Domainer's Gazette-Home

Driving up from Portland back to Seattle today, my small vacation about to end, a random thought crossed my mind..

I may be thinking waay too much into this, but

consider the typed character “.”

as domainers, we all know this character as “dot”, ie dot com

I find it interesting that the radio pronounces this character as “point”, as in 98 point 9 FM..

I wonder if there are any radio stations out there that pronounce their name as “98 dot 9 FM”, or any websites that promote themselves as “website point com”..probably not on the latter, as I’d take that to be websitepointcom.com..

very interesting how the word “dot” became so closely associated with the online world..

just an fyi to all.. posting may be a little light over the next few days.. I’m headed to Seattle & Portland, but should be back in a few days..

Craig Calder, Sr. Product Manager over at Snapnames, was kind enought to drop me an email in regards to a new feature rolled out over the past few days..

per his email:

I thought you might appreciate a heads up that we made a small modification to the active auctions page.

You can now either “Show All” auctions, or filter to only those auctions “Ending Today”. We expect this should be helpful for domainers with a lot of active SnapNames auctions but only a handful that are ending and require immediate attention.

Thanks a ton for the heads up Craig!

the last date I received an email newsletter was mid-May..

… and they don’t seem to be updating any new blog posts..

did we lose them?

I went outside the domain auction field this past week and bought a domain direct from a mom-and-pop operation. Buying direct is great, mainly cause I seem to get a better price than at auction, and - based on the way I target them - they include fully built websites I can immediately monetize.

Aside from extensive research and the lengthy negotiations buying a domain direct entails, the domain transfer process tends to be the most difficult. Difficult because the actual process is incredibly involved, and stretches out the acquisition process several days, ie. several days which might allow the second party to second guess the sale and back out.

If you do land a domain acquisition directly from a 2nd party, here are a few transfer steps you’ll be presented with. Prepare yourself for these codes and passwords, and you’ll drastically speed up the transfer process:

1. WHOis Domain Admin Contact Email Address - make sure the domain holder’s Admin contact email is up-to-date within their account, as that’s where your registrar will forward the transfer request. If it isn’t, they obviously ain’t gonna get the request, and that’ll slow this whole process down (not good). Case in point, the domain I just purchased had the hosting company’s generic email listed as the WHOis Admin contact.
2. Unlock The Domain for Transfer - most, if not all, domain registrars lock down domains within individual accounts. Lock down, meaning, the domain in incapable of being moved anywhere unless it’s unlocked by the domain holder. If you’ve bought a domain from a 2nd party, one of the first steps is to have *them* unlock that sucker. If they don’t unlock it, and you attempt a domain transfer from your registrar, you’re gonna get a failure notice back - and in some cases, you’ll lose the transfer fee you ponied up. Once they unlock it, you can being the domain transfer process.
3. EPP Transfer Authorization Key - Once the domain holder unlocks the domain, they’ll be presented with an EPP Domain Transfer Authorization Key (typically, it’ll be presented on screen, or emailed to them). The domain holder will need to forward this key to you, the domain buyer, as your registrar will ask for it when you’re moving through the domain transfer process (I usually just have the domain holder email it to me.)
4. Transaction ID &/or Security Code - Once you, the domain buyer, initiate the domain transfer request, your registrar will forward an email to the Admin on record for the domain. This email will basically state to the domain holder that a request has been initiated. Most importantly, this email will include some type of transfer authorization and/or security code. As the domain buyer, you’ll need the domain holder to pass you this information as well, as your registrar will request these codes during the transfer.
5. Expedite the Domain Transfer - Once you’ve plugged in the EPP Code and Transaction ID/Security Code, you’ll enter the 3-5 day transfer waiting period (which ain’t good cause time ain’t your friend in this process). I’m not sure why this waiting period occurs, but there are ways around it. In most cases, you have the ability to expedite this transfer. If you get thrown into this sandbox, request the domain holder to approve the transfer (either through their online account, or by calling their registrar).

Preparing yourself prior to a transfer, and being proactive collecting these codes will enable you to quickly transfer that domain into your account..

now..did I miss anything?

My brother is a car guy, and his car of choice is a Porsche (a preference that has also rubbed off on me - although I don’t own one).

You wanna know his recent obsession? Buying wrecked Porsche’s at auction, then rebuilding them to spec. No, not mangled cars that have been ripped in half, or ones that have caught on fire or got soaked in Hurricane Katrina. He buys the lightly wrecked cars - cars that get hit on the non-engine side (engine is the toughest thing to repair)..

As I sit on the sideline, and watch him analyze, bid, purchase, and rebuild these cars, I can’t help but match the close associations this has to the domain auction business.

consider this car that he recently sent me:

1986 Porsche 930 Turbo

and his follow up note regarding the car:

Hey, Here is a fantasic 86 930 with low miles. The
car looks completely stock. It was definitely owned
by a collector. The muffler, steering wheel and
stereo are original. Those items are almost always
replaced. This car looks like it was pampered all
it’s life. It will sell for around $10-12K and it
need around $10K worth of work. It would make a great
weekend car for the porsche enthusiast.

If this car were a domain, I’d be all over it. Here’s why:

1. It’s been pampered all its life - not to sound lazy, but what’s better than acquiring a domain that’s been pampered for years? All the work’s already been done, and in a way, you almost get to reap its reward. It’s comparible to watching a marathon runner accomplish 26.19 miles, and having the runner hand you their number to cross the finish line.
2. You can Fix other People Mistakes - Mistakes and mis-management will wreck any website, and lead someone to abandon a domain name. Rather than try to stick with it and right the ship, most will bolt. That’s where you can come in to right the wrongs, and monetize a valuable asset.
3. It’s extremely rare - 1986 930 Turbos rarely ever come up for auction. Especially in this type of condition. The patient and persistent uncover these types of gems . The same goes for domains. Alot expire every day, and within those ranks, a few ‘86 930 Turbos can be found.
4. Seeing Value Where Others Might Not - some people view this car as a wrecked piece of garbage, while others see it as the finest production that Porsche’s made to date.

If anybody’s in the market for an unbelievable Porsche, though, let me know.. this thing is a doozy.