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Elliots.com – You Have an Inquiry

Ten days ago, Elliots.com sold for $2,759 via GoDaddy Auctions. I was a bidder on the auction, but I maxed out just below $1k. I appreciate that many people reached out to make sure I was aware of the auction.

This morning, I received an email from someone who wants to buy the domain name:

Giving LTO Option to DBS Broker

I received a GoDaddy Domain Broker Service (DBS) inquiry for one of my favorite domain names. The offer was $25k, which isn’t enough to start a conversation. The broker understood this, likely because he can see at least one higher offer for this name and several other offers in the database. I joked with him that GoDaddy has made more money on DBS lead fees than I’ve made from this name – yet.

In speaking with the broker, he indicated that the buyer – whose identity and other background information was not shared with me – would be a good fit for the domain name. When I shared what it would take to get a deal done, he did not sound too optimistic about the buyer having the budget. Whether this is true or a negotiation tactic to get a better deal for his client is neither here nor there.

Longest and Shortest Billboard Domain Names

I spent Father’s Day weekend at our son’s soccer tournament in the middle of New Jersey. It was a 6 hour drive, but it made more sense to do that than to fly and rent a car. New Jersey never disappoints when it comes to billboard content, and this trip was no different.

On the way to New Jersey, I took a photo of this billboard advertising a 5 word .com domain name – IGotHurtInJersey.com. This is a memorable domain name that is used as a forwarder to the Fredson Statmore Bitterman law firm’s website. Smartly, the firm also bought and uses the longer IGotHurtInNewJersey.com as well. I don’t think I have ever seen a longer domain name on a billboard before.

Rookie Mistake: Reading Expiry Lists at Breakfast

Every morning, as early as I am awake, I look through domain name expiry lists to see what is coming up for auction. I’ll spend anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours reading these lists of names in my Dropping email and on ExpiredDomains.net to identify acquisition targets.

Each day, there are domain names in these lists that are made up of terms or words that, to put mildly, are inappropriate for kids to read. Some of these domain names make me think, “who the heck would ever even think about registering that domain name!?” Some of the domain names I see crack me up, but their meanings would be difficult to explain to a child.

GoDaddy Auctions Running NameFind Auctions

GoDaddy is running a featured auction via its GoDaddy Auctions platform with domain names from its NameFind portfolio. While I would argue the domain names aren’t as valuable as they were in its NameFind auction last year, there seem to be some good inventory-quality domain names up for bid.

When sorted, I can see there are 4 pages of auctions with the maximum 100 domain names shown. The auctions have minimum bids ranging from $299 to $7,999. This is more than the starting price for its traditional expiry auctions. I do not believe there are reserve prices beyond the minimum bid amounts, so if someone bids on a domain name and there are no other bidders, it will be sold.

Spaceship Hits 1 Million DUM – Only 13% of New Registrations are .com

Earlier this morning, Richard Kirkendall shared that Spaceship hit the 1 million Domains Under Management (DUM) mark. Richard is the Founder of Namecheap and its sister registrar, Spaceship, which came out of beta just over a year ago:

Following Richard’s comments, the Spaceship PR team shared some data about the domain names registered via its platform. Some of the data was surprising to me. Here are some of the facts that caused me to do a double take.