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WordPress Poaching Google Domains Customers with Free Transfer Offer

Elliot Silver
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0

In June, it was announced that Google will be exiting the domain registrar business. The company is selling Google Domains to Squarespace. After the deal closes, customers whose domain names are registered at Google Domains will have their domain names and account data transferred to Squarespace.

WordPress, which is also a domain registrar, published a blog post with a free domain name transfer offer to Google Domains customers. Here’s an excerpt from the blog post, in which WordPress offered free domain name transfers to Google Domains customers:

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Using Excel to Keep Sale Portfolios Updated

Elliot Silver
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8

Keeping a portfolio updated on platforms like Sedo, Afternic, and Dan can be a challenge. With sales and expiries happening on a regular basis, it can be easy to fall behind on updates. It is important to keep these portfolios updated so you don’t accidentally sell a domain name you previously sold or let expire.

I try to keep my portfolio updated in real time. When I sell a name on Dan, for example, I try to immediately delete the listing on Sedo and Afternic. When I let a domain name expire, I remove the listing from all platforms once I receive the final cancelation email. They key word is *try* and names sometimes slip through the cracks. Every once in a while I will do a comparison of my sale portfolios against my inventory list.

I am not a pro at Excel, but I want to share a step by step guide for how I am able to identify the names I previously sold or let expire that I forgot to remove from sales platforms:

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Dan.com: No Payout Delays on Early LTO Payoff

Elliot Silver
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As I noted last week, Dan.com appears to have changed when it pays out sellers for monthly payments on LTO deals. I did not understand what was changing when it was mentioned in bullet 9 of a July 13th product product update, but I did notice it when one of my monthly LTO payouts was pushed back a week. The timing was different than a same day payout on July 19th and a next day payout on July 26th for two other LTO deals I have.

Following a tweet about this change, someone shared a couple of screenshots that appeared to me to show that even if a buyer pays off a LTO purchase early, Dan.com would pay-out the seller on the original payment schedule as if the buyer hasn’t paid early. To me, this would be unfair since Dan would have the full payment and the buyer would have the domain name, but the seller would not be paid early.

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Reasons Against Domain Registrar Front Running

Elliot Silver
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Domain registrar front running is when a domain registrar tracks the domain name searches its customers perform, and when the customer does not register the domain name, the registrar registers it. The registrar would then attempt to sell the domain name back to the customer at an inflated price or would prevent the person from registering the domain name at a different registrar. TechCrunch published an article about front running back in 2008.

Over the years and since that time, I have seen dozens of public complaints about domain registrars reportedly front running domain names. I have also received quite a few private emails about this along with blog comments accusing registrars of doing this.

There are numerous reasons for why it doesn’t make much sense for a domain registrar to front run its customers. Over the weekend, Marc Köhlbrugge shared why it is not likely to happen:

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Dan.com Holding Up LTO Payouts

Elliot Silver
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On July 13th, Afternic announced it would begin allowing sellers to implement a Lease to Own (LTO) offer for domain names. This meant buyers shopping for domain names on GoDaddy or GoDaddy’s network would be able to purchase a domain name using monthly installments. This was an expected update following GoDaddy’s acquisition of Dan.com, a platform that pioneered the automated domain name LTO sales.

In conjunction with the Afternic news shared on the 13th, Dan.com also shared some platform and product updates. Update #9 is one I completely overlooked but could have some negative consequences to some sellers who rely on monthly LTO payments to fund business activities. This update covers payments, and apparently, payout timing.

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Namecheap Shares Insight and Trend Report for 1st Half of 2023

Elliot Silver
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1

This morning, Namecheap published its Domain Insights & Trends Report for the first half of 2023. It is a look at domain name trends and insights highlighted by the company, which is the second largest domain registrar in the world. Because of the size and reach of Namecheap, this report gives a good overview of the domain name market from the perspective of a large retail registrar.

Some of the topics in the report, highlighted in the accompanying press release, include the following:

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