TEMPE, AZ - GoDaddy, the well-known domain registrar and hosting company, announced last week they will be acquiring competing domain sales company Dan.com, a move that GoDaddy stated would enable them to “reach more potential buyers.” Previously launching under the name Undeveloped, Dan.com made a name for themselves by attempting to undercut the competition by reducing their initial industry-standard commission fee of 15 percent to just 9 percent, which led to several … [Read more...]
Domain Name Registrar Epik Feels It’s Being Deplatformed After PayPal Cuts Ties
SAMMAMISH, WA - After online payments system PayPal stopped offering services to Epik, the domain name registrar company says it’s being targeted on political grounds and not what Paypal has said to be a financial basis. A number of open letters have been posted by Epik responding to the issue, and the company cited that 'service risk' was the reason PayPal gave over the withdrawal of Epik’s support. While PayPal says it regrets the decision and the inconvenience caused … [Read more...]
SEDO: Largest European Registrar to Implement New SedoMLS Brokerage
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - Sedo, the world's leading domain marketplace is announcing a newly released feature for registrars they say will “further strengthen the bonds between the primary and secondary markets.” Registrar customers can now get the domains they really want while domain sellers gain increased access to even more buyers. All registrars who are part of the SedoMLS network can now easily expand their integration to include the newly available SedoMLS Brokerage. … [Read more...]
Domain Name Biz Uniregistry Scores on Domain Name “DomainNames.com”
NEW YORK - A few weeks ago at NamesCon Global 2019 one of the industry’s best domain names, in my opinion, was acquired by Uniregistry, the brainchild of founder Frank Schilling, who operates the company from its Cayman Islands headquarters. As many in the domain industry were, Schilling was in attendance and won the highest bid on DomainNames.com for $370,000, one of the largest sales in the live auction. The remainder of domains which were not sold at the live event, … [Read more...]
ICA Lays Ground for Compelling Argument Even the Most Bias of Opinion Cannot Deny
NEW YORK, NY – Two things happened on November 1, 2018, when the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced it would renew its Cooperative Agreement with Verisign while removing price caps on fees it charges registries: Verisign’s stock (VRSN) shot up $25 per share in a single day (then levelling off at still a healthy gain), Verisign came out blasting domain industry participants, calling them “Domain Scalpers” near suggesting that … [Read more...]
Verisign Warns Industry: Far Greater Worry Then Their Minuscule Rate Increase
NEW YORK, NY – They say that when you mess with the bull, you get the horns. Yesterday, Verisign, the company behind all issuing of .com domain names to ICANN approved registries, came out blasting attempts by industry insiders trying to control a price cap that was set by something called the Cooperative Agreement, an agreement between the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) and Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN), which for years, prevented any increase … [Read more...]
Founding Chair of ICANN: New gTLDs Will Make Lawyers, Registrars, Registries Rich
NEW YORK – This past week, another new gTLD domain name bit-the-dust when Richemont, the company behind Cartier jewelry and Mont Blanc pens, terminated its fifth dot-brand gTLD. Reading over some backscatter comments on the issue I was enlightened with the below video, from Esther Dyson, former Chairman of the ICANN Board and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who held back very little while she reminded people that she is clearly on record with her negative thoughts and … [Read more...]
The Birth of ICANN: “The Green Paper”
NEW YORK - In 1997, the United States government under then President Clinton began processes to remove its control over the Domain Name System by creating research and dialog on how control of domain names and IP addresses should be handled in the future - by a non-profit organization in the private sector. This resulted in a document which has become known as "The Green Paper" originally named "A Proposal to Improve the Technical Management of Internet Names and … [Read more...]
Basically: How to Make a Good Website from a Domain Name; Layman’s Terms
NEW YORK, NY - Sometimes a simple explanation of how to do something can go a very long way. That is what we are doing this evening, we're going over how the heck to build a website from a simple domain name address. The basics; in layman's terms. First. The first thing you want to do with your project is to pick a good domain name. You want to pick a domain name with keywords related to whatever it is that you are building. For instance, if you were building a … [Read more...]
SedoMLS Network to Bring up to 18M Premium Domains to 16M+ Customers of Top Registrar 1&1 Internet
March 2nd, 2017 – Sedo, the world’s largest domain marketplace and monetization provider, and 1&1 Internet, the most trusted partner for digital success for small businesses, today announced a partnership that enables 1&1 to offer up to 18 million premium domain names from Sedo’s domain marketplace to its customer base of 16.75 million. The distribution of these premium domain names is made possible by the web’s largest domain distribution network, SedoMLS. 1&1 … [Read more...]
Throwback: Is Domain Parking Really Dead? If So, What Killed It? (Reprint: It’s That Good)
NEW YORK - A lot has changed with Domain Parking Revenue as well as Google Ad Earnings over the last, say, decade. There has been such great change that it's sometimes difficult to articulate - in a nutshell, why things have changed so drastically and in how many different ways this change has come about. I don't think anyone would argue that these changes have and continue to fundamentally reshape the entire industry. Last evening, I came across an article by writer and … [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...]
Just Another ‘Go-Nowhere’ Transaction at GoDaddy’s Aftermarket for Domains; WTF?
NEW YORK, NY - Let me begin by saying I am a big fan of GoDaddy.com and have been doing business with them since I began working on the Internet. I’m also a Wild West Domains reseller and believe it or not, I may not have even found this fantastic industry if it were not for Godaddy’s “Website Tonight” product which is now called “Website Builder” as it resulted in me building my very first website. In my opinion, GoDaddy.com is one of the best registrars for domains and I … [Read more...]
NamesCon 2017 Takes Place in Las Vegas, Jan 22 – 25, 2017; Be There or Be, ‘Square’
In just over two weeks the largest domain name conference in the World will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, from January 22 to January 25. Over 1,400 guests are expected to visit the Tropicana Las Vegas on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, specifically for NamesCon. The hotel has a 50,000-square-foot casino for night time fun and more than 72,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space which the event will take great advantage of. Most everyone, who has anything to … [Read more...]