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How Advisors Address .IO Risks with Clients

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The .IO ccTLD extension could possibly be “phased out” if sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is moved to Mauritius. My feeling is that it is highly unlikely the .IO extension will be removed given the number of businesses using .IO domain names. There is still a chance it could happen, and businesses would be forced to change domain names and possibly rebrand if the extension is terminated.

With that potential risk in mind, I was curious to know if industry colleagues are broaching this topic with clients who are interested in buying .IO domain names. I reached out to a small group of people whose companies advise on domain name deals and broker the sale of valuable domain names to ask the following:

GoDaddy Doesn’t Always Automatically Refund for Canceled Auctions

In July of 2022, I was told about a GoDaddy change that was made with the hope of successfully delivering more GoDaddy Auction wins to customers. I believe the policy change is that if a GoDaddy registered domain name isn’t renewed 3 days before an expiry auction, it is no longer allowed to be renewed. I don’t bid on enough domain names to comment accurately, but by and large, it seems like I receive fewer refunds for GoDaddy Auctions wins.

When I buy a domain name, I list it on an Excel spreadsheet. If the domain name is not delivered instantly, I put a yellow highlight on the cell so I can keep track of it. Today, I scrolled up and saw a domain name I won at auction on October 27th was not delivered to my GoDaddy account. I paid for the domain name on October 30th. Two weeks is a long time for provisioning.

ICANN Discusses What Could Happen to .IO

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Last month, there were numerous articles that discussed the potential demise of the .IO domain name extension following news that the “UK will give sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius.” I suspect this was surprising news to many of the companies that operate on .IO domain names without any connection to the region where this ccTLD domain extension is assigned.

The Price Will Increase or the Domain Name Will be Sold

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At our town’s annual meeting, there was a discussion about paving a secondary road. The non-critical infrastructure project was needed to be done at some point, but it had been put off for a few years. The town seemed pretty split on whether or not to spend the low millions on completing the project.

Towards the end of the public discussion, a gentleman stood up to comment and noted how the cost of the project more than doubled since it was first discussed. He also predicted the cost would continue to increase, and because it was a project that was going to need to be done at some point, the town might as well get it done at today’s cost.

The town voted in favor of completing the project, and the road was paved shortly thereafter.

Diamond.com Sold via Saw.com for 7 Figures

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A little over a week ago, I came across Diamond.com, and I noticed its coming soon page. When I scrolled down, I saw a message indicating that it was owned by a company that has been in the diamond industry for many years. The last time I heard about Diamond.com back in 2018, it had plans to become a cryptocurrency exchange.

A Whois search at DomainTools led me to a screenshot showing a Saw.com “for sale” landing page. I reached out to Saw.com CEO Jeff Gabriel to ask if the domain name was recently sold, and he confirmed the sale of Diamond.com was brokered by his company. He let me know the company planned to announce the sale publicly after the Dubai Domain Days conference.

That announcement came this morning on X:

I Would Love to Go Back in Time

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NameBio does a very good job of tracking down and reporting domain name auction results. Domain investors aren’t the only people who use NameBio to find domain sales data. Domain brokers and domain name buyers use NameBio to get intelligence on domain names they want to buy.

Once a year in a domain name sale negotiation, a counterparty mentions the purchase price I paid to buy a domain name. I guess the prospect may think it’s a way to get a lower price and/or justify their low offer. This tactic works as well as someone mentioning that they’re a student looking to buy a domain name for a school project.

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