Heritage.com Acquired by Heritage Auctions

Elliot Silver
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6

Heritage AuctionsHeritage Auctions has (smartly) acquired the Heritage.com domain name. I would consider this an upgrade, but the company already owns the powerful HA.com domain name, so this is more of a complementary acquisition. I think this was a smart purchase by the company.

If you visit Heritage.com, you will be forwarded to the main HA.com website. You can see the SSL says “Heritage Capital Corporation,” and the company is tracking the traffic delivered via the domain name.

This afternoon, Heritage Auctions published a press release announcing the acquisition. In it, James Halperin, Co-Chairman of Heritage Auctions said, “Memorable internet addresses are crucial to today’s successful digital commerce, and acquiring HERITAGE.com is another convenient method for clients recognize us and connect with us.”

In August of 2016, I suggested that Heritage Auctions should buy the Heritage.com domain name that was listed for sale via Flippa. At that time, the domain name was listed for sale for

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Domain Registrations Can Tip Hands

Elliot Silver
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7

Yesterday morning, Richard Branson announced “Virgin Group’s investment in Hyperloop One.” The amount invested was not revealed, but it was a large enough amount that the company’s name is changing to Virgin Hyperloop One.

Although it is not yet resolving or forwarding to a website, VirginHyperloopOne.com was unsurprisingly registered. The domain name is registered under privacy proxy, so it is not clear who owns the domain name or who registered it. What is a bit surprising is when this domain name was registered. Usually companies wait until the final moments to register a domain name, but this wasn’t the case for VirginHyperloopOne.com.

Had outsiders been paying attention to Hyperloop-related domain name registrations, the registration of VirginHyperloopOne.com may have tipped people off to this news several months ago. According to Whois records, VirginHyperloopOne.com was registered back in April.

DomainTools has a great tool called

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$10,000 vs. $10 Domain Names: How Zomato Chose

Elliot Silver
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9

Choosing a domain name is a critical part of the branding process. Many startup founders have the mentality that their business has to be built on a .com domain name, and branding decisions can be contingent upon availability and price for the exact match .com domain name. Owning a .com domain name was arguably even more important to startup businesses ten years ago, although most businesses still seem to want (or need) the .com domain name.

Zomato is a company that was launched in 2008 that helps people find new restaurants and dining experiences. The company has a unique brand name, but it almost chose a different name (Forkwise) because of the cost of the exact match domain name, Zomato.com. The startup’s naming decision making process was detailed in an Entrepreneur article I read this morning.

The article is well worth a read beyond the domain name aspect, but here is an excerpt from the article discussing the domain name decision the company made shortly after it received funding:

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Whois Email is Not Always Accurate

Elliot Silver
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9

I thought I would share a tip to help people acquire domain names in private. Sometimes the Whois email address is not accurate and an offer or inquiry email will not be received by the intended recipient.

It can be frustrating to email a very good offer to a domain registrant and not even receive a response to the email. I understand that what seems like a very good (reasonable and/or fair value) offer to me may be low to the domain owner. I also understand that some people have no interest in selling a particular domain name regardless of how good the offer is. I think it is courteous to reply, so not receiving a response can be frustrating.

One thing that could prevent a reply from being made is if the domain registrant did not receive the email. Many domain registrants have a credit card on file at their registrar so their domain names are renewed without having to be reminded via email. They may never receive emails about their domain names, but since the domain names automatically renew, this isn’t something they even notice.

Yesterday morning I was doing some email follow-ups when I received

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Do Not Pay for a Domain Appraisal Before Selling

Elliot Silver
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5

I saw a thread on NamePros from someone asking about a potential scam. Apparently, the person received an offer to buy a domain name but the person said a (paid) domain appraisal would be necessary before doing a deal. This doesn’t seem legitimate to me.

From the NamePros thread:

“I just received an offer to buy my domain from a supposedly domain broker and the email seems to come from a large internet company in Japan.

However, the agent says that due to regulations in Japan, the buyer needs to have a proper certification to do a bank transfer due to the price being more than 10k.

The broker then sent me a link to get my domain certified for USD199. “

I can not think of a real reason why an appraisal would be necessary to complete a deal. I can not imagine a legitimate domain buyer or domain broker would require one. From my perspective, it seems like the prospective buyer is trying to induce the domain owner to pay nearly $200 (yes, $200!!!!) for a domain appraisal and will then disappear once the payment is made. I can’t think of anyone who has paid for a domain appraisal in order to justify or “certify” a domain name sale.

Domain names are a dynamic market. The prices and values can

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Privacy Laws Could Make Domain Investing More Difficult

Elliot Silver
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21

Andrew Allemann wrote about the changing privacy laws that could mark the end of public Whois information. If Whois information is no longer available to the general public (domain investors), I think the business of domain name investing is going to become much more challenging.

I acquire the majority of high value domain names my company owns via email with the owner. The contact information is almost always found via Whois lookup, and if the information is private, I might use a tool like DomainTools Whois History Tool or DomainIQ to find the correct owner information. If Whois information is no longer accessible, it will be far more difficult to acquire domain names in private.

If a domain name doesn’t resolve and the Whois information is not listed anywhere, it will become much harder to contact the owner of a domain name.

Domain sale platforms will likely be the beneficiaries of disappearing Whois lookups. Domain owners will need to be more proactive with the sale of their domain names, as the Whois inquiries will likely slow down and potentially disappear if the information is no longer accessible. People interested in selling domain names may be more inclined to list their names on a domain sale platform so people know they are available.

Domain name brokers will also likely

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