I think I make it pretty clear on my business contact page that I am not a domain broker: “Top Notch Domains, LLC is not a domain broker and does not offer private domain consulting services.” I have enough domain names to sell in my own portfolio that it does not make sense for me to spend time selling domain names owned by other people.
In Loving Memory of Charlotte (Charlie) Gilbert
I am terribly saddened to share the news that Charlotte (Charlie) Gilbert passed away. Charlie recently underwent a double organ transplant at Duke University after battling Pulmonary Hypertension for quite some time, and she suffered some serious complications following her operation.
No, You Can’t Sell My Name First
A few days ago, I had a prospective buyer land on one of my BIN landing pages and fill out the form with his information to indicate that he agreed to buy my domain name for $7,888. I reached out to him and opened escrow at Escrow.com. I didn’t receive a response to my email confirming his purchase, but he created an account at Escrow.com (or already had one) and agreed to the transaction.
I followed up with him again via email after he agreed to the Escrow.com transaction. I wanted to find out when he anticipated submitting his payment and find out whether he would want me to push the domain name to his GoDaddy account or transfer it out to a different registrar. I also wanted to touch base with him because people don’t typically buy domain names from me like that without trying to negotiate a better deal or simply buying through GoDaddy or other registrar via Afernic (I only have a very small fraction of names that use my BIN landing page though). I did not receive a response to this second email and got a bit suspicious.
Later on that evening, I decided to
Daily Poll: Is Domain Investing Boring?
There are quite a few benefits to investing in domain names. You can work from anywhere in the world and can work any time you want. If you invest part-time, you can hold a full time job if you want and supplement your income with domain names. You can work as much or as little as you want buying, selling, and researching domain names.
I know people who love the business of domain investing, but I also know some people who think it is as boring as heck. I can see both sides of it.
I spend most of my time working alone. I might have 3 phone calls with other investors a week – and that’s a busy week. I spend quite a bit of time negotiating with buyers and sellers, and that can be fun and/or frustrating. Domain investing can be exciting and exhilarating, but some people can also find it boring because it can be tedious and lonely.
Do you think domain investing is a boring business?
Olsen.com UDRP Complaint is Denied
A company called Olsen Holding GmbH of Hamburg, Germany filed a UDRP against the Olsen.com domain name. The UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Olsen.com currently forwards to PerfectName.com where there is a landing page offering the domain name for sale for what I believe is a reasonable price of $68,680.98.
Although the domain owner did not respond to the UDRP complaint and put up an active defense, the panelist (Dawn Osborne) ruled against the complainant. The rationale for ruling in favor of the domain owner is that Olsen is a common last name and the complainant did not show evidence that the domain name was registered to target the complainant.
The most important aspect of the decision can be found in the section involving registration and use of the domain name in bad faith:
Concierge.io Rebrands to Travala Because They Couldn’t Get the .Com
A cryptocurrency travel startup called Concierge.io announced its decision to rebrand as Travala because it couldn’t get the .com domain name it felt was important. Concierge.com is a domain name owned by Conde Nast that is now used as “all-in-one event concierge platform.” The announcement was published on Medium today.
Here’s what the startup had to say about trying to buy Concierge.com and why it felt that operating on a .com domain name was important to its success:
“It’s been several days since we broke the news of the Concierge.io rebrand. This is something we have given very long, considered and carefully thought over. In the early days of working on Concierge, we were in the process of trying to secure the .com which had no website at the time. Unfortunately, a multi-billion dollar company was able to acquire that domain first.
To move forward and become a truly global travel brand that would appeal to everyone, we’ve always believed a .com was essential to that goal. And so this has provided us a unique opportunity to develop something that we believe will become a name synonymous with travel. That name is… Travala.”
From what I can see with DomainTools’ Whois History tool, Conde Nast has