By now, I am sure you heard that Twitter is becoming X. Elon Musk, who bought X.com, is now forwarding X.com to the Twitter website. I would not be surprised if that flips at some point and X.com becomes the home for the matching X brand.
As you may recall, GoDaddy previously operated the X.CO domain name, where it served as a url shortener. In 2017, GoDaddy sunsetted the X.CO shortener, and it currently forwards to GoDaddy’s home page.
The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) recently developed and announced a Voluntary ICA Broker Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct is a voluntary set of guidelines created with the input of ICA members to help establish best practices for professional conduct expected from domain brokers.
Yesterday afternoon, the ICA invited domain name brokers, who are Bronze-level members or higher, to commit to abide by the Voluntary Broker Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct covers topics like working with a client’s best interests in mind, using a brokerage agreement that lists all terms and fees, disclosing any conflicts of interests, and quite a few other expectations and best practices that professional domain brokers should maintain.
In 2017, Elon Musk acquired X.com from PayPal in a private transaction. The acquisition price for X.com, as far as I know, was never reported publicly by PayPal or Musk. For quite some time, X.com has been underutilized, with just a small text “x” appearing in the upper left corner of the landing age.
Earlier this year, Elon Musk acquired Twitter. He has been tweeting about creating a company called X with financial services and Twitter amongst its properties. Musk recently put Twitter under the X umbrella. The copyright on the bottom of the website says, “© 2023 X Corp.“
I have had quite a few lease to own deals in the last couple of years. It is a great option for a scrappy startup or financially strapped business to acquire a domain name at a lower up front cost.
In the real estate world, a less common deal structure is the purchase with lease back deal. A buyer will purchase a home and lease it back to the former homeowner for a set period of time. This is often done to give the home seller time to find another home or allow the seller’s children to finish the school year without disruption.
I think this type of deal could work in the domain name industry as well, and I am curious if anyone has done it.
This morning, James Booth reported that he sold the Hero.io domain name for $125,000. James told me the domain name was sold via Squadhelp, and the payment was already made in full:
https://t.co/c9Cz3MQNwa sold for $125,000
— Domain (@domain) July 19, 2023
GoDaddy is set to introduce a Lease to Own purchase option for buyers of aftermarket domain names listed for sale via Afternic. This option has been one of the unique points of differentiation for sellers on Dan.com, a company acquired by GoDaddy last year.
While I offer LTO on most of my domain names I have listed on Dan, I am cautious about it with others because of the potential damage highlighted by Brad Mugford:
Interesting, but a quick question.
Is the buyer allowed to use the domain during the lease period?
If so, where are the terms regarding the buyer’s usage?
For the low price of a LTO payment, a buyer could possibly damage the value of a domain.@jamesiles @PaulENicks https://t.co/lWxvZBwiJL
— DataCube (@datacubecom) July 14, 2023
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