MattressGiant.com Going Up for Auction

It’s not often that the domain name of a former major retailer comes up for auction. It looks like MattressGiant.com, once the website of Mattress Giant, is coming up for auction on NameJet. The domain name is registered at Network Solutions, and it looks like it recently expired, as it is in Pending Renewal or Deletion status.

Mattress Giant was once a thriving retailer of mattresses. The Wikipedia entry for Mattress Giant states that “Mattress Giant had a total of 360 stores in 14 states nationwide.” According to the Wikipedia article, “[I]n 2012 it was announced Mattress Firm would acquire all Mattress Giant locations in the U.S in a $47 million deal.” I am not sure what happened to the domain name for it to expire, but I presume it still receives some traffic.

The backorder deadline for this domain name is tonight. Once the backorder deadline passes, it will be placed in a private auction for bidders who have backordered the domain name in advance. Something notable is that the domain name has a $9,999 minimum bid. Participants can backorder the domain name for the standard $69 minimum bid, but the auction needs to meet its minimum bid price to sell. For people who have placed the minimum bid of $69, there is a notification that says the following:

“You backorder bid is below the required minimum bid amount. You will be included in the auction, however the domain will only be sold if the minimum bid amount is met (or exceeded) once the auction starts.”

Because it’s an expiring domain name, I am not sure what will happen to the domain name if the minimum bid is not met. At the time of publication, the high bid is $200.

It is important to note that the company that acquired the Mattress Giant business  owns the trademark rights to the Mattress Giant term. In fact, it looks like there are live trademarks in the USPTO database. I would think owning this domain name could be risky for a domain investor.

I placed a backorder to follow the private auction, but this is not a domain name I would want to own due to potential legal risks.