News
Courting Mr. Beast – DNW Podcast #476
How Radix scored a deal with the world’s most popular YouTuber. Last year, the world’s most popular YouTuber, Mr. Beast, changed his merch store website to a .store domain and promoted the switch in a video viewed nearly 200 million times. On today’s show, Radix CEO Sandeep Ramchandani explains how his company worked for many […]
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Categories: Domains
WIPO panelist files reverse domain name hijacking case on behalf of client
A panelist should surely know better.
A World Intellectual Property Organization UDRP panelist filed a reverse domain name hijacking case on behalf of a client, fellow panelists have ruled.
Ezgi Baklacı Gülkokar of the law firm Moroğlu Arseven filed a dispute on behalf of Toros Tarım Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi against the domain name toros.com.
The domain itself should set off alarm bells: even non-Spanish speakers probably recognize this is the Spanish word for bulls.
But the Complainant’s conduct in this case is more egregious than filing a dispute against a generic domain name.
Once the case was filed and the domain owner’s identity was revealed, the Complainant updated its case to name the domain registrant but didn’t do additional research with the new information.
Had the Complainant undertaken what the panel considers “a simple search of the disputed domain name on the Wayback Machine”, it would have discovered that the current owners have a right or legitimate interest in the domain name. For years, it was a site about bullfighting.
Worse, the Complaint includes an apparently false allegation that the domain owner tried to sell the domain to the Complainant. It alleged that the Respondent approached the Complainant through the domain broker Saw.com, offering to sell the disputed domain name to the Complainant for $37,000.
That’s not what happened, according to a signed declaration by Saw.com founder Jeffrey Gabriel.
Gabriel said that it was the Complainant that contacted Saw.com about acquiring the domain. Gabriel provided an appraisal of the domain from Saw.com’s appraisal tool that was for $37,000, but stated:
It is difficult to estimate what price could be requested for the domain as the owner (we don’t own the domain) is the primary variable, but I’ve generated an appraisal for you to give you an idea of what it could sell for.
Shockingly, the Complainant didn’t address this allegation after receiving the domain owner’s response to the dispute.
Ezgi Baklacı Gülkokar is a fairly new WIPO panelist, having first decided a case in 2022. But she’s active; UDRP.tools indicates that she has decided 31 cases.
John Berryhill represented the domain name owner in the three-panelist case. Nathalie Dreyfus was one of the panelists, so it’s a good thing it was a three-member panel. (She did agree with the majority in this case.)
This is the second time I’m aware of a UDRP panelist filing a case that resulted in a bad faith ruling. The other was in 2016. The panelist in that case had decided 65 UDRP cases, but was removed from WIPO’s panelist roster shortly after that decision.
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Canva triumphs in cybersquatting case, secures 174 domain names
Canva wins case that it says involved a single cybersquatter.
Design tools company Canva has won (pdf) a single cybersquatting case against 174 domain names.
The company filed the dispute with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in July 2023.
The registrars for the domains subsequently provided the registrant names, and the domains each had different owners. But Canva argued that the domains all had common control based on their IP addresses, design, and the fact that many of the supposedly different registrants reached out after receiving the cybersquatting complaint and used similar language in their responses. The panel agreed that the case could proceed as if the domains were all owned by one party.
WIPO published the decision in favor of Canva in the past day, and it’s dated February 27.
By using the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy to win the return of the domains, Canva likely used the most cost effective mechanism. WIPO charges $1,500 for a case against 1 to 5 domains, and $2,000 for a case against 6 to 10 domains. For any domains above that number, WIPO negotiates with the Complainant.
Post link: Canva triumphs in cybersquatting case, secures 174 domain names
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How to set up catch-all email forwarding at Squadhelp
It’s easy to find out who is sending email to your parked domain names.
Squadhelp recently enabled custom DNS settings on domain names. When you point your domain names to Squadhelp’s nameservers, you can now add MX and TXT records to those domain names.
One of the cool things this enables is to set up catch-all email addresses for your domain names.
With catch-all addresses, you can receive any email sent to your domain names. This is a good way to track non-web traffic to your domains and might indicate sales opportunities if people are confusing your domain with someone else’s business.
Here’s how to start receiving any email sent to domains in your Squadhelp account.
1. Sign up for ForwardEmail.net
ForwardEmail.net offers a free tier with unlimited catch-all email address forwarding. That’s all you need to set it up.
It’s best to sign up using the email address you’d like to receive the forwarded messages. Remember that you might start receiving a lot of emails, so you might want to choose a mailbox you set up specifically for this purpose.
2. Get the MX and TXT records you need to add to your domain.
You’ll enter a domain name to get these records, but it doesn’t matter which domain at Squadhelp you enter. All mail sent to your Squadhelp domains will be forwarded.
3. Go to the Custom DNS Settings in Squadhelp.
The Custom DNS Settings page lets you create MX and TXT records. Copy the data from ForwardEmail.net and create the records at Squadhelp.
Now that you’re setting up MX records on your domains, you should also set up an SPF record. This will prevent people from spoofing your domain when sending mail. Create a TXT record with the value v=spf1 -all
4. Verify your settings in ForwardEmail.net
Click the link in ForwardEmail.net to verify that your DNS is set up correctly. This verification can take a while, so be patient.
Once the DNS change propagates, you’ll start receiving emails sent to any of your domains, such as name@example.com, info@example.com, etc.
Post link: How to set up catch-all email forwarding at Squadhelp
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Squadhelp adds down payment option for lease to own
Ask buyers for a down payment to reduce the chances of buyers abandoning long-term payment plans. Offering long-term payment plans for domain names is a great way to increase sales. However, sellers can be frustrated when buyers stop making payments. And the longer the payment period, the more likely the buyer will stop making payments. […]
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Categories: Domains
Content blockers are preventing people from seeing domain landers
Tens of millions of people can’t see your domain landing pages. People interested in buying domain names generally learn they’re for sale in one of two ways: search for the domain name at a registrar and see a premium listing, or type the domain into a browser and see a sales landing page. Unfortunately, many […]
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Categories: Domains
A dozen end user domain sales including .link and .me
A legal SEO company, a link-in-bio service and others bought domain names this week.
Of all of Sedo’s sales this past week, the one I’m most curious about is church.sucks. .Sucks domains rarely make aftermarket lists, and this one is super unusual. Perhaps a church’s marketing campaign to show that church doesn’t have to suck? Or maybe an atheist bought it? We’ll have to wait to see.
As for domains we know the buyer of, Here’s a list of end user domain name sales that just completed at Sedo. You can view previous lists like this here.
NowOn.com $19,000 – Digitall is a digital transformation business that announced a partnership with ServiceNow. I suspect the name is a play on the ServiceNow partnership.
Link.xyz €10,000 – It appears the buyer is setting up a tool for creators that includes link-in-bio and link shortening.
LawFirmSEO.com $8,500 – Hennessey Digital bought this domain. The firm’s founder, Jason Hennessey, was on DNW Podcast #366.
Tower1.com $6,950 – Tower1 is a residential real estate investment firm.
PromoRegalo.com €4,840 – This site sells corporate branded gifts. It’s Spanish for promo gift.
Online-Energieausweis.de €4,000 – This domain, which is German for online energy certificate, resolves to the site for a business that sells energy consumption and need certificates.
Dudugo .com $3,439 – This domain is used for a Chinese-language site selling luxury purses.
Links .me $3,000 – This site will be a marketplace for selling links and guest posting. This stuff is the bane of my existence; I get about a dozen spammy guest post requests daily.
Liluna.de €2,975 – Liluna is an online store selling candles and baby gifts.
CGroup.eu €2,599 – This domain forwards to the website for Corporate Solutions grupa, which provides technology and business consulting.
Gasup.de €2,000 – The buyer is setting up a Shopify store.
GolfAndTravel.de €2,000 – Golf & Travel is a golf travel company.
Post link: A dozen end user domain sales including .link and .me
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Buying on SnapNames is better, but still not great
I experience fewer headaches at SnapNames than I used to, but it’s still not as easy as winning expired domains at other services.
I’ve bought a lot more domain names on SnapNames over the past six months after taking a long break. I took a break because of the “pain and suffering” you experience when you win a domain name there.
When you win a domain on GoDaddy Auctions, it goes into your GoDaddy account. When you win at DropCatch, it goes into your NameBright account. But when you win a SnapNames, who knows where it will end up?
For a while, even when the domain would be placed into a Network Solutions account, SnapNames created new Network Solutions accounts for me. It seemed to randomly insert the wins into one of four or five accounts. So, I had all these accounts and would have to log into them to find the domains.
I’m not sure what changed, but now all of my Network Solutions wins go into a single account, which saves me a lot of headaches.
To be sure, there are still many issues. I was reminded of this when I won a domain name at SnapNames this week that was at Crazy Domains. Crazy Domains is part of the same company as SnapNames, but I’ve never had a domain there.
I got errors when changing the domain’s nameservers to Afternic. I connected with chat support, and they said it appeared to be an invalid nameserver. I told them that wasn’t the case, and they escalated the issue to their domains team. Later that day, I received an email saying the problem had been resolved and that the domain was now pointing to the Afternic nameservers.
Except, it doesn’t. It still points to the old nameservers; now, the previous owner’s site is resolving!
Getting your wins at random registrars is painful, and I try to avoid any domains not at Network Solutions or Register.com when I can.
Granted, even when a domain is inserted in your Network Solutions or Register.com account, there is some pain and suffering:
- You get an email verification for every domain you register, and you have to click this for your domain to be active in the DNS
- These registrars don’t let you add the Afternic ownership verification nameserver
- It’s a tedious process to transfer out
I’ll finish this rant with a couple of nice things about SnapNames.
First, it’s nice that all of my Network Solutions wins land in one account.
Second, you can instantly opt into the Afternic network. Even GoDaddy requires you to wait 60 days.
(By the way, if you’re using NameJet instead of SnapNames, you’re wasting money. SnapNames doesn’t charge credit card fees. Update: NameJet recently stopped charging credit card fees.)
Post link: Buying on SnapNames is better, but still not great
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Aston Martin wins .ai domain from misguided domain registrant
Forceful response falls flat as Aston Martin wins case for AstonMartin.ai.
Aston Martin won a cybersquatting claim against the registrant of AstonMartin.ai. Photo courtesy Aston Martin.If there ever was a clearcut case of cybersquatting, registering AstonMartin.ai and listing it for sale would certainly qualify.
But that didn’t stop the person who registered this domain from putting up a spirited defense when Aston Martin filed a case against him.
First, the registrant argued that the carmaker doesn’t have a trademark in Anguilla, which is the country .ai is for.
The registrant also argued that Aston Martin should have tried to resolve the case without filing a cybersquatting dispute:
…the Complainant has brazenly sidestepped any attempt at amicable resolution by blindsiding the Respondent with baseless claims and a malicious attempt to wrest control of a domain name to which it holds no legitimate entitlement under the Policy. This Machiavellian maneuver is a clear indicator of the Complainant’s nefarious intent to harass and intimidate the Respondent through underhanded means.
The Respondent makes a lot of “vehement” assertions, including that:
- the Complainant’s assertions regarding confusion or misleading consumers are utterly baseless and bereft of any factual foundation
- the registration of the disputed domain name was not orchestrated with the intent to disrupt the Complainant’s business operations. Such allegations are nothing short of egregious attempts to malign the Respondent’s character and are categorically refuted.
Well, I’ll give their lawyer an A for forceful language.
The panelist unsurprisingly found in favor of Aston Martin and ordered the domain transferred.
Post link: Aston Martin wins .ai domain from misguided domain registrant
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Categories: Domains
Fresh Brandz LLC tries reverse domain name hijacking
Company went after domain that was registered before it existed.
A company that sells aluminum-free deodorant has tried to reverse hijack FreshKidz.com, a UDRP panel has determined.
Fresh Brandz LLC sells a line of deodorant under the name Fresh Kidz. It uses the domain name MyFreshKidz.com.
The company filed a UDRP against FreshKidz.com, which domain name investor eWorldWideWeb, Inc. owns.
eWorldWideWeb acquired the domain name in an expired domain auction in March 2018. Fresh Brandz wasn’t formed until later that year. Fresh Brandz said it was the predecessor in interest of a company that existed before the domain registration but did not provide any evidence of that.
The three-person panel found that the Complainant failed to make even a prima facie case that the domain owner lacked rights or legitimate interests in the domain name. Even if it had, the panel said the domain owner successfully rebutted it.
The panel also found that the Complainant failed to show the domain was registered and used in bad faith.
In finding reverse domain name hijacking, it wrote:
In the present case the Panel considers that Complainant knew or should have known that it was unlikely to be able to show Respondent lacked a legitimate interest or had registered or used the Disputed Domain Name in bad faith. In this regard Respondent must have known Respondent’s registration of the Domain Name predated Complainant’s formation (a date which Complainant failed to identify in the Complaint), and predated the claimed first use in commerce date claimed in the FRESH KIDZ Trademark application (again a date which Complainant failed to identify in the Complaint). In order to overcome this problem Complainant sought to rely on what it said was its predecessor in interest Kind2Skin Ltd and says it is the assignee of that company’s trademark rights in the Earlier FRESH KIDZ Trademark. In doing so it was vague as to the relevant chronology but it must have been apparent to Complainant and/or its counsel that evidentiary proof of such an assignment was required, but none was provided. Complainant has failed to adduce any evidence at all to support its claim to be the successor in interest to Kind2Skin Ltd or its trademark, and it failed to disclose that trademark had subsequently been cancelled for non-use. Taking all of these factors into account, the Panel finds that Complainant’s actions amount to Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.
The panelists were Honorable Neil Anthony Brown KC and Sandra J. Franklin as Panelists and Nick J. Gardner.
Timothy Frailly, one of Fresh Brandz’s managers, represented the company in its filing. Jason Schaeffer of ESQwire.com, P.C., represented the domain name owner.
Post link: Fresh Brandz LLC tries reverse domain name hijacking
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Squarespace’s new regs drop 10% MoM, but might be stabilizing
Squarespace registered fewer .com domains again, but the month-over-month drop wasn’t as extreme.
I’ve been tracking Squarespace’s new .com domain registrations since it took over Google Domains in early September. Here’s the data :
- August (pre-acquisition) 250,324
- September (acquisition occurred September 8) 189,713, down 24% month over month
- October 160,931, down 15%
- November 145,141, down 10%
The good news for Squarespace is that the drop isn’t as big each month.
Squarespace says that churn from Google Domains customers is less than expected, but it hasn’t stated if new registrations are hitting its target.
ICANN just published data from .com registry Verisign showing new registrations at each registrar for November. In addition to the Squarespace data, note that Hostinger has landed on the top 10 new registrations chart for two months in a row, this time topping 100k registrations.
Below is a chart showing how the largest registrars did in terms of new registrations in November. Note that the rankings include multiple registrar accreditations within families of registrars. You can see the list at the end of this post.
1. GoDaddy.com (NYSE: GDDY) 682,905 (752,613 in October 2023)
2. Namecheap Inc. 286,914 (304,155)
3. Gname.com 167,461 (205,943)
4. Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX) 163,149 (170,236)
5. Squarespace (NYSE: SQSP) 145,141 (160,931)
6. Newfold Digital 135,649 (201,035)
7. Hostinger 108,790 (85,029)
8. IONOS 101,168
9. Alibaba 84,655 (86,237)
10. Dynadot 68,904 (78,357)
Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations under management as of the end of November.
1. GoDaddy 55,976,359 (56,065,221 in October 2023)
2. Newfold Digital 12,275,329 (12,338,513)
3. Tucows 11,044,487 (11,076,704)
4. Namecheap 9,485,123 (9,428,909)
5. Squarespace 8,166,420 (8,173,894)
6. TurnCommerce 5,944,693 (5,949,178)
7. IONOS# 5,739,094 (5,689,842)
8. Gname 4,460,347 (4,374,509)
9. Alibaba 4,159,117 (4,153,986)
10. CentralNic 3,742,599 (3,769,801)
Many domain companies have multiple accreditations, and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.
- GoDaddy includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains, Uniregistry, GoDaddy Corporate Domains, MeshDigital, the 5 “Go Country” registrars, and 123 Reg
- Namecheap includes Namecheap and Spaceship
- Tucows includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
- Newfold Digital 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.
- Squarespace includes Squarespace and Google
- TurnCommerce Includes NameBright and DropCatch registrars
- IONOS includes Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys, and world4you
- CentralNic includes Key-Systems, 1API, Internet.bs, TLD Registrar Solutions, RegistryGate, Moniker, Instra
Post link: Squarespace’s new regs drop 10% MoM, but might be stabilizing
© DomainNameWire.com 2024. This is copyrighted content. Domain Name Wire full-text RSS feeds are made available for personal use only, and may not be published on any site without permission. If you see this message on a website, contact editor (at) domainnamewire.com. Latest domain news at DNW.com: Domain Name Wire.
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Jewelry company upgrades to GLD.com for $1 million
A jeweler with major licensing deals upgrades its brand with a great domain name.
Jewelry company GLD recently moved its site from TheGLDShop.com to GLD.com.A successful jewelry upstart has secured a significant domain name upgrade.
The GLD Shop has rebranded at GLD after acquiring the domain name gld.com from domain investor Richard Lau. Lau told Domain Name Wire he sold the domain name for $1 million.
GLD has a thriving business selling jewelry to clients such as Justin Bieber, Cardi B, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant. It also has collaborations with the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Marvel.
According to a BusinessInsider article from late 2020, the company was on track to generate $50 million in sales that year. And with people buying more goods during the pandemic, it surely grew from there.
For all its success, though, the company didn’t have a good domain name. It used TheGLDShop.com and ShopGLD.com for its web address.
Lau sold the domain name to the company last year. It just recently switched its site over and now forwards its other domains to GLD.com.
Based on archive.org records, it appears the switchover happened in the past ten days.
GLD is a play on the word gold. It also happens to be the ticker of a gold exchange-traded fund.
I reached out to GLD’s domain buyer broker, Joe Uddeme, to see if the buyer would comment, but the buyer has not responded.
Post link: Jewelry company upgrades to GLD.com for $1 million
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Categories: Domains
Finding cofounders with cofounders .com – DNW Podcast #475
Why this entrepreneur paid $65,000 for cofounders.com.
Chris Koerner reminds me of a lot of people in the domain business: he has his hands in multiple businesses ranging from tree trimming to cryptocurrency to reselling Buc-ee’s goods.
He partners with lots of founders to start businesses and recently paid $65,000 to acquire cofounders.com to promote this opportunity.
On today’s show, Chris talks about why he acquired the domain and what the process was like buying it through Godaddy. He also discusses the time he pitched John McAffee on a crypto project. That experience will show you his grit and determination.
Also: My domain sales/acquisitions in 2024, Squarespace, .Food, and more.
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: Finding cofounders with cofounders .com – DNW Podcast #475
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Categories: Domains
Tucows partners on web3 company Orange Domains
Orange Domains is trying to connect the DNS with Bitcoin Naming Service.
Domain name registrar Tucows (NASDAQ: TCX) has thrown its hat in the web3 ring as a partner in a new company called Orange Domains.
Orange Domains plans to expand the functionality of the Bitcoin Name System (BNS) through decentralized apps, as well as develop new top-level domain services to connect the traditional Domain Names System (DNS) with web3 digital identities.
Partners include web3 companies Trust Machines, which raised $150 million, and Hiro Systems.
Don Ruiz, who formerly worked for Automattic on .blog, is the General Manager of Orange Domains.
Ruiz told Domain Name Wire that Orange Domains plans to release a previously unlaunched DNS-based top level domain name later this year in which registrants will get added web3 functionality. He declined to reveal what the domain name is.
Having Tucows on board will give Orange Domains strong distribution; Tucows is the third largest domain name registrar by names under management and has an extensive network of resellers.
Many companies are getting involved in connecting DNS-based domains to web3 technologies.
Ethereum Name Service, a rival naming system to Bitcoin Name Service, allows anyone to connect a real domain name to its service and use it as a wallet address.
There are also individual TLDs that offer web3 connections, such as .box. Internet Naming Co. is introducing a web3 spin on .vana domains later this year.
Over the past few years, it has become clear that web3 identities (which their backers sometimes call domain names) aren’t viable for email and websites. The winning formula, at least for now, seems to be real domain names that can be used as identifiers by connecting to web3.
While web3 capabilities are currently somewhat limited (typically using the domain as a wallet address), backers hope additional functionality will be possible over time.
This post has been corrected to state that Tucows is the third largest registrar, not second. Newfold Digital is the second largest behind GoDaddy.
Post link: Tucows partners on web3 company Orange Domains
© DomainNameWire.com 2024. This is copyrighted content. Domain Name Wire full-text RSS feeds are made available for personal use only, and may not be published on any site without permission. If you see this message on a website, contact editor (at) domainnamewire.com. Latest domain news at DNW.com: Domain Name Wire.
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Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute site saved in cybersquatting claim
Domain registrant said he bought the domain to create a tribute to the late singer.
The estate of musician Stevie Ray Vaughn has lost a cybersquatting claim it filed against StevieRayVaughan.com.
The domain owner said he acquired the domain in 2013 because he was a “a long-time blues aficionado.” He put up a tribute site that, at times, has been supported by advertising.
Steve Ray Vaughn’s estate argued that the small site is basically a cover to justify holding the domain name.
But panelist Gerald Levine noted:
The issue is not size of content but that the content is presented genuinely to honor the subject. There is no reason to discredit Respondent’s assertion he was “a long-time blues aficionado who desired to build a fan site in tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan (SRV), who was held in highest esteem.”
Levine pointed out that the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) is designed to handle clearcut cybersquatting cases. He determined this was not one of those cases; perhaps the courts would be a better venue.
So, for now, StevieRayVaughan.com will remain in the hands of a professed fan rather than the estate.
Munck Wilson Mandala, LLP represented the estate.
Post link: Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute site saved in cybersquatting claim
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5 new top level domains enter early access today
Internet Naming Co. introduces five new domains today.
. Food is among the domains entering early access today.Five new top level domain names are available for registration starting today: .diy, .food, .living, lifestyle, and .vana.
Internet Naming Co. acquired the unlaunched top level domain names from Lifestyle Domain Holdings last year. (Lifestyle Domain Holdings was part of Scripps Networks, which is now part of Warner Bros Discovery.)
Starting today, participating registrars are offering the domains in the early access phase. It’s essentially a Dutch auction where prices drop daily until general availability pricing kicks in on March 6.
On day one, domain registrar 101Domain is charging $29,999. That drops to $11,999 tomorrow, $6,299 on day three, $3,299 on day four, $1,399 on day five, and $699 on day 6. For all domains other than .vana, the company will charge $44.99 when general availability starts.
The early access fees are one-time charges; domains renew at standard rates (or the premium rate for premium domains).
Internet Naming Co. says .vana will include web3 capabilities that will be announced later this year.
Post link: 5 new top level domains enter early access today
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Passes.com: from $70k domain to $40 million venture round
Richard Lau sold domain name to company that just raised $40 million.
Passes helps creators generate revenue from their audiences.A creator monetization platform has raised a $40 million series A round using a great domain: passes.com.
Domain name investor Richard Lau told Domain Name Wire that he sold the domain to the company in 2022 for $70,000. Once he found out Lucy Guo was behind the company he sold the domain to, he asked to convert the price into shares, making him a small investor in the company.
Guo previously co-founded Scale AI, which was valued at $7 billion.
Passes helps creators generate revenue from their audiences by offering exclusive content to paying subscribers, messaging fans, livestreaming, hosting one-on-one calls, and accepting tips. It’s similar to Patreon but pitches additional features.
The company previously raised a $9 million seed round in 2023.
Passes is a great name that makes sense for the company. As a plural word, the company was able to acquire it for less than it likely would have paid for a good singular domain.
Post link: Passes.com: from $70k domain to $40 million venture round
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Categories: Domains
ICANN considers way to restrict use of accountability mechanisms
Working group asked ICANN for a way to restrict access under specific circumstances.
ICANN has opened a comment period over a proposed bylaw update that would limit access to accountability mechanisms.
The organization has a couple of accountability mechanisms for groups to challenge its actions: the Reconsideration Request and Independent Review Process.
These accountability mechanisms allow aggrieved parties to challenge decisions, but they can be costly and time-consuming for both the filer and ICANN.
A working group that determined how to distribute new top level domain auction proceeds through grants became concerned that applicants that didn’t receive a grant would use the accountability mechanisms.
ICANN proposed that it could address this by putting contractual terms in the grant application that restrict applicants from using accountability mechanisms.
However, many in the community were concerned that this approach could be used in more contracts. Imagine if this term was added to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement or new TLD applications.
So, the proposed solution would require a broad consortium of the ICANN community to propose a restriction, which ICANN’s board would then approve.
I can foresee circumstances in which some in the community will try to use this approach to block groups that abuse the accountability mechanisms by repeat or baseless filings. A long-running campaign around .web comes to mind. It would require a lot of community members who don’t have an interest in whatever is being appealed to join in, though.
The comment period ends April 15.
Post link: ICANN considers way to restrict use of accountability mechanisms
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Squarespace revenue tops $1 billion in 2023
Company reports robust growth in 2023 and says its Google Domains acquisition is performing well.
Squarespace (NYSE: SQSP) reported Q4 and full-year 2023 earnings today.
For Q4, the company grossed $270.7 million, up 18% from $228.8 million in the same quarter of 2022.
For the year, the company grossed $1.012 billion, up 17% from $867.0 million in 2022.
Price increases accounted for 27% of the annual growth.
Unique subscriptions increased 10% to end the year at 4.6 million, not including domain-only customers acquired through the Google Domains acquisition. Average revenue per unique subscription increased 8% year over year, again not including Google Domains-only customers.
Squarespace said renewals from Google Domains customers surpassed expectations. And while the company didn’t break out the impact Google Domains (which it acquired in September) had on its 2023 numbers, the company told Domain Name Wire that it accounted for about half of the bookings growth in the quarter (bookings grew about $54 million).
The company says it expects the Google Domains acquisition to add $85 million to $88 million to the top line in 2024.
Post link: Squarespace revenue tops $1 billion in 2023
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European ccTLDs see reduced growth
Growth is slower, but it’s still growth. Not all TLDs can claim that.
CENTR, an organization representing country code top level domain operators primarily in Europe, has released its latest Global TLD report.
The report indicates that European ccTLDs are still seeing growth, albeit much slower than during the pandemic.
Year-over-year growth in these TLDs was 1.4% in 2023. When looking at monthly year-over-year rates, the market seemed to have hit a bottom in January 2023 and grew from there, but it fell back in the latter part of the year:
CENTR says strong renewal rates in the existing base have helped maintain this growth:
While deletions have increased over 2023, they are still relatively low compared to longer-term averages. This means that while the base of domains in European ccTLDs are often being maintained, new registrations are struggling. Based on analysis of registrations and in particularly average demand ratios, we expect average growth rates to remain similar for 2024. The challenge for ccTLD registries will be to ensure their already high renewal rates are maintained whilst still attracting a sufficient number of new registrations over the year.
This is encapsulated in another chart that shows new registrations divided by deletions:
According to CENTR, European ccTLDs are more likely to be developed than .com domains and other gTLDs, which results in higher renewal rates.
Verisign, the registry for .com and .net domains, reports a blended renewal rate for .com and .net domains that hovers in the low-to-mid 70% range.
The Demand Ratio for .com is below 1.0, resulting in a decline in the base of registered .com domains.
Post link: European ccTLDs see reduced growth
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