Danica Patrick to Speak About Entrepreneurship at 2 NYC Events

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GoDaddy published a press release announcing that Danica Patrick will be speaking about entrepreneurship at two upcoming events in New York City. Patrick, who retired as a GoDaddy-sponsored NASCAR race car driver, has now been building her brand online with the help of GoDaddy. Thankfully, GoDaddy got rid of the “GoDaddy Girl” moniker several years ago, but she is probably still the most recognizable company spokesperson.

From the press release:

“Since retiring from racing in May, she’s dedicating herself to her own entrepreneurial ventures, including Pretty Intense, her health and fitness book; Somnium, her vineyard; and Warrior By Danica, her athleisure apparel line, as well as her commitment to helping others who aspire to convert their passions, or side hustles, into full-time business ventures.

November 16th, Danica is scheduled for a keynote ‘fireside chat’ at Entrepreneur L!VE in Brooklyn, New York. The one-day event is sponsored by Entrepreneur magazine and brings together influencers and innovators to share their unfiltered, unconventional and unexpected insights into what it takes to launch, sustain and grow a business.

December 3rd, Danica takes the stage at Business Insider’s Ignition conference, in New York City. The premier East Coast media and technology conference, IGNITION features the visionaries and industry leaders and CEOs who are shaping our future, and some who are approaching their businesses in unconventional ways.”

The events at which Patrick is speaking are not free to attend, so people who are interested in attending will need to

Uniregistry Introduces Pay to Inquire Domain Buy Service

I noticed something interesting on a Uniregistry landing page today that I had not noticed before. I was checking out Cool.com, a domain name owned by Future Media Architects that is listed for sale via Uniregistry Market. Instead of a standard inquiry form I am accustomed to seeing on Uniregistry Market-listed domain names, there is a pay to inquire form:

In order to submit an offer to buy Cool.com, the prospective buyer must pay $39 in addition to a commission. I do not recall seeing Uniregistry with this pay to inquire offering before.

This Domain Buy Service appears to be

Sold for $26.5k, RealEstateLeads.com Expires

According to NameBio, RealEstateLeads.com sold for $26,500 in November of 2017. A blog post from NameBio shows that it was the second largest sale of the day on November 16. The domain name was created in October of 1998, making it over 20 years old.

This morning when I was looking at GoDaddy Auctions, I noticed that RealEstateLeads.com is one of the top expiry auctions coming up in the next couple of weeks. The high bid is $1,200 with just over 9 days remaining in the auction.

When I visited the domain name this morning, I saw a message stating that the domain name expired and is coming up for auction at GoDaddy Auctions:

Removing BIN Prices Above $100k on GoDaddy

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I have a handful of domain names with buy it now (BIN) prices above $100,000 on GoDaddy. My rationale was that if a company really wanted to buy a domain name stealthily, it could do so without any friction. After taking a look at how these high priced domain names appear in the registration stream and realizing I haven’t sold any names above $100,000 via GoDaddy in the year or so I have had a few listed, I am going to remove the BIN prices on them.

The Fast Transfer system at GoDaddy / Afternic is great. I started adding more BIN prices on domain names about a year ago (give or take) and I have closed some decent deals this year. In my opinion, having premium domain name listings right in the normal registration path is super helpful in getting domain names sold. Importantly, the Fast Transfer system only works for domain names priced at $100,000 or less. This is the vast majority of sales, but it is notable for those looking to sell domain names above that threshold.

Here’s an example using one of my domain names. If a GoDaddy customer (or a customer of another registrar that is part of the Fast Transfer system) searches for a domain name that is already registered and is listed for sale via GoDaddy / Afternic, here’s how it will appear right in the registration flow:

I think there are five things to notice with respect to how this domain name is displayed for sale:

“What Do You Think About GoDaddy’s Appraisals?”

I was chatting with a prospective buyer about domain names and domain name valuations. This topic is a bit murky, especially when my rationale for pricing is based on select comps, my knowledge of domain names, and “my gut feel.” Although I am not willing to move on my valuation, I can commiserate with the prospect a bit because of the lack of clarity involving domain name valuations.

On a phone call yesterday, he asked me, “what do you think about GoDaddy’s appraisals?” I immediately knew why he was asking – my domain name is priced substantially higher than the GoDaddy automated appraisal. In fact, someone else had submitted an offer to me within the last year and the message field simply had a link to the GoDaddy appraisal for the name (sidenote: don’t do that). I briefly explained the automated nature of their appraisals, but I thought it would be more effective to illustrate the discrepancy of valuation vs. pricing by GoDaddy itself.

I explained how GoDaddy has acquired some domain portfolios over the past few years, and the company operates a portfolio company called NameFind. I then shared a domain name owned by GoDaddy / NameFind. For the sake of keeping the name I shared private for a couple of reasons, I will use a different but similar example. Cliche.com, for example, is priced at $49,999

Farmers Business Network Upgrades to FBN.com

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In one of my morning alert emails from DomainTools, I noticed that NameFind appears to have sold the FBN.com domain name. When I visited FBN.com this morning, I saw that it appears to have been acquired by an organization called Farmers Business Network. A message on top of the landing page says, “Farmers Business Network will be moving from www.farmersbusinessnetwork.com to www.fbn.com soon! To visit our current website, please click here.”

I think this is a smart upgrade for Farmers Business Network. Although the organization owns its exact match domain name, it is quite lengthy. Shortening the website url to a three letter .com domain name (LLL.com) will be much easier for marketing and should also be easier for email.

From what I can see on its Twitter profile (@FBNFarmers) it looks like the group already abbreviates its name as FBN. Having the FBN.com domain name to match