DomainConsultant.com.

  TLD	Amount of Registrations
  Total	8,019
  .com	5,971
  .net	990
  .org	537
  .biz	171
  .info	163
  .us	170
  .ws	17

  (c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

  Advertisement
  Offer: .com/.net domains only $7.98/yr! Specializing in .kr domains $40/yr
  Get expired / deleting domains $14.98/yr fixed price

  
  

  

• 19:03

  Srdjanknezevic.tel named the .tel of the week

   » ‎ DomainNews

  Telnic,the registry operator for .tel selected Srdjanknezevic.tel domain name to be the .tel of the week . By choosing every week a .tel of the week,Telnic wants to demonstrate what can be achieved with a .tel domain name.

• 15:48

  Domainforum.info setzt auf Demokratie

   » ‎ Domain Smalltalk

  Als erstes unter den bekannten Domainforen wurde die Community von Domainforum.info gestern zur Wahl gebeten. Von gestern 12:00 Uhr mittags bis heute ebenfalls mittags, wurden im Domainforum die neuen Moderatoren demokratisch gewählt. Bereits vor einigen Tagen wurde die Community aufgerufen, Vorschläge zu machen, wer als Moderator in Frage kommt. Die sechs meist vorgeschlagenen Kandidaten…

• 13:26

  Telnic seeks ICANN permission to offer one and two character domain names

   » ‎ DomainNews

  Telnic,the registry operator for .tel,wants to offer one and two character domain names. In the request,Telnic assures ICANN that they will not offer domain names that correspond to an existing country code.

• 10:15

  Registration for Hebrew domain names has opened

   » ‎ DomainNews

  The Israel Internet Association recently announced that registration for Hebrew domain names has opened .For now,all domain names will end with the latin suffix.It will take a couple months until the suffix will be available in Hebrew too .

• 10:14

  Anthony Hopkins wins AnthonyHopkins.com domain name in Arbitration

   » ‎ DomainNews

  The National Arbitration Forum announced that a ruling has been issued in favor of Anthony Hopkins regarding rights to the Internet domain name  AnthonyHopkins.com .

• 5:37

  Breaking: Sedo Brokers Sale of Jerusalem.com for Over Half a Million USD

   » ‎ Elliot's Blog

  In June of 2009, it was reported that Jerusalem.com was purchased for $750,000 (the news was also reported in the Jerusalem Post). The website was used on its own for a while, and I later found it to be forwarding to GoJerusalem.com, which I thought was strange after such a big acquisition.

  Just a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that Ryan Colby, one of Sedo’s top domain brokers, announced that Jerusalem.com was privately being offered for sale via his page on Facebook. I inquired about the asking price and learned that it was in the ballpark of half a million US dollars. I was very surprised at this and felt it was a good enough value to pass the information along to a couple of domain investors I know.

  Earlier this evening, Ryan updated his Facebook and Twitter pages to announce that the sale of Jerusalem.com had closed at $510,000: “Jerusalem.com: SOLD for $510,000. A glorious geo name in every way.”

  Since this is breaking news, I don’t have information on the buyer of this great domain name yet, but I am sure Sedo will soon make a more formal announcement with that information.

  Congratulations to Sedo and the buyer of this great geographic domain name.

  

  Related posts:

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• 1:46

  Name.com Homepage Gets a Facelift!

   » ‎ The Official Name.com Blog

  

  Okay, so maybe it’s not a full facelift, but we did smooth out a few wrinkles and clean up a few blotches. Now the homepage is looking nice and refreshed!

  We’re currently testing a couple different versions of this page, so the one that you come across may not look like the screenshot above, it may look like this:

  

  If you get this page, nothing is wrong, it’s very intentional. At least that’s our story and we’re sticking to it. ;)

  Naturally, the most important part of this is your feedback. So far the response has been really positive, which we’ll admit is a nice ego boost, but we’ve also received some good constructive criticism.

  What are your thoughts? Do you like the new direction? Dislike? Why? We’d love to hear from you!

• 0:56

  Michael Phelps Foundation Sues Over Domain Name

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Swimmer’s foundation goes after domain name owner.

  The non-profit Michael Phelps Foundation, established by the Olympic swimmer, has sued to get the domain name MichaelPhelpsFoundation.com.

  The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maine, names Domains by Proxy, Inc., a domain whois proxy service, and Does 1-10 as defendants. It is typical for a proxy service to be named in a lawsuit and it is typically dropped once the proxy service transfers the domain back to its real owner.

  The domain name was registered in 2008, just two days after Phelps won his record setting eighth gold medal in a single Olympics. Phelps had not yet started his foundation.

  The domain was originally registered by a Minnesota man before the whois proxy service was used. The author of the web site at MichaelPhelpsFoundation.com claims that he had good intentions in registering the domain name:

  To be quite clear, MPF was created as a “foundation” or a home “base” where fans, like yourself, can come to share, chat, research, debate, contribute, and connect with one another on the past, present and future surrounding, who some are considering to be the greatest hero in history, Michael Phelps.

  It wasn’t until after MPF was created that we heard that Michael Phelps was, in fact, going to establish a new swimming foundation.

  A blog on the web site has two entries from 2008.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

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  2. Napoleon Hill Foundation Doesn’t Own “And Grow Rich”
  3. Providing Whois Privacy Isn’t Free

• 0:54

  Epik Mints Their Own Currency for Buying Domains & Funding Development + Latest Show News

   » ‎ Domain Name Journal
  Today in the Lowdown at DNJournal.com: Attendees at the Epik Developer's Conference coming up Sept. 15-17 will find a little something extra in their "goodie" bags - $795 worth of EpikBucks. We'll tell you exactly what those are + we have news updates on October's DN Cruise and T.R.A.F.F.I.C. South Beach conferences.

• 0:42

  Lawsuit Against Original CamRoulette.com Owner Settled

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Case dropped pending settlement.

  A lawsuit filed against the original registrant of CamRoulette.com has been settled.

  Craig Snyder (not related to the Oversee.net employee) originally registered CamRoulette.com and sold it for $1,200. But another person, Fraser Brown, said he had already agreed to purchase the domain name from Snyder for $700 before Snyder sold it to the other party for $1,200.

  It likely wouldn’t have bothered anyone if it weren’t for the domain quickly being resold for $151,000 shortly thereafter. Brown sued, claiming damages for the difference between his $700 offer and the $151,000 sales price.

  The terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed, and the case may be reopened within 30 days should the settlement fall through.

  It’s not surprising to see an agreement reached. It appeared that Brown had identified another (wealthier) Craig Snyder as the culprit instead of the actual Snyder (who says he’s broke). There probably wasn’t much to gain by moving forward with the suit.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

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  Related posts:

  1. Domain Owner Wins Expenses in Lawsuit

• August 30, 2010
• 23:24

  U.S. National Science Foundation funds research on social impact of network surveillance technologies

   » ‎ IGP Blog
  Syracuse University Professor Milton Mueller was awarded $304,000 by the U.S. NSF for his research on “Deep Packet Inspection and the Governance of the Internet.” The research grant was made by the Science, Technology and Society program of the Social, Economic and Behavioral Science Directorate of NSF. The research will take place over two academic years, 2010-11 and 2011-2012.

  Deep packet inspection (DPI) is a new network surveillance and traffic analysis capability that enables network operators to scan the payload of TCP/IP packets in real time and make automated decisions about whether to intercept, block, slow down, speed up or otherwise manipulate traffic streams based on that information. Mueller’s research will investigate whether the use of DPI by Internet service providers is producing major changes in the way users and suppliers of Internet services are governed.

  The project will contribute to an understanding of how new technological capabilities interact with politics, public policy, regulation, and law. Drawing on research literatures in science, technology and society studies (STS), Internet governance studies and political science, it will test and improve theories about the co-production of technology and governance institutions, especially theories which assign agency to technological artifacts.

  DPI has a variety of applications. It is most commonly used for bandwidth management by Internet service providers, and thus has figured prominently in policy debates over network neutrality. Copyright holders have sometimes advocated its use for combating illegal file sharing because of its claimed potential to recognize copyrighted material as it moves through the public network. DPI can be and has been used to censor content, most notably by the Chinese. It has also been used by the US and Iranian governments to monitor Internet traffic for national security purposes. DPI can be used to profile Internet users and contribute to the implementation of behavioral advertising as well. Each of these use cases provides the basis for two case studies in at least two different countries. The method of executing the case studies is based on a new conceptual framework for analyzing the interaction of technological capabilities and the process of public policy development.

• 22:46

  Why Push to Auction on Sedo Might Be a Bad Idea

   » ‎ Elliot's Blog

  From my perspective (as an infrequent buyer on Sedo), a seller pushing a domain name to Sedo auction after receiving a private offer is a bad idea, and it may cause the seller to leave money on the table, as I will explain below.

  A couple of weeks ago, I made an offer on a domain name that I wanted to buy for somewhere in the $1,000 range.  I don’t have a record of my opening offer, but it was in the ballpark of $500 and the owner’s counter offer was $1,000. Once I received the counter offer, I knew in my head that I was going to buy the domain name, but it was just a matter of how much I would spend, since the owner’s expectation and my expectation were in the same range.

  I didn’t want to buy it now for $1,000, figuring that we’d meet somewhere in the middle between our two offers. I counter offered at $688, hoping the owner would either accept the offer or come down somewhere in the $800 range, where I probably would have bought it or countered at $750, with the idea being that I would get it for $200+/- less than what I wanted to pay.

  Instead of doing what I expected, the seller sent the domain name to public auction, which is his right to do, although it was annoying to me. If I won the auction, I would either have to pay Sedo to keep the sale private (even more annoying), or my purchase price would be disclosed, thus taking away an advantage when I want to quickly re-sell the domain name.

  As the auction came to an end, another bidder jumped in and bid $738. I opted to not outbid this price, and the domain name was sold for $738.  I didn’t want to get carried away in a bidding war, and I didn’t want to allow the owner to make more money by using my private offer as leverage. As the saying goes, I cut my nose to spite my face, but there are plenty of other good deals out there.

  Had the domain seller opted to initially reply that $1,000 was his final price, I would have bought it. Instead, he tried to squeeze as much money as possible out of the name by going to auction, and he lost out on $250+. Not a big deal when all is said and done, but it’s 25% left on the table. Had we been talking thousands and not hundreds, that would have been a nice chunk of change.

  Pushing a domain name to auction may seem like a good idea to make as much money as possible from a domain name, but this is a real example of where it cost the seller some money.

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• 21:29

  Court Wants Explanation for Conflict of Interest over TRAFFIC Auction

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Court asks for explanation, but it’s probably a moot point anyway.

  United States District Judge Susan Illston has asked DS Holdings and The United States to file a response to accusations that auctioning off domains previously held by John Zuccarini at a TRAFFIC auction would be a conflict of interest. Zuccarini complained to the court that this would be a conflict of interest since TRAFFIC co-organizer Howard Neu once represented him in the cybersquatting lawsuit that led to the judgment for which the domains would be auctioned.

  The order states:

  DS Holdings and the United States have moved to authorize auction of the domain names and distribution of the auction proceeds. In opposing the motion, Zuccarini asserts that the proposed auction site, the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Domain Conference & Expo, raises a conflict of interest because Howard Neu, an attorney who represented Zuccarini in the underlying action filed by Office Depot, is a co-owner and organizer of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Moving parties DS Holdings and the Unites States do not address this assertion in their reply. DS Holdings and the United States are therefore directed, within ten days of the date of this order, to file a response to Zuccarini’s contentions regarding conflict of interest.

  Of course this is probably all a moot point anyway. The TRAFFIC show organizers have gone on record saying they want nothing to do with auctioning off Zuccarini’s domain names. Given that TRAFFIC auctions are actually run by Latona’s, and merely use TRAFFIC as a venue, it’s likely that Neu didn’t even know about the plans to auction off the domains at TRAFFIC before he was dragged into it thanks to the court filings.

  Elsewhere in the Zuccarini saga, Zuccarini has filed a response (pdf) to Network Solutions’ motion to dismiss his lawsuit over the sale of expired domain names he owned that were later handed to a receiver.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

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  Related posts:

  1. Zuccarini Threatens Latona’s and TRAFFIC Over Planned Auction
  2. Latona’s to Auction Off Remaining Zuccarini Domains at TRAFFIC
  3. Woops! Court Appointed Receiver Lets Zuccarini Domains Expire, Auctioned Off on NameJet

• 20:45

  Is ICANN in danger of overload? Yes!

   » ‎ Stephane Van Gelder

  Just read a post on the ICANN Blog entitled "is ICANN handling too many policy issues?". The post is a response by ICANN VP of Policy Development David Olive to an article published in another blog and asking that very question.

  
  

  David joined ICANN earlier this year (February) to manage its policy department. As Vice Chair of the GNSO I was fortunate to work with him almost from the get-go while he took over from previous VP Policy Denise Michel (who is now advisor to the ICANN CEO). David is an instantly likeable guy: soft-spoken yet resolute, mild-mannered and extremely easy to get on with, he has brought a new energy to ICANN's policy team.

  
  

  Now you guessed it, if I start off by being so nice about David it's because I'm about to criticise him . Well actually, not so much criticise as simply disagree with his latest post. David argues that ICANN isn't taking on too much policy work because a) everyone's issues are important and ICANN could not say "yes" to one and refuse another and b) the work isn't prioritised so it looks like it's all over the place when it actually isn't.

  
  Continue reading "Is ICANN in danger of overload? Yes!"

• 20:04

  German Domain Conference Kicks Off Thursday

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  German domain conference and auction takes place this week.

  Germany’s only dedicated domain name conference, DomainvermarkterForum, will take place this Thursday and Friday in Munich. The event is at the five-star Hotel Sofitel Bayerpost. Gold sponsors for the event include PartnerGate and, as you might guess given its German headquarters, Sedo.

  Sessions include: advantages of your own DENIC membership, speed networking, info on VeriSign Internet Profile Service, and a presentation on The Water School.

  There will also be an auction Friday afternoon conducted with Moniker and Snapnames. Here are some of the domains in the auction along with their English translation, according to the show organizers:

  Kameras.de Cameras
  LeihWagen.de Rental Car
  Militär.de Military
  Lüfter.com Fan
  DebitKarten.com Debit Card
  Speisen.de Food

  Information about the auction is available here.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

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  Related posts:

  1. Second Day of TRAFFIC Conference Kicks Off
  2. SedoPro Partner Forum Kicks Off in New York
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• 19:36

  Muscovitch: Canadian ccTLD Registry Rules in Need of an Overhaul

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  by Zak Muscovitch

  [In this guest article, Zak Muscovitch argues that the .ca domain name needs to be liberalized. Muscovitch is a domain attorney who is running for a seat on CIRA's 2010 Board of Directors. -Andrew]

  While many countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and India, have opened up their ccTLD registries to foreigners, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (“CIRA”) has been stuck with the same closed-door policy since it enacted its “Canadian Presence Requirements” in 2003.

  CIRA’s Canadian Presence Requirements (“CPR”) make it exceedingly difficult for those residing outside of Canada to register a .ca domain name. According (pdf) to CIRA’s CPR, “CIRA is committed to reviewing these Canadian Presence Requirements from time to time in order to ensure they remain in the best interests of Canadians and the .ca registry”. An election is now underway for the Board of Directors of CIRA, and a re-examination of CIRA’s “Canadian Presence Requirements” should be a primary topic of debate throughout the election, with a view to finally making some substantial policy changes afterwards.

  In a new study (.doc) of 12 ccTLD’s by DNattorney.com, we have concluded that Canada has one of the most restrictive presence requirements of any registry. It requires, inter alia, a prospective registrant to have a registered Canadian trademark or Canadian/provincial corporation, thereby closing the market to those who wish to easily expand their business into Canada or invest there.

  The only country of the 12 reviewed, which appears to have more onerous restrictions on registration requirements, is China. China excludes all overseas registrations of their .cn domain name. By excluding all overseas registrations, they have severely restricted their market. This is evident, according to the Domain Name Industry Report 2009 (pdf) conducted by Nominet, which takes note that subsequent to the .cn registry restricted foreign registrations, the “growth in Chinese domain name has not continued, resulting in ccTLD growth rates falling”

  While countries such as the United States and Australia permit registration by organizations, individuals and trademark holders who reside outside of the country but engage in activities within the country (such as trade, the buying and selling of goods or providing services to customers), Canada’s policy falls far short in comparison. It requires a Canadian corporation or Canadian trademark registered in Canada, even if the foreigner does business in Canada.

  By requiring a registered trademark or corporation within the country before .ca domain name registration is permitted, CIRA limits its market and potential for investment in Canada. According to a study (pdf) conducted by EURid, the registry for the European Union, registration of ccTLD’s significantly increased with the liberalization of domain name policies. According to the EURid study, after Spain “liberalized [its ccTLD policy] in June 2005, its registry grew from 85 000 registrations in 2004 to 1.2 million in 2009”. Countries that employ a more progressive and liberalized approach to domain name registration appear to have higher domain name growth rates.

  Overall, India and the Netherlands hold the most progressive approaches by providing very little restriction on domain name registration and permitting any party worldwide to register the .in and .nl ccTLD’s, respectively. According to the SIDN, which is the Netherlands’ registry, this progressive approach appears to be beneficial; .nl has become the fourth largest country code top level domain name in the world, with 4 million domain names registered, only appearing behind domain name giants such as Germany, the United Kingdom and China. It is predicted by SIDN, that at this rate of growth “we should see the five- millionth .nl domain name within the next few years.” This massive growth rate is not by coincidence; it is directly attributable to liberalized registry policies.

  Many countries within Europe such as Germany and the United Kingdom, who have engaged in more progressive approaches towards foreign domain name registrants, have seen vast growth in registration. In Germany for instance, all that is required for registration is a VAT number, an administrative contact and postal address. According to Nominet (pdf), with these few restrictions, Germany’s ccTLD has “continued to see [a] steady growth and regained its position as the largest ccTLD by volume” surpassing that of even China (which has actually decreased).

  The approach of Germany, India and the Netherlands to ccTLD registration appears to be a model that CIRA should at least consider. By looking at the vast growth rates of registration amongst these countries, in such short periods of time, and their position in the global market, it appears that Canada and CIRA are currently at a disadvantage. Patrick Pichette, the CFO of Google said it best; “Every company now is global… Canadian companies [shouldn’t] miss the boat because we’re not set up [globally].” Mr. Pichette’s words about Canada lagging behind in the digital economy apply equally to Canada lagging behind in the registration of domain names. According to the Domain Name Industry Brief by VeriSign, Canada fails to even make it within the top 10 ccTLD’s by number of registrations. It lags behind Brazil, Italy and Poland. Clearly it has work to do. Although .ca registrations appear to be on an admirable “upward trajectory” according to CIRA CEO, Byron Holland, who has led this charge, when compared to other ccTLD’s, Canada clearly has an opportunity to greatly expand its registry. This will come, largely through liberalization of the registry together with greater promotion of the ccTLD.

  Muscovitch’s campaign web site is zak-for-cira.ca. He prepared this article with the assistance and research of Natalie Ledra of DNattorney.com. You can download the ccTLD Foreign Registration Comparison Study here (.doc).

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

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  Related posts:

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  3. Canadian Domainer Association Launches

• 19:32

  10 Tools You Can Use to Predict and Profit From the Future

   » ‎ DotSauce Magazine

  

  I really love discovering the latest trends in online business, web development, domain names and technology. It helps me stay ahead of the competition and better understand the needs and interests of my blog readers today.

  In this article I will share the tools and resources I use to take brief glimpses into the future. Using these tools, you too can gain insight into trends and make predictions about the course of your own industry.

  Followed by the 10 resources I describe 6 ways you can take advantage of the data for potential profit. Enjoy!

  1. Recorded Future

  An amazing new service is now providing free updates on future events and trends related to any industry or topic. This brief video introduction to Recorded Future explains how you can use the service to learn about the future.

  Select as many topics or as you wish and you will receive an email update for each topic either daily or weekly.

  The emails feature a visual overview of the volume and scope of future events and a listing of article references.

  2. Twitter

  

  The media has embraced Twitter as an amazing source of breaking news accross the globe. If something big is happening tomorrow, it’s probably already being talked about on Twitter.

  Twitter’s real-time nature makes for a great place to watch out for what’s new, emerging and promising. A visit to TweetMeme can show you what people are reading and sharing. There are also many apps and services for monitoring trends. What The Trend displays crowdsourced data on why things are trending.

  Other useful services include TweetDeck which now is live streaming capable, TweetTabs live monitoring and TrendsMap local trends.

  Use Twitter Lists to follow the news-makers, influencers and curators and #Hashtags to tap into global conversations.

  3. Technical Researchers

  

  Many wonderful organizations are working to analyze trends and data so that we might better understand society and the internet.

  Here are some great places to start for the latest research on the internet and online business.

  • Pew Internet
  • GigaOM
  • eMarketer
  • Morgan Stanley
  • Jacob Nielson
  • VeriSign

  4. Futurists

  

  I am a fan of Ray Kurzweil for his far reaching vision of the future (or it could be the sci-fi geek in me). His talks on the singularity event of exponential technological development make me thrilled to live in such an age of growth.

  Futurists can also be a unique source of information for business in the short term. They use extensive experiences, public polling, deductive reasoning and other scientific studies to make predictions.

  One futurist recently enlightened us that newspapers as we know them will be gone by 2022, to be replaced by crowdsourced journalism. This makes me excited to be on at center stage as the world discovers blogs and other homegrown online media.

  5. Trend Hunters

  

  I like to leave things to the experts in many situations. Trend hunting is no different.

  The following examples are well-respected for staying on top of the latest in technology, media and more. Try to find the go-to sources for your niche.

  • TrendWatching Briefs
  • WIRED Epicenter
  • ArsTechnica
  • Current TV
  • AllTop
  • TED
  • TechCrunch
  • The Cool Hunter
  • eBay’s Inside Source

  6. Website Traffic

  

  Arguably one of the best ways to predict the future is by viewing the trends in website traffic. This data can be found at Compete and Alexa.

  Jacques Mattheij recently predicted that Facebook will overtake Google in the next 18 months using website traffic estimates.

  7. Looxii Social Monitoring

  

  While I have not had a chance to fully try out this curiously named service (I’m guessing they were going for ‘look see’), it does seem very promising as a social media monitoring tool.

  With Looxii you can monitor up to 2 keywords for free and have reports emailed to you daily. The reports contain data of mentions and trends across blogs, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

  8. PostRank Labs

  

  The team at PostRank, which I have previously praised for their innovative new services, are showing no signs of slowing down.

  PostRank Labs features a suite of amazing tools such as social trends, blog widgets, even a engagement analytics plugin for your Google Reader.

  Their newest tool allows you to compare social engagement across 3 different domains.

  9. Google AdWords & Insights

  

  Advertisers bidding on keywords at Google want to know which terms will be most beneficial to them. The world’s best search engine has gone to great lengths to provide amazingly useful data for just that purpose.

  Fire up the Google AdWords Keyword tool and you will see a small graph at the right of each row which represents the local search volume.

  This data is particularly useful for web publishers and businesses looking to increase the effectiveness of their search optimization efforts.

  Google Insights provides a one-year forecast, comparisons and notable news for multiple terms.

  Lastly, I have something for you to watch out for. Google has recently acquired Metaweb and Freebase, a massive public database of virtually all types of data.

  10. Bookmarking Data

  

  I have noticed a few things having kept an eye on Delicious popular bookmarks off and on over the course of many months. Invisible trends and influences moving through the blogosphere, often at the highest levels on the most popular publications.

  TechCrunch articles will cause spin-offs, one blog will counter with it’s own arguments, a popular piece (The Web Is Dead) may cause the whole internet to share their opinion. We’re all connected much more than you might think.

  Other places to find out what people are reading and sharing include Reddit, Digg, Hacker News, and LikeButton.me.

  

  6 Ways You Can Profit From Future Research

  After checking out the above tools, you might be asking yourself, “How do I profit from knowing about the future?” Unfortunately, there are no lottery ticket numbers or sports scores to be had.

  This is going to take some initiative and time invested, but the rewards can be great. Here are some ways I’ve come up with that you can use this information for profit.

  1. Buy domain names of future products and services

  As an example, I purchased HTML5Framework.com during the coding standard’s debut on the web. If I had decided to research this earlier, I could have registered countless other valuable HTML5 domain names.

  Another example, RecycledFood.com; the business of turning food waste into energy and other products is growing rapidly. I registered this for a small fee and it may now be worth quite a bit.

  2. Start a blog about a trending or emerging category

  The sooner you begin publishing content the better, because the blogs of today may be some of the leading publications of tomorrow.

  A prime example of this would be social media blogs. They are now some of the most heavily trafficked destinations on the web. One of the most popular, Social Media Examiner launched just 1 year ago and has already grown into a million dollar publication.

  3. Invest in companies which show future potential

  I enjoyed the following bit of information from Paul Graham, founder of startup incubator Y Combinator during a talk on the future of software and startups.

  Hackers are a leading indicator of what people will be using in the future.

  4. Get a head start on marketing products

  Not many people know that Google TV is launching in the fall this year. I have been writing about it and sharing updates on this destined game-changer for several months now. This simple act of writing a post will give my site more authority and relevance for later coverage.

  When it comes to web content and affiliate marketing, those who act first often come out as the winners as far as search rankings and eventual commission earnings.

  5. Become an early adopter

  Sharing all the latest news, resources and tools with your network is a great social media strategy. It also helps you learn the pulse of your industry and catalog all it’s resources.

  6. Launch a startup or build the next big app

  I just read this interesting bit of information recently on TechCrunch. There is a ton of opportunity for those who run ahead of the pack.

  One company that has been overlooked as a potential platform for other startups to build a business on remains YouTube, which Google acquired for $1.65 billion in 2006.

  Thank you for taking the time to review these tools and resources for predicting the future and my ideas for profiting from future predictions.  If you would like to suggest further resources or share your thoughts on this topic please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

  There is a world of interesting data out there with many secrets yet to be discovered and it is only going to get better.

  This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

  
  
  10 Tools You Can Use to Predict and Profit From the Future

• 19:16

  DNCruise Giving Away Free Pass and Airfare

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Cruise for domain industry sets sail in 6 weeks.

  The inaugural DNCruise sets sail October 11, and show organizer Chef Patrick is offering a free pass plus airfare to one lucky guest.

  In a post on his blog today, Patrick explains what you have to do to win the free pass. You’ll have to state your case on why you should get the free trip. Other than that the requirements are fairly minimal: you have to own 10 or more domains and have an interest in domaining.

  The cruise leaves Miami on October 11 and returns October 15 with stops in Key West, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico. Passes and rooms start at $399. Patrick says 70 guests have already registered and speakers will include Michael Castello, Ron Jackson, Karen Bernstein, Gregg McNair, Donny Simonton, and Ron Sheridan. This should be a good event for the domain name industry.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. Domain Industry Gets Its First Floating Domain Conference
  2. 1&1 Giving Away 25 Free .Biz Domain Names
  3. Buy.com giving away free GoDaddy domains

• 18:39

  WHY Why Push It To Auction?

   » ‎ Domain Magnate

  If you take a look at sedo auctions at any given time most of the auction listings only have one bid and the vast majority of them also end up with one single bid - the end user who made a bid and the seller decided to push it to auction.

  When you push a domain with a high starting bid (high in relation to its reseller value) to auction one of the following is bound to happen, in this order of likelihood:

  1. The domain will get no more bids and the initial bidder will win. However during the 7 days he had plenty of time to (a) find another domain; (b) reconsider his proposal and (c) also saw that no one else was interested in outbidding him - which only tells him that he is overpaying, and no one likes to pay more. The chances of the buyer not following through with the purchase are increasing significantly and we all know how high is the percentage of non paying buyers on Sedo.
  2. The domain will receive one more bid from another interested buyer. Strangely enough many sedo auctions end with just two bids (not 3 or 4, but exactly 2) - with the first bidder not getting into a “bidding war”. However in that case the seller only gets an additional $50 for his domain - which usually is not worth the trouble of a 7 day auction.
  3. The domain receives many additional bids and ends with a significantly higher price - this is very unlikely if the initial offer was higher than the market price already and is much more likely when the initial auction starting price (which also serves as the reserve in such auctions) is much lower than the market price.

  Clearly the third case is the only one that justifies pushing a domain with a high initial offer to a sedo auction. However it’s only likely if there can be many potential end users for the domain, or if the initial price was low.

  If the initial bid is higher than the market value don’t auction the domain, instead negotiate the max you can out the buyer and try to close the deal as quick as possible!

• 18:19

  White House Requests Registrars Assist in Crackdown On Online Pharmacies

   » ‎ DomainNews
  The Obama administration has issued a request for domain name registrars to attend a meeting at the White House in late September to look at voluntary ways to crack down on online pharmacies that sell counterfeit prescription medications.
• 18:07

  ICANN's Tokyo meeting provides a little more clarity on the New gTLD Program by Tony Kirsch

   » ‎ DomainNews
  New gTLDs continue to be a major topic of discussion within ICANN circles, and the regional meeting currently underway in Tokyo has revealed some interesting updates for potential applicants.

• 17:54

  Is ICANN Handling Too Many Policy Issues?

   » ‎ ICANN blog

  Earlier this month, DomainNameWire.com published an article about ICANN’s policy development process. The author, Andrew Allemann, strives for balance but overall leaves the impression that ICANN has “policy overload,” handling too many policy efforts at once. Andrew also cites the technical and complex topics we ask the public to comment upon.

  Since I was quoted briefly in the article, I’d like to share some additional thoughts.

  Why so much Public Comment?

  Public Comment periods are vital in satisfying ICANN’s goal to be a bottom-up multi-stakeholder policy making body and to provide openness and transparency in its policy development processes. An ICANN core value is to employ open and transparent mechanisms in policy development processes. Such openness promotes well-informed decisions, and ensures that people affected by a new policy can participate and assist in the policy’s formation. That’s why the Bylaws mandate public comment periods (for example, see Annex A, Sections 6 and 9).

  The Affirmation of Commitments reflects the same principles, calling for ICANN to provide transparent and fact-based policy development, cross-community deliberations, and responsive consultation procedures. In the Affirmation, ICANN committed to provide detailed explanations of the basis for decisions — including how comments have influenced policy considerations.

  Thus, the desire to hear all voices on each policy issue comes right from ICANN’s core. Frankly, we don’t want to limit public comments.

  Is ICANN handling too many policy processes at the same time?

  The answer is “No!” as soon as you consider the alternatives.

  Three Supporting Organizations and a number of Advisory Committees can bring policy issues before the community. To which of them would we say, “Sorry, too busy to care about your issue; check back later”? Obviously, none of them.

  An ICANN policy development process takes time to gather all viewpoints. Imagine how long it would take ICANN to address your particular policy issue if there were an arbitrary limit. If the ICANN community only handles seven or ten issues at once, that means all other issues remain parked indefinitely, probably for months. Notable achievements from this year, such as IDNs and DNSSEC going into the root, might still be waiting to happen. Do we want to slow our processes? Obviously, no. (Improve and prioritize better? Yes, indeed!)

  Andrew reports that “some people” believe there are too many simultaneous policy issues pending, and are worried (with some justification) about overload in our volunteer community. This perception may be due to several factors, including:

  • Our list of open issues initially looks confusing because issues have not been prioritized. The GNSO is about halfway through creating a method for prioritizing projects. Ranking their relative importance will help make them easier to take in all at once.
  • Many policy-related reports exceed 100 pages. The GNSO has recently resolved that its reports should begin with an Executive Summary. This will help reduce the reading an individual has to do in deciding whether to comment.
  • Our large, diverse volunteer community is avid and committed to follow the growing number of policy issues that reflects the increased global impact of the Internet.

  We will also be examining the processes and mechanisms we use to manage the public comment process in hopes of identifying more effective and efficient ways to publicize, collect and organize community comments.

  Policy development has an ebb and flow. Recently, we seem to be at high tide. Some of the tide will ebb when the new gTLD program launches and GNSO Improvements Initiative winds down. Five working groups will go away (one already has). Optimistically, the bulk of the GNSO improvements effort may be completed in early 2011.

  We shouldn’t set an arbitrary limit to the number of issues evaluated by the ICANN Community. The issues arise from the community, and staff works diligently to support that work. We all recognize that many issues are both important and urgent to different parts of the ICANN community. I do not believe that ICANN is handling too many policy issues.

  The ICANN community is also working hard to enhance our collective management of so many important issues, which is not always easy. Yet, if the current situation seems difficult, consider the alternative: Further delays in improvements to WHOIS.  The 65% of Internet users who do not speak English await IDNs in their own languages. Communities still waiting more years for their new gTLDs. Phishers continue defrauding consumers using techniques that DNSSEC can stop. If we must err, it is better for ICANN to handle too much, than for ICANN to handle too little.

• 17:50

  ICANN Temporary Drafting Group Work Session on New gTLD Registry Agreement Issues

   » ‎ DomainNews
  ICANN will be holding a third consultation on the new gTLD registry agreement issues at 18:30 UTC on 8 September.

• 17:34

  Win A FREE DNCruise Pass, Cruise and Airfare

   » ‎ ChefPatrick.com
  Escrow.com and I are giving away a free DNCruise conference pass, cruise to Cozumel Mexico and even including round-trip airfare (up to $250). If you are a domain investor, own at least ten domain names and are available for a cruise from October 11-15 then keep reading. With less than 45 days to go we have [...]

• 14:44

  DomainName.com to be auctioned off tomorrow

   » ‎ DomainNews

  DomainConsultant.com will hls a private auction for DomainName.com on Tuesday,August 31 ,2010 .The winner will receive not just the domain name,but also 8000 existing domain registrations at $29,95 per year.

• 10:42

  Microsoft gets hands on getpivotcom.com domain name

   » ‎ DomainNews

  An arbitrator with the National Arbitration Forum has awarded the getpivotcom.com domain name to Microsoft.All started when Microsoft submited a complaint to the National Arbitration Forum,claiming rights to the disputed domain name.

• 10:40

  ICANN will hold another Temporary Drafting Group work session on new gTLD registry agreement issues

   » ‎ DomainNews

  ICANN will hold the third drafting group work session on 8 September 2010 at 18:30 ,to discuss community comments submitted on draft version 4 of the proposed new gTLD registry agreement.

• August 29, 2010
• 23:45

  DomainName.com To Be Auctioned Tuesday

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Generic domain name for domain industry goes on the block Tuesday.

  DomainConsultant.com’s auction of DomainName.com is taking place on Tuesday, August 31.

  This isn’t just an auction for the domain name — it includes an ICANN accredited registrar with an active customer base and about 8,000 domain registrations. That’s not a huge number, but if you take a look at what has been done with DomainName.com to date, it appears there’s a lot of upside.

  The package will only sell to someone with deep pockets, as the starting bid and reserve is $1 million. But financing is available with 20% down. According to DomainConsultant.com, the site gets 2,000-3,000 unique visitors a day.

  A prospectus including current revenue, maintenance requirements, support, etc. is available for qualified bidders by emailing mike (at) domainconsultant.com.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. Domain Madness 2 Auction Ends Tuesday
  2. Sharing Domain Parking Stats is Easy with DNW Certified Stats
  3. Sedo’s Numeric Domain Auction Picking Up Steam

• 20:16

  Cought a Couple Scammers on DP

   » ‎ Domain Magnate

  I started a thread yesterday on the DigitalPoint forums asking for 3 character domains to buy and 2 members already tried to scam me. Surprisingly the way they try to do it is extremely simple - they try to sell you a domain they don’t really own and accept payment through Western Union, Bank Wire, or MoneyBookers or even  paypal even though with paypal the transaction can be reversed. But I suppose they might be able to transfer the funds away before you do a chargeback in this case.

  One of them is ShayGA. He pmed me offering to buy A66.com for $500. However a quick check reveals that it’s an active site and they are not likely to be interested in selling the domain. So I asked him to confirm that he owns the domain and he never replied. I dug a bit on him and found out that he only joined a couple days ago, but already had a lot of ’sales’ going on. Most of these threads end with the members accusing the topic starter of being a scammer. I guess there are people who actually buy into this, otherwise he wouldn’t be doing it.

  Update: I was told by another fellow domainer that this guy is also trying to “sell” that domain on NamePros. Luckily on NP and DNF the mods and members  are alert and swift in banning scammers.

  Another one was Venliven - a recently joined member, I guess he joined when he saw my thread because that is where he made his first and second posts. It took me about 5 seconds to realize this might be a scammer by the strange question “What is your payment method?” - naturally it’s going to be paypal. I decided to play it out and see if I can get his details to post them here.

  So I replied to his pm asking what were the domains - he answered with www.wut.com and www.juk.com.  To get the final confirmation that it was a scammer I decided to lowball and offered $2k for each (the actual market price for these would be at least $5k  each) and told him that if he accepts to pm me his bank and western union details, as well as moneybookers and I’ll see what’s easier for me to pay with. Scammers register new usernames daily, but in case someone asks you to send money to these addresses you’ll know who you are dealing with:

  Western Union:
  Zaid Lutfi , United arab emirates

  Western Union:
  Steven Burken
  UpHill Sight 3/2

  MoneyBookers:
  w.a.t.e.r@hotmail.co.uk

  Bank Account in UK:
  39032157

  Afterwards I asked him to confirm that he actually owns the domains by adding something in the whois contacts - he started sending weird messages with all kinds of lame excuses. Many of them didn’t even make much sense: “Without my hosting on I don’t have a server” - huh?

  There are so many scammers on DP it’s ridiculous. And the mods don’t usually ban them since they don’t  break any petty rules, while DP mods don’t get involved in business between members. However those scammers are very easy to recognize. More sophisticated are the scammers that actually steal or sell stolen domains. Sometimes even experienced domainers fall victim to such crimes in this popular thread at dnf.

• 11:01

  Arbitrator hands three domain names to AOL

   » ‎ DomainNews

  An Arbitrator with the National Arbitration Forum has awarded the autosaol.com,televisionaol.com, and aolsongs.com domain names to AOL .

• 10:43

  8O.com sells for 10,000 GBP

   » ‎ DomainNews

  8o.com domain name was recently sold through Sedo for 10,000 GBP .

• 1:33

  Developing Story: Rob Monster's Grand Plan for Epik.com and Why Parking Won't Be Part Of It

   » ‎ Domain Name Journal
  DN Journal's new monthly newsletter is out. We connected with Epik.com Founder Rob Monster to learn more about the upcoming Epik Developers Conference, but the discussion wound up covering much more than that, including Monster's take on the shaky state of domain parking and the future of domain development

• August 28, 2010
• 22:35

  Sunny Saturday Afternoon Update

   » ‎ Elliot's Blog

  I watched the weather forecast yesterday, and the weatherman said it was the first time he can remember being able to post seven consecutive sunny days on his forecast. There are no clouds expected, and temperatures are in the 80s-9os. Today is suppose to be the best of the bunch, so if you need me, I will be outside.

  Just a few updates today:

  - I was having some server issues yesterday and last night, but I *think* they might be resolved. I am planning on switching to a new server ASAP, but hopefully a few tweaks and updates on the back end will buy me a couple of days. I want to be sure the site stays live (obviously) and want to ensure it doesn’t impact other sites on the server.

  - As a result of the outage (and to test the scheduled post feature which has had problems after WordPress updates), I re-posted yesterday’s article this morning. The article discusses using a newsletter to drive traffic and business, and I’ve updated it a bit since the original posting.

  - The article I wrote about Flipping.CO valuing .CO domain names at 4% of .COM values was pretty popular. I want to reiterate that I’ve only invested in 6 names, with one of them Bahamas.CO and another being Elliot.CO. I am sure you can glean from the article that I don’t really have an opinion on .CO values right now and I am not trying to pump them either, although I am happy to see Caribbean.CO sell for over $10k because it’s somewhat of an indicator of the value of Bahamas.CO.

  - Some recent secondary market purchases I’ve made include: DengueFeverSymptoms.com, KievNews.com, BirthPhotography.com, ComputerEncryption.com, AllentownLaw.com, and PackageDesigners.com.

  - A close friend of mine just had a baby and registered at Buy Buy Baby, a company owned by Bed Bath and Beyond.  I was curious so I checked out ByByBaby.com and ByeByeBaby.com to see who owns those typos. Smartly, BBB owns them, but not so smartly, they don’t seem to be forwarding to the correct website. You’d think if they were smart enough to buy/own the typos, they would forward any traffic to the right place instead of potentially allowing ISPs to monetize the typo pages and potentially send visitors to competitors who are bidding on those keywords. Maybe it’s just temporary, but the typos aren’t working for me right now.

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• 11:33

  MeetDomainers UK Live Auction Results

   » ‎ DomainNews

  MeetDomainers UK live auction ended.The live domain auction was held yesterday,on August 27th at 4:30 PM in the Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel .

• 11:14

  WG-Welt.de hits 15,000 EUR in Sedo's Marketplace Auction

   » ‎ DomainNews

  The auction for Wg-Welt.de is live on Sedo .Wg-Welt.de received just one bid of 15,000 EUR,However,there are stil four days left until the auction closes.

• 11:04

  More details about distribution of .eu registrations among registrars

   » ‎ DomainNews

  A closer look at the six most populated EU countries shows that in Germany, Poland and France most registrants use a national registrar, a smaller fraction use a registrar from another EU country while the use of registrars from outside the EU is quite limited.

• 6:38

  House of Cards

   » ‎ CircleID

  Time flies. Although it was over 18 months ago, it seems just like yesterday that a small Czech provider, SuproNet, caused global Internet mayhem by making a perfectly valid (but extremely long) routing announcement. Since Internet routing is trust-based, within seconds every router in the world saw this announcement and tried to pass it on. Unfortunately, due to the size of this single message, quite a few routers choked—resulting in widespread Internet instability. Today, over a year later, we were treated to a somewhat different version of the exact same story.

  First, let's review the Czech incident from February 2009. There were many positives to take away.

  • It was precipitated by an honest mistake.
  • It was an extremely unlikely event, as many stars had to be in exact alignment.
  • Most of the Internet's core survived.
  • The response from operators was fast and efficient, with the damage largely contained within an hour.

  The complete technical details can be found here.

  Deja vu all over again

  Fast forward to today: Friday, 27 August 2010. What do you think would happen if another large and unusual routing announcement was made on the Internet? Do you think all the router vendors have perfected their code in the past 18 months? Do you think the entire planet has upgraded to this new, improved and perfect code base? Do you think it makes sense to use the Internet as your testbed? I doubt you answered "yes" to any of these questions.

  We'll begin to describe what happened today with a snippet from a private mailing list. We'll purposely leave out the technical details so that we don't inadvertently contribute to the building of a Cybernuke.

  On Friday 27 August, from 08:41 to 09:08 UTC, the RIPE NCC Routing Information Service (RIS) announced a route with an experimental BGP attribute. During this announcement, some Internet Service Providers reported problems with their networking infrastructure.

  Immediately after discovering this, we stopped the announcement and started investigating the problem. Our investigation has shown that the problem was likely to have been caused by certain router types incorrectly modifying the experimental attribute and then further announcing the malformed route to their peers. The announcements sent out by the RIS were correct and complied to all standards.

  Um, while standards compliance is nice, it is foolhardy to assume that all BGP implementations are perfectly compliant, especially given recent history. Over 3,500 prefixes (announced blocks of IP addresses) became unstable at the exact moment this "experiment" started. Not surprisingly, they were located all over the world: 832 in the US, 336 in Russia, 277 in Argentina, 256 in Romania and so forth. We saw over 60 countries impacted by a "correct" announcement that "complied with all standards". The following graph shows the timeline of the event, followed by a map of the impacted countries by prefix count. Notice that it takes a bit for the Internet to stabilize after RIPE claims to have withdrawn the announcement at 09:08 UTC.

  
  

  Conclusions

  On the positive side, the incident was very brief, the damage was limited to under 2% of the Internet and the responsible parties quickly fessed up, aborting their "experiment". On the negative side, the Internet remains a very fragile place, even if that fragility is highly localized and different in different places. Standards aren't followed, code isn't tested and people make mistakes. That's life with any complex system and, while we can certainly do a better job, we will continue to see these types of events no matter what safeguards we might take. What puzzles me is how anyone thought it might be a good idea to test fate in this way. The end result was completely predictable.

  Written by Earl Zmijewski, VP and General Manager, Internet Data Services

  Follow CircleID on Twitter

  More under: Internet Protocol, Security

  
• 0:21

  White House Calls for a Meeting with Domain Registrars, Registries, and ICANN

   » ‎ CircleID

  Brian Krebs reporting in Krebs on Secruity: "The Obama administration is inviting leaders of the top Internet domain name registrars and registries to attend a three-hour meeting at the White House next month about voluntary ways to crack down on Web sites that are selling counterfeit prescription medications..."

  Follow CircleID on Twitter

  More under: Cybercrime, Domain Names, Domain Registries, ICANN, Internet Governance

  

• 0:17

  MeetDomainers Manchester Live Auction Results

   » ‎ Domain Name News

  After the jump you will find the live auction results from thew MeetDomainers Event held in Manchester, UK by Daniel Dryzek‘s DDFund.eu and NameDrive. Highlight was the sale of QuadBikes.co.uk for £12,500 and BackLinks.co.uk for £3,000, but it is also worth mentioning the unusual auctioneer the event had – domainer and domain reporter Morgan Linton did the job.

  The event sold 10 out of the 50 listed domains for a total of £20,100 (close to $31,000 USD), with the proceeds of the first two lots going to the Waterschool charity.

  Lot #	Domain(s)	Opening Bid	Status	Price
  1	YouthClubs.co.uk	£75	SOLD	£350
  2	BowlingClub.co.uk and BowlingWear.co.uk	£200	SOLD	£450
  3	apartmentrentals.im & apartmentrentals.co.im	£200	pass
  4	PropertyRentals.im & PropertyRentals.co.im	£100	pass
  5	CarHire.co.im	£100	pass
  6	CheapHotels.co.im	£100	pass
  7	Flights.co.im	£100	pass
  8	HolidayHomes.co.im	£100	pass
  9	Holidays.co.im	£100	pass
  10	CampingGoods.co.uk	£200	SOLD	£250
  11	NewBrighton.co.uk	£250	pass
  12	Vets.org.uk	£300	SOLD	£450
  13	LinkBuildingServices.co.uk	£350	pass
  14	PersonalisedGift.co.uk	£500	SOLD	£950
  15	AsbestosTests.co.uk	£500	pass
  16	BlackBoards.co.uk	£500	pass
  17	ChalkBoards.co.uk	£500	pass
  18	StudentCreditCard.co.uk	£500	pass
  19	VII.co.uk	£550	SOLD	£550
  20	TRX.co.uk	£750	pass
  21	Holy.co.uk	£750	SOLD	£800
  22	Shirts.org.uk	£750	SOLD	£800
  23	Groom.co.uk	£1000	pass
  24	FashionDesigner.co.uk	£1,000	pass
  25	Universities.co.za	£1,000	pass
  26	Entry.co.uk	£1,150	pass
  27	EuroPallets.co.uk	£1,500	pass
  28	Clothes.org.uk	£1,750	pass
  29	HomeCinemaSystems.co.uk	£1,998	pass
  30	PhoneContract.co.uk	£2,000	pass
  31	PrivateYachtHire.com & PrivateYachthire.co.uk	£2,998	pass
  32	TopUps.co.uk	£3,000	pass
  33	HolidayInsurance.CO	£3,000	pass
  34	BackLinks.co.uk	£3,000	SOLD	£3,000
  35	ComputerRepair.co.uk	£3,000	pass
  36	ProductFeeds.co.uk	£4,000	pass
  37	MobilePhones.co.za	£4,000	pass
  38	Smartphones.co.za	£4,000	pass
  39	Blades.co.uk	£4,000	pass
  40	Snorkel.co.uk	£4,500	pass
  41	MediaSales.co.uk & Media-Sales.co.uk	£6,000	pass
  42	HighChair & HighChairs.co.uk	£10,000	pass
  43	QuadBikes.co.uk	£10,000	SOLD	£12,500
  44	Invoicing.co.uk	£10,000	pass
  45	Penrith.com	£10,000	pass
  46	Phone.co.za	£15,000	pass
  47	Cumbria.com	£10,000	pass
  48	GymEquipment.co.uk	£11,000	pass
  49	HotelBookings.co.uk	£20,000	pass
  50	CoffeeMachine.co.uk + CoffeeMachines.co.uk		pass

  
  

  

• August 27, 2010
• 23:14

  White House Wants to Meet with Registrars and ICANN Over Counterfeit Drugs

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  Obama administration wants to address illegal online pharmacies.

  The White House has called for a meeting with domain name registrars, registries, and ICANN to discuss rouge online pharmacies.

  According to an email obtained by Krebs on Security, White House Senior Adviser for Intellectual Property Enforcement Andrew J. Klein sent a letter earlier this month urging companies to send a representative to a meeting on September 29.

  A number of advocacy groups have called out registrars for failing to control the activity on domain names registered with them, and eNom in particular has been singled out. Domain name registrar Go Daddy has actively lobbied Congress for controls on online pharmacies.

  While few would argue counterfeit drugs are a good thing, it’s a shame this action has to come on intellectual property grounds as opposed to consumer protection.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons Buys Cher’s House
  2. Meet the Faces Behind the Top 10 Domain Registrars
  3. ICANN Board Drops Bomb on Registrars Hoping to Launch New TLDs

• 22:36

  Good Internet Marketing: Email Newsletter

   » ‎ Elliot's Blog

  Waaaay back in graduate school for direct marketing (circa 2003), I learned about the importance of connecting with customers and clients. One of the easiest and best ways to do this is the email marketing newsletter, and I use Constant Contact for that after using their free trial. I want to share a recent example of good direct marketing via newsletter to give you a reminder about how well this works.

  On DogWalker.com, I have over 1,100 registered accounts, with around 25% of them having paid listings.  This might seem like a good sales/close rate, but I believe if dog walkers take the time to register on the site, they probably have an interest in signing up for a listing, but I just need to convince them to spend the money.

  After 8+ months of being live, I decided to send out the first newsletter a couple of days ago (see screenshot below). The newsletter discussed the current traffic levels on site, the two local marketing efforts done in the last month, and some of the Internet marketing efforts. I also listed the top city searches the site received in the last 30 days, which I think was smart because people can cross-check that list with the number of listings to determine whether their listing will stand out.

  Here are the results of the effort so far:

  • Open rate: 28%
  • Opt out rate: 1%
  • Bounce rate: 4%
  • New listings created: 4

  All in all, the open rate was pretty strong, especially for the summer. Most importantly though, it netted $200 in revenue, yielded very few complaints, and it opened the door for further communication. It was fairly quick to set up using Constant Contact, and I know they will help you if you run into trouble with the design (my Dad did it for his store and they helped him set up his newsletter a couple of months ago).

  If you run a website with subscribers (paid or not), you should have a newsletter. I have the option to use one for my blog, but I generally have too many things going on to create a newsletter for a smaller audience.

  

  Related posts:

  1. Email Marketing Tips – Do’s and Don’ts Email can be one of the most (cost) effective ways...
  2. Elliot’s Blog Newsletter I recently exchanged emails with the director of my grad...
  3. Perfect Domain Auction Email Marketing Tactic The best direct marketing tactic for a live domain auction...

  Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

• 20:48

  Catch us at the Parallels APAC Summit 2010!

   » ‎ ResellerClub Blog

  We are gearing up for the Parallels APAC Summit ’10 in Singapore between the 24^th and 26^th of September, where we will be present as Silver Sponsors. We will also be available at our booth on the 24^th of September and will be glad to meet you there.

  About the Parallels APAC Summit:

  The Parallels APAC Summit is Asia’s largest public cloud services and hosting event.  The 3 day event will consist of keynote sessions on optimizing existing and upcoming cloud services as well as product updates by Parallels executives and various industry leaders.

  Event Details:

  Date:  24^th – 26^th September

  Location:  Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore

  To Register: Click here

  Registration Code:  resellerclub

  Attendance is FREE and the seats are limited. So, register now using our registration code.

  Event Highlights:

  Eminent speakers from the industry will speak about critical issues surrounding the adoption of public cloud services in the region.  You can view the detailed agenda here.  You can also catch our CEO, Bhavin Turakhia, at the Cloud Panel Discussion with other Industry leaders on the 25^th at 1:00pm.

  Networking Opportunities and Other Events:

  There are three networking events and a Lunch (sponsored by us, on 24^th September) that will allow you to network with your peers in your industry as well as others from the Asian Hosting Industry.

  Racing fans can also catch the 2010 Formula 1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix with others from the conference on the 25^th and 26^th.

  You can also get a caricature created, walk away with a cool Mini-Digital Photo frame and even win an iPhone 4 by simply visiting our booth on the 24^th.

  If you are attending the event, get in touch with Varun Motasha, Product Manager at ResellerClub.  You can schedule a meeting with him by sending us a mail at contact@resellerclub.com.

  See you in Singapore!

  

• 20:44

  ICANN's Tokyo Meeting Provides a Little More Clarity on the New gTLD Program

   » ‎ CircleID

  New gTLDs continue to be a major topic of discussion within ICANN circles, and the regional meeting currently underway in Tokyo has revealed some interesting updates for potential applicants.

  ICANN's Chief gTLD Registry Liaison, Craig Schwartz, delivered a great presentation on the progress being made behind closed doors at ICANN and provided the attendees with an insight into a couple of key changes that are likely to be seen in the Final Applicant Guidebook. As many of our readers would be aware, we have been waiting in anticipation for the new gTLD Final Applicant Guidebook to be approved at a previously unconfirmed meeting of the ICANN Board. The date for this meeting was today announced as September 10th.

  Like many others in the industry, we'll be actively watching for the outcomes of this Board retreat where the focus will be on the new gTLD program's remaining unresolved issues. In particular, the Board's willingness to address the complicated Vertical Integration topic (given the inability of the VI Working Group to reach consensus) will be of interest to the many applicants likely to be affected by the outcome.

  On another interesting note, one very important topic that has been flying under the radar is Registry Transition, namely the current requirement for new gTLD applicants to provide both a backup Registry Services organisation and a financial instrument sufficient to guarantee a minimum of three years of Registry operations in the event of the TLD owner being unable to operate it.

  Obtaining a backup Registry Services provider is not particularly difficult. However, for many potential applicants (in particular smaller community-based applicants) the requirement to obtain a letter of credit from a financial organisation is an enormous burden and a significant additional cost.

  Acknowledging this today and noting that the protection of the Registrant is paramount to this process, Schwartz said that ICANN had invested significant time and will further expand the recent concept of Emergency Backend Registry Operator (and yet another acronym, EBERO) whereby qualified applicants (i.e. Existing Registry Operators) could tender to ICANN to provide 'temporary' Registry Services in the event of critical failure of the Registry Operator to operate the gTLD.

  This is a great initiative and should be welcomed by the community for two key reasons:

  a) It has the potential to remove the requirement to name a pre-organised backup Registry Service.

  b) It has the potential to reduce the level of financial guarantee to ICANN from applicants.

  Other interesting points worthy of note from yesterday's session:

  • Communications Plan – This is being worked on by ICANN currently but won't be rolled out until the Final Applicant Guidebook is approved, almost guaranteeing that the earliest date for applications will be March or April 2011
  • DAGv4 Summary of Analysis – This won't be released to the public until after the Board's retreat, which is a surprise given that the public comment finished quite some time ago
  • IDN ccTLD Fast Track – ICANN have 33 applicants, representing 22 languages, currently under review as this program continues to drive the expansion of the internet across the globe

  All in all, these small yet important pieces of information represent yet another positive step forward in the new gTLD process. I for one can't wait to see what the next few months will bring.

  Click here if you want to see the presentations from the Tokyo meeting as provided by ICANN.

  Written by Tony Kirsch, Senior Manager - International Business Development, AusRegistry International

  Follow CircleID on Twitter

  More under: Domain Names, Domain Registries, ICANN, Multilinguism, Top-Level Domains

  

• 19:47

  Domain Name Industry Week in Review

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  A week of news while I was away on vacation.

  I’m back from an enjoyable family vacation at Disneyland. If you ever make the trip, I highly recommend staying at this house — the kids will love it! Also, a quick shout out to my daughter, who just turned 4 last week yet braved Space Mountain. Gutsy girl.

  As much as I’d like to just click the pause button on the industry while I’m out of town, it doesn’t work that way. Here’s some of the week’s news, as reported by my fellow bloggers.

  - Here’s the latest on the .xxx contract

  -Quotes.com sells for $1.15 million

  -Thinking about going to the Epik conference next month? Read this interview with Rob Monster over at Elliot’s Blog.

  -Domain attorney Zak Muscovitch is running for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) board of directors.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. 2 domain name industry conferences kick off this week
  2. Epik Domain Developer Conference Taking Shape for September
  3. Epik Provides Excuse to Visit Seattle in September
• 19:19

  Warning: Registering a Domain While On The Toilet Could Be $10,000 Mistake

   » ‎ Domain Name Wire

  One man’s story should serve as a warning to domain name registrants.

  Blake Smith is a savvy internet user. After all, he runs a web consulting business. In his role he’s ordered dozens of domain names from GoDaddy for both himself and his clients.

  One of his clients orders domains at GoDaddy frequently enough that he decided to set up an account specifically for him, and even added the one-click payment option with GoDaddy where your credit card information is saved. It made it a lot easier to order, but also to make a mistake.

  And that’s just what happened a couple months ago. Smith’s client, who we’ll call Darin (because that’s his real name), asked him to order a domain.

  “I was downloading a big project file when I started getting text messages from Darin telling me he needed me to buy a domain fast!” Smith recounts. “I couldn’t really stop my download but told Darin as soon as I could I would get his order taken care of.”

  Really, Blake? Is that what happened?

  “OK, technically that ‘download’ thing was a euphemism,” he admits. “I was sitting on the toilet when these urgent texts came through. As soon as I could I ordered the domain betterthanfred.com for Darin. I went to GoDaddy, saw the word “Available,” clicked on purchase, checked the stupid agreement check boxes and bought it. Done!”

  Moments later he received a purchase confirmation that read “GoDaddy.com Order Confirmation‎ – … Name Registration $10.87 BETTERTHAN…”

  Mission accomplished, all while sitting on the toilet.

  It wasn’t an important domain, it was more of a joke.

  “It turns out that Darin was at a meeting with a guy named Fred. Fred’s an important web commerce guy and Darin was joking about how he had a site that was better than Fred’s this and better than Fred’s that; A little amusing one-upmanship. While Fred was gone from the table for something, Darin sprang into action to snag this amusing betterthanfred.com site so he could joke that no matter what Darin would have a site that was better than Fred. It was pretty funny and I was happy to have helped.”

  He was happy until Darin received his credit card bill the next month. Darin called Smith and asked him if he ordered a $10,000 domain name on his credit card.

  “You know how they say in novels, ‘his blood ran cold’ and it sounds cliché?” asks Smith.

  “It’s not as cliché as you might think. I told Darin I’d come right over. With just a few minutes of checking I realized I’d somehow purchased one of GoDaddy’s so-called premium domain names. I couldn’t even imagine how that could have happened. I mean yeah, I’d been in a hurry to help Darin with his urgent purchase – but the website had said available and from my perspective $10,000 makes it pretty frigging far from ‘available’. That’s way the hell over in ‘unavailable’ land.”

  Fortunately for Smith, Darin is his neighbor and they have a good relationship. Darin tried to work with GoDaddy and American Express to undo the transaction. But keep in mind that GoDaddy had sold the domain on behalf of someone else, who already had his check in hand. And technically, Darin had authorized Blake to make the purchase.

  “I’ve been working with Darin on ways to pay off the ridiculous debt,” said Smith. And maybe we’ll even figure out a way to make the domain profitable at some point – Darin’s got a lot of great ideas. For the moment though, it is a giant GoDaddy albatross rotting around my neck. I’m sure if Darin reads this he’ll appreciate the Samuel Taylor Coleridge reference.”

  This has been one painful lesson for Smith, especially since he prides himself on being aware of these sorts of things.

  “The worst part of it for me – besides the awful, nerve-wracking feeling of having made a $10,000 mistake – is that I’m also way too familiar with the process that made this error so simple. I was in a hurry. I was looking for a specific word “available.” I saw that word and ignored all the other things that should have warned me I was about to make a $10,000 mistake.

  “When I’m not doing web work my hobby is skeptical activism and a large part of it has to do with people mistakenly identifying things as ghosts, bigfoot, etc. The psychology behind some of the common mistakes we make is fascinating, unless they’re happening to me. But I fell prey to something called inattentional blindness. And it’s the same kind of error that makes it so dangerous to text while driving. My attention was focused on the wrong thing and I saw the tree and missed the forest completely. GoDaddy had plenty of information to show me what the price was – I just couldn’t see it in my rush to help Darin get “betterthanfred.com” before Fred came back. It reminds me a lot of the classic psychology experiment with counting basketball passes.”

  It’s certainly a painful lesson. But I’m also trying to picture the guy who sold the domain through GoDaddy. He had just registered the domain earlier this year, and quickly sold it for $10,000. He probably hit the ceiling, although reading this story might make him feel at least a little sorry for the buyer.

  © DomainNameWire.com 2010.

  Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

  Related posts:

  1. Foursquare Admits Its Expired Domain Name Mistake
  2. Think Twice Before Registering NetBook Domain Names

• 17:14

  WIPO and CERN Sign Cooperation Agreement

   » ‎ WIPO Press Releases
  WIPO Director General Francis Gurry and the Director General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Professor Rolf-Dieter Heuer, signed an agreement on August 20, 2010 designed to strengthen collaboration between the two organizations.

• 16:46

  Disney wins DisneyPark.com domain name in Arbitration

   » ‎ DomainNews

  The National Arbitration Forum announced that a ruling has been issued in favor of Disney ,regarding rights to the Internet domain name DisneyPark.com .

• 15:10

  Simon Johnson launches Domainer Income TV

   » ‎ OzDomainer.com
  Domainer Income TV I am happy to announce that my Aussie domainer friend Simon Johnson, who I interviewed on my Last Domain Names Podcast has launched his fantastic new show called Domainer Income TV which you can check out at DomainerIncome.tv. This weeks guest is Jeff Kupietzky from Oversee.net where Jeff talks about some interesting [...]