Report: OWS to Pay $8,000 for OccupyWallStreet.net

Elliot Silver
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According to a report this morning in The Atlantic Wire, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement has decided to spend $8,000 to purchase the  OccupyWallStreet.net domain name. The domain name was hand registered on September 23, 2011 by a Florida resident.

It appears that OccupyWallStreet.com is already owned by someone involved with the OWS movement, although the registration has privacy protection on it. That domain name currently forwards to the group’s website at OccupyWallSt.org.

The Atlantic Wire report also cites a tweet that OWS was offered the opportunity to purchase Occupy.com for $150,000. In my opinion, the report’s author mis-labeled the owner of Occupy.com as “some domain squatters,” which is inaccurate since the domain name was purchased well before the Occupy movement started. A cybersquatting definition can be found on Wikipedia.

As I mentioned previously, the domain name is being shopped around by attorney Karen J. Bernstein  on behalf of the domain owner.

According to The Atlantic Wire report,  OWS is not interested in buying Occupy.com right now because of the high cost. Perhaps the group will raise funds via the $8,000 domain name and decide to purchase the domain name at a later date.

Thanks to RKS for sending the link.

Auction Arms Smartly Upgrades to More Relevant Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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Auction Arms  is described as “the original online auction website devoted to guns and the outdoors.” Since inception, the company has used its AuctionArms.com branding for its website. According to Ammoland, the company recently underwent a domain name change, and it will now use GunAuction.com for its website.

The article quoted company CEO and founder, Manny DelaCruz, who said, “The new domain name is one that is more relevant to what we do online, and contains words that are more often searched for at the most popular search engines.”

This is something I stress when selling domain names to end user customers. A descriptive domain name can be easier to remember than a niche brand, and it can help with search engine rankings. If more people are searching for “gun auction” than for “Auction Arms,” and the company has a stronger ranking for the term, it will be beneficial.

It does appear that the company will retain its Auction Arms branding on the new website.

How Hipster Acquired Hipster.com

Elliot Silver
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7

Hipster is a fairly well-funded start up company that has received quite a bit of good publicity in tech circles. Until recently, the company was operating on the domain name, UseHipster.com, since Hipster.com was owned by another company.

In May of 2011, Hipster announced  funding of $1 million, and I recommended that the company use some of this money to purchase the Hipster.com domain name. My belief was that as the company continues to grow and increase brand awareness, the price to acquire Hipster.com would grow as well.

Not surprisingly, the company had been trying to acquire the domain name for quite some time, and the effort finally paid off, as Hipster now owns Hipster.com.

According to  company founder, Doug Ludlow, acquiring the domain name took quite some time. “Obtaining the domain was a 7 month process of going back and forth with the original owner.  Lots of negotiation and discussion.  In the end, we reached a combination of cash and stock that worked for both parties,” said Ludlow in an email to me. “Also, a little Pabst Blue Ribbon was thrown in for good measure :)”

The price and terms of the deal remain confidential.

The company is now forwarding UseHipster.com to Hipster.com. In addition, the company already uses the @hipster Twitter account. Congratulations are in order for Ludlow and his Hipster team. I think the acquisition of the domain name now will pay big dividends.

Smart Domain Move by Trump

Elliot Silver
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8

In a tweet made on his Twitter page this afternoon, Donald Trump, Jr. (known by many as Don) and his wife Vanessa announced the birth of their son, Tristan Trump, who was born today.

Although the newest member of the Trump family was just born, he already has his domain name  reserved  for him by the Trump Organization. Whois records show that TristanTrump.com was registered by The Trump Organization just a few days ago, on September 27, 2011.

When real estate mogul Donald Trump had his son, Barron, in 2006, the company did not immediately register BarronTrump.com, and another entity registered it. Current Whois records show that The Trump Organization now owns BarronTrump.com as well. The domain name forwards to the website of the child’s mother, MelaniaTrump.com.

Congratulations to the Trump family, which clearly understands the value of domain names. Perhaps Don should now get in touch with DomainMarket.com and work out a deal for DonTrump.com.

NY State is Domain Savvy

Elliot Silver
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2

The State of New York launched a new website to help state residents connect with government officials. Dubbed Citizens Connects, the website aims to  be an “online town hall where you can find everything you need to communicate with New York State Government.”

Although the website sites on a state government url,  http://governor.ny.gov/citizenconnects, the State of NY smartly purchased the matching .com domain name to forward to the website. If you visit CitizenConnects.com, you are forwarded directly to the correct website.

The government is also promoting  CitizenConnects.com instead of the bulky url, making it easier for residents to access the website. I often see organizations and government agencies pushing hard to remember website addresses, but this is one instance where the government agency has done a good job with its domain name selection.

To be honest, I don’t particularly like the “Citizen Connects” branding because it sounds a bit strange. IMO, Citizens Connect sounds like a better option, but that domain name was registered.

Mike Mann Domain Buying Tip

Elliot Silver
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17

I saw a note that Mike Mann posted on Facebook, and I thought it was valuable enough that it should be shared with a greater audience than just Facebook. With Mike’s permission, here’s a tip on how to get the best price when you want to purchase a domain name from a broker or aftermarket website:

“Tip on buying a domain from brokers: get quotes on 5 names at once so they don’t know which one you really favor, may get lower price. Then negotiate on the the one you like if quote was fair. Some do 50%, we do 15% max. Or walk and buy elsewhere. They may come back to you with a special discount later.”

One of Mike’s companies is a sales venue called Domain Market, which lists thousands of domain names for sale. Mike was also the founder of BuyDomains, which he later sold to Namemedia.

In essence, this advice is a standard negotiation tactic (used on USA Network’s Suits the other night actually), and it works very well when buying domain names. If you don’t let the other party know which domain name you want to buy more than the others, they can’t price it higher than they would if they knew how much you covet that particular domain name.

If you are interested in buying a domain name from a private domain investor, it will generally behove you to research other domain names the person owns and get group pricing. It might also benefit you if the seller thinks you’re a domain investor buying a package rather than an end user looking to buy one name for a project.

Based on my experience buying domain names from various companies, this is a great tip.

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