NameJet will be hosting the NamesCon live and extended domain name auction at the end of January in conjunction with Right of the Dot (Monte Cahn). This afternoon, NameJet distributed a press release to announce some of the better domain names that will be included in this year’s auction. One domain name really stood out to me amongst the others.
DomainNames.com is listed for sale in the NamesCon auction with a reserve price range of between $300,000 – $400,000. From what I understand, DomainNames.com is a domain name that is owned by Network Solutions. If you visit DomainNames.com, you will be forwarded directly to Network Solutions’ website.
I find it interesting that Network Solutions has decided to sell this domain name. For one thing, the company is in the domain name business. Secondly, the company would effectively give a competitor the opportunity to buy the domain name and compete with it. Sure, one might see that DomainNames.com is being underutilized as a forwarder, but I don’t understand why it would be listed for sale publicly in auction where the buyer could be any company that bids highest above the reserve price.
Notably, Network Solutions’ parent company is Web.com, which also owns NameJet after acquiring Tucows’ ownership stake in the auction platform earlier this month.
Beyond DomainNames.com, some of the other exceptional domain names included in the auction are:
- Prize.com
- Give.com
- Drone.com
- Liver.com
- Valentine.com
The press release announcing the auction and other details can be found below
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Dec. 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NameJet® and RightOfTheDot on Wednesday announced the release of the initial list of ultra-premium domain names up for pre-bidding before the live, in-person and online domain name auction at NamesCon Global 2019, the largest annual domain-industry conference. The live domain auction takes place on January 28, 2019, from 4 pm – 7 pm PST at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pre-bidding and the extended auction will take place on the NameJet.com auction platform found at http://www.namejet.com/featuredauctions/liveauction.
The auction will feature some of the best domain names available, including “leads.com,” “give.com,” “drone.com,” “texasholdem.com,” “cellularphones.com,” “qo.com,” “prize.com,” bride.com,” “sucks.com,” “broker.com,” “domainnames.com,” “tablets.com” and many more, including several super-premium non-.com domains such as “mortgage.pro,” “chinese.restaurant,” ”boater.club” and “newyork.pizza.” There will be an estimated 400 names in the overall auction with an estimated 120 domains offered at the live auction.
Last year’s auction resulted in the highest sale in NameJet’s history with “super.com” selling for a record-breaking $1.2 million, which has since been used to create a $50 million venture-capital fund for the video-game industry. Other notable sales from that auction include “great.com” for $900,000, “runner.com,” “fakenews.com” and “tees.com.”
“RightOfTheDot and NameJet have generated millions in revenue for our clients and sold domain names never before available to a wide array of established companies, start-ups and individuals,” said Monte Cahn, RightOfTheDot’s president and director. “Continuing to raise the overall value for the domain industry is our joint mission, and we look to further that effort with this year’s list of fantastic domain names.”
“We are thrilled to once again partner with RightOfTheDot to support the live domain auction at NamesCon,” said Jonathan Tenenbaum, general manager of NameJet.
Many of the premium domains will be priced at no and low reserves to promote competitive bidding and true market prices. Additional domain names will be considered for inclusion by submitting names at http://rotd.com/auction-submission/. Only ultra-premium names will be considered.
A NameJet account is required to participate in the online and live auctions. Bids for domains may be placed now on the NameJet website. Accepted names will be added continually to pre-bidding before the start of NamesCon so participants should check the auction page often for new additions and bidding activity. Following the live auction, the online auction will continue on the NameJet website for an additional 16 days, closing on February 13.
About RightOfTheDot, LLC
Lead by Domain Industry Pioneer Monte Cahn, RightOfTheDot is a licensed business & domain auction company, Internet consulting and advisement firm specializing premium domain auctions, sales, brokerage in new and existing TLDs., RightOfTheDot also specializes in Contention Resolution Services, board advisement, premium domain market positioning, sales and services. Monte was Founder and former CEO of Moniker.com, former President of SnapNames.com and former Sr. VP of DomainSponsor.com. Monte Cahn and RightOfTheDot have been involved in more than $400 MM in domain sales since 1995.
About NameJet
NameJet, LLC, a Web.com® subsidiary, is the world’s leading domain name aftermarket platform. Launched in 2007, NameJet has since processed more than 800,000 domain auctions on its award-winning and easy-to-use website. With an exclusive inventory of expired and deleted domains from several of the largest registrars, plus top-quality premium name listings and best-of-breed drop catching services, NameJet is the industry’s most trusted auction and aftermarket services provider.
About Web.com Group, Inc. | Web.com
Since 1997 Web.com has been the marketing partner for businesses wanting to connect with more customers and grow. We listen, then apply our expertise to deliver solutions that owners need to market and manage their businesses, from building brands online to reaching more customers or growing relationships with existing customers. For some, this means a fast, reliable, attractive website; for others, it means customized marketing plans that deliver local leads; and for others, it means customer-scheduling or customer-relationship marketing (CRM) tools that help businesses run more efficiently. Owners from big to small can focus on running the companies they know while we handle the marketing they need. To learn how this global company collaborates with customers and employees to achieve their potential, explore www.web.com or follow on Twitter at @webdotcom or on Facebook at facebook.com/web.com.
There was interesting lengthy thread on NamePros in Feb this year, about the name DomainNames.com. An NPer bought this name and it was later “reclaimed” by NetSol. https://www.namepros.com/threads/i-bought-domainnames-com-from-networksolutions-but-they-took-it-back.1065682/
YUP! I can second that DomainNames.com was bought by an investor on NamePros for $2,577 earlier this year.
Netsol pushed the name to his account and then TOOK it out of the owners account days latter AFTER payment was completed.
There’s actually a whois archive record in favor of the investor.
If I was this investor I would seek legal counsel, and boycott the resale of DomainNames.com
There is AT LEAST $300,000-$400,000USD worth of reasons why I would do just that…
I am not that surprised. Because hardly anything Network Solutions does makes any sense.
By the way, I think the best name in the auction so far is create.com.
That is a great name. I missed it when looking through the list yesterday.
Give.com
Leads.com
Drone.com
IMO by far the best names on the list in that particular order.
Many of those big names at auction are owned by Brent Oxley, the founder of HostGator. 🙂
Wow! DomainNames.com is an ideal “Global” Brand for a Domain Name Registrar/Reseller/Drop Catch Service.
Will be interesting to see who ends up with it and what they do with it.
We own and run NombresDeDominio.mx and NombresDeDominio.com.mx
“Nombres De Domino” is Domain Names in Spanish and “.mx” and “.com.mx” are the ccTLDs of Mexico.