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?

—

Dear SnapNames Customers:

As you are likely aware, the SnapNames service was unavailable between last Thursday evening U.S. Pacific time and today.  We are pleased to tell you functionality has now been restored and that important data, including transaction history, has been fully retained.

Please note that auctions scheduled to close between July 4-7 will now close at (time EDT) on Tuesday, July 8. Please monitor any auctions accordingly.

We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced during this time.  Should you have furtherquestions, you can reach us here:

Technical Support:         support@snapnames.com
Telephone:                    (800) 385-4075 (toll-free in the U.S.)
+ 1 503 241-8547 (outside the U.S.)

Sincerely,
The SnapNames Team
—

Their website reads:

Thank you for your patience during the recent outage to our service. The SnapNames system is again fully functional and ready to accept your orders and bids.

Please note, auctions scheduled to close between July 4-7 will now close on Tuesday, July 8 or later. Please monitor any auctions accordingly. If you have questions, please contact us at support@snapnames.com.

Using Coupons At TDNAM

When you buy an expired domain name at TDNAM, you can use coupons to reduce the price you pay. The saving is on the 1 year renewal cost, so here is a list of coupons that I ran through a few minutes ago:

Coupon code: “gdbb776” made the 1 year renewal decrease from $9.99 to $7.50, while “cjcbentld” reduced it to $7.64 and “gdbb776” reduced it to $7.50. So take your pick.

Its important to note that these coupons didn’t work for me on a domain name that was listed by a 3rd party. But don’t let that worry you.

Advantages Of Not Buying An Expired Domain Name

One MAJOR ADVANTAGE of buying a name from a 3rd party is that you get to keep the entire history of the domain name. This is something to give serious thought to when bidding.

For the beginners reading this, I’ll explain what I mean. When you backorder an expired / expiring domain name from a backordering company, the domain actually expires and renews as a part of the drop process. As such, search engines tend not to keep their directory listings, cached web pages etc.. BUT when you buy a domain from a 3rd party, it’s not a part of the drop process. If the expiry date comes up, then you just renew it, like you would any other domain name.

The search engines keep all that valuable history, your happy - everyones happy. Now, time to monetize that new domain!

Unfortunately, there are those amongst us that can’t complain enough about parking revenue, backordering fees, adsense blah, blah, blah - and I’m tired of it! I don’t want to be around negative people, however I do want to set the record straight.

Here are a few dictionary words that will expire over the next few days:

April 23

altimeters.org
backboards.org
broodmares.com
defectives.org
ferrous.org
hairdrier.org
humanization.org
hymnbooks.org
lariats.org
paratroops.org
pooed.net
premolar.net
setsquare.org
starfruit.org
tensile.org
terrycloth.org
vaquero.org
zealotry.net

April 24

contortion.net
defecated.com
enthral.net
half-baked.net
meriting.com
militarise.com
motorboated.com
peasantry.net
reedit.net
spinally.com

April 25

deactivation.net
gipsies.net
goldfinches.net
moires.com
overmodest.com
prelates.net
presided.net
rebuttals.net
starchier.com
thrushes.net
tromps.com
trustfully.net
turtledoves.net
two-faced.net

April 26

mullein.net
no-no.net
perambulator.net
recommissions.com
tieback.net
titivate.net

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying that you will make a million dollars out of these names, but dictionary words are still around and yes, you can backorder them! Best of luck in the auction.

• Lack of understanding of the industry amongst the media and the general public.
• Introduction of legislation by governments.
• Trademark and copyright issues.
• Lack of active industry associations.
• A few bad eggs….

Over the next few weeks I’ll be discussing these issues at length and what we can do as individuals and as a group, to combat these threats.