ICANN Report Says Domain Tasting Down 99.7%

ICANN has released the second update to the GNSO Council on the implementation of its recommendations for the Add Grace Period (AGP) Limits Policy.

Since April 2009 (when ICANN implemented policy to interfere with a free market), “the number of AGP deletes across all TLDs has held steady at around 55-65k names per month approximately 0.3% of what it once was”.

China Wants Your ID For .CN

Chinese State-Run Media is reporting that CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) is requesting that applicants must submit written applications to the registration agents.

The written materials must include an application form with an official seal, an enterprise business license and the registrant’s ID card.

Liu Zhijiang, vice director of CNNIC confirmed the news saying that the administration was determined to screen the applicant’s qualifications strictly to stop individuals obtaining domain names using fake information.

Its been reported that the announcement came after a report by China Central Television (CCTV) which critisized the registration process and linked it to the prevalence of pornographic websites.

Source: Global Times & China Daily.

Six Namecheap Coupons – Just In Time For Christmas

In any domainers portfolio there are always a handful of domains that expire towards the end of the year. I’ve just renewed my last three domains and in doing this I spent some time researching NameCheap coupons.

As such, I thought I’d post them up here for the benefit of others. By the way, its good to renew your domains for multiple years (at least 2). That way it keeps the administration overhead down.

NameCheap Christmas Coupons
1. snowneedle – Gives you $8.88 gTLDs.

2. switch2nc – $6.99 transfers (when you move your domain to Namecheap)

3. xmastree gives you 25% off shared/reseller hosting

4. santa gives you 50% off VPS for the first month

5. snowstorm gives you 10% discount for hosting packages

Remember, NameCheap gives you FREE whois privacy for the first year. I’ve personally found this valuable in keeping away spammers and others who spy on you.

6. WGSPECIAL – If you are renewing WhoisGuard (Privacy Protection) then use this coupon. It gives you Privacy Protection for just $0.99 instead of $2.88. If you do it now (I just tested it) you get a FREE PositiveSSL certificate.

If you have found these useful or if they have saved you $$$, please post a comment and let me know.

White House Dinner Party Crashers Miss Out On Domain Name

Tareq Salahi appears to have missed out on the domain name TareqSalahi.com after it was registered on November 26 to an individual in Palm Beach Florida.

It appears that Tareq registered michaelesalahi.com on June 15, but forgot to register his own name!

He and his wife Michaele gained national attention in November 2009 by allegedly crashing a White House state dinner in honor of India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Michaele Salahi has been filmed as one of the housewives for Bravo’s upcoming The Real Housewives of DC, and sources say cameramen for the show filmed their preparations for the dinner and followed the couple to the White House.

Russia Adds Domain Name To Olympic Emblem

This is the first time a domain name has been part of an Olympic host city’s emblem.

The word “sochi.ru” appears above the number “2014″ in an apparent reflection, symbolizing the southern city’s water-based location on the Black Sea.

“It’s very appealing. It’s very creative, innovative,” International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said at Tuesday’s unveiling. “I think it will appeal especially to the young population.”

It’s been reported that the IOC president then asked someone what a “domain name” was.

For those that believe there could be an opportunity – the .com, .net and .org is taken… as is the .ru.

National Center for Science Education Moves Away From .ORG

The US National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has moved away from .org to .com.

The move appeared to be facilitated by NameMedia who reportedly provided a substantial discount on the ncse.com domain.

About: The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit, membership organization providing information and resources for schools, parents and concerned citizens working to keep evolution in public school science education.

Kelsey Grammer Registers “Live” After Refusing To Pay For Domain

Kelsey Grammer has reportedly given up on trying to get back kelseygrammer.com after someone else registered the domain name.

Grammer launched KelseyLive.com after refusing to buy kelseygrammer.com. The former Frasier star reportedly said:

“Twenty years ago, everybody bought everybody’s name and I never paid for mine back. I just said, ‘Screw ya’.”

How Domainers Can Profit From Companies That Go Bust!

In my opinion, the GFC presents us with an opportunity to make some serious money. Consequently, when I came across this “text book case” of Joe’s Sports, Outdoor & More – I just had to share it.

Bricks and Mortar Goes Bankrupt

The Oregon retail outlet “Joe’s Sports & Outdoor” filed for Chapter 11 around March 2009. The company listed both assets and debt ranging from $100 million to $500 million. It apparently owed its 30 largest unsecured creditors a total of $12.8 million.

Domains Acquired

Alberta-based UFA Co-operative Ltd acquired the domain names JoesSports.com and GIJoes.com. They outsourced the fulfillment to GSI Commerce – the same company that did it for the old bricks’n'mortar Joe’s. Essentially all that UFA Co-operative Ltd does now is sit back and earn a commission from all the sales.

A great story – very smart.

Sources: Oregon Live and Oregon Business News.

Dynadot Takes .EU IDN Pre-Orders

The central registry for EU domains will be launching support for IDN on December 10, 2009 at 10:00 UTC.

EU IDNs will support Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic character sets. Dynadot is charging the following prices for EU IDN registrations: $11.99 regular, $10.99 bulk, and $10.75 super bulk.

If you are interested in pre-ordering for .EU IDNs then head on over to Dynadot and start stocking up.

Halvarez Registrant Of Parked Domains – Who’s Getting The Ad Revenue?

Given Snapnames opened up their auction history, I decided to login and take a look at some auctions where I’d encountered Halverez – there were quite a few. It was like a trip down memory lane…. I remember back in 2005 when I bid on ….

While plowing through the results, a few things came to mind when I reviewed this auction below:

Question #1

Should people be compensated by Snapnames when they lose the auction to Halverez? In other words, Halverez ends up with the domain name they were bidding on?

Snapnames has stated they ” will offer a rebate, with 5.22% interest” but that’s only to those whose bids were inflated by the fake auction bids.

Question #2

What is Snapnames going to do about domain names that are currently registered to Halverez? The current whois record for this name that I lost at auction, has known contact details for Halverez. The creation date matches up perfectly to the auction date.

Question #3

Who is receiving the revenue from domain names that Halverez “won” at auction? For example, the domain name I lost to Halverez above is currently parked:

Who has been making money from this domain? How many other domains are there like this? In terms of compensation, how do you put a price on lost opportunity cost, revenue from parking/development and revenue from domain sales?

This is starting to take shape now that there appears to be a Class Action Lawsuit filed.

Tell us what you think! Have you have lost to Halverez? What happened?