Just released is Sedo's weekly sales list, a weekly list of public transactions above $2,000. This weeks highlights included the top .com sold as LXW.com at $47,011.00, the top ccTLD as bummeln.de at 10,250 EUR and the top “other” TLD as convenience.org at $55,000.00. Here is the entire list from Sedo from 02/06/2017 – 02/12/2017. Domain … [Read more...]
Verisign Still Pushing Hard on .Net Domains; Sales Remain Active; New IDN for Korea
NEW YORK, NY - While at NamesCon, I noticed a television commercial for the .net domain extension pushing it as a leading “trusted extension” and touting its long standing history in the domain space; the .net domain name was created on the same day as the .com in January 1985. (I’m pretty sure the video was part of Verisign’s “Uncommonly Timeless” collection of .net marketing pieces - it looked like one of these on YouTube [one is below].) According to Verisign, the … [Read more...]
Nice to Hear: Dot Info Domain Extension Used in Radio Commercial by University
I heard one of my first radio commercials today to use a “.info” domain name for its website address. The commercial was about “Brain Imaging” research and was running on behalf of Stony Brook University Hospital and Yale University for their Department of Psychiatry using the domain name Imagers.info to promote Opportunities to Participate in Research. I’ve always liked .info domain names very much when it comes to either “getting information” about something or … [Read more...]
There’s Pork In That Bill; DNA’s HDI Overreaching with Registry Handling of Copyright Infringement
NEW YORK, NY - The Domain Name Association (DNA), a new non-profit association “supposedly” (I just learned about them) representing the interests of the domain name industry, is suggesting in its “Healthy Domain Initiative” (HDI) four objectives for registry and registrars to participate in voluntary actions which are intended to protect and advance the evolution of the domain name system. Again, I use the word “supposedly” only because I just recently heard of this … [Read more...]
Measuring New gTLD Growth and Market Share via The DNS Zone File System
NEW YORK, NY - As should be no surprise, new gTLD growth and usage is on the rise exponentially. There are several tools available for measuring gTLD growth and market share which are ‘fairly accurate’ as they use the DNS Zone File system which maps domain names and IP addresses. One such tool which I originally thought was new is ntldstats.com, although the owner Stefan Meinecke was interviewed back in 2014 by TheDomains.com - so it is far from … [Read more...]
Sedo.com Weekly Domain Name Sales List 01/30/2017 – 02/05/2017
I reached out to Sedo's media relations team this week to ask about receiving the entire data-set for public domain name sales in 2016 but I was not able to receive it as it is proprietary. They do release market study infographics yet those are only available up until 2013; there is no 2014, 2015 or 2016 reports. If you have information on where I can receive an entire years data of domain sale reports for 2016 please share it by either emailing me or placing it in the … [Read more...]
What Extensions Changed Hands in 2016 According to DNJournal’s Top 100 Charts
NEW YORK, NY - A reader suggested I look at the top domain sales of 2016 (specifically, the number of notable new gTLD sales); while I am waiting for a response from Sedo for a full set of data (if they will release it), I used Ron Jackson's popular 2016 Top 100 Domain Sales Charts to get an idea of exactly what moved around last year and how many ccTLDs verses gTLD domains hit the charts. Below is what I found [give or take a domain or two] (It was pretty grueling … [Read more...]
Could Domain Investing Industry End with Legal Provision for Domain “Hoarding”
NEW YORK, NY - What if you had to have a legitimate use for each and every domain name you have registered in your domain account? What if every single domain name you owned had to be associated with a business website which served its own purpose? It’s not happening yet, but it could happen. Every once in a while people ask me what I think are coming challenges for domain owners and I always have the same answer; regulation. If you follow what happened in the 1-800 Toll … [Read more...]
Domain Suspension – Registrant Information Verification Failure; It Could Happen to You
REMINDER: If you change either the first name, last name or email address on one of your domain registrations, you’ll need to verify the new information via email within 15 calendar days or you will be met with a page similar to this one in the below screenshot. This new policy took effect back in January of 2014 but this is how long it took for me to actually see one of these pages in action; it happened today. Not paying attention to those email verification … [Read more...]
Sometimes You Just Cannot Have the .com Name That You Want; Now Move On
It’s aggravating to find frivolous lawsuits such as one I will talk about today where someone fighting for a domain just doesn’t get it. The single thing that takes a negative situation like this and shows some positive light is when you find that there are good - no great people such as David E. Weslow (handling the case pro-bono) and organizations like the Internet Commerce Association (how I found out about this) which help tilt the scale in the other direction. Situations … [Read more...]
EDITED: Why Great .com Domain Names Are Paying Less Dividends for Investors
RETRACTION: A previous version of this article had listed two specific GTLD domain names sold last year (2016), instead of this year (2017); these GTLD domain names have been removed. Additionally a statement comparing the GTLDs as being sold higher than the .com domains, was a result of this error. The article has been edited to remove these examples. Although .com domain sales seemed lower than usual, so did GTLDs - in their performance when compared to last year. NEW … [Read more...]
Why Purchase of “Tainted” DNForum.com by New Owners = Good Investment
NEW YORK, NY - As most of you have already heard, DNForum.com, has been purchased by domain name enthusiasts George Verdugo and Kevin Faler. The two now have their work cut out for them as they begin to rebrand the forum, once again, as “The Place to Talk Domains”. But they have got competition – fierce competition as there are many other domain forums out there, one of which is the extremely popular NamePros.com. I ran into George at NamesCon and one of the first … [Read more...]
Expense Report: Domainers to See Increase in Costs via Secure Browser Requirements
Over the last year, buzz on SSL use in general has been skyrocketing due to increased hacking and search engine requirements. Now, web browsers will instill even more urgency for webmasters and site owners to get-their-act-together and prepare to tackle the challenge of converting non-secure sites, to secure. In a business field already difficult to prosper, the last thing you need is another monkey-wrench thrown into the mix. For many domain owners, including myself, it … [Read more...]
No More Procrastinating on Two Factor Authenticating Protect Your Domains
There is one thing that can come between you and your business regardless of whom you are and how safe you feel your security procedures might be and that’s theft – especially in the domain business. There is a lot that can go wrong in the Internet business as it is, but likely nothing would be as bad as someone stealing your entire Internet address. Poof, all the sudden your entire business is gone. In a brick-and-motor business, it’s not likely that someone will come along … [Read more...]
New gTLD? Not So Fast; History Suggests New ‘Right of the Dots’ Could = Total Failure
It's a time where new generic top level domains are taking a lot of the lime-light in domain circles, sales charts, and buzz; but is the entire thing just a huge distraction from what domainers should really be focused on? I stumbled upon a case-in-point scenario that no domainer should ignore, and I cannot believe no-one is talking about it more. It's got me questioning even my own enthusiasm for these new, right of the dots. And please do not get me wrong; I myself have … [Read more...]