From the Afternic DLS Blog, and brought to my attention by Dan:  If you are looking to sell your domain names, NameMedia might be interested in purchasing them.  I am frequently asked by my readers for advice on selling domain names or locating potential buyers.  I frequently suggest that they auction their names, as that tends to yield competitive bids. However, many people are interested in getting cash now rather than waiting for an auction, then waiting to see if their names sold in auction, and then waiting some more to be paid if the names sold.

If this is the case, and you are looking to close quickly, it may be better to deal with a company who is willing to pay for your names without any hassles. I don’t know what types of names they are looking to acquire, but my dealings with NameMedia properties have all been positive, so now might be a good time to connect with them. It is always easier to approach a buyer with his wallet opened!

PS: If you email Pete (per the blog’s request) tell him I send my best!

I saw the name OBGYNs.com is for sale at BuyDomains for pretty good price. I think this is an especially good deal considering the singular OBGYN.com was in the live TRAFFIC auction for $1,000,000 (it passed). I know there are many differences between the two names, but I still believe this could make a nice medical directory site.

If you are interested in buying this name, let me know and I will put you in touch with my contact at BuyDomains.

Heary congratulations to the folks at NameMedia, who according to Reuters and a post on DomainNameNews.com filed with US regulators to raise up to $172.5 million in an IPO.  The company plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq market under the highly appropriate ticker symbol “NAME.”

This comes on the heels of great growth in the domain space.  Some of NameMedia’s better known properties include Afternic, BuyDomains, and Smart Name among others.  The company also recently announced strategic partnerships with leading companies such as Network Solutions and Register.com.

And also, courtesy of Sahar’s Blog, the filing can be found here:

NameMedia Announces Strategic Marketing Partnership with Network Solutions

The morning, NameMedia announced a new partnership was formed with Network Solutions. When a customer searches for an available domain name on the Network Solutions platform, a number of “Premium Resale Domain Names” will be listed in addition to the results of the query. For example, when I searched for the availability of BritishNews.com, the following appeared:

“britishnews.com is a Premium Resale Domain and can be purchased for $5,000″

This should be a good partnership opportunity because people who are willing to pay $34.99 for the standard one year registration at Network Solutions (vs. $9.99 at Godaddy) are probably more inclined to spend more to buy a premium domain name. This is a win for all parties, including the customer, who will have the opportunity to upgrade.

In August, I blogged about American Airlines suing Google for allowing other companies to buy their trademarked terms such as “American Airlines.”  I argued that Google should win this case because it was my opinion that another company should be able to buy generic keywords, like “American airlines,” since it isn’t necessarily associated with American Airlines.  Had it been a company with a more distinctive trademark, I would have argued that it was unethical to buy those keywords.  I have no legal background, so I couldn’t weigh in with a legal opinion.

That brings me to a post I just read on a forum about a company I do business with that is buying not only a keyword with the name of a competitor in it, but the actual domain name of the competitor.  I was surprised to see that when you type Sedo.com into Google, obviously searching for Sedo, there is a BuyDomains.com paid advertisement.  I don’t think this should be permitted by Google.  It’s one thing to buy keywords such as “Domain Brokers” or “Domain Sales,” but I don’t think it’s right to buy the exact keyword domain name of a competitor.

I am sure companies across a wide variety of industries are utilizing this practice, but that doesn’t make it right.

Looks like there’s a new entrant into the world of domain blogs! Launched on September 18, the Afternic DLS blog will provide “news about Afternic, BuyDomains, and AfternicDLS, the world’s largest domain listing service.” These Namemedia properties have been growing over the past year plus, and I hope the blog will offer some industry perspective from some of the sales leaders.

In an email to an acquaintance of mine back in October of 2006, I suggested that it would be beneficial for his company to introduce industry-specific live domain auctions. At the time, there had been three (or so) successful Moniker live auctions at TRAFFIC shows, but I don’t recall any industry specific auctions. Although the live auctions found success targeting domain investors, I thought domain owners were missing the sweet spot in selling their domain names to end users.

Although my acquaintance never organized an industry specific auction, there has been some success with domain auctions targeting end users. Moniker created Internext and the Casino Affiliate Convention, which I believe are good starts. However, I believe we should continue to educate end users and ultimately target them for industry specific domain names - possibly sponsoring auctions at their own tradeshows.

Back in a June post on my blog, I suggested that a company work in conjunction with an industry specific tradeshow to sponsor a seminar about the value of domain names. If we teach end users about why domain names are valuable, just maybe they will want to buy great domain names for their business. If we can do this, why not hold industry specific auctions at their tradeshows? There will be a captive and newly educated audience in attendance. In my opinion, it is something to consider, and I think a company like BuyDomains.com or Moniker could undertake successfully.

Below is the content from the email I sent to an acquaintance in October:

“I have an idea for your company. Would you be interested in organizing monthly industry-specific live auctions? With your connections, you could run a live auction once a month, inviting end-users and domainers alike to bid on industry-specific auctions. For example, in January, you could have a telecommunication-specific domain auction. For this, you could invite some end user contacts such as Verizon, Vonage, ATT, SBC

In an effort to connect with users around the world, BuyDomains.com recently introduced a live chat feature on their website. While searching for a domain name, a small pop-up appeared, asking me to chat with a representative.

At almost any time of the day, click the “Chat Now” button, enter your name, and begin chatting with a BuyDomains.com. According to the representative I chatted with, the service is available long hours to accommodate the growing worldwide need for domain names. BuyDomains.com has been making headway in countries such as China, and this could be a good way to communicate (language issues aside, of course).

Based on my two short conversations, I would suggest a couple of things to enhance the service:

- Ask for the customer’s email address while logging in to chat to make a follow-up conversation easier (and to resume a conversation if it is dropped)
- Follow-up each chat with an email from the representative thanking the customer for chatting and offering domain names that might be of interest.
- If there is a wait, let the customer know how long the wait will be.

BuyDomains.com is one of the best partners I have in the domain business. They are one of the larger NameMedia properties, and they own somewhere around 800k domain names. When I first got into the business, I thought they were over-priced, and I never bought domain names from them. They were selling domain names at prices that I would sell domain names, consequently outpricing me and not allowing me to buy from them. Over the past few months, my opinion has changed, and I believe they can provide a good value to domain investors.

About a year ago, I found a few keyword domain names of interest. After inquiring about them, I was introduced to an Account Manager who was able to give me more competitive prices than what was listed. Since this original transaction, I believe I’ve purchased some great names from them at great prices, and I imagine they are happy with the business I have given them.

Just as any other business, cultivating relationships is essential. My Account Manager knows what types of names I like to purchase, and when she finds a name at a good price, she sends me an email with the name and the best discounted price. This saves me the time and effort of searching through their massive portfolio. Frequently, I will inquire about names I’ve found that they own, and I will almost instantly get a response with a price.

I believe domain investors frequently overlook BuyDomains.com when searching for domain names. Although their target audience is small business end users, they are happy to work with - and give deals to - domain investors. One tip for potential buyers is to inquire about domain names towards the end of the month. Just as in any market where the proprietor is willing to make a deal before closing, BuyDomains.com is sometimes willing to give the best deals at the end of the month.