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DropCatch Maintenance: Auctions to be Extended

DropCatch.com will be undergoing some maintenance later on today. As a result, auctions that were expected to conclude today during this time period will end on Tuesday instead. The note on the top of the website provides the update:

“DropCatch will be undergoing routine maintenance on Monday, January 8th between 2:00PM and 6:00PM Mountain Time. The site will be unavailable during this time. Auctions scheduled to end on Monday will be extended until Tuesday, January 9th.”

I Wish DropCatch Lengthened 2FA Login Cookie

Overall, I like bidding on pending delete auctions at DropCatch.com. I can pay for a domain name instantly after the auction concludes, and within moments, the domain name is provisioned to my NameBright account. The platform is generally user-friendly, and I like bidding there. There is one issue though.

Every time I login to my DropCatch account, it prompts me for a 2FA code. This would be okay if it was once in a while or even once per day. However, this isn’t the case. If I backorder a domain name, step away from my computer for a little while, I am almost always prompted for a 2FA login after returning to place subsequent bids. With my auction routine, I could be prompted for 2FA logins several times in a morning. I don’t mind 2FA, but I would prefer to be prompted once a day, at most.

I find this persistent 2FA login requirement to be a nuisance.

ICA Hosting AMA with Howard Neu Today: Open to All

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The ICA is hosting one of its AMA sessions with domain industry attorney Howard Neu. Unlike other ICA AMA sessions, this Zoom session is open to all who are able to attend. Ron Jackson will be hosting the session with Howard. The AMA will begin today at 12:30pm Eastern, which is just under 2 hours from now.

Howard Neu is one of the original members of the domain investor community. Howard has a long history of representing domain investors in various legal matters related to domain names. From UDRP defense to contract negotiation, Howard was one of the first attorneys who specialized in the field of domain investing, and he is a legendary figure in the industry.

Being Candid on .AI Domain Names

Andrew Rosener and Andy Booth are two domain investors whose opinions I respect. I have known Andy and Andrew for many years, and I know both have had considerable success investing in domain names.

When it comes to .AI domain name investments, it looks like their paths are diverging. Andy was recently on the Domain Sherpa show, and .AI was a topic of discussion.

In addition to this, a recent Twitter exchange between Andrew and Andy show their differing thoughts on .AI domain name investing:

Will 2024 See $10m in .AI Domain Sales?

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I missed the boat on .AI domain names. With very few exceptions – and perhaps to my detriment – I don’t generally like to try and acquire domain names in alternative extensions that are popular. For instance, I am pretty sure I never owned a .ME, .LY, or .IO domain name despite their trendiness at various points in time. I also haven’t owned a .AI domain name either. Maybe that will change this year.

According to NameBio, there were $5.5 million in publicly reported .AI domain name sales in 2023. This amount will likely increase as sales reports from the final couple of weeks of 2023 will be reported and recorded. In 2022, the sales volume was just under $900k. In 2021, the volume was $1.2m.

Vision.ai: First 6 Figure .AI Expiry Auction

The monthly .AI expiry auction operated by the .AI registry ended yesterday. The top performing auction was Vision.ai, which sold for $100,000. There were 112 bids in the auction. In looking at the registry’s auction platform’s past sales, it looks like this is the largest .AI expiry auction, as well as its first 6 figure sale.

I was not following the auctions as they closed, but Steve Webb shared a screenshot of the final bid amount: