Rick Schwartz

JointVentures.com: What Would Be Your #1 “Draft” Pick?

Rick Schwartz and Danny Welsh held a “draft” of sorts on Rick’s blog yesterday for the brokers who are working with the JointVentures.com listed domain names. The way it worked was the twelve brokers picked their choice of domain names until each had a full roster of names they would then be tasked to find partners for joint ventures (leases, sales…etc).

It was a bit difficult to follow, but I spent a bit of time on Rick’s Blog yesterday watching the draft. I hadn’t really looked at the names all that much prior to the draft, but there are many really great names. I believe Rick also excluded some of the top names that will become available once these brokers create deals and show that they have what it takes to make deals happen.

In any case, as I followed along, I was surprised that some names were chosen so high and surprised at how low some names were selected. In total, 206 domain lots (a few had more than one name included) were selected by the brokers. You can see who selected what in a subsequent post today.

Since it’s a Sunday night and most of us are probably winding down gearing up for the new week, I thought it would be interesting to see what you guys would have chosen if you had the first pick in the draft. Feel free to post the domain name you would have selected. It doesn’t need to be the best or most valuable necessarily, but it should be the name you are confident you could find a company that woud be interested in a joint venture.

Listed below are the lots that were selected.

Rick Schwartz: “JointVentures.com is Open and We Are Ready for Your Listings”

22

Rick Schwartz sent out an email this morning to let people know that his recently launched JointVentures.com is looking for domain name submissions. Joint ventures, leasing, and other similar types of deals have become more popular in the domain business over the last few years due to economic conditions.

I think these types of deals are great for a variety of reasons, and Rick has parlayed his experience with these types of ventures into a new venture that allows other domain owners to partake.

The full email from Rick is below, and if you have domain names that meet the quality standards identified by Rick, you might want to consider this opportunity.

TRAFFIC Las Vegas Dates Announced

The TRAFFIC conference will be coming back to Las Vegas after a brief hiatus. Rick Schwartz announced that the conference will be held  Wednesday May 29 through Saturday, June 1, 2013 at the Bellagio Hotel.  Tickets will go on sale for the conference on October 9, and the early bird price will be $995. Early bird pricing will only last until the end of October.

It was also announced that the conference will take place in Las Vegas for at least the next two years.

I am sure there will be a hotel special at the Bellagio (the current Hotels.com rate is $212/night on average for the conference). If you prefer to stay elsewhere, five star hotels such as the Vdara and Trump International are currently priced at $159/night via Hotels.com. Steve Wynn’s Encore is only $274/night right now.

Las Vegas is one of my favorite cities and there are plenty of things to do there and some great places to eat. Hopefully the turnout will be strong.

NNN .CO Market Value

Rick Schwartz posted an article listing 90 of his three number .CO domain names asking people to make an offer for the group of domain names. He labeled it an “experimental domain sale” and a “dose of reality.

After several days, it does not appear that anyone made an offer to buy the group of domain names. I don’t know if anyone made an offer to purchase individual domain names either.

Because there are 90 domain names that appear to be coming up for renewal, you’re looking at around $2,500 on renewal fees alone, and that is before making an offer to Rick’s liking. This is likely preventing anyone from making an offer. I am not a big .CO investor, but I was considering making an offer if it weren’t for the significant annual carrying cost associated with owning the group of names and not having a good feel for the numeric .CO aftermarket.

I don’t really think the sale is a “dose of reality” though. To  ascertain  a more accurate reality, I think we should observe a single NNN.CO sale or auction, where the market values an individual domain name instead of a group. The domain name 250.CO is currently in pre-release status on NameJet, and there are 4 bidders who have placed a $69 minimum bid. This, of course, includes the renewal (This is NOT a NameJet affiliate link).

In my opinion, this is a more accurate way of determining a value for a three number .CO domain name, although 250.CO is in all  likelihood  a better name that those Rick is/was selling. Perhaps a  significant sale price on this NJ auction will make Rick’s names more valuable. Perhaps Rick should try to auction his names on NameJet or Sedo and maximize the value on each. My bet is that will yield a higher return.

1-800-Flowers Now Owns Flowers.mobi

The long saga of Flowers.mobi seems to have finally come to an end, and it appears that 1-800-Flowers is the new owner of Flowers.mobi.

The story of Flowers.mobi is fairly lengthy, so you can read about it at Rick’s Blog. The abbreviated version is that Rick Schwartz bought Flowers.mobi for $200,000 at the Moniker TRAFFIC auction in October of 2006, and like most .mobi domain names, Flowers.mobi saw its value drop precipitously. In October of 2010, Flowers.mobi was resold at Rick Latona’s TRAFFIC auction for just $6,500.

According to Whois search records, 1-800-Flowers is now the registrant of Flowers.mobi, and the change of registrant appears to have happened today. The domain name currently forwards to 1800Flowers.com on my home Internet browser as well as on my iPhone browser.

I didn’t see any reports about the sale of Flowers.mobi, so I assume that the sale price is confidential. If I learn what it sold for, I will update this article.

Thanks to CT Kirkpatrick for the tip.

TRAFFIC Las Vegas Dates Announced

Earlier this year, Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu announced that they were considering adding a Las Vegas TRAFFIC conference to the 2013 calendar (in addition to the October conference in Florida).

TRAFFIC has been held in Las Vegas before, but it has been a few years since the last event (I think the last one was 2009, when the domain industry conference calendar was packed).

After reaching out to people within the domain industry for feedback on holding a Vegas conference, the conference organizers confirmed that Las Vegas would be a venue, and TRAFFIC will be hosted by the Bellagio Hotel. This morning, Rick Schwartz announced that TRAFFIC will run from Wednesday, May 29, through Saturday, June 1 (closing breakfast).  Ticket prices and ticket sale dates have not yet been announced, but I am sure those details will likely be forthcoming in a few months.

TRAFFIC Ft. Lauderdale will be held October 7 – 10, 2012 at The Ritz-Carlton. Conference tickets are currently selling for $1,595.

Recent Posts

GoDaddy to Launch “Premium Domain Marketplace” on DomainNames.com

6
The Afternic X account posted a link on X without much context that caught my attention this morning: 👀 https://t.co/JL8P45lRng 🔜 — Afternic (@afternic) October 3, 2025 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Visiting...

Have a Real Presence Online When Selling Domain Names

0
When it comes to selling domain names via outbound marketing, credibility is very important. If a prospective buyer receives an unsolicited and unexpected email...

2021 vs 2025 – % of .coms in my Portfolio

1
I don't closely track the percentage of domain extensions in my portfolio. I could have 75% .com or I could have 99% .com domain...

Nominations Open for 2026 ICA Awards

0
The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) is now accepting nominations for two domain investing community awards. Domain investors may now submit their nominations for the...

Bodis Gives Performance Update After Google Parked Domain Opt-Out

3
Bodis sent an update to customers yesterday about recent performance impacts related to pay per click parking revenue. The company attributed the decline to...