Report: “Hackers Infiltrate Domain Name Auction House”

Elliot Silver
-
4

I am not a user of this particular domain auction house so I didn’t receive any official notice from the company, but according to an article on Australia’s The Age, “computer hackers have penetrated the database of Australia’s biggest internet domain name auction house, possibly accessing client home addresses and encrypted credit card numbers.”

The hacking reportedly happened on Netfleet, a website that specializes in .AU domain names. Netfleet was the venue where the $129,000 USD sale of InvestmentProperty.com.au took place last year, the largest .AU domain sale at the time.

According to the article, Netfleet sent out emails to users informing them of the news. If you received the email from Netfleet, it may be a good idea to contact your credit card company to see if any unauthorized activity has occurred. You may want to see if you can change card numbers just in case.

In addition, if you happen to use the same log in information and password on other websites, you should change your passwords ASAP. It’s never a good idea to use the same password for your auction, registrar, email…etc. accounts for this reason among others.

I wish Netfleet a smooth recovery and hope this serves as a warning for other auction houses and domain platforms to ensure their websites are protected and secure.

20% of DomainFest Auctions Have Bids

Elliot Silver
-
7

With a couple of days to go until the DomainFest live auction, a little under 20% of the auctions already have bids. The live auction, also found online via Snapnames, will take place on Thursday,  February  2nd at noon EST. I have highlighted the domain names I like in the auction and welcome your feedback.

Domain Name Reserve Current Price Bids

  • stripmall.com $201 – $500 $425 5
  • civilunion.com $1,001 – $2,500 $1,650 3
  •  avengers.com $501 – $1,000 $691 3
  • qe.com $25,001 – $50,000 $65,000 2
  •  californiarolls.com $201 – $500 $325 2
  •  rentaltrucks.com $5,001 – $10,000 $5,251 1
  • guitarclasses.com $5,001 – $10,000 $5,200 1
  •  margo.com $2,501 – $5,000 $2,500 1
  •  liberalartscolleges.com $1,001 – $2,500 $1,234 1
  •  weddingcards.net $501 – $1,000 $590 1
  •  antiqueguide.com $501 – $1,000 $500 1
  •  plasmatv.com $25,001 – $50,000 – 0
  •  12.com $750,001 – $1MM – 0
  •  1800business.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  activitycenter.com $1,001 – $2,500 – 0
  •  autosupply.net $201 – $500 – 0
  •  banquethall.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  bargain.com $750,001 – $1MM – 0
  •  cardswiper.com $1,001 – $2,500 – 0
  •  catfood.com $50,001 – $100,000 – 0
  •  cheyenne.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  cloudmusicstorage.com $501 – $1,000 – 0
  •  democracy.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  • drill.com $25,001 – $50,000 – 0
  •  eco.org $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  emails.com $500,001 – $750,000 – 0
  • empire.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  eo.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  eve.com $500,001 – $750,000 – 0
  •  feuds.com $5,001 – $10,000 – 0
  •  guavas.com $501 – $1,000 – 0
  •  homeowner.com $250,001 – $500,000 – 0
  •  host.com $1MM – $5MM – 0
  •  hotcoupons.net $201 – $500 – 0
  •  icard.com $5,001 – $10,000 – 0
  •  internetradio.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  jackpot.com $750,001 – $1MM – 0
  •  juice.com $750,001 – $1MM – 0
  •  liverdonor.com $201 – $500 – 0
  •  loveline.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  nurseries.com $25,001 – $50,000 – 0
  •  planners.com $50,001 – $100,000 – 0
  •  platinum.com $750,001 – $1MM – 0
  •  prescriptionrefill.net $201 – $500 – 0
  •  promo.com $1MM – $5MM – 0
  • qr.com $250,001 – $500,000 – 0
  •  reconnect.com $50,001 – $100,000 – 0
  • security.com $1MM – $5MM – 0
  •  servers.com $250,001 – $500,000 – 0
  •  sox.com $50,001 – $100,000 – 0
  • sportstherapist.com $1,001 – $2,500 – 0
  •  surveillancecamera.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  trinkets.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  unplugged.com $100,001 – $250,000 – 0
  •  videodownloads.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  vintagemirrors.com $501 – $1,000 – 0
  •  work.com $1MM – $5MM – 0
  •  workscited.com $10,001 – $25,000 – 0
  •  xeam.com $501 – $1,000 – 0
  •  xegg.com $1,001 – $2,500 – 0

As always, this is going to be an exciting auction to watch, as there are several domain names I could see selling for 6 figures. For instance, Empire.com would seem like the perfect name for insurance giant Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

What are your favorite domain names in the live auction?

Sedo to Hold Exclusive .ME Auction

Elliot Silver
-
4

Sedo will be holding another .ME auction from February 2, 2012 through February 9, 2012. Like the last auction, this auction will include a wide selection of .ME Registry-owned domain names at a variety of price points.

There are a ton of solid keyword domain names included, although I don’t know how helpful the .ME extension will be for many of them. As you’ve probably read, Meet.ME sold for $450,000, but that keyword makes sense for a .ME domain name. While many of the keywords in this auction are exceptional, there are few that really stand out as “ME call to action” domain names.

Some of the names that will be auctioned (that I think are solid) include:

  • Forex.ME
  • Attorney.ME
  • College.ME
  • Friends.ME
  • Lawyer.ME
  • Pet.ME
  • Tickets.ME
  • Tours.ME
  • 999.ME

The entire list of domain names up for auction  can be found at http://www.sedo.com/ME.

5 Picks for the Great Domains Auction

Elliot Silver
-
7

Sedo’s Great Domains is hosting an auction that begins today and runs for a week (ends January 26). There aren’t a whole lot of domain names in this auction, but there are a number of very good names.

Here are my favorite names, taking the reserve price range into consideration:

  • Moroccan.com – $500-999
  • Soulmates.com – $50,000 – $99,999
  • GoldChains.com – $5,000 – $9,999
  • Zimbabwe.com – $25,000 – $49,999
  • DrugDiscounts.com – $1,000 – $4,999

I don’t have any names in the auction, and nobody asked me to select any names (the link is a tracking link not an affiliate link). You can visit Sedo to see the full auction inventory. What are your favorite names in the auction with the prices in mind?

Poll: Are You Using “NameJet Classic”?

Elliot Silver
-
8

At the end of November, NameJet underwent a website overhaul, and the new design was launched. I’ve become more accustomed to the design and found it to be easier to save searches. On the top of the site, there is a link to return to the “Classic” look, which had been the primary design since inception.

I’ve only visited the Classic design a few times, but in speaking with a couple of colleagues who are also active bidders, it seems that there may be a number of people continuing to use the previous site design as their primary means of accessing NameJet. I am curious how prevelent this is, and I’ve added a poll below to see.

If you are using the Classic site, would you mind giving your insight about why you’re doing this? NameJet did not ask me to post this, nor do they advertise or compensate me for writing anything.


Go Daddy Moving Back Into Private Auction Space with .Pro Auction

Elliot Silver
-
8

I received an email this morning from Go Daddy announcing a private .Pro auction event. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t recall Go Daddy ever hosting a private auction event in the past, and if that’s the case, it’s pretty big news in the domain industry (update: a friend told me they hosted “Signature Auctions” several years ago).

According to the email I received, “Go Daddy Auctions is holding a special event auction for some fantastic .pro domain names. They are one, two and three character names never before released to the public.

Go Daddy is facilitating the auction, but does not support .pro TLD … yet.”

The auction will begin on January 10 at 7am PST and run through January 17. Some of the domain names at auction include the following:

  • 1.pro
  • 2.pro
  • b.pro
  • x.pro
  • go.pro
  • pet.pro
  • xxx.pro
  • we.pro
  • buy.pro
  • inc.pro

Auction starting prices range from $50 up to $5,000 for the single letter and number domain names. I don’t know if $5,000 for a single letter/number .pro domain name is a good price, but the market will tell us.

For the most part, I’ve only seen private event registry auctions like this held at auction venues like Sedo, Pool, Snapnames, and NameJet. With new gTLDs around the corner, this could be a foreshadowing of events to come. Perhaps Go Daddy has hopes of securing special event auctions on premium domain names in new TLDs. It might be a wise idea to hold a private .CO auction in conjunction with the .CO Super Bowl commercial.

Personally, I don’t see a whole lot of investment value with .Pro domain names, but this particular auction will certainly be worth watching considering the audience may include far more end user buyers than usual.

1...838485...112Page 84 of 112