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Recorded Live August
4, 2006
Buying and Selling Domain
Names
From buying new domain names or waiting out the
incubation period on previously used domains,
Monte will share what he has learned from a decade
of experience buying and selling domain names.
Wrapping Up with Monte Cahn
of Moniker.com
Last thoughts on domain names. Find out what
cyber-squatting is and what happens to blacklisted
domains.
Buying and Selling Domain Names
According to Monte, buying a domain name is actually
like a permanent subscription that you can maintain
as long as you pay for your renewal. Although
the registry holds the home base for the domain
name, as long as you pay for those renewals and
registrations, you always have the right to use
the domain name. Hence, a domain name is a saleable
product, service and asset.
When asked if there is an incubation period
before the expiry of a domain name, Monte told
listeners that different registrars have different
policies. The usual process is that a domain
name is registered for 12 months at a minimum
and for a maximum of up to 10 years i.e. if
it is a '.com',
'.net' or '.org' name.
Some of the country codes have other restrictions
such as some of them only can be registered
for 10 years or a minimum of 2 years.
When a domain name expires, the registrar actually
deducts the registration renewal fee from the
registry for a period of 45 days. If, in that
period of time the customer doesn't renew
their domain name, then the registrar can either
delete the domain name or keep it for themselves
or sell it. Most registrars send it through
a deletion process where it goes through the
redemption grace period for 30 days. This provides
another 30 days for a registrant to come back
and get their name out of redemption. If the
registrant doesn't redeem the name, it
goes into permanent pending delete status for
5 days following which it is open to the public
again.
Moniker provides its customers with one of the
longest grace periods i.e. 35 or 36 days before
setting a domain name free. Some registrars delete
it right away when it expires, some allow a day
or a couple of days. The only standard incubation
period is 30 days once you hit the delete button.
Monte advised listeners to acquire a domain
name even after it has expired and redirect
it to their domain. Google page rank and links
may remain after expiration. It is crucial to
avoid domains that are blacklisted. Currently,
Google looks at the length of registration.
Monte said, "You don't want to redirect
a bunch of domain names into a single website
without having some unique content because it
then looks like you have as many directed domain
names into that website. It is multiplied for
duplicate content when you do that. So, you
want to do things with your 301 redirects. Make
sure you have unique presence on each of your
domain names and still utilize the redirection
power." Snapnames, Pool
and Clubdrop are a few other companies that sell
expired domain names.
Monte mentioned that Moniker invented the appraisal
format and algorithms back in 1998 and 1999.
"We had to do so because we were the first website
to actually sell a domain name for a million
dollars- the first company to sell a domain
name for 2 million dollars- and everyone wanted
to sell their domain name for millions of dollars
when that happened. So we had to come up with
some sort of algorithm that made sense to try
and justify and qualify the value of domain
names at that time. A domain name appraisal
is very similar to a house appraisal or a commercial
piece of property."
The following factors are considered when appraising
a domain name:
- How short is the word
- How easy is it to type
- Did the word have a
meaning
- Is it a .com
- Can it be branded
- Does it have marketability
- What are the Alexa
ratings
- How many links point to it
- What is the Google
page rank
- What is the TLD value
- What is the Web frequency
- What is the Search
engine frequency
- How often is the keyword in
the domain name in the zone file of the entire
Internet
You also look at traffic, "as you would
at a busy street corner of a commercial piece
of property".
Wrapping Up with Monte Cahn of
Moniker.com
Todd started off the third segment by informing
listeners that Moniker is one of the 5 fastest
growing registrars in the ICAAN approved list
of 575 companies and they survived the dot bomb
in early 2000.
When Monte was asked to define what "cyber
squatting" is, he explained that cyber
squatting is used to describe a situation in
which the person who owns the domain name of
a trademarked name is not the registered owner
of the trademark. They can be accused of "cyber
squatting"
on the brand and identity through the domain
name address. There is a lot of controversy
on this whole trademark versus domain name issue
because people assume that if you own a trademark
you automatically own the right to a domain
name and this is not the case.
Monte informed listeners that complainants have
the right to go after their domain names or their
brands in several different ways. There are cyber
squatters that go out and squat on brands, taking
advantage of famous brands and identities on the
web. However there are legitimate players too
that own key brands and identities and they use
it in a legitimate way on the Web, even though
the domain name may have a trademark used by somebody
else's company. In order to prove a cyber
squatting case through the UDRP or WIPO process
(World Intellectual Property Organization which
works with ICAAN to help companies and organizations
protect their brands on the Web), you have to
prove all 3 of the following in order to win a
cyber squatting case:
- You have to prove that the domain name
registration for that particular domain name
was malicious in nature i.e. it was meant
to keep the other company that has the trademark
from having it by holding it hostage or trying
to sell it to them.
- It is causing customer
confusion because the mark is so similar to
the famous mark that is on the web or in their
trademark.
- The current registrar has no right
to own it.
Monte explained this to listeners further by
saying "if Coca Cola has forgotten to renew
their domain name, anyone can buy it and register
it legitimately. If you're a Coca Cola distributer
and you can prove that you have the right to own
the domain name and you are not steering customers
in the wrong direction, you might actually win
a case against Coca Cola Corporation."
Regarding domain names that are blacklisted,
Monte remarked that unfortunately there is no
open list of blacklisted domain names that he
is aware of. Hence, the best method to follow
would be to test the domain name before buying
it by getting the name appraised to find out:
- Where
the links are
- If it ranked in Google
- If it has any link
popularity
- If it has page rank
- If it is in the zone file
- If it has any previous
problems etc.
Monte survived the '.com crash' and
attributes his success to staying very focused
and tenacious and being fortunate to be in a
segment in the market that helped all the companies
going out of business to monetize their last
remaining asset, their domain name. Moniker was
chosen to liquidate those assets and sell those
domain names. They were also asked to appraise
them for value for the liquidating and bankruptcy
trusts at that time and those funds flowed to
Moniker. The company received commissions for
selling those domains. Ironically, according
to Monte "we stayed
in business by selling the domain names that
were going out of business."
Monte told listeners "we believed in our
business and we truly believed that domain names
are assets. Now it is becoming so apparent that
we were right. We've led 3 live domain auctions
and sold millions of dollars worth of domain names.
We do stealth acquisitions for companies like
Yahoo and Liongate Entertainment. Domain names
are a big investment opportunity- the next real
estate boom."
Monte stated that in one months time, Moniker
would be launching a brand new marketplace for
the buying, selling and auctioning of domain names
and that will be integrated into a customers 'my
account' interface. Moniker will be doing
4-5 live auctions of domain names around the world
during the next 12 months and will be bringing
markets together in a room to buy and sell domain
names. Monte said "it is the only time that
the market has come together to decide values
of domain names, investing in them, buying domain
names that will be future investments for their
children and their children's children."
At the end of the show, Monte urged listeners
to visit Domain Masters at WebMasterRadio.fm for
valuable information on how to gain success through
their domain names.
Segment 1 Summary: Covering
the Basics about Domain Names
Segment 2 Summary: Crossing
the International Borders with a Website Domain
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