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Price Testing

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In 2022, my wife and I decided our kids were ready for some big mountain skiing and we planned a trip to the Rocky Mountains. Prior to leaving, I spent some time researching new skis and narrowed it down to three pairs. I ended up picking the least expensive option. The ideal pair – the Volkl Kendo 88s were about $200 more expensive and I didn’t want to spend the additional money to buy them.

Since buying my skis, I’ve checked in on the Kendo 88 from time to time. Volkl has continued to improve them the last two years, and I had some regret about my decision. My current setup is fine, but I think I would have been better off with the other skis.

GoDaddy Making You Sign in to See What You Renewed (Updated)

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This morning, I noticed something different in a domain name renewal email from GoDaddy. Instead of telling me exactly what domain names I renewed in the renewal receipt email, it simply said “.COM Domain Renewal” along with the term and price. You can see what this looks like below:

This is either a change that was made today or a data retrieval error.

I Ask for their Budget, Not an Offer

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I don’t love asking prospective buyers to make an offer to buy a domain name, particularly on higher value assets. Not only does it encourage time wasting lowball offers, it also implies that the seller is open to considering any offer, and people tend to make unrealistically low opening offers fearing a realistic offer will lead to a very high counteroffer. It can be a frustrating waste of time for all involved.

That being said, I don’t like to have “buy now” pricing for my highest value domain names. The higher end of the domain name market is dynamic, and my pricing can also vary based on my own business performance. A domain name can be priced at $175k one day and $150k or $250k the next day, depending on different factors.

MJ.com to be Offered on Rally

A few years ago, I wrote about domain names being offered up on Rally, “a platform for buying & selling equity shares in collectible assets.” It looks like the company offered fractional ownership in at least two domain names that I can see – HotSpot.com and Directions.com.

HotSpot.com currently has a $136,500 “market cap” and Directions.com has a $68,600 “market cap” on the platform. I am not familiar with the platform, but it looks like both domain names are trading for less than when shares were first available on the platform.

.AI Auctions: “too many cases of people not paying”

The most popular auction events in the last year have been the monthly .AI expiry auctions held by the .AI registry in Anguilla. Apparently, there has been a dearth of non-paying bidders who participate in these auctions. As a result, the .AI registry is making a change.

Vincent Cate, the person who manages the .AI registry on behalf of Anguilla, announced two changes that are being made with the hope of discouraging and/or eliminating the number of non-paying bidders:

Pitstop.com UDRP: Whois Privacy Prevented RDNH

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When I saw a UDRP had been filed against PitStop.com by a company called Distribuidora Automotiva S.A., I spent a couple of minutes checking the Whois history at DomainTools. My non-legal conclusion was that this UDRP is DOA and it will result in a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH).

The domain name was defended by attorney John Berryhill, and the three member UDRP panel ruled in favor of the registrant. This was not a surprise. PitStop.com is a descriptive domain name, with the “pit stop” phrase used by brands and used generically throughout the world. One entity should not have the right to control the .com domain name for a descriptive term, in my opinion.

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