Domain Registrars

Dynadot Announces Partnership With Sedo & $6.99 Domain Transfers

Dynadot has become the latest domain registrar to link up with Sedo and become a part of the company’s SedoMLS program. There are now 57 program partners, including Name.com, 1&1, Moniker, Register.com, and many others. To celebrate the news, Dynadot is offering a special price on domain transfers -$6.99 for .com domain names and $5.99 for .net domain names.

Some advantages of the SedoMLS platform include instant domain transfer among partners, ability to list a wide range of ccTLD domain names, and payment within one business day.

For those who are active sellers on Sedo’s marketplace, there’s an advantage to listing your names with SedoMLS as well. According to the FAQ page, the “standard commission for domains listed in the SedoMLS network is 20%.   However, if you add your domain to SedoMLS and it sells on Sedo’s standard marketplace, you pay only 10% commission.”

It’s good to see the expansion of sales venues, and having your registrar linked up with SedoMLS gives you more opportunities to passively sell your domain names. I personally haven’t tried listing names on SedoMLS, but in reading more about it, I probably should get on that ASAP.

Have You Transferred Names From GoDaddy in Light of Elephant Video?

I read an article on CNBC today that discussed NameCheap’s special promotion allowing domain owners to transfer domain names from Go Daddy for just $4.99. This was in response to Go Daddy CEO / founder Bob Parsons’ now infamous elephant hunting video.

According to the article, “GoDaddy users have switched some 20,000 domains to Namecheap, generating $80,000 in revenue in just a few days, and raising $20,000 for the charity.”

For curiosity’s sake, I am wondering if you transferred your domain names away from GoDaddy in response to the video. If not, do you plan to transfer your domain names away, specifically as a result of the video. I have a reason for asking, and my insight will be posted tomorrow or Friday.


Namecheap Responds to Go Daddy CEO Video: Pledges Donations to Save Elephants

Namecheap logoIn response to the video of Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons  hunting a “problem” elephant in Zimbabwe earlier this month, NameCheap has made a unique  special offer to domain owners. You can transfer up to 10 .com/.net/.org domain names to Namecheap for just $4.99/each through the end of the day on March 31, 2011 (11:59PM EST). Update: the offer has been extended to 11:59pm EST on April 1, 2011.

In addition to the low transfer price, the company will donate $1.00 for every transfer to the non-profit Save the Elephants organization. You can find out more about this organization on its website, or you can visit the Wikipedia page which has a great deal of information.

To take advantage of the special offer, you need to use coupon code “BYEBYEGD.”  This is actually a money losing proposition for the company, since annual registrations cost them more than the $4.99 it’s charging.

Go Daddy and its president have come under considerable scrutiny for the video which was first posted on Video.me. In addition to comments directed at Parsons on his blog and various other websites, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sent him a scathing letter, which was posted on TMZ.

Domain Industry Veterans Launch Domain Guardians

domain guardiansA few weeks ago, I learned that Fabulous employees Mike Robertson and Jen Sale had announced their resignations from the company, and they hinted that the two of them had something big in the works.

I received a press release announcing the pair’s new venture, and I was surprised to see some others involved in this exciting project.  Domain Guardians is a new domain registrar that is going to officially launch during the ICANN conference in a couple of weeks, and it involves Mike Robertson, Jen Sale, Bill Vanderent, Adam Strong and Paul Keating.

This is not going to be your standard domain registrar though. The company will offer “domain estate planning and management services to domain professionals.” Estate planning specifically for domain investors is something that has been discussed by many (including me), but I don’t believe there are any companies offering these services.

I spoke with Adam Strong, and he mentioned that a health scare  about 5 years ago focused his attention to this issue.

“The concept has been one I’ve discussed with many other domain investors and my attorney and it didn’t seem there was a solution or an entity that was set up to handle these issues, especially one with trust and experience.  I think Jen, Mike and Bill have all that it takes to fill this void.

Additionally, I’ve got my hands full with many projects. Logo.com is going to be occupying a great deal of my time when we launch, so it’s also refreshing to have a team that I can trust available to turn to and manage my domains for me when I’m engaged in other things.

The Domain Legacy service is designed similar to how banks & trusts handle real estate when someone dies. DomainGuardians works with your attorney and heirs/family and fills the role of handling either a liquidation strategy or a management strategy in the event of death or disability. If your beneficiaries wish for something else, DG will also accommodate those wishes. This is a white-glove sort of service that is tailored for each person based on their individual plans and portfolios.”

I think this company is addressing an unfilled need in the domain space, and I look forward to hearing more about it in the coming weeks.

Full press release is below.

Domain name industry experts Mike Robertson, Jen Sale, Bill Vanderent, Adam Strong and Paul Keating have partnered to establish Domain Guardians, an ICANN accredited registrar providing domain estate planning and management services to domain professionals. The team will be launching the company and services at the upcoming ICANN Silicon Valley conference in San Francisco, CA, USA from March 13-18, 2011.

The combination of Dark Blue Sea alumni, Robertson, Sale and Vanderent, along with Strong and Keating, offers over 50 years of combined experience in the domain industry. “Working with a group of this caliber is humbling, and we’re all very excited to offer the domain community a comprehensive suite of services that provide real value,” stated Robertson of this opportunity.

Domain Guardians has developed Domain Legacy to technically and legally protect and manage domain assets in the event of a portfolio owner’s death or disability.

Paul Keating, prominent domain lawyer, recognizes the complicated nature of managing a portfolio, “No one lives forever, and most domain investors are not planning enough for the future. Managing domains across multiple registrars and monetization providers is a daunting task. It requires a great deal of skill developed on the back of years that may include lost opportunities, missteps and other failures. What will happen to the asset base and income streams when the manager is no longer “there” because of a death or disability? How will our survivors cope in an industry where contacts and experiences are shared by word of mouth?”

Veteran domain professional, Adam Strong, addresses the importance of Domain Legacy for your loved one’s protection and peace of mind, “Like other domain investors, I’ve thought, ‘Who’ll take care of my domains when I’m gone?’… I’ll be transferring my assets to my loved ones, who unfortunately don’t have the skills or desire to continue managing my business. It gives me peace of mind to know that they can trust the expertise of Domain Guardians to do this for them. Every domain investor with a valuable portfolio should protect the future of that portfolio.”

For more information, and to arrange a meeting with the team at ICANN, please email hello@domainguardians.com

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Please help me raise funds for the  Ronald McDonald House

Win a $250 Name.com Credit: There’s Still Time to Enter!

The Valentine’s Day domain name poetry contest sponsored by Name.com ends tomorrow, and you can win a $250 Name.com credit! So far, it looks like there are only 2 official submissions:

$7.77 for New .COM and .CO Domain Name Registrations at Name.com

I just got word that Name.com is offering a special price on .COM and .CO domain registrations. The company is charging just $7.77 per new registration from now until February 12, 2011.  I haven’t seen a better .CO price anywhere else.

Name.com also released a spoof Super Bowl commercial for your viewing enjoyment:

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