Domain Name Wire

• Anyone can start a club on Clubhouse now. What does this mean for .Club?

  

  A new feature could improve the interplay between Clubhouse and .club domains. It’s been quite a ride for .Club this year thanks to the popular Clubhouse app. Some people are buying .club domains to use in conjunction with the app, and many more ar…
  - 2 days ago, 6 Mar 21, 8:00pm -
• This company didn’t want you to dropcatch BoatSecure.com

  

  It was apparently bombarded by auction frontrunners. One of the expired domain auctions on DropCatch.com this afternoon was for the domain BoatSecure.com. I was researching the name and looking at other companies using the extension when I came upon…
  - 3 days ago, 5 Mar 21, 8:17pm -
• FTA.com domain name sells for $400,000

  

  Shane Kinsch strikes again with another big domain name sale. Anyone who owns a three letter .com domain name has received many offers for it. It was probably tempting to sell during the Chinese boom a few years back, when investors regularly offered…
  - 3 days ago, 5 Mar 21, 4:19pm -
• Korean chicken restaurant chain settles lawsuit with domain investor

  

  Company had tried to secure a domain through a UDRP, only to be hit with a lawsuit. Korean fast food chain Mom’s Touch has settled a lawsuit domain name investor GNO, Inc. (Gregg Ostrick) filed against it. Mom’s Touch’s parent company, Haimarro…
  - 4 days ago, 4 Mar 21, 7:01pm -
• 14 recent end user domain name sales

  

  A cybersecurity company, office furniture seller, and an insurance company bought domain names. Sedo had a couple of domain name sales this week that I really want to know who bought them. It’s not clear yet, but keep an eye on ThisDoesntSuck.com (…
  - 4 days ago, 4 Mar 21, 2:42pm -

The Domains

• The Brent Oxley domain lockdown turning into PR nightmare for GoDaddy
  Since James Iles wrote about Brent Oxley having his domain names locked by GoDaddy due to someone filing a complaint in India, Namepros has erupted. Many have started transferring names out, I mentioned the story to someone this morning who neither g…
  - 2 days ago, 6 Mar 21, 10:24pm -
• Verisign DNIB Q4 2020 showed a decrease of 4.4m regs vs Q3 of 2020
  Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) released their Domain Name Industry Brief for Q4 2020. The fourth quarter of 2020 closed with 366.3 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), a decrease of 4.4 million domain name registrations, or…
  - 3 days ago, 5 Mar 21, 6:09am -
• HomeContractors.com expires and closes at $51,000
  HomeContractors.com registered in 1998 was left to expire at GoDaddy and closed at $51,000. The domain name looks to have been owned by a Jeff Sauer from Three Deep Marketing. Jeff is alive and well he tweeted today. He seems to be affiliated with an…
  - 5 days ago, 3 Mar 21, 6:53am -
• Sedo weekly domain name sales led by FXCA.com
  Sedo released their weekly domain name sales and FXCA.com led the way at $35,000. Defendable.com was second at $30,000 and bildelar.se was third at 15,000 Euro, ($18,131). 57 .com sales 21 cctld sales 10 other tld sales Top 3 highlights of public Sed…
  - 6 days ago, 2 Mar 21, 9:18pm -
• Buy3Dprinter.com sold for $12,000 in 2014 expires and fetches $2,000
  Buy3Dprinter.com was registered in 2008 and was sold by a Dutch registrant in 2014 for $12,000 at Sedo. The domain name was purchased by Fizz, LLC. The buyer looks to be affiliated with Rebuzz.io as well. The domain name stayed parked at Sedo and has…
  - 7 days ago, 1 Mar 21, 8:10am -

TLD Investors

• Metaverse.xyz acquired for one penny sold for $9,888

  

  Yesterday the news was Andrew Rosener selling Metaverse.io for $175,000. Acquired for $2,232. Well Swetha from DNGear.com hit a grand slam with the .xyz version. Acquired for .01 four years ago, she sold the name last week for $9,888. It also illustr…
  - 1 day ago, 7 Mar 21, 6:30am -
• Metaverse.io is the first reported 6 figure .io sale

  

  Well we now have the first reported 6 figure .io domain name sale, not a name I would have expected. Metaverse.io sold for $175,000 at Park.io it was acquired according to Namebio for $2,232 last October at Park.io. Trade.io was the highest reported…
  - 2 days ago, 6 Mar 21, 8:17am -
• UTXO.com sells for $20,000 the meaning behind the 4 letters

  

  UTXO.com sold for $20,000 at Sedo on Wednesday. At first glance someone might think it’s not the best looking 4L.com, just a random name that hit the jackpot. UTXO has relevance in the crypto world. Investopedia.com has a whole page dedicated to UT…
  - 4 days ago, 4 Mar 21, 6:09am -
• The Pursuit of Domainer Happyness
  It’s always interesting to see what celebrity or pseudo celebrity domain names sell for. I was looking at DropCatch today and saw that ChrisGardner.com was closing and it went for over $1,000. It closed at $1,039 to be exact. In 2006 Will Smith por…
  - 4 days ago, 4 Mar 21, 4:54am -
• A breakdown of February Keyword domain sales (Data dips, Tech and Shop strong)

  

  February saw decent numbers for Crypto and Tech keyword sales. Crypto did well in January with a bump up from December. The had it’s usual strong numbers. Shop and Online posted over 30 sales each. Data did not have a great month. Popular Keywords…
  - 6 days ago, 2 Mar 21, 5:06pm -

• Some of the most popular keywords and their all time reported sales (Part 2)

  

  A couple days ago I wrote about popular keywords and their historical sales data where the keyword was the last word in the domain name. In this post I am presenting data where the keyword is at the start. Certain keyword do well in either first or l…
  - 6 days ago, 2 Mar 21, 4:00am -
• AQS.com closes at $31,387

  

  AQS.com closed at $31,387 on DropCatch and commenter AER came the closest in our guess the closing price post. Aer says February 27, 2021 at 8:41 am $34,500 Pretty decent price for the name at wholesale. The previous use was Air Quality Sciences.The…
  - 8 days ago, 28 Feb 21, 8:03pm -
• Caymans.com closes at $11,938 – Third time not a charm for BS.tv

  

  Caymans.com closed at $11,938 on DropCatch. The domain name was owned by someone not that far from me in Glenside, PA. The domain name was registered in 1995. Some I spoke to thought the name would go for a lot more. I think at wholesale this is fair…
  - 8 days ago, 28 Feb 21, 7:28am -
• Some of the most popular keywords and their all time reported sales

  

  Everyone has niches and keywords they focus on, some are currently hot, CBD, Crypto. Others are tried and true like shop and online. Each month I do a post on popular keywords either starting with the keyword or ending with the keyword. Now in this p…
  - 9 days ago, 27 Feb 21, 10:12pm -
• Where does AQS.com close? Pick a price and win cash

  

  AQS.com is now at auction at DropCatch, the 3L.com was allowed to drop. Namepros member AEProgram pointed out that according to Archive.org it was once home to Air Quality Sciences and later on redirected to ul.com (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UL_(…
  - 10 days ago, 26 Feb 21, 8:49pm -

Domain Investing

• newNFL Registers Robert Saleh Sucks Domain Names

  

  Earlier this year, the NFL’s New York Jets hired Robert Saleh as the team’s Head Coach. The Jets were widely praised for this hiring. In fact, it was probably the best decision the team has made in many years. If you don’t watch NFL football, y…
  - 23 hours ago, 7 Mar 21, 2:05pm -
• Andrew Rosener Sold Metaverse.io for $175,000

  

  Metaverse․io was the top sale of the day going for $175k. That record-setting domain was purchased for $2,232 about four months ago. 🤑 International Women’s Day is on Monday, and BuyDomains sold CelebrateMom․com for $2,888. Today’s #DailyM…
  - 2 days ago, 6 Mar 21, 2:35pm -
• ‘I Wouldn’t Know Where to Send the Money’

  

  I have been aggressively trying to buy more great one word .com domain names to augment my portfolio. I have been kicking the tires at quite a few companies where I think domain names aren’t being optimally used or something else has led me to beli…
  - 3 days ago, 5 Mar 21, 3:32pm -
• Uniregistry: “Change your Market Payout Profile”

  

  I received an “Action Required” email from Uniregistry this morning, and I want to pass the message along to people who might simply disregard it. According to the email, Uni (now a GoDaddy brand) has changed its payment processor in the Uniregis…
  - 3 days ago, 5 Mar 21, 1:07pm -
• Register.com “Stuffing” .Site Domain Names

  

  Rick Schwartz shared the content of an email he received from Register.com, in which he was given a .Site domain name. A Whois search reveals Rick owns LastLaughs.com, which is registered at Register.com. The email to Rick offered him LastLaughs.Site…
  - 4 days ago, 4 Mar 21, 5:45pm -

DSAD

• newShane’s Daily List of Domains at Auction for Monday, March 8th, 2021
  Get ready. The economy is about to EXPLODE. Our town leads Illinois and much of the nation with vaccinations so I have gotten a sneak peak of what its going to look like when people feel comfortable and the majority of the population is vaccinated…
  - 2 hours ago, 8 Mar 21, 10:52am -
• newAUCTION RECAP OF MARCH 6, 2021
  A look at the final auction prices, closeouts and more from the domain auction list posted on March 6, 2021.If there is an asterisk (*) next to a price, it means that the name was at auction from a private seller (rather than an expiring name) and…
  - 21 hours ago, 7 Mar 21, 3:38pm -
• newAUCTION RECAP OF MARCH 5, 2021
  A look at the final auction prices, closeouts and more from the domain auction list posted on March 5, 2021.If there is an asterisk (*) next to a price, it means that the name was at auction from a private seller (rather than an expiring name) and…
  - 21 hours ago, 7 Mar 21, 3:36pm -
• newShane’s Daily List of Domains at Auction for Sunday, March 7th, 2021
  Let me know what you think of this. I kept the first 10 bottles that I bottled for BeeHouse. I called them the Genesis bottles and planned on keeping them and giving them as special gifts down the road. Then came NFTs. So we decided at Beehouse…
  - 22 hours ago, 7 Mar 21, 2:55pm -
• IKE’S LIST OF DOMAINS AT AUCTION FOR Saturday, March 6th
  The names with bids on Godaddy has doubled pre-auction since they raised the closeout prices to their current levels. There’s no point in sniping a name as soon as it goes to closeouts with you have to pay 4 times the minimum bid price. I don’t…
  - 2 days ago, 6 Mar 21, 11:08am -

• AUCTION RECAP OF MARCH 4, 2021
  A look at the final auction prices, closeouts and more from the domain auction list posted on March 4, 2021.If there is an asterisk (*) next to a price, it means that the name was at auction from a private seller (rather than an expiring name) and…
  - 3 days ago, 5 Mar 21, 10:26pm -
• Shane’s Daily List of Domains at Auction for Friday, March 5th, 2021
  Going to have to keep it short today. Work is getting busy and the side projects are building up. Launched BigIsland.org yesterday. It’s just getting started and has a bunch of work to be done but the bones are there. We’ll be fixing links and…
  - 3 days ago, 5 Mar 21, 10:45am -
• AUCTION RECAP OF MARCH 3, 2021
  A look at the final auction prices, closeouts and more from the domain auction list posted on March 3, 2021.If there is an asterisk (*) next to a price, it means that the name was at auction from a private seller (rather than an expiring name) and…
  - 4 days ago, 4 Mar 21, 2:54pm -
• Shane’s Daily List of Domains at Auction for Thursday, March 4th, 2021
  If you’re getting into the domain industry right now its pretty tough. Yes there is money to be made but you have to have 5 figures to get into the expiry game if you want more than 20 names. Sure there are hand regs and some deals to be had, but…
  - 4 days ago, 4 Mar 21, 10:55am -
• AUCTION RECAP OF MARCH 2, 2021
  A look at the final auction prices, closeouts and more from the domain auction list posted on March 2, 2021.If there is an asterisk (*) next to a price, it means that the name was at auction from a private seller (rather than an expiring name) and…
  - 5 days ago, 3 Mar 21, 2:18pm -

Domain Gang

• Humidity.com applies for trademark registration at the USPTO
  The operators of the ultra-premium domain name, Humidity.com, have applied for a federal trademark registration at the USPTO. Registered in 1995, the domain Humidity.com has been in the possession of its registrant, Walter Meier, a Swiss company, sin…
  - 17 days ago, 19 Feb 21, 7:21pm -
• Oh NOO.com! #UDRP Complainant found guilty of Reverse #Domain Name Hijacking
  JHO Intellectual Property Holdings LLC and Elite IP Holdings LLC filed a UDRP against the three letter .com domain, NOO.com, and the end result is a resounding NO. Registered in 1998, the domain’s registration date predates any marks claimed by the…
  - 17 days ago, 19 Feb 21, 4:09pm -
• SmartContract.com and #BTC : Sergey Nazarov is NOT Satoshi Nakamoto
  Bitcoin is on its course “to the moon” as its current price trajectory shows. Each BTC is worth $53,800 dollars as of this moment and while its price fluctuates BTC is being adopted by mainstream financial entities, including PayPal. The quest fo…
  - 17 days ago, 19 Feb 21, 3:59pm -
• Domain Cloud: Google is upping the ante with one-stop management shop
  Google is the #1 search engine and also an accredited domain registrar that’s about to leverage is immense footprint. Cloud Domains is a new, one-stop shop by Google, providing administrators and developers with the convenience of managing domains,…
  - 18 days ago, 18 Feb 21, 5:54pm -
• Area.com is a stolen domain asset
  The aged, premium domain name Area.com has been reported as stolen. Area.com was moved away from its registrant’s possession at Network Solutions, to BizCN in China. The same domain registrar was used in several other recent domain theft incidents…
  - 18 days ago, 18 Feb 21, 3:13pm -

• Seven with Sedo: The February 2021 #GreatDomains auction
  GreatDomains is a bimonthly, 7-day long auction by Sedo, our premium sponsor, from February 18-25, featuring an eclectic selection of domain names. The domains are carefully curated and this time around we have more than 125 domains included on the l…
  - 19 days ago, 17 Feb 21, 4:47pm -
• Fairway.com and Home.com #domain buyer files for matching #trademarks
  The buyer of the domains Home.com and Fairway.com has not wasted time: they’ve filed for the registration of the matching trademarks, HOME.COM and FAIRWAY.COM at the USPTO. Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation upgraded its corporate domain to F…
  - 19 days ago, 17 Feb 21, 3:20pm -
• #GoDaddy removed the “Interested in purchasing this domain” option from #WHOIS contact form
  GoDaddy has removed the option to contact the owner of a domain via its WHOIS, if you’re interested in buying it. When looking up domain names registered at GoDaddy, you can see underlying Registry data, contact the domain holder, or report an inva…
  - 20 days ago, 16 Feb 21, 9:27pm -
• Winter storm power loss led to mass #domain deletion
  The ongoing winter storm in the US has led to extended power loss. Millions of customers in several states are without power, among them Deep Freeze Domains. The secure domain registrar operates from Texas, a hard-hit state. After 16 hours without po…
  - 20 days ago, 16 Feb 21, 7:48pm -
• #Sedo : Domain sales report for February 15, 2021 — Triple.com at $220000
  Sedo domain sales report: Top sale is that of Triple.com at $220,000 dollars! Welcome to the latest domain sales report by Sedo; this time we cover the two-week period ending on February 15, 2021. This information has been provided by Sedo.com, kind…
  - 20 days ago, 16 Feb 21, 3:28pm -
• SexToy.com applies for #trademark registration at the USPTO – How much did they pay for the #domain?
  The registrant of SexToy.com, a 1995 domain, has applied for the registration of the mark SEXTOY.COM at the USPTO. The trademark application was filed for the following classes of services: Cleaner for use on adult stimulation aids Personal lubricant…
  - 20 days ago, 16 Feb 21, 2:58pm -
• Numeric #domains: 0699.com closed at five figures
  Short numeric domain names are sought after, especially by Chinese investors. The Chinese like to use numbers representing letters or words even and a four number (NNNN) .com domain such as 0699.com can fetch a pretty dollar. Indeed, the auction at D…
  - 21 days ago, 15 Feb 21, 9:13pm -
• Old #GoDaddy logo maintains its global nostalgia
  The old, iconic GoDaddy logo is full of domain nostalgia for many platforms that display the GoDaddy brand. For example, the TD Ameritrade app shows the original GoDaddy logo on the GDDY stock detail page: This ancient GoDaddy logo seems to resonate…
  - 21 days ago, 15 Feb 21, 4:50pm -
• Bootcamp.com #trademark application indicative of aged #domain sale
  The operators of the ultra-premium domain name, Bootcamp.com, have applied for a federal trademark registration at the USPTO. Registered in 1994, the domain Bootcamp.com was offered for sale on Afternic until late 2020, where it most likely changed h…
  - 21 days ago, 15 Feb 21, 2:59pm -
• Happy New Year of the Ox(ley) with some Sushi.com
  Happy Chinese New (lunar) year! This is the year of the Ox, an animal that is perceived as a hard worker. Zodiac experts believe the Year of the Ox is a period when hard work will be rewarded even more than usual. The Ox also reminds us of Brent Oxle…
  - 23 days ago, 13 Feb 21, 7:20pm -

Online Domain

• Escrow.com report: 2020 Q4 domain sales up $16.3 million from Q3
  Escrow.com issued its latest Domain Name Report: Domain Investment Index: Q4, 2020. It contains data from all the domain name sales at Escrow.com gor the quarter ending December 31st 2020. The Escrow.com Domain Investment Index for Q4 2020 provides i…
  - 3 days ago, 6 Mar 21, 12:51am -
• MMX trying to sell 725k of mostly worthless domains using Estibot appraisals
  MMX (Minds + Machines) announced ‘The Great Release’ which moves 725k “premium names” to their standard pricing. These are the New gTLD domains that nobody bought and MMX is now using Estibot appraisals to convince people to purchase their st…
  - 3 days ago, 5 Mar 21, 2:20pm -
• 2020 ended with 366.3 million domains on all TLDs
  According to Verisign’s Domain Name Industry Brief, the .com and .net registry, the fourth quarter of 2020 closed with 366.3 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), a decrease of 4.4 million domain name registrations,…
  - 3 days ago, 5 Mar 21, 1:19am -
• Misdirected emails containing sensitive information
  Over the years I have received many misdirected emails on websites I am operating or contact form messages from domain names I own. I get these on all extensions but mainly .com, .org and .gr. A lot of people are confused and they mistakenly type an…
  - 5 days ago, 3 Mar 21, 5:30pm -
• Network Solutions is introducing new security features
  Network Solutions, the domain name registrar of choice for all domain thieves, is introducing new security features. Here is what their announcement said today: “With so many people working remotely, it’s more important than ever that the tools w…
  - 6 days ago, 2 Mar 21, 6:28pm -

• Peter Sunde says ICANN is not a democratic institution
  Peter Sunde provided an update about his domain name registrar application that was denied by ICANN. It turns out that he is actually banned from doing business with ICANN. ICANN will not say when (if ever) Peter will be allowed to get a domain name…
  - 6 days ago, 2 Mar 21, 3:20pm -
• .IS domain fee increases for the first time
  ISNIC’s Board of Directors approved the CEO’s proposal to increase the annual domain fee of an .is domain name by 2 Euro. .IS is the ccTLD of Iceland. After the increase, the annual fee for ‘.is’ domains will be 31.90 Euro without taxes, to r…
  - 7 days ago, 1 Mar 21, 2:30pm -
• ICANN denied Peter Sunde’s registrar application
  Peter Sunde, co-creator of Njalla, says that ICANN denied his application to become a domain name registrar. (You can read more about the Njalla privacy domain registration service here.) Peter Sunde was also the co-founder of Pirate Bay back in 2003…
  - 10 days ago, 26 Feb 21, 5:51pm -
• Uniregistry to use Tipalti to process payouts
  Uniregistry is changing its payment processor. Starting on the 1st of March 2021 Uniregistry will be using Tipalti to process payouts. Tipalti is an accounting software financial technology business that provides comprehensive accounts payable and gl…
  - 10 days ago, 26 Feb 21, 11:49am -
• GoDaddy launches new WooCommerce extensions for managed wordPress ecommerce hosting
  GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) today announced a plugin bundle expansion for its Managed WordPress Ecommerce customers, featuring free access to a library of over 75 premium WooCommerce extensions. The new extensions come from GoDaddy’s recent acquisiti…
  - 12 days ago, 24 Feb 21, 2:14pm -
• Must-read: “Busting domain name secondary market myths”
  An article co-authored by Zak Muscovitch, General Counsel of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) and Nat Cohen busts some of the most common domain name secondary market myths. The Secondary Market, where already registered domain names are bough…
  - 13 days ago, 23 Feb 21, 4:31pm -
• Search Console adds new association functionality
  Google announced that Search Console has an enhanced Association page within the settings menu. Association is a connection between a Search Console property, and some other entity or property in another Google service: for example, between a Search…
  - 13 days ago, 23 Feb 21, 2:04pm -
• CentralNic acquires Wando
  CentralNic Group plc (AIM: CNIC) announced that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Wando Internet Solutions GmbH (“Wando”) for an initial consideration of EUR 5.4m (c.USD 6.5m) (the “Acquisition”). The transaction is expected…
  - 13 days ago, 23 Feb 21, 11:22am -
• GoDaddy announces proposed $800 million offering of senior notes
  GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) (“GoDaddy”) today announced that its subsidiaries, Go Daddy Operating Company, LLC and GD Finance Co, Inc. (the “Issuers”), intend to offer, subject to market and other considerations, $800 million aggregate principa…
  - 14 days ago, 22 Feb 21, 11:52pm -
• Afternic had a security issue
  Afternic had a security issue on Thursday, February 12 when a security researcher contacted the company about a potential issue with a Web API. Afternic claims that no password or credit card information was at risk. It is well known to GoDaddy, Afte…
  - 14 days ago, 22 Feb 21, 4:30pm -
• Clubhouse: newbies and snake oil salesmen?
  What is going on with Clubhouse? Is this good for the domain name community or not? Clubhouse is an invitation-only audio-chat social networking app launched in 2020 by software developers Alpha Exploration Co. It is currently only available for iOS…
  - 19 days ago, 17 Feb 21, 6:21pm -
• PIR launches new institute to combat DNS abuse
  Public Interest Registry, the .ORG registry, today launched the DNS Abuse Institute as part of its ongoing efforts to protect Internet users from the threat of DNS Abuse such as malware, botnets, phishing, pharming, and spam. The Institute will bring…
  - 19 days ago, 17 Feb 21, 4:22pm -
• .Cloud turns 5 today and releases Premium Domain Sales Report
  .Cloud turns 5 today and just released its first ever Premium Domain Sales Report. The .cloud top-level domain (TLD) was launched on February 16, 2016, when it opened the door for general availability registrations. 2020 Premium Domains Report This i…
  - 20 days ago, 16 Feb 21, 5:27pm -
• Nominet says campaign can’t appoint board directors without elections
  A campaign that is calling for a Nominet Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) and plans to remove the current Chair, Remuneration Chair and Executive Directors and replace them with new directors has made Nominet feel the heat. Nominet now says that t…
  - 20 days ago, 16 Feb 21, 3:49pm -
• BODIS now supports SSL on over 6M host names
  BODIS now resolves HTTPS requests for over 6M host names. How It Works: When a visitor arrives to an HTTPS page for the first time, Bodis adds that host name to a queue. Within minutes, a background task generates an SSL certificate for that host nam…
  - 20 days ago, 16 Feb 21, 1:10pm -
• Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39
  Verisign announced today in its fourth quarter and full year 2020 results that it plans to increase the price of .com in 2021. Verisign will increase the annual registry-level wholesale fee for each new and renewal .com domain name registration from…
  - 25 days ago, 12 Feb 21, 12:28am -
• VeriSign 2020 report: $1.27 billion revenue in 2020, up 2.7%
  VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2020. Fourth Quarter Financial Results VeriSign, Inc. and subsidiaries (“Verisign”) reported revenue of $320 million for the fourth quarter of 202…
  - 25 days ago, 12 Feb 21, 12:05am -
• GoDaddy adds 1.4 million net customers in 2020
  GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2020. “2020 was a really strong year for our business despite the obvious challenges, as our customers proved once again to be resourceful…
  - 25 days ago, 11 Feb 21, 11:59pm -
• Endurance Web Presence combines with Web.com to create Newfold Digital
  Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Clearlake”) today announced the completion of its acquisition of Endurance International Group Holdings, Inc. (“Endurance”) in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $3.0…
  - 26 days ago, 11 Feb 21, 12:18am -
• Nominet feels the heat and starts making promises
  A campaign that is calling for a Nominet Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) and plans to remove the current Chair, Remuneration Chair and Executive Directors and replace them with new directors has made Nominet feel the heat. Nominet has now started…
  - 26 days ago, 10 Feb 21, 11:31am -
• Tucows Q4 2020 report: revenue drops to $70.8 million
  Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ:TCX, TSX:TC) today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2020. All figures are in U.S. dollars. “The fourth quarter was a solid finish to a very good year for Tucows,” said Elliot Noss, Presi…
  - 27 days ago, 10 Feb 21, 12:38am -
• Mike Mann sells 2 domains for $49,776 in January
  Mike Mann reported 2 of his domain name sales in January for a total of $49,776. Reported prices started at $9,888 and went up to $39,888. All 2 domains were .com. The average reported domain sales price was $24,888. If you want to further understand…
  - 28 days ago, 8 Feb 21, 4:09pm -
• 82.5% of .eu domain names are connected to a web server
  In an effort to further understand its customers and maintain the .eu “competitive” edge, EURid has completed the 2nd part of the .eu website categorisation. (You can see the first part here.) In November 2020, EURid crawled 150,000 .eu domain na…
  - 31 days ago, 5 Feb 21, 8:57am -
• Google creates icon that provides more info about search results
  Google Search is now rolling out a special icon that provides more information about the source of a result, if your connection to it will be secure, and more. This is a beta feature for now, offered in English in the US. Starting on February 1st 202…
  - 32 days ago, 4 Feb 21, 6:12pm -
• Tucows CEO Elliot Noss talks about content moderation (video)
  Last Friday, NamesCon Online hosted a fireside chat with Tucows CEO, Elliot Noss, titled “How do we make the Internet better from here?” The discussion at the closing session of NamesCon 2021 included some reminiscing about Tucows’ early days a…
  - 32 days ago, 4 Feb 21, 4:34pm -
• RADIX reports $2M revenue
  RADIX shared its bi-annual premium report for the second half of 2020. This report gives a full overview of the premium domain sales across the RADIX nTLD portfolio from 1st July 2020 till 31st December 2020. Some of the key highlights from the repor…
  - 33 days ago, 3 Feb 21, 6:15pm -
• Stefanos Tsitsipas wants to destroy whoever bought his domain name! (video)
  Stefanos Tsitsipas, world number 6 in tennis and best Greek tennis player ever, wants to destroy whoever bought his domain name! Stefanos Tsitsipas is at Melbourne preparing for the ATP Cup starting today (representing team Greece) and the first glan…
  - 35 days ago, 1 Feb 21, 7:28pm -
• Masters of Domains: Escrow.com’s top 10 highest-grossing brokers
  Each year, Escrow.com recognizes the top 10 highest-grossing brokers in the domains industry for the deals they’ve closed. Here are the top 10 highest-grossing brokers for 2020 at Escrow.com: 1. Drew Rosenor, CEO, Media Options 2. Keith Richter, co…
  - 35 days ago, 1 Feb 21, 4:33pm -
• New campaign to rescue .UK and remove 5 Nominet board directors
  Krystal, a web hosting company and registrar, has launched PublicBenefit.UK – a campaign to rescue Nominet, the guardian for 10.8M .UK domain names and one of the world’s top five registries. The campaign accuses Nominet’s board that it is pour…
  - 35 days ago, 1 Feb 21, 11:16am -
• Net 4 India will probably be terminated as a registrar
  The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) issued a third breach notice against Net 4 India Limited (Net 4 India) for its repeated and ongoing failures to comply with the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). ICANN said it did…
  - 37 days ago, 30 Jan 21, 11:19pm -
• DAN 2.0 coming in February
  Reza Sardeha, CEO of Dan.com, announced today at NamesCon Online 2.0 that DAN 2.0 is coming in February. DAN wants to integrate all aftermarket platforms into DAN 2.0 and to unify/centralize their inventories. The rebuilt platform will offer lists wh…
  - 38 days ago, 29 Jan 21, 4:39pm -
• NamesCon Online 2021: best sessions of day 3
  NamesCon Online 2021 conference ends today with day 3. NamesCon Online 2021 conference runs from January 27 to January 29 2021. I went through the agenda and picked the best sessions of day 3. (Not as many as day 1 but more than day 2) You can use yo…
  - 38 days ago, 29 Jan 21, 2:44pm -
• NamesCon Online 2021: best sessions of day 2
  NamesCon Online 2021 conference continues today with day 2. NamesCon Online 2021 conference runs from January 27 to January 29 2021. I went through the agenda and picked the best sessions of day 2. (Not as many as day 1) You can use your computer and…
  - 39 days ago, 28 Jan 21, 4:45pm -
• Complete list of the 100 domains in the live NamesCon 2021 auction
  The NamesCon 2021 domain name auction has been live at GoDaddy Auctions for a few weeks now. More domains have been added since I wrote a post in December and now there is a total of 100 domains in the auction. You can use the drop down on the popula…
  - 39 days ago, 28 Jan 21, 2:02pm -
• NamesCon Online 2021: best sessions of day 1
  NamesCon Online 2021 conference starts today. NamesCon Online 2021 conference runs from January 27 to January 29 2021. I went through the agenda and picked the best sessions of day 1. Some of the sessions coincide so you have to choose what is right…
  - 40 days ago, 27 Jan 21, 4:04pm -
• Frank Schilling is selling his 23 New gTLDs
  Frank Schilling is selling his 23 New gTLDs and getting out of domain names completely after selling Uniregistry and his domain name portfolio to GoDaddy last year. UNR (the name of the registry) has setup a webpage announcing the auction at auction.…
  - 40 days ago, 27 Jan 21, 3:05pm -
• Afternic announces new and improved domain for sale landers
  Afternic announced that it is launching a new and improved version of its domain name “For Sale” landing page – a simplified experience with a more elegant mobile design. Results from its recent experiment are showing as high as 47% more leads…
  - 40 days ago, 27 Jan 21, 2:23pm -
• Mike Mann’s top 10 domain name sales in 2020
  Mike Mann reports selected domain name sales on social media that OnlineDomain.com reports monthly. These are Mike Mann’s top 10 domain name sales in 2020. Ready.org $169,888 LightRock.com $94,888 Society.org $75,000 ListeningRoom.com $75,000 Dance…
  - 41 days ago, 26 Jan 21, 6:14pm -
• .NL introduces landing pages for disabled domain names
  From today, SIDN, the .NL registry, is linking an informative landing page to domain names whose name servers have been delinked. In its role as operator of the .nl domain, SIDN can delink the servers of .nl domain names reported to the Police Nation…
  - 41 days ago, 26 Jan 21, 4:18pm -
• Uniregistry announces payment improvements
  Uniregistry, a GoDaddy company, is introducing a new payment process for sold domain names in the coming months. The new process will manage all future domain name payments and services to help streamline payment experience. What key improvements are…
  - 42 days ago, 25 Jan 21, 6:58pm -
• MMX settles with ICM Registry and gets a new CEO
  Minds + Machines Group Limited (AIM:MMX), the top-level domain registry company, announces that it has entered into a settlement agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”) with the vendors of ICM Registry, LLC (“ICM”), including Mr Stuart Lawley,…
  - 42 days ago, 25 Jan 21, 5:26pm -
• Ethos Capital acquires Donuts Inc.
  Erik Brooks and Fadi Chehadé, Co-CEOs of Ethos Capital, made the announcement today that Ethos Capital is going to acquire controlling interest of Donuts Inc. Last month Donuts completed the acquisition of Afilias. Here is the announcement today: As…
  - 45 days ago, 22 Jan 21, 5:45pm -
• R.I.P. Tucows Downloads
  Tucows Downloads, the software download site that has been around since 1993, has been retired after more than 25 years of service. I didn’t know anything about domain names when I was using Tucows to download freeware and shareware software back i…
  - 45 days ago, 22 Jan 21, 1:28am -
• Mike Mann sells 9 domains for $146,064 in December
  Mike Mann reported 9 of his domain name sales in December for a total of $146,064. Reported prices started at $8,888 and went up to $25,400. All 9 domains were .com. The average reported domain sales price was $16,229. If you want to further understa…
  - 47 days ago, 20 Jan 21, 5:22pm -
• Nearly a million new .nl domain names registered in 2020
  Last year saw the registration of 995,000 new .nl domain names. That’s 20 per cent up on 2019, when 827,000 new .nls were created. Thanks to the registration surge, the total number of .nl domain names stood at 6.1 million on 1 January 2021, accord…
  - 47 days ago, 20 Jan 21, 11:11am -

Domain Incite

• Pirate Bay founder says ICANN won’t let him be a registrar

  

  Peter Sunde, co-founder of the controversial Pirate Bay file-sharing web service, says ICANN is unfairly refusing him a registrar accreditation and he’s not happy about it. Sunde told DI at the weekend that his application for his new registrar, Sa…
  - 6 days ago, 2 Mar 21, 11:27am -
• ICANN finally cans Net 4 India

  

  iCANN has terminated Net 4 India’s registrar accreditation, after many months of criticism and foot-dragging and a recent sharp uptick in customer complaints. The move comes after an unprecedented four concurrent public breach notices over 20 month…
  - 6 days ago, 2 Mar 21, 10:12am -
• Got beef with ICANN? Why you may not want to use the Ombudsman

  

  Complaining to the independent Ombudsman may not be the best way to start a beef with ICANN, and that’s according to the Ombudsman himself. Herb Waye told DI this week that consulting him as a first port of call may well lock complainants out of es…
  - 11 days ago, 25 Feb 21, 4:26pm -
• EU cancels .eu tender after Brexit cock-up

  

  The European Commission has been forced to cancel its search for a new .eu registry operator after apparently misunderstanding how Brexit works. When the Commission put the .eu contract up for grabs last October, it said deal was only open to organiz…
  - 13 days ago, 23 Feb 21, 1:05pm -
• More acquisitions? GoDaddy to raise $800 million

  

  GoDaddy said today that it plans to raise $800 million, which may be put towards future acquisitions. The company said it is issuing that amount in senior notes to institutional investors. The money will be used “for general corporate purposes, whi…
  - 14 days ago, 22 Feb 21, 4:32pm -

• Facebook lawsuit brings one country’s domain to a screeching halt

  

  Bangladesh’s ccTLD registry has reportedly frozen all registrations and transfers after a cybersquatting lawsuit filed by Facebook. According to local reports a couple weeks back, Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd has implemented Draconian…
  - 14 days ago, 22 Feb 21, 4:28pm -
• CentralNic buys German monetization firm for up to $13 million

  

  CentralNic today continued is diversification outside of its core domain business by acquiring Berlin-based monetization firm Wando. The company said it will pay €5.4 million ($6.5 million) up front and up to €5.4 million more depending on perfor…
  - 14 days ago, 22 Feb 21, 4:16pm -
• .hotel battle lands ICANN in court over accountability dodges

  

  ICANN’s accountability mechanisms, or lack thereof, have landed the Org in court. Three applicants for the .hotel new gTLD have sued in California’s Superior Court in LA, claiming ICANN has consistently failed to provide true accountability, refu…
  - 14 days ago, 22 Feb 21, 2:29pm -
• ICANN purges another dormant dot-brand

  

  The 89th unwanted dot-brand has filed with ICANN for voluntarily contract termination. Iveco, an Italian industrial vehicle manufacturer, has told ICANN it no longer wishes to run the .iveco dot-brand. As is the case with self-terminations more often…
  - 17 days ago, 19 Feb 21, 3:44pm -
• Conspiracy nut ordered to pay thousands to “kingpins” as “cartel” lawsuit chucked out

  

  Domain industry conspiracy theorist Graham Schreiber has been ordered to pay CAD 6,000 ($4,750) in legal fees to many of the scores of industry figures he sued as a “cartel” of “kingpins” last August. A Canadian Federal Court judge last month…
  - 17 days ago, 19 Feb 21, 12:34pm -

DN Journal

• Shane Kinsch Sells FTA.com for $400,000 in One of Year's 5 Biggest Domain Sales to Date + ROTD Extends Online Domain Auction to March 11
  In 1999 Shane Kinsch hand registered FTA.com for $70. He just sold it for $400,000 giving him two of the 20 biggest sales reported so far this year.
  - 3 days ago, 5 Mar 21, 5:22pm -
• Mules.com Buyer Not Stubborn - Pays 6 Figures in Sale That Tops New DNJournal Chart
  This week's sales should make everybody happy with two 6-figure .coms, the biggest non .com gTLD sale of the year and more solid ccTLD sales!
  - 4 days ago, 4 Mar 21, 1:23am -
• Efty.com Brings Brokerage to the Domain Sales Platform With New Saw.com Partnership
  Efty continues to expand their service offerings through strategic partnerships. A new one with SAW.com follows their 2020 connection with DAN.com.
  - 10 days ago, 26 Feb 21, 11:16pm -
• Bird.com, Fish.com & Tattoo.com Sell for a Total of Nearly $5 Million in RightofTheDot's Live Online Domain Auction
  ROTD's online live domain auction today was a roaring success with three home runs giving Monte Cahn's team and the entire industry a big win.
  - 11 days ago, 25 Feb 21, 11:10pm -
• 2021 Global Domain Report from InterNetX & Sedo Offers Outstanding Analysis of Latest Industry Trends:
  Here's a great (and free!) 76-page report on today's domain industry that would be a perfect addition to your weekend reading list!
  - 11 days ago, 25 Feb 21, 3:21am -

• RightOfTheDot Ready to Rock the Domain Sales House with Live Online Auction Thursday
  The hammer will be coming down on some great domains when Monte Cahn & Wayne Wheat go live from the Lone Star State Thursday.
  - 13 days ago, 23 Feb 21, 11:12pm -
• ICA Experts Demolish 9 Persistent Myths About Domain Investors & the Aftermarket in Must Read Article
  A lot of buyers think the only reasonable price for a domain is what THEY want to pay for it! An important new article blows up that illogical argument.
  - 17 days ago, 19 Feb 21, 7:49pm -
• Year's First Reported 7-Figure Sale + 2 More in 6 Figures Headline New DNJ Sales Chart
  We are still in the dead of winter but things are really heating up on the domain sales charts. 3 of the new year's 5 biggest sales to date were reported this week
  - 19 days ago, 17 Feb 21, 11:01pm -
• VIPBrokerage Closes Multi-Million $ Sale of Christmas.com - One of 20 Biggest Domain Sales Ever Reported
  VIPBrokerage has rung the blockbuster bell again. After selling California.com for $3 million in 2019 they have moved Christmas.com for more.
  - 21 days ago, 15 Feb 21, 6:43pm -
• Arizona.com Changes Hands For 6 Figures in a Rare Sale of a U.S. State .Com Domain
  You don't seen .com State or Major City pure geodomains change hands very often but VIPBrokerage has followed their California.com sale with one for Arizona.com..
  - 28 days ago, 8 Feb 21, 7:04pm -
• Major Commitments From ParkingCrew and MediaOptions Fuel Continued Growth of the ICA
  There is strength in numbers and the numbers continue to increase for the Internet Commerce Association - both in new members and higher levels of financial support.
  - 31 days ago, 5 Feb 21, 8:53pm -
• Sedo's Dave Evanson Tops The Domain Sales Chart Again + Huge NDA Sale Brings Home the Bacon
  It has been a crazy busy couple of weeks in the domain business but it has produced a ton of good news on the sales front!
  - 32 days ago, 4 Feb 21, 2:41am -
• Photos & Highlights from the South Asia Track at the 2021 NamesCon Online Conference
  NamesCon's South Asia Track ran in what were the overnight hours in the US but we've now watched the replays and posted some photos & highlights for you.
  - 34 days ago, 2 Feb 21, 1:19am -
• Closing Day Photos & Highlights from the 2021 NamesCon Online Conference Friday, January 29
  That's a wrap! NamesCon Online completed its 3-day run today, preparing an already thriving industry for an even better year in 2021.
  - 37 days ago, 30 Jan 21, 1:06am -
• Day 2 Photos & Highlights from the 2021 NamesCon Online Conference Thursday, January 28
  Special events including presentation of the Lonnie Borck Memorial Award and naming of the world's #1 broker on the Escrow.com platform were among today's events at NamesCon Online.
  - 38 days ago, 29 Jan 21, 1:15am -
• Day 1 Photos & Highlights from the 2021 NamesCon Online Conference Wednesday
  The Opening Day of NamesCon Online 2021 is in the books! Attendees from over 40 countries around the world logged in and we covered it all wire to wire.
  - 39 days ago, 28 Jan 21, 2:33am -
• New Sedo CEO Michael Robrock Recounts His 20-Year Rise from College Kid to Leader of a Domain Industry Giant
  Ever since Michael Robrock was named the new CEO at Sedo in September we have been looking forward to an in-depth interview with him. Now it's here!
  - 41 days ago, 26 Jan 21, 10:23pm -
• Monte Cahn Announces New Live Online Domain Auction To Be Held February 25, 2021
  RIghtOfTheDot Founder Monte Cahn and World Champion Auctioneer Wayne Wheat are getting back in the saddle for a big auction next month.
  - 45 days ago, 23 Jan 21, 12:04am -
• A Trio of $75,000 Sales Fill the Top Spots on This Week's Domain Sales Chart
  A new domain sales report is out at DNJournal.com. The .Coms, ccTLDs and Non .com gTLDs all had solid outings.
  - 45 days ago, 22 Jan 21, 3:38am -
• The State of the Industry 2021: Two Dozen Domain Experts Detail How Covid Changed the Business in 2020 and What to Expect Next
  DNJournal's 17th annual State of the Industry Cover Story up. Find out how the experts view what happened in 2020 and what they expect to see in 2021 and beyond.
  - 47 days ago, 20 Jan 21, 6:48pm -
• Mike Mann Recaps His 30-Year Career as a Domain Industry Pioneer in New Video Interview
  Here's the story of how a 15-year-old runaway became an internet entrepreneur who has made millions of dollars and raised millions more for charity.
  - 54 days ago, 13 Jan 21, 10:19pm -
• Rick Schwartz Gets 2021 Domain Sales Season Off to a Great Start with an $850,000 Sale!
  Rick Schwartz has sold a domain he hand registered in 1998 for $850,000 to lead our first Sales Chart of the new year.
  - 58 days ago, 9 Jan 21, 2:19am -
• It's January and You Know What That Means - Time to Get Ready for Another NamesCon!
  With 2020 finally behind us we now have a new year with unlimited new possibilities ahead of us! NamesCon Online will get us off on the right foot this month.
  - 62 days ago, 5 Jan 21, 11:33pm -