Crain’s Covers .NYC Domain Name Auctions

Elliot Silver
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Yesterday afternoon, Thornton McEnery of Crain’s New York published an article about .NYC domain names: What’s he smoking? Podiatrist foots $60K bill for marijuana.nyc. The article covered the recently concluded auctions for .NYC domain names, which grossed just under $750,000 in total sales, netting “roughly $300,000” for the government of New York City.

McEnery published a list of 1,011 domain names that went to auction. Nearly half of these domain names sold for $10, and the largest sale was Marijuana.NYC at $60,920. I don’t know if the sale price included an additional registration fee or not (for instance if a buyer who won an auction for $10 only had to pay $10 or a registration fee on top).

I took the .NYC list that was published and ran all the domain names through GoDaddy’s bulk domain checker as .com domain names to see how many of these names were unregistered in .com (MarijuanaNYC.com for example). Out of the 1,011 .NYC domain names sold at auction,

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Uniregistry to Registrants: Configuration Error in Your Favor

Elliot Silver
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I recently received an email from an upset domain investor who had at least one new gTLD domain name removed from his account after payment was already submitted. There was apparently an error that occurred somewhere along the line, and he was unable to keep the domain name(s). I’ve also read about this happening to others. It seems that when a registry or registrar makes an error, the error is corrected by way of refunding the registrant and pulling the domain name back.

According to an email that was sent to domain registrars, this is not the case with Uniregistry. As a result of a “configuration error at the registry,” domain names that were registered by registrants when they should not have been able to be registered will be retained by the current owners. Instead of refunding the buyers as they would be permitted in the terms and conditions, the company is letting its registrant keep these domain names that would have been reserved and sold for a premium price.

Some of the domain names that would have been retained by Uniregistry include the following:

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Coffee.Club Promoted at NamesCon

Elliot Silver
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When I arrived at the NamesCon exhibit area on Monday morning, one of the first things I noticed is that Coffee.Club and the .Club Registry are heavily promoting the Coffee.Club business. The popular coffee stand located between the registration booth and the exhibit hall now has Coffee.Club branding, and the pair of companies have been handing out passes for free cups of coffee to conference attendees (regular cost is around $4 for a large cup).

In addition to the rebranding of the coffee stand, the coffee that has been served inside the exhibition hall has Coffee.Club branding as well. Just about everyone drinking coffee at NamesCon is using a Coffee.Club cup. Because of an existing contract with a coffee provider, the coffee that is being brewed is not from Coffee.Club though.

I think this is smart marketing for two reasons.

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NamesCon Auction This Afternoon

Elliot Silver
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As you’ve likely heard by now, NamesCon will be conducting its first domain name auction later on this afternoon. The auction was organized by Right of the Dot (ROTD), and there is a big focus on the new gTLD domain names. Just about every time I’ve seen ROTD founders Monte Cahn and Mike Berkens at NamesCon, the duo seem to be huddling together over a laptop, most likely working on the auction.

I am most curious to see how the bidding goes on the new gTLD domain names. Although I have heard about many new gTLD sales, most seem to be private and unreported (sidenote, if I ran a new domain name registry, I would prohibit non-disclosure agreements on registry sales). This auction may give more of an indication about the new gTLD aftermarket, although usage of domain names will trump big sales.

There are a variety of domain names from new extensions including

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Fairwinds Partners Hosting Beyond the Dot 2015 Conference

Elliot Silver
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Last year, Fairwinds Partners hosted its inaugural Beyond the Dot conference, and the company is hosting the conference again later this month. Beyond the Dot 2015 will be held on January 21 at the Newseum in Washington DC.

According to a press release published by Fairwinds Partners, here is how the conference is described:

“Beyond the Dot conferences join together innovative business leaders, experts, and policymakers to provide context and discuss how new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) – extensions such as a .CITY or .BRAND that join .COM and .ORG – will impact the way we all communicate and do business online.”

Some of the conference speakers and panelists include the following people:

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NamesCon: Spotlight on Radix

Richard Lau
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NamesCon is less than one week away, and today we have an interview with NamesCon sponsor, Radix, one of the largest participants in the new gTLD program.

NamesCon will be held from January 11-14, 2015 at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are now over 750 registered conference attendees, and over 800 people are expected to attend this event.

If you have any questions or comments for Radix, please post them in the comment section below.

Can you tell us about your company and how long you have been there?

Radix is a major participant in the new gTLD program and currently manages registry rights to

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