Clean Up Your Marketplace Portfolios!

Elliot Silver
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6

This morning, I received a transfer email from GoDaddy for a domain name I didn’t sell or transfer. I won this domain name at a NameJet auction in February. Although I am passively offering it for sale via my Embrace.com landing page, I am monetizing it via PPC and do not have it listed for sale on any of the domain name sale marketplaces.

After receiving the email, I did a bit of research to confirm that I still own the domain name. Essentially, I wanted to make sure I hadn’t resold it or that something else funky wasn’t going on with the domain name. Using DomainTools, I saw that there was a “for sale” notice with a BIN price. Clicking on the link to me to an Afternic page, although Afternic indicated that the  domain name was not for sale. I checked Sedo, and the domain name was listed there with the same BIN price as was indicated on the DomainTools page.

When I saw this, my hunch was that the domain name sold via Afternic. Because it wasn’t my sale listing and not approved within my account as an Afternic listing, GoDaddy couldn’t do a “fast transfer” from my eNom account and needed to request a transfer manually. I emailed Afternic’s Alan Shiflett, and he confirmed my hunch and told me  the domain name was sold via Afternic. Unfortunately for

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CBA.com Acquired by Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Elliot Silver
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8

According to a recent Whois change, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has acquired the CBA.com domain name. I detected a Whois change via DomainTools yesterday, and the previous registrant declined to comment about the status of the domain name. Today’s Whois change confirmed my hunch that the domain name had been sold.

CBA.com was acquired in March 2015 for $46,000 during a bankruptcy auction. I was a participant in the fast moving telephone auction. At the time, I recall that I was surprised the bidding was so strong. I was only able to place one bid in the low five figure range before the price moved beyond what I would pay for the domain name.

If I were to guess, I would say the deal was in the low to mid 6 figure range, but that is just a guess.

When I saw the Whois change yesterday, there were

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Black.com Being Marketed by Heritage Auctions

Elliot Silver
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30

Aron Meystedt, Director of the Domain Name and Intellectual Property Department at Heritage Auctions, announced that his company is brokering Black.com. I don’t see a ton of high value domain names like this one  come on the market regularly (especially with an asking price listed), so I wanted to share what Aron wrote:

I am proud to announce that Heritage Auctions (HA.com) is the exclusive seller of Black.com, a name that has never been available to the public.

The asking price is $750,000 and it is a sure fit for a major brand waiting to be launched. Few names carry the “punch” that Black.com does. Jet.com comes to mind. Black.com could be a brand with an “exclusivity” feature.

Email me if you have interest. Please, NO brokers. We aren’t looking for co-brokerage deals right now. If you are a broker and have a buyer with a budget of $750,000 – let me know. But we don’t want the name sent out to your mailing list please.

I recently published an article with

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Analyze.com Acquired by Brent Oxley

Elliot Silver
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13

Analyze.com hit the market a couple of weeks ago when Ryan Colby of Outcome Brokerage sent a newsletter to his brokerage clients and newsletter subscribers offering the domain name for sale. I detected a Whois change this week, and the new owner  of the domain name is Brent Oxley, founder of HostGator. The purchase price of the domain name was not disclosed, and because I didn’t ask for the asking price when it was listed, I couldn’t speculate about the sale price.

The last time I wrote about Brent, it was after he spent $500,000 to acquire Give.com. At that time, Brent let me know he acquired the domain name for a specific project (which does not appear to have launched yet_. With Analyze.com, the acquisition is strictly an investment.

Here’s what Brent told me in my response to  an emailed I sent to him  to ask about the Analyze.com acquisition:

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Legal Review Should be Done Before Agreeing to a Deal

Elliot Silver
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4

A negotiation can be exhilarating or frustrating depending on many factors. When a domain name deal is finally reached, it should mark the end of one stage and begin the contract and escrow discussions. It should not begin the process of a legal review for the buyer.

I don’t know about you, but I have dealt with prospective buyers backing out of a couple of  deals due to their findings from a legal review. The buyers’ attorneys have either found that a trademark would be tough to get for  domain name (and/or brand) or there are existing trademarks would put an application in peril. Whatever the case may be, it is very frustrating to agree to a deal only to later learn that the prospective buyer decided to back out because their legal team has put the kibosh on the deal.

From my perspective, domain name buyers should do a cursory legal review prior to inquiring about domain names. This doesn’t have to be an extensive or exhaustive review, but it should be enough to know whether a domain name will pose legal issues for them for whatever reason. As the negotiation gets more serious and/or the buyer is able determine that there is a strong likelihood of closing a deal, they should have their attorney do whatever  full legal review is necessary to ensure an easy closing should a deal be reached. This should either be done prior to reaching a deal, or they should let the seller know a deal is contingent upon approval from their lawyer.

A legal review on a domain name should be performed before the parties reach a deal. Once a deal has been

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Looks Like Walmart Paid $9 Million for Shoes.com + IP

Elliot Silver
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20

Shoes.com LogoIt has been reported that Walmart acquired the Shoes.com domain name and has plans to utilize the domain name as an independent brand. What  I haven’t seen reported anywhere is the price Walmart paid to acquired Shoes.com.

This afternoon, George Kirikos helped me uncover what appears to be the sale price that Walmart paid to acquire the Shoes.com domain name, associated domain names, and related intellectual property. According to a pdf of a court filing I found on the Alvarez & Marsal website, Walmart bid $9 million for the “Shoes.com Technologies domain names and intellectual property.”

George Kirikos compiled several associated filings on his website. As George wrote, “After reading the above, one can see Walmart paid USD $9 million for the shoes.com domain name, plus minor related assets (social media accounts, lower quality domain names, and some trademark registrations.”

This deal includes

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