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Who is Lovells?

Elliot Silver
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28

A couple of months ago on Ycombinator, someone mentioned that he sold a domain name “to some woman claiming inexorably to want it for “just a personal homepage,'” but it turned out the company that acquired it appeared to be Facebook. The domain owner had sold the name for $1,500.

Although the information on the Whois record lists Facebook as the domain registrant, the email address on the record is globaladmin@lovellsnames.org. So who the heck is Lovells?

I did a bit of research, and it looks like the globaladmin@lovellsnames.org email address is connected to a number of very good domain names. Some of these names appear to include:

  • Play.com
  • Loco.com
  • Elegant.com
  • FB.me
  • Facebook.at
  • Bin.com

There were a number of other domain names, including some Facebook ccTLD domain names, but these are the most notable names I found during my cursory search.

I did notice a non-descriptive domain name that had the same registrant email address, and it might give a clue about Lovells. HoganLovells.com is registered to that same email address. Hogan Lovells is pretty huge law firm with over 40 offices around the world.

As Mike Berkens once wrote, the “1st Rule Of Dealing With Domain Offers Is: People Lie.“

Why I Write My Blog

Elliot Silver
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19

I started my domain blog a few years ago because I wanted to be able to give advice and not have to worry that a well thought out article I posted on a domain forum would be overlooked as a result of many new posts being added, and it would just get pushed to the bottom, without being read and discussed.

Having a blog has given me the opportunity to create discussions, which I have learned from and hopefully others have as well. There have been things I’ve done right and done wrong, and it’s great to get instant feedback and advice from others who may have already done the same thing or thought about doing what I’ve discussed.

I have enjoyed meeting many people who only know me from my blog, and I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. For the majority of the time, blogging has been fun and rewarding.

It’s been fun writing articles and sharing some of the things I am doing in my business. Because I am writing about my business, sometimes I take comments more personally than I should. Instead of always giving a well thought out reply, I occasionally have been defensive in my reply. I apologize to anyone I have offended by doing that.

I enjoy sharing with you, and I enjoy learning from you, and I look forward to continuing this. It has been a fun 3 years and I look forward to more.

Why I Built SlipperyElm.com

Elliot Silver
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33

I want to take a second to thank you for voting in the poll where I asked you to give your valuation for SlipperyElm.com. There were 217 total votes, and about 46% of those who cast a vote think the name is worth $1,000 or less, while about 54% of voters think it’s worth above $1,000.

If I was going to vote in this poll, I would have selected between $3,000 – $6,000 for the domain name. I personally think it could be sold for somewhere around $4,000, which is why I paid $1,000 for it at Sedo in private. I don’t think it would have necessarily been an easy sale, but I think it could have been sold for that amount, especially given the comments by a couple of people familiar with herbal remedies.

That being said, I felt that I bought the name for a good price and I have the opportunity to add even more value by building a website that has traffic. I felt that I could spend around $75 on custom articles and a few hours of my time putting the site together using a free web template. At worse, I drove my cost up to $1,100 (approximately) for a name I think is worth around $4,000 before development.

While I am growing the traffic that comes to the site to learn about slippery elm, I am also able to monetize it. IMO, I will earn far more from Adsense than I would if I had $1,000 in the bank.  At .4% interest, I would only earn about $4/year on that cash in the bank. However, I will bet this name makes around $20/month within 6 months (maybe more). There have been a few paid clicks already, ranging from $.25 to $2.00/each, so depending on where things shake out, it could be significantly more than my prediction.

I am fortunate to be able to take $1,000 out of the bank for this type of investment, and I understand that many people couldn’t. It was just a few years ago that I paid for my first domain name that was $1,000 and it made me nervous. Had this been a $20,000 or greater investment, I probably wouldn’t have gone this route, since I could probably make more flipping names with the $20k in principal rather than letting it sit and build traffic on it.

For me, the bottom line is that I believe I bought an under priced domain asset (I bought it after a couple rounds of negotiations), and instead of trying for a quick flip, I am going to do my best to increase the value of the asset and earn more income than I would have had in the bank. I am going to hope to sell the name for greater than $10,000 once traffic and or revenue justify the value.

New Partners Now Live on Afternic

Elliot Silver
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0

There’s some good news to share from Afternic today. Both Enom and Moniker are now live on Afternic as DLS Premium partners. This integration will make it easier for you to sell and transfer your domain names via the DLS Premium program.

If your domain names are registered at Moniker, Enom, Enom Central, or Bulk Register (or their other DLS Premium Partners – NetSol, Register.com, Name.com) – you can opt-in to DLS Premium at Afternic to help sell your domain names, primarily to corporate buyers.

Once you have opted in to the program, your names will be listed for sale at more than 24 major sites; including Enom, Moniker, NetSol, Register.com, Name.com, GoDaddy Auctions, and the remaining partners. The names will be listed for sale under premium names when a customer does a Whois search for something similar.

One of the best parts of this is that if one of your domain names is sold at a DLS Premium partner site, the names will be instantly transferred to the buyer at the time of transaction. You don’t have to worry about transferring the domain names, so it saves you time.

According to Afternic, there are more than 35 million domain queries across the DLS Premium network on a monthly basis, so the reach is pretty huge.

Domain Names, Stocks, Commodities…

Elliot Silver
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7

I don’t own thousands of domain names, but I own a fair amount of domain names that could be easily liquidated if necessary. I can’t imagine having to sell my domain assets abruptly, but I suppose one never knows what the future will bring.

In addition to my domain name assets, I own physical real estate. I also have own stocks and funds that cover a wide variety of investments and various industries, although I tend to not invest much in Internet companies, as I have enough exposure via my domain name assets and websites.

I understand there are a lot of people buying gold and silver – be it in funds or physical. Some people buy call and put options, although that’s something I don’t really mess around with.

With inflation generally higher than interest rates, you’re essentially losing money by keeping it in the bank. How are you investing these days aside from your domain assets.

Advice on Legal Questions

Elliot Silver
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0

Have you ever taken a look at the terms and conditions page when you register a domain name or buy one in the aftermarket? In almost all cases, they are huge, and to someone without a legal degree, there are a lot of issues that aren’t exactly clear.

As a domain investor, I have read about quite a few legal issues on various websites, UDRP sites, and domain forums. It’s given me a basic understanding of domain related law, but not enough to provide any real advice to anyone.

For some reason, in the last few days, I’ve received a number of emails asking me for domain name legal advice. I’ve recommended that the people ask an IP lawyer with domain name experience. Sure, I might be able to give accurate advice, but I might also give bad advice that a lawyer would never give.

If you have a legal question, it’s best to ask a lawyer. I provided a list of domain name lawyers a while back, but here’s a refresher since there seems to be quite a few legal questions right now.

A lawyer may not be cheap, but bad advice can be costly.

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