Domain Industry News

Why Donuts is Called Donuts

donutsHave you ever wondered why Donuts is called Donuts? Honestly, I hadn’t really thought about it all that much before, but I read an article about the company in The Seattle Times over the weekend, and the answer was given in the article.

When company co-founder and CEO Paul Stahura was asked why he chose the name Donuts for the brand instead of anything else, here’s what he had to say:

“Stahura decided the company name would start with “d” and its logo would be teal, a play off TLD. He looked through a dictionary and liked that Donuts has the letters “dns” (for “domain name system”) in it.”

A typical domain industry veteran may have chosen a brand name based on

Escrow.com Announces Disbursement Fee Reduction

Escrow.com ShieldOne of my pet peeves is being nickel and dimed. Getting charged small fees here and there can add up, but these small fees  tend to annoy me more than they impact my bottom line.

Disbursement fees are one of those ticky tack fees that bother me, be it at Paypal, escrow service, domain company, or other company that has funds of mine on hold. Typically, the company charges a fee for whatever services they performed for me, and sometimes that company will add an extra fee to send me my money. I understand that there are costs to payment processing, but I would prefer it to be rolled up into the price of the service rather than added on at the end. It’s just a bit of an annoyance.

Jackson Elsegood sent out an email to Escrow.com customers announcing that Escrow.com is reducing its disbursement fees. I am not entirely sure what their fees were before, but here’s what he sent to customers, along with the new disbursement fee schedule:

Radix Shares Its Q3 Premium Domain Name Sales Report

radix-logoRadix  is a large  new gTLD registry, and the company operates new domain name extensions such as .Website, .Site, .Online, .Store, and several other extensions.

This morning, I was alerted to the fact that Radix is sharing its premium domain name sales report “for the first time ever.” The Q3 2016 sale report, which came to me by way of a neat infographic, tallies the number of premium domain names registered, number of premium domain names renewed at a premium price, the top sales, the average sale price, and more information that you can see below.

I was told that Radix’s premium domain names are available through two channels: domain registrars and aftermarket venues such as Sedo, Afternic, auction platforms, domain broker listings, and direct sales to customers inquiring about domain names in extensions operated and managed by Radix.

For your convenience, I published the inforgraphic below. You can click on it to see the larger version. Keep in mind that this appears to only be for Q3 2016. Hopefully Radix shares subsequent reports or an end of year report as it would be difficult to track trends or get a comprehensive look at the business with only one quarter of information.

Use DomainIQ to Help Consolidate Your Portfolio

domainiq-logoI pay for a monthly membership to DomainIQ that I use mostly to find domain names to buy. DomainIQ allows me to identify domain names that are owned by a company or associated with a particular email address. I thought of another way to use my DomainIQ membership, and it might be especially useful to people with larger portfolios.

When I was having a look at my own portfolio on DomainIQ, I realized that the results also include the domain registrar where each domain name is registered. I had look through my portfolio, and I found a few domain names at domain registrars I don’t recognize. Although a few of those registrars are owned by Network Solutions and the names were in my NSI account, there were a couple of domain names at registrars I don’t use regularly. This tool enabled me to initiate transfers and consolidate my holdings. It’s a nice additional way to use my membership.

As you might imagine,

Why Marijuana Domain Names Were Trending Last Month

verisign-logoDuring this week’s election, there were four  states in the US that had ballot questions asking voters whether or not to legalize  recreational marijuana. Voters in California, Maine, and Massachusetts (my home state) approved their ballot measures. Voters in Arizona did not approve their ballot measure. Voters in Nevada approved a ballot question regarding medical marijuana.

Perhaps as a result of these ballot questions and the potential for the growing list of states where marijuana usage is legal, Verisign reported that several marijuana-related keywords were trending in .com domain name registrations last month. Of the top 10 trending keywords in .com domain registrations for October, four were related to marijuana:

  • Cannabis
  • Marijuana
  • Weed
  • Pot

The three  states where

Rightside Announces “Connecting the Dots” Webinar Series

Rightside GroupEducating prospective buyers is an important aspect of marketing the new domain names. Rightside announced a new educational webinar series called “Connecting the Dots,” to help educate people about the new domain extensions and how to use them.

In a blog post this afternoon, the company announced the first seminar in the series will take place on November 16, 2016. The title of the first seminar is “Everything You Need to Know About Buying Domains.” This will be a 30 minute session that starts at 10am Pacific time on the 16th. Rightside’s Sean Ottey and Jebidiah Burnett will lead this webinar.

The live event is limited to 50 participants, although a  video of the webinar will be made available following the seminar (uploaded by the 21st). The webinar is free to attend and it is open to anyone. Rightside has asked

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