Go Daddy to Auction 1 & 2 Letter .Org Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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9

Go Daddy and the Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit organization that operates the .org domain registry, have jointly announced a special auction of one and two letter / character .org domain names. This is the first time that single character .org domain names are available for sale.

In total, 42 domain names will be auctioned on a special page at Go Daddy Auctions (see list below). In order to participate in the auctions, interested companies and individuals must be pre-approved. According to the press release, “there will be some requirements for the winners of a single- or two-character .ORG domain name, although re-branding is not mandatory.” This is similar to other registries that have auctioned single letter domain names, although I am not sure what the requirements are.

I would imagine the single letter .org domain names are going to see bids into the six figures, although it might be a challenge for a non-profit organization to spend that kind of money on domain names (imagine a cancer organization explaining a $500k domain purchase to donors). PIR is planning to “forward its share of the proceeds to programs that enhance open development and Internet security.”

The auctions will last ten days each, and although the exact date has not been set, the auctions are expected to begin in the coming months.

.Org domain names at auction:

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DigiPawn Co-Founder Starts Domain Financing Company

Elliot Silver
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6

I received a press release this morning that I want to share with you. Matt Collins, one of the original DigiPawn founders, has announced the launch of inteLend.com, a new domain name financing company. The inteLend brand is a play on “intellectual property lending.”

According to the website, Mr. Collins is a practicing attorney who has served as “legal counsel for many successful ecommerce companies. The Collins Law Firm provides a wide array of legal services to businesses involved in ecommerce, domains and other businesses involved in the internet.”

I checked out the new website, and it looks pretty sleek.

The press release is below:

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What Domain Blog Has The Best Lists?

Elliot Silver
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27

It’s Sunday morning, and I plan to watch football for as much of the day as possible. I saw that there was a bit of friendly banter between Domain Shane and TNT Names yesterday evening (yes, now that I have a baby, my Saturday nights aren’t exactly filled with Red Bull and Ketel One any longer)

To briefly recap, Domain Shane mentioned the fact that TNT Names has a note on its website that says it is the “number #1 place to find some great domains”  and TNT Names followed up with a poll asking readers which domain blog has the best lists..

I have heard many people discussing the value of reading lists on blogs, so I thought it would be slightly less biased as a third party to post a poll asking the same question. As you see, I added two selections not found in the original poll, reflecting some comments I’ve heard in the past.

What are your thoughts about the best place to find domain names and domain blog lists in general? Time saver or a waste of time?


Coming Soon: FreshDrop 3.0

Elliot Silver
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8

I use a number of tools to do due diligence on domain purchases, find good domain names, monitor domain names, and locate buyers for my domain names. By far, the best tool I use to find good expiring/deleting domain names is Fresh Drop.

I logged in to FreshDrop this morning to search for and analyze today’s inventory, when I saw a notice that got me amped: “Coming Soon: FreshDrop 3.0  2 Years in the making.” Although the site does just about everything I could ask for, it’s always exciting when new features are added.

Some of the features and upgrades I’d like to see include:

  • Speedier data analysis
  • Ability to add my own names to analyze
  • Field to see if it’s a NameJet private auction
  • Estibot valuation field
  • Field showing the number of current bidders

I am looking forward to learning about the new features, and I will be happy to share them once I hear about them. If you aren’t using FreshDrop yet, I strongly recommend checking it out. I’ve literally earned tens of thousands of dollars (if not more) from the sale of domain names I’ve found using the tool.

For those who don’t know about FreshDrop, I embedded the video above.

“Absolute Game Changer” Coming in the Domain Industry

Elliot Silver
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46

 

I think the term “game changer” is often overused, but Abdu Tarabichi from Domainsville.com posted a tweet earlier today indicating that he is going to be making a domain industry announcement on Monday that “will be an absolute game changer,” and he warned his competitors of the forthcoming news.

I am not privy to this news or anything about the news, and I am curious what you think the game changing announcement will be.

Post your guesses below. If you guess correctly come Monday, you’ll get a virtual high five from me.

Sonia Doubet Teams Up With Mike Mann Again at Domain Market

Elliot Silver
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1

Over the last several years, I’ve done quite a bit of business with Buy Domains. For a couple of years, I worked with Sonia Doubet when I needed to purchase a domain name from the company. I understand she was one of the top brokers at the company, and I always enjoyed  working with her, even if we couldn’t strike a deal.

When I first started working with Sonia, I learned that she wasn’t based in NameMedia’s Waltham, Massachusetts headquarters, and that was because she was a legacy employee of the company that was founded by Mike Mann. In fact, Sonia started her tenure at Buy Domains in May of 2003.  I was disappointed last year when I learned Sonia left the company (although I now enjoy working with Aaron Visaggio).

I recently inquired about and ultimately purchased a domain name from Mike Mann’s Domain Market. During the negotiation phase of this deal, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Sonia. It turns out that she has once again teamed up with Mike Mann, and she is a top broker for him once again.

Mike is very happy to have Sonia working on his team again. “Sonia has worked with me for a long time and has done a great job for her many happy customers, a consummate professional,”he told me.

Having employees you trust is essential when building a business. It looks like Mike made a wise move in re-hiring Sonia for his startup.

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