$5.99 = .Com / .Net + Privacy + SSL Cert

Namecheap are doing a promo which expires in the next 72 hours. Take advantage of this right now!

Transfer your .com and .net domains for $5.99 and you get FREE WhoisGuard and a FREE Positive SSL certificate. Just use the coupon code TRANSCHEAP.

You won’t find a cheaper price anywhere.

Exclusive Interview With David Kesmodel – The Domain Game

In an exclusive interview, I speak with David Kesmodel, author of the book The Domain Game – How People Get Rich From Internet Domain Names.

The interview goes for nearly an hour; we covered a wide range of topics including:

* A history of domaining

* Advertising, parking, development

* Secrecy and egos

* Extreme risk takers vs. visionaries

* ICANN & Verisign

* Old school domains and the future of .WhatEverYouWant

* Heaps more !!

This interview is a MUST for serious domainers. I’m sure you are going to LOVE IT.

You can get a copy of this book right now from Amazon. I expect that this book will be on the bookshelf of every domainer on the planet. Once you get a copy, you won’t be able to put it down.

Enjoy.

Snapnames Might Be Up In 18 Hours

I received the email below from Snapnames at 4am. It seems that Snapnames have employed somebody with some basic writing skills as this is slightly more reassuring. However I wouldn’t have explicitly said “It’s very important to us to maintain that confidence in our service and our team” . For one, the sentence doesn’t read very well and secondly, that should be the objective of the email, not something that is explicitly stated.

It’s interesting to note that Snapnames also stated that they are working “with the vendor to correct the issue”. This makes me think that it could be something like a database back end or perhaps some sort of processing that has gone belly up – although I’d just be speculating. Here is the email:

—–

Dear SnapNames Customers:

The SnapNames Team

—–

Let’s see what tomorrow brings!

DNF Down – Database Error

Just after my previous post I decided to check out what the forums were saying about Snapnames being down. So off I go to DNF… only to get:

What’s a domainer going to do at 6pm on a Sunday night? At least NamePros and NameJet are up…. for now!

Snapnames New Offline Business Model

Snapnames is unavailable AGAIN! Over the past few weeks the site has been up and down like Donkey Kong.

As I type this post, the SnapNames website reads:

“We do not currently have an estimated up time. We will try to update you as we know more. It is probable that auctions scheduled to close Sunday will be moved to Monday. Check the site at 10am PDT Sunday for confirmation of that delay. We’re sorry for this inconvenience.”

You don’t exactly give your customers a level of comfort by using the word “probable“. Perhaps your PR / Corporate Communications people should come up with a nice spiel for your web page when everything breaks.

It’s also interesting to note, that this time last week your website was also down.

Snapnames, what’s the deal? Isn’t it about time you provided an explanation for all this downtime?

Network Solutions, Backorders & Parking Revenue

A couple of hours ago I won another NameJet auction – nothing new there. However, the domain was registered at Network Solutions. Alongside the NameJet auction email was another one from Network Solutions telling me that I’d won the name and that it was renewed and transferred to my account – good.

Like a kid in a candy store, I quickly visit the Network Solutions website to check that everything is ok – but I can’t – their web site isn’t accessible. Grrr… Unfortuantely I can’t make any DNS changes to park the domain name. But then again, should I even have to? If you use Snapnames, you can go into your settings and nominate default DNS servers. Not in this case – I won using NameJet! Network Solutions has my beautiful domain name, parked with their ads! Noooooooo!

Lets look at their cashflow model:

1. Sally buys name at Network Solutions = $$$
2. Sally doesn’t renew her name
3. Network Solutions provides NameJet with the ability to auction the domain name = $$$ ?
4. John wins the auction and pays NameJet = $$$
5. The domain name is parked at Network Solutions until the owner changes the DNS = parking $$$
6. The domain name is renewed by the new owner = $$$

How the role of a domain name registrar has changed!

WIPO Takes Down Fake Arsenal Site

Its been reported that official-arsenal-tickets.com had been set up in bad faith to divert business from the club’s own site. For those interested in the details its WIPO case for D2008-0842.

While there have been various media reports speculating about who made the complaint; what I do know is that the complainant was The Arsenal Football Club Public Limited Company and the respondent was Domains by Proxy, Inc./Official Tickets Ltd.

auDA Wants Feedback On Industry Competition

auDA’s Industry Competition Advisory Panel is currently reviewing their competition model for the Australian domain name industry.

The Panel has released an Issues Paper for public consultation, which sets out the current situation and canvasses the issues and possible options for change. The closing date for submissions is Friday 1 August 2008.

Here are a few interesting points:

• “Abandon the competitive registry model and make auDA the registry operator”
  

This sounds like someone has been talking too much to ICANN or Verisign.

• “the start-up capital costs constitute the most significant barrier for prospective new entrants” Ohhh.. the poor kids down the road can’t become an operator.

HELLO, its called capitalism ! I’d note that “Accredited registrars pay an annual fee to auDA of $3,300 and there is also a $2,200 non-refundable accreditation application fee.”

• “auDA does not have the legal power to impose financial penalties on a registrar who has breached the Registrar Agreement.”

So registrars can basically do whatever they want as long as its not serious, to the point of suspension or termination the registrar’s accreditation.

• “Questions have been raised however, about the extent to which registrars should be allowed to participate in domain-related activities other than the core business of registering domain names for registrants. For example, is it appropriate or desirable for registrars to be in the business of warehousing domain names for their own domain monetisation purposes?”
  

Watch out – its those evil domainers again!

• “It has been suggested that this lack of market transparency could be addressed by publishing a list of deleted and expiring domain names, or by placing the domain names in a “holding pool” for a period of time before making them available to the general public.“

This is just a bad idea. Again, see the word capitalism. Looking into my crystal ball I see auDA being in a position to profit from this “holding pool”. Who will have the independence to maintain it?

It appears that auDA needs all the help it can get. Have a look at the Issues Paper and send your comments to:

auDA Industry Competition Advisory Panel
email: i...@auda.org.au
fax: 03 8341 4112

Sedo Cares? Gives HALF the funds to charity!

If I asked you to tell me the first things that come to mind when I say “Sedo” – what would you say? I might be completely wrong, but I’m guessing the word “cares” wouldn’t be one of them.

This morning I received an email titled “Wishing Well Promotion:: Win Cash and Promote Change!“. At first I thought spam, then I thought “promote change” – that sounds like CNN’s “be the change” promo…. so I opened the email from Sedo.

At the top of the email was a picture of the world, a large green leaf and a little African child. Wow, the marketing guys really picked one issue from each category for this promo! It looks like something from an NGO like WorldVision.

So what’s the bottom line? Well, if you spend 1,000 USD/EUR/GBP or more, Sedo puts $10 into a bucket (Wishing Well). At the end of the month half of the money in the “Wishing Well” is given to CHF International “in response to the drought occurring in Ethiopia“. The other half will be given at random to a buyer or seller who closed a transaction through Sedo during the month of August. What the? Am I living in the twilight zone here? What we have is – drought in Ethiopia vs large latte at Starbucks. Hmmmm… Some people might find this hard to believe, so here is their landing page for the promotion with all the info.

So let me get the straight – domainers buy stuff from Sedo for $1k and Sedo gives $5 to charity and the other $5 to a domainer. Great concept around the charity, but very BAD execution. It should be a competition OR a charity.

Here is an extract from CHF International which explains how much $$ is required:

• $300 provides a family with proper sanitation;
• $600 provides a year’s supply of food and water for one growing child;
• $1,000 repairs an existing well that will provide 400 people with clean water;
• $7,000 builds a new well, which could save the lives of 800 people;
• $12,000 builds a new school building, providing children with valuable education.“

Sedo, why don’t you donate 100% of the funds to the charity? $5 is nothing to a domainer. If you really cared, you would give it all to charity.

Don’t get me wrong – conceptually this is a great idea. I believe that Western countries and wealthy individuals have an obligation to give something back to society. I personally donate to several charities on a monthly basis.

Sedo should be congratulated on making the first step as they didn’t have to do it. There is now an opportunity to get it right and set an example to the rest of the industry.

Preview of Affiliate Summit 2008 In Boston

The guys from Oversee dropped me an email yesterday about their upcoming auction. It starts on Sunday August 10 and continues through to Thursday, August 21.

Here is a small selection of names that I like:

CreditCheck.us, SuperSaving.com, Trades.net, OnlineDiscounts.com, SellingTips.com and OrlandoHotelGuide.com.

There are a lot more premium names and the full catalog will be release in due course.