News
ICA Member Meeting returns to Las Vegas in January
ICA members will gather in Las Vegas in January.
Internet Commerce Association announced today that it is returning to Las Vegas this January for its member meeting.
The organization that represents domain name holders has scheduled the event for January 17-19. It will begin on the evening of January 17 and end right before the weekend, which is perfect timing for those who want to spend the weekend in Vegas.
It’s also perfect timing for people who attend Affiliate Summit West, which will take place in Vegas January 15-17.
Last year’s ICA meeting attracted about 100 attendees. It was one of the best domain events I’ve attended. With such an intimate group, you really get to know everyone and have great conversations. If you’re an ICA member, I recommend attending. And if you aren’t, now is a good time to sign up.
Post link: ICA Member Meeting returns to Las Vegas in January
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U.S. Gov considers Whois privacy for .us domain names
Whois information would still be easy to obtain on a limited basis.
Nearly all domain name ownership data has been redacted from public Whois in the wake of privacy regulations such as GDPR. But one top level domain name remains an outlier: .us.
All Whois info for .us domains remains available on the web, much to some people’s surprise.
The U.S. government is considering changing this, although not to the extreme of other top level domains.
GoDaddy Registry, which manages the .us namespace, has proposed a system to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for reducing access to Whois.
The proposal is to create a gateway system and place the Whois information behind this gateway. Whois information for .us domains would no longer be freely and anonymously available on the web.
Instead, people requesting Whois data would need to submit a reason. They will get instant access if they select from a pre-defined list, or they can submit another reason and get access within a day or two. Marketing will not be an allowed purpose. Law enforcement entities could be pre-authorized for instant access.
Crucially, requestors would have to provide their name and email address, and agree to terms of service. It’s not clear how this contact information would be validated.
The proposal seems like it could appease trademark and law enforcement interests while cutting down on bulk marketing to .us domain registrants.
Hopefully, the access and terms of services will be as open as possible while avoiding solicitations and spam from bulk Whois data harvesters. For example, I would like to be able to view Whois information for journalistic research. And I want people interested in buying my .us domains to be able to contact me.
One interesting thing the NTIA and GoDaddy might consider is providing information about requestors to the domain owner. You can see my information if I can see yours. This notification could be delayed in the case of legal and law enforcement requests related to ongoing investigations.
Post link: U.S. Gov considers Whois privacy for .us domain names
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May’s top stories: Southwest Airlines, PayPal, Google and more
Southwest Airlines, PayPal and Google were in the news last month.
With May in the books, here’s a look at what made news in the domain business. These stories were the most-viewed on Domain Name Wire:
1. Southwest Airlines fails to take down “SouthWoke” site – The airline was unhappy about a criticism site, but it wasn’t a case of cybersquatting.
2. Don’t use PayPal for your subscription business – Although dotDB got its account back, it’s yet another example of how PayPal treats its merchants.
3. 8 new Google domains launch in Early Access tomorrow – The list includes two controversial ones.
4. GoDaddy earnings: aftermarket sinks quarter in Core Platform – A lack of big-ticket aftermarket sales hurt GoDaddy’s Q1 results.
5. .Com winners: Google continues to rise – Google is now the fifth largest .com registrar.
Podcasts
Miss a podcast? Catch up here:
#434 – NamesCon 2023 preview
#435 – Chat.com and big domain deals
#436 – Grilling with great domains
#437 – Going once, going twice…
#438 – List for Sale
Post link: May’s top stories: Southwest Airlines, PayPal, Google and more
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.Com winners – latest rankings
Here are the biggest and fastest-growing domain name registrars for .com domains.
ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers February 2023.
CentralNic had a strong month for new registrations after receiving an larger-than-normal performance from its Key-Systems brand.
Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations in February:
1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 763,837 (779,935 in January 2023)
2. Namecheap Inc. 267,371 (287,015)
3. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 227,693 (241,112)
4. Newfold Digital+ 166,623 (158,231)
5. Tucows** (NASDAQ: TCX) 150,467 (169,605)
6. CentralNic 141,521 (80,023)
7. GMO 77,776 (111,852)
8. Gname.com 77,360 (94,345)
9. Wix 69,824 (75,481)
10. IONOS 67,517
Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of February.
1. GoDaddy* 55,940,212 (55,903,000 in January 2023)
2. Newfold Digital+ 12,926,368 (12,977,415)
3. Tucows** 11,300,918 (11,325,219)
4. Namecheap 8,973,624 (8,918,940)
5. Google 6,522,073 (6,374,991)
6. TurnCommerce++ 6,164,131 (6,180,371)
7. IONOS# 5,504,915 (5,495,138)
8. Alibaba 4,404,155 (4,548,403)
9. CentralNic## 3,575,252 (3,460,216)
10. GNAME 3,201,177 (3,052,943)
Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.
* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry, GoDaddy Corporate Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain, Bigrock, Network Solutions, Register.com, MarkMonitor, SnapNames registrars, and Crazy Domains/Dreamscape. There are other Newfold registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes NameBright and DropCatch registrars
# Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you
## Includes Key-Systems, 1API, Internet.bs, TLD Registrar Solutions, RegistryGate, Moniker, Instra
Post link: .Com winners – latest rankings
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13 of this week’s end user domain name sales
Some AI companies, an insurance company, and a wellness clinic in India bought domain names.
Sedo didn’t report any significant domain sales this week. That doesn’t mean none happened; it just means it couldn’t report them.
Here’s a list of end user domain name sales that just completed at Sedo. You can view previous lists like this here.
Flocus.com $10,000 – Gridfity sells a timer notion widget called Flocus.
RightsDirect.de €8,200 – Rights Direct sells information and data integration solutions. It forwards this domain to RightsDirect.com.
Splendor.org $4,800 – Splendor is some sort of AI tool. It has an AI chat and search engine.
IOA.us $4,500 – Insurance Office of America bought this domain. It uses the domain IOAUSA.com.
Lichtreklame.de €4,000 – Friedrich & Lick is a sign company. It forwards this domain to werbeschilder.com.
Kits.ai €3,800 – Kits is an AI voice model training platform.
Stefanini.de €3,750 – Stefanini Group is a technology company. It forwards this domain to the matching .com.
Lauer.cn $3,600 – Whois lists Lauer AG as the registrant. The email address suggests the buyer’s name is Guenter Lauer in Germany.
Fusion-Consulting.com $3,054 – Fusion Consulting is a digital transformation consultancy. It uses the domain fusion-cons.com.
SavingsBoost.com $2,927 – Epic Research is a lead generation company for financial services.
Dheemahi.com $2,888 – Dheemahi is a wellness clinic in India.
SodCalculator.com $2,888 – This descriptive domain is for a site that helps you calculate how much sod you need to plant a yard.
AllGoodPoints.com $2,205 – Redline Content LLC bought this domain. It doesn’t resolve yet.
Post link: 13 of this week’s end user domain name sales
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.Com is for communism?
It’s an excuse for not owning the .com.
I was reading an article in The Economist about companies trying to appeal to conservative Americans. One of the companies mentioned is RedBalloon, a job site that helps people find jobs at right-leaning companies.
The company uses RedBalloon .work, and the article includes this parenthetical:
(The company’s founder bought the domain RedBalloon.work because .com “sounded too much like communist”.)
Well, that’s a new selling point for choosing something other than .com domain names!
I’m going to guess that the founder went with the .work domain name because the .com domain was taken. RedBalloon.com was registered in 1997 and is used by a balloon store in Seattle.
Post link: .Com is for communism?
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Rocket ship company tries Plan B reverse domain name hijacking
Company went after domain registered before it existed.
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.
The company, which launches satellites, filed a cybersquatting complaint against rocketlab.com, which is owned by RocketLab Inc. RocketLab Inc. registered the domain name well before Rocket Lab USA existed, making this case dead on arrival. It would be impossible to prove that the domain was registered to target the Complainant.
The three-person UDRP panel determined this was a case of reverse domain name hijacking for four reasons:
i) Complainant, who is represented by a lawyer, should have appreciated the weakness of its case in view of the fact that the rocketlab.com domain name was registered long before Complainant acquired trademark rights in the ROCKET LAB mark and many years before Complainant was founded;
ii) the Complainant’s case appears to be based on the argument that Respondent’s failure to use the rocketlab.com domain name in connection with an active website amounts to bad faith. The Panel finds that Complainant should have contemplated that it could not succeed with such an argument since there is no evidence that Respondent ever targeted Complainant;
iii) Complainant should have known that Respondent’s use of the domain name for its email correspondence qualifies as using the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services; and
iv) the circumstances of the case clearly show that the Complaint was filed as a “Plan B” after Complainant’s failure to purchase the disputed domain name from the Respondent.
McAndrews Held & Malloy Ltd. represented the Complainant.
Post link: Rocket ship company tries Plan B reverse domain name hijacking
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$550k of NameJet/SnapNames sales from May
Here are the notable sales from last month.
Newfold Digital’s aftermarkets NameJet and SnapNames combined to sell 131 domains for $2,000 or more last month, grossing about $550,000 from those sales.
Sean Markey will review some of the SEO sales, but here are some that caught my attention:
Agon.com $22,100 – This domain was previously used and likely has some SEO value. But it’s also a Greek term for a conflict, struggle or contest, and it’s a pronounceable four-letter domain. And it’s registered in a whopping 121 extensions. So much of the value comes from the domain itself. The new owner has listed it for sale for $375,000.
Popups.com $17,001 – This domain has many uses, including a site for pop-up stores.
VintageClothing.com $11,000 – Nice name for an unbranded vintage clothing store.
MindCoach.com $6,483 – Solid domain for a mentalist or therapist. MindCoaching.com also sold for $4,023. That one is more limited.
Necesito.com $4,251 – Solid Spanish-language domain that means “need”.
DifferenceMaker.com $4,055 – Outstanding leadership or political domain.
Viewcast.com $2,600 – Nice name registered in 17 TLDs.
Here’s the full list of sales at $2,000 or more:
Domain NamePrice agon.com$22,100 popups.com$17,001 surfschools.com$17,000 oceanblue.com$11,700 vintageclothing.com$11,000 icra.org$10,249 fitgap.com$8,999 rolec.com$8,100 bigbearlake.com$8,027 legalshelter.com$7,895 2368.com$7,789 mfea.com$7,600 mindcoach.com$6,483 commoditiesfunds.com$6,480 phonecard.com$6,305 sxptife.net$6,250 chefsalt.com$6,195 ascendinstitute.com$6,111 12313.com$6,013 lambethpalacelibrary.org$6,003 adaplatform.com$5,799 iseek.org$5,751 playinside.com$5,499 leny.com$5,250 reparo.com$5,250 getditto.com$5,000 psysci.com$4,995 toutlecine.com$4,511 tisc.com$4,499 rigdepot.com$4,465 youbetcha.com$4,454 necton.com$4,302 necesito.com$4,251 fiata.com$4,200 ishine.com$4,200 drinklove.com$4,195 newsolution.com$4,166 differencemaker.com$4,055 giroptic.com$4,050 mindcoaching.com$4,023 dookie.com$4,011 siliconengines.com$3,999 travelcharleston.com$3,999 caimmigrant.com$3,995 tristateconstruction.com$3,995 optimagroup.com$3,988 winlab.com$3,911 lightmedia.com$3,811 mathaware.org$3,811 handmadegifts.com$3,802 impactedu.com$3,795 benrappaport.com$3,595 openaca.com$3,595 methadone.org$3,575 trinitycare.com$3,555 primecorporate.com$3,500 schoeller.com$3,500 littlebloomer.com$3,499 renkin.com$3,499 gangwarily.com$3,488 blenda.com$3,406 serenitypress.com$3,395 bidproject.com$3,388 somaticintelligence.com$3,388 www1.com$3,377 techsquad.com$3,312 puffgames.com$3,300 leimax.com$3,295 almosthome.com$3,211 baysidetrade.com$3,195 cruciblesports.com$3,195 therealestatevault.com$3,195 healthyweightcommit.org$3,010 a1re.com$3,000 bearhollow.com$2,999 ejercitos.com$2,999 jerseybird.com$2,995 nontre.com$2,995 rulesoflaw.com$2,995 skimaps.com$2,907 takizawa.com$2,900 dheemahi.com$2,888 herefords.com$2,884 sockit.com$2,855 techinfo.com$2,817 econostrum.info$2,800 build5.com$2,795 hellohyper.com$2,795 playgroundindustries.com$2,795 zdora.com$2,795 coolsilicon.com$2,788 autohobbyshop.com$2,695 booth19.com$2,695 catalysthospitality.com$2,695 noorak.com$2,695 peacockmusic.com$2,695 greenroofing.com$2,649 expotrade.com$2,621 paulvalentine.com$2,620 citer.com$2,600 viewcast.com$2,600 hainanzq.com$2,600 dbtworks.com$2,595 dcircles.com$2,595 everahealth.com$2,595 vront.com$2,595 lovinghusband.com$2,499 magnanimity.com$2,499 baptizeamerica.com$2,495 surgicalheadlight.com$2,490 virtuesolutions.com$2,488 buffo.com$2,473 maj.org$2,450 frimaire.com$2,395 racewayautogroup.com$2,395 whispersofwar.com$2,395 americanbenefit.com$2,299 mygenediet.com$2,295 sellersstreet.com$2,288 youan.com$2,269 wavu.com$2,222 musicmindfulness.com$2,195 teitter.com$2,151 ffconsultancy.com$2,150 cbdmed.com$2,150 ghostwrote.com$2,095 searchpartners.com$2,052 tarso.com$2,049 bariatricsurgeons.com$2,005 matchamylkbar.com$2,001 eastmortgage.com$2,000Post link: $550k of NameJet/SnapNames sales from May
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Live domain auction grosses $2.2 million
Seven figure sale of holiday.com highlights auction.
Last week’s Right of the Dot domain auction at NamesCon in Austin was widely viewed as a success, auctioning off 56 domain names for close to $2.2 million.
The headline sales were holiday.com for $1.4 million and programming.com for $385,000. Two first-name domains — sandra.com and megan.com — also turned heads.
Some of my favorite purchases were championships.com for $5,750, tangerines.com for $2,750, pasted.com for $2,250, and compounded.com for $2,000.
The action continues online with an extended auction ending June 8. There are over 450 domains available in the extended auction.
Here’s the full list of domains that sold:
Lot NameAmount Holiday.com1400000 Programming.com385000 Sandra.com70000 Megan.com67500 Caveat.com50000 MaryAnn.com23000 Blackberries.com18500 TreasureHunter.com18000 DrinkRecipes.com17000 Holiday.org16000 Idiotic.com12500 Squirrels.com12000 Lipsticks.com12000 Occupant.com7500 Championships.com5750 Zorba.com5100 Alerts.net3500 Linguistic.ai3100 Tank.org3000 Bike.xyz3000 Tangerines.com2750 Grandfathers.com2400 Pasted.com2250 Deceptions.com2100 zit.net2100 Austin.nft2000 Compounded.com2000 Erfy.com1850 JustFlights.com1800 Bar.us1800 StopWorking.com1750 SummerDay.com1700 MV.xyz1600 Roxxy.com1500 gpt.info1300 CreditCheck.io1300 Clinics.net1300 WeddingCollection.com1250 HBIQ.com1100 Mythical.io1100 ConsumersGuide.com1100 LowCarbDiet.com1100 EngagementRings.net1100 FEDM.com1000 HallOfFame.net1000 JHUS.com800 Test.cc800 HolidaySeason.com800 DomainFinders.com750 kxon.com600 kk.vc600 Request.money600 Roulette.vc500 CryptoCurrencyConverter.com500 FractionalizedDomain(s).com500
Post link: Live domain auction grosses $2.2 million
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AI & domain names – DNW Podcast #439
How Artificial Intelligence will change domain names.
Have you played around with any AI-powered domain generators? They’re surprisingly good. On today’s show, Ryan McKegney, CEO of DomainAgents, comes on the show to talk about the impact these tools and AI might have on the domain business. DomainAgents has its own AI domain generator that you should check out. We also discuss some of the trends Ryan is seeing in the aftermarket.
Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts to listen to the Domain Name Wire podcast on your iPhone, or click play above or download to begin listening. (Listen to previous podcasts here.)
Post link: AI & domain names – DNW Podcast #439
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Google publishes their TLD registry software: Nomulus
Google announced this morning that they are releasing their TLD registry platform, Nomulus, which is written in Java, under an Apache 2.0 license. The company uses the software to run their own registry for their TLDs. Portfolio TLD applicant Donuts has partnered with Google and contributed to the source code – they will also be running a public test instance of the system, which is geared towards being run on the Google Cloud Platform. So far, Rightside (NASDAQ: NAME) has been operating Donuts’ registry backend.
Also covered by:
- DomainNameWire: Google open sources domain registry, Donuts collaborates as pressure on registry providers mounts. The article focusses on the rising pressure on Domain Registry Operators, and a potential switch of platforms by Donuts away from Rightside.
Here’s the full press release:
Introducing Nomulus: an Open Source Top-Level Domain Name RegistryDate: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 8:00am PT
Author: Ben McIlwain, Software Engineer
Today, Google is proud to announce the release of Nomulus, a new open source cloud-based registry platform that powers Google’s top level domains (TLDs). We’re excited to make this piece of Internet infrastructure available to everyone.
TLDs are the top level of the Internet Domain Name System (DNS), and they collectively host every domain name on the Internet. To manage a TLD, you need a domain name registry — a behind-the-scenes system that stores registration details and DNS information for all domain names under that TLD. It handles WHOIS queries and requests to buy, check, transfer, and renew domain names. When you purchase a domain name on a TLD using a domain name registrar, such as Google Domains, the registrar is actually conducting business with that TLD’s registry on your behalf. That’s why you can transfer a domain from one registrar to another and have it remain active and 100% yours the entire time.
The project that became Nomulus began in 2011 when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced the biggest ever expansion of Internet namespace, aimed at improving choice and spurring innovation for Internet users. Google applied to operate a number of new generic TLDs, and built Nomulus to help run them.
We designed Nomulus to be a brand-new registry platform that takes advantage of the scalability and easy operation of Google Cloud Platform. Nomulus runs on Google App Engine and is backed by Google Cloud Datastore, a highly scalable NoSQL database. Nomulus can manage any number of TLDs in a single shared instance and supports the full range of TLD functionality required by ICANN, including the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP), WHOIS, reporting, and trademark protection. It is written in Java and is released under the Apache 2.0 license.
We hope that by providing access to our implementation of core registry functions and up-and-coming services like Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP), we can demonstrate advanced features of Google Cloud Platform and encourage interoperability and open standards in the domain name industry for registry operators like Donuts. With approximately 200 TLDs, Donuts has made early contributions to the Nomulus code base and has spun up an instance which they’ll be sharing soon.
For more information, view Nomulus on GitHub.
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