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Saturday Updates

Elliot Silver
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It’s getting a bit brisk here in New York City, and this is the time when I think about how nice it would be to live in Florida or southern California. NYC is a great place to live, but it’s cold in the winter. Here are some Saturday updates.

– Congratulations to Mike, Rick, and Ammar on their big sale this past week. I know of another very large (all cash) .ME sale that happened this year, although it was/is a private deal. It helps prove that people who invest wisely can still make significant money with their domain investments.

– Rick is on point with his post this morning. For me, the timelines and amounts of money may be different, but that’s exactly how I was able to turn a hobby into a full time profession that I enjoy. Yes, there is considerable risk if you don’t have disposable income, but there is also innumerable upside. The key thing is to read everything you can to learn what makes a domain name valuable.

– A while ago I blogged about Cheesecake.com going up for sale. Someone asked me about it last week, so I thought I’d give an update. The domain name is now being represented by Domain Advisors, according to a September press release. Contact
Brooke Hernandez at (800) 477-8207 if you are interested in discussing this opportunity.

– Dan Vescuso from NameMedia is participating in this year’s Mt. Kilimanjaro Water Climb to benefit the Water School. You can support his efforts and others on the Water Climb website. The deadline to sign up for the March climb is December 1. Everyone I’ve spoken with that has gone has had a life changing experience.

– I had a ratings plugin added to DogPark.com and people are also able to post reviews. If you happen to visit a dog park this weekend (or have visited a dog park in the past), please consider taking a moment to rate and/or review it.

– Thanks to Theo for his Domain Gang post yesterday, and thank you to others who sent emails, Facebook messages and Twitter posts. Very exciting times.

– If you like dogs, you’ll probably like this video I saw:

Thank You Veterans

Elliot Silver
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6

It’s Veterans Day here in the United States (11/11/11), and I know there are a number of domain investors who have served (and currently serve) in different branches of the military. These men and women, along with their families), make sacrifices on behalf of their country.

I want to take a moment to say “thank you” to them and let them know that I and others appreciate their selfless service.

Trump Organization Files 2 UDRPs for TrumpWine.com and TrumpWines.com

Elliot Silver
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13

A little over a month ago, members of the Trump Organization and Trump family celebrated the grand opening of the Trump Vineyard Estates winery. The company had purchased the former Kluge Estates vineyard and winery for somewhere over $6 million in an April foreclosure sale.

The winery is being run by Donald Trump’s son, Eric F. Trump, and it is currently using TrumpWinery.com for its website. Because the winery will likely produce a Trump brand of wines, the Trump Organization has filed a UDRP for two domain names: TrumpWine.com and TrumpWines.com.

TrumpWine.com is owned by someone in New Jersey, and it was initially registered in 2007. TrumpWines.com is owned by someone in New York, and it was initially registered in December of 2005. The singular domain name currently resolves to a standard GoDaddy landing page, while the plural doesn’t resolve for me.

While it may seem cut and dry, it will be interesting to read the responses from the domain owners. One of the three major tenets of a UDRP is that the domain name was registered in bad faith. Since there wasn’t a Trump brand of wine (to my knowledge) when the names were registered, this may be difficult to prove. That said, the “Trump” brand is well known, so the panel could rule that respondents registered the domain names under the belief that the Trump Organization may wish to have a Trump wine brand.

These two UDRP cases will be interesting to follow.

How Many .XXX Landrush Applications Will Be Made?

Elliot Silver
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1

At the conclusion of the sunrise period for reserving .XXX domain names, the ICM Registry reported that they received over 80,000 applications. In order to apply in the sunrise period, an applicant needed a trademark and about $200 (per domain name).

The .XXX landrush, which began on November 8, is less restrictive and may be less expensive. Applicants don’t need a trademark, and the application fee plus registration fee is generally less than $200. The application fee is non-refundable, and if more than one application is received, the domain name will go to auction.

The major difference between the landrush and Sunrise B is that landrush applicants can use their .XXX domain names, while Sunrise B allowed applicants to prevent their trademarks from being used by anyone.

I think it will be very interesting to see how many landrush applications are received. In my opinion, the non-refundable application fee may be a  deterrent, since that is a sunk cost whether you are the winner or not. If you’re paying an average of $75 per application, it’s going to cost $750 just to have a chance to get 10 names. With Sunrise B, even if an applicant shared a trademark with another company or organization, the applicant would be just as happy if the application was awarded to another party, since that would mean the name wouldn’t be used.

All that said, I am curious about how many landrush applications you think the ICM Registry will receive. The landrush period ends on November 25.


5 With… Donald Williams, Jr.

Elliot Silver
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9

If you’re a participant on a domain forum like DN Forum or Domain Boardroom, it’s very likely you’ve heard of or interacted with Donald Williams, Jr, better known as Biggie on DBR or Biggedon on DNF. Don started investing in domain names in 2002, and the first domain name he sold was EquityManagers.com, which he sold on DNF.

That first sale, the first profit he made, started the fire to continue investing in domain names. Other past sales include: 100calorie.com, JK.net, QE.org, ShopNames.com, IllinoisAutoInsurance.com, among others, and a recent auction of InsuranceChicago.com at sedo. In his time in the domain space, Don served as a moderator on DN Forum from 2003 – 2009.

Although Don and I don’t always agree on certain topics, I have a considerable amount of respect for his opinions and insight. I had the opportunity to ask Don some domain questions, and I hope his answers can benefit you.

ES: When did you begin investing in domain names and what got you started?

DW: I regged my first domain in 2002 and I got started in domains while doing some research for a coworker. She was interested in one of those “make money online catalog” websites she heard about and asked me to see how legit it was. ‘domainnameforum.co.uk’ came up somehow while searching for those keywords above and once I started reading about domain reselling, I jumped in.

ES: How has the domain “industry” changed since you’ve been involved and how has your business model evolved?

DW: I think domaining has changed from becoming a niche’ hustle for a small minority, to a full-fledged “industry”. One that has spun-off other profitable business models that lend support and encourage further investing in domains. Some of those models include the dropcatching and backorder services, auction platforms, news services, blogs and aggregators, stat finders and whois history services.

When I started, there was only DNJournal to report domain news, Snapnames/Snapcheck, Clickmojo, NameWinner, and later ClubDrop to catch expiring names and of course the all mighty Overture. So in that respect a lot has changed.

My biz model hasn’t changed too much from what I was doing the first few years in this biz. Although I bought a few LLL.com’s in my newbies years, I switched strategy and started investing in “domains with traffic that produced revenue” by using the Overture.com suggestion tool.

I wanted to build a portfolio of domains that would pay for themselves overtime, as well as provide income for further investments. That still is my basic business strategy.

ES: What piece(s) of advice would you give to someone who wants to start investing in domain names?

DW: The best advice I think I can ever give to a new investor, is to “READ”. I’ve always encouraged new users on forums to read the “Domains for Sale and Domains Wanted” threads. I think one could get a quick grasp on how the biz works if they view what domainers are trying to sell and at what price/range they are expecting, while the “domains wanted threads” indicate what type of domains buyers are looking for and what budget they have to purchase.

One has to have some idea of both sides of this biz to succeed, because if you expect to be profitable, you’ll have to know how to be the seller and the buyer.

ES: How do you think gTLDs will change domain investing and what’s your take on them?

DW: I think newbies will invest the most in gtlds because that space will be a new frontier. If they have no attachments to .com and no knowledge of what sells and what doesn’t, then they will be most likely to make the wrong investment choices.

I think gtlds will be more of a problem for mainstream businesses as they may have to defend their brands by being forced to register unwanted extensions. there is already an issue brewing in that regards by a major “Retail” association. Though I probably wouldn’t recommend investing in them, I do know for sure that some domainers will always find a way to profit from tld expansionism.

ES: What are your three favorite domain tools to use and why?

DW: As for tools, my fav’s are “the daily newspaper”, though one may not consider it a tool, I’ve found so many leads to names that turned a profit, just from reading newspapers. Overture used to be everyone’s favorite tool, but you know the deal on that.

I am not one to buy scripts or software to run programs that generate lots of data. I like free tools, which also lowers overhead expenses… so I use Snapnames, NameJet and Pool to generate domain lists then I leisurely check a group of keywords, based on that day’s subject of interest and hopefully find a gem or two that will pay off later.

IREIT Selects Afternic for Domain Name Brokerage Services

Elliot Silver
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0

I wrote an article over a year ago entitled “Dear IREIT, Is Anybody Home? Does Anyone Work There Any More?” and it still receives traffic and the occasional comment. While Internet REIT still owns some solid domain names, apparently, it takes some time to hear back from the company on offers and deals.

This slow response time may be a thing of the past. According to a press release this morning, Internet REIT has selected Afternic as the exclusive broker for over 1,000 domain names. Buyers dealing with Afternic should see much quicker response times, assuming Afternic has pricing for the domain names the company represents.

Hopefully this move will help close more deals. If you are interested in buying domain names owned by IREIT, contact Afternic’s Patrick Calvoni at 781-839-2856.

Press Release:

Afternic, the world’s leading domain marketplace, announced today that it has been selected as the exclusive broker for over 1,000 premium names owned by Internet REIT, Inc., a media company that owns and manages high-quality domain names. Domains listed for sale by iREIT include many high-value names such as OfficeSupply.com, HouseFinancing.com, FlightDeals.com, and SecondMortgage.com.

“Afternic’s Domain Listing Service was the clear choice for us when it came to looking for the best platform to list our domain names,” said Bob Hurtte, CEO of iREIT. “We wanted the domains to have the broadest exposure to the largest number of potential buyers, and there is no question that Afternic is leading the market in placing the inventory of aftermarket domain names in front of potential buyers all over the world.”

“With the quality of the iREIT names and the breadth of our distribution network, we are confident that Afternic’s platform can deliver outstanding results for iREIT,” said Jason Miner, Senior Vice President of NameMedia and General Manager of Afternic. “More and more domain sellers are recognizing that our partner network aggregates potential buyer demand better than any other platform.”

AfternicDLS is the world’s largest domain distribution network, with more than 70 partners, including six of the top ten global registrars. Those partners display the inventory of names listed for sale through Afternic directly on their site, facilitating the awareness and sale of names in the domain aftermarket. Many of the partners have adopted Afternic’s Instant Transfer(TM) technology, allowing domain buyers the opportunity to purchase a premium domain name as easily as registering a new name on the partner’s site.

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