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Aerin.com: From Name Administration to Fashion Empire?

Elliot Silver
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I read an article discussing Aerin  Lauder’s aspirations of building a successful fashion empire similar to that of Tori Burch’s company. Of course, I was most interested in speculating how the granddaughter of the legendary Estée Lauder  would potentially market her brand online.

A couple of quick historical whois searches likely produced the answer. Aerin.com is currently owned by Aerin, LLC on Fifth Avenue in New York City. While I could go and search business records for the state of New York to see who owns this LLC, I think a historical Whois search may be even more accurate, since it’s possible that a manager would be listed on the LLC instead of Lauder.

A historical whois search from January 2011 shows the name has been registered to a person with the same email address as the current registrant, but the physical address was listed as 767 Fifth Avenue Suite 4200. This physical address happens to be the same as the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, and of course, Ron Lauder is Aerin’s father.

Even more interesting to me is the provenance of the domain name. In 2010, the domain name was owned by Frank Schilling’s Name Administration. Whoever bought it likely paid a handsome sum for the domain name. According to the NY Post, Aerin Lauder is the third largest shareholder in the billion dollar company founded by her grandmother.

Although Aerin.com doesn’t currently resolve, it would seem likely that the domain name will be used by Lauder, and it could become home to the next fashion empire.

Saturday Update

Elliot Silver
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Well, it’s Saturday and I’m up in Boston again for another wedding. It seems like I’m in a never ending cycle of weddings. I think buying a tuxedo a few years back was the best clothing “investment” I ever made!

Here are a few updates:

  • If you couldn’t tell already,  yesterday’s post was an April Fools’ Day gag. I used every domain name listed in Rick Schwartz’ inquiry article on his blog to weave a story together. I seem to have offended my parents with the post – sorry! That story was probably way cooler than how I got started.
  • Yesterday afternoon, I had a video interview with Mike Cyger of  DomainSherpa.com. We talked for close to an hour and a half, and I hope that it will provide some insight for you. There were a few topics I discussed that I want to write articles about, but I will let you wait to see the video first.  I like what Mike’s doing, and it’s an honor that he asked me to do an interview.
    • I just acquired another large city Hotels.com domain name. It’s a city in Europe with over 500,000 residents and more than 5 million people living in the metropolitan area. I still like this type of domain name if you have them.
    • You know what’s really annoying? Discussing a great domain name with two end user buyers, learning of their significant interest, waiting a few days for the necessary approvals to make an offer, and then receiving two really low offers. It’s part of the nature of this business of course, but it’s frustrating.
    • If Go Daddy ever goes public, it will be interesting to learn whether the elephant hunting video had an impact on the company’s bottom line. From what they are saying, it appears that all the negativity hasn’t impacted business, but I don’t think they have an obligation to anyone to give a real assessment of the situation. If they were to go public, we might be able to see the potential impact.
    • IMO, the people who likely have the biggest moral dilemma with this are the company employees. I know that it shouldn’t be anybody’s business what the president or any other person at a company does in his spare time, but by posting the video, Parsons seems to have opened a can of worms for all of his employees. I would imagine the call center reps are taking a beating on the phones and at home, and it’s gotta be a difficult situation. The silver lining is that I am sure Parsons will reward them this Christmas, as he does every year.

    We Did It!

    Elliot Silver
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    RMDHWhen Karen and I set our $5,000 fundraising goal earlier this month, we were excited to get started, albeit a bit nervous that we wouldn’t be able to achieve our fundraising goal for the Ronald McDonald House. Thanks very much to the support of you, we were able to hit our goal.

    We’re thrilled about this because of the great work that is done by RMH. I really can’t thank you enough for helping us raise funds for them. I know that RMH is excited about this, and we are, too.

    When we visited the Ronald McDonald House on Sunday night, we were told they are at full capacity with 83 families living there. As much as you might expect it to be a sad place since there are so many children fighting cancer there, the opposite is true. People are friendly and smiling, and it’s a very happy place.

    There have been a number of anonymous donors, but I want to thank my business friends and colleagues for their support. You can still contribute, as $5,000 was an arbitrary number, and all donated funds will be used by the Ronald McDonald House to help the families who are in need.

    If I missed you for some reason, I am very sorry… I double checked the list, but there’s always that possibility. I did not include contributors who chose to remain anonymous, but you are very much appreciated as well. Also, big thanks to Domain Boardroom for the support.

    Namecheap Responds to Go Daddy CEO Video: Pledges Donations to Save Elephants

    Elliot Silver
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    Namecheap logoIn response to the video of Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons  hunting a “problem” elephant in Zimbabwe earlier this month, NameCheap has made a unique  special offer to domain owners. You can transfer up to 10 .com/.net/.org domain names to Namecheap for just $4.99/each through the end of the day on March 31, 2011 (11:59PM EST). Update: the offer has been extended to 11:59pm EST on April 1, 2011.

    In addition to the low transfer price, the company will donate $1.00 for every transfer to the non-profit Save the Elephants organization. You can find out more about this organization on its website, or you can visit the Wikipedia page which has a great deal of information.

    To take advantage of the special offer, you need to use coupon code “BYEBYEGD.”  This is actually a money losing proposition for the company, since annual registrations cost them more than the $4.99 it’s charging.

    Go Daddy and its president have come under considerable scrutiny for the video which was first posted on Video.me. In addition to comments directed at Parsons on his blog and various other websites, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sent him a scathing letter, which was posted on TMZ.

    My Picks for the Domain Madness 3 / Boxcar Auction

    Elliot Silver
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    DomainMadness.comThe Domain Madness 3 auction being held on the recently re-launched Boxcar.com has opened for bidding. The live auction will take place on April 5th in Las Vegas. You need to be registered at Boxcar to bid, and there’s a $1.00 fee to register, which is presumably to ensure that you have a valid credit card.

    I am still 50/50 on whether I will be at the event, and if I’m there I will try to cover it live for you. Bolded below are my favorites for the auction.

    I don’t have any domain names listed in this auction, and I didn’t do any Whois searches to see if I know the owner.

    ArmTattoos.com $1,200
    AthleticClubs.com $5,000
    AutoRepairs.com $150,000
    BaseballGame.com $20,000
    BaseballTicket.com $10,000
    BaseballTrainer.com $2,500
    BasketballDrills.com $5,000
    Bet.ws $2,000
    BetterBody.com $4,500
    BigWinner.com $5,000
    BroadbandProviders.com $1,500
    CashBackCredit.com $4,000
    Champs.tv $1,000
    CheckCard.net $1,000
    ChildDevelopment.com $150,000
    Cradle.net $1,000
    Discount.us $2,200
    DomainDevelopment.com $15,000
    DoubleOven.com $6,500
    DrugDeal.com $2,500
    DrugDeals.com $10,000
    EliminateDebts.com $1,500
    Evenings.com $9,500
    FamilyVacation.com $35,000
    FinancialPlanners.com $200,000
    FlightSale.com $3,500
    FlowerBouquets.com $40,000
    ForexCurrency.com $17,500
    FreezerBurn.com $3,500
    GasDeals.com $1,000
    GPSdevices.com $20,000
    Gyrate.com $9,000
    HomeOwnerInsurance.com $120,000
    HoneyBellOranges.com $25,000
    iLoveShopping.com $5,500
    ImpoundAuction.com $2,500
    Incentives.net $2,000
    Irons.com $38,000
    JobResume.com $7,500
    LastMinDeals.com $4,000
    LocalSupplier.com $1,000
    MagicSpell.com $5,000
    MensJewelry.com $45,000
    MiracleCream.com $5,000
    NameGames.com $2,500
    OfficeScreens.com $1,000
    OnlineTheft.com $1,000
    Pig.com $250,000
    RefinanceCalculator.com $30,000
    RentHome.net $2,500
    RibSauce.com $2,000
    SingAlongs.com $2,500
    SiteManagers.com $1,000
    SmoothLegs.com $3,500
    StationaryStore.com $5,000
    StayCool.com $5,500
    TanningStickers.com $2,500
    Title.info $3,000
    TractionTires.com $1,000
    Uncoordinated.com $1,000
    Waikiki.me $1,750
    YellowstoneNationalPark.net $1,000
    ZoomLens.com $8,500
    LimoRentals.com $160,000

    Mike Mann News: 2 .CO Sales and New Webinar Video Now Available

    Elliot Silver
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    I received a couple of updates from Internet entrepreneur Mike Mann that I wanted to share with you. First, his company sold two .CO domain names last week. Tequila.CO was sold for $14,500 and Recipes.CO was sold for $5,600. Both sales were closed on Mann’s DomainMarket.com platform (Correction: I was informed both sales were actually closed on Sedo).

    In addition to these sales, Mann recently posted a new webinar entitled “When to Quit Your Day Job.” According to the website on which it’s posted, you can

    “Join Mike Mann, serial entrepreneur and author of “Make Millions and Make Change, Secrets to Business and Personal Success,” in a candid webinar about how quitting your job might be the best move you could ever make. Mike will discuss:

    • Why quitting your job is necessary to build a profitable business
    • How to know when to quit your job
    • What to know before you quit
    • The real risks of quitting
    • How jobs prevent personal success
    • The power of faith and belief in your ideas

    Mann is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the domain space, and this is a video you should check out if you have some time.

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