Month: January 2011

Categories
News

Two-letter .com domain AY.com receives $100,000 bid on Flippa in no-reserve auction

AY.com

A couple weeks ago, domain blogger Mike Berkens over at The Domains wrote about the auction of the two-letter .com domain AY.com at Flippa, after the owner issued a press release announcing the sale. 

The auction followed the buzz created by news of Facebook purchasing the domain FB.com for $8.5 million. 

Today, the seller of AY.com has issued another slightly different press release, in which he notes that the domain has received 1 bid, for $100,000 in the no-reserve auction which ends 17 days from now, that is, unless the domain sells for the buy-it-now price of $2 million.

Here’s a look at the new press release.

(US NEWS SOURCE) January 31, 2011 – This month, an extremely rare LL.com domain name is up for auction on Flippa.com. The domain name, “AY.com” has a current bid of $100,000, and many domain appraisers feels it’s worth a lot more.

“It could be worth over $1 million if the right entities became interested,” said one domain name appraiser in an email reply. “The value on a domain name as rare as AY.com is based solely on what someone is willing to pay for it.”

So far, one bid has been placed on the LL.com (Letter – Letter .com) internet property for $100,000. The current owner, who purchased AY.com over 2 years ago has set no reserve on the auction.

The auction which can be seen at: https://flippa.com/auctions/120091/AY-com—Rare-Premium-2-Letter-Pronounceable-LL-com-Domain-Name is set to end on the night of February 17th, and will sell to the highest bidder, no matter what the price may be.

There are only 676 possible LL.com possible combinations on the internet for domain names, so this makes 2-letter domains like AY.com extremely rare. So far, according to the current owner, the auction has received over 2,400 views and has been added to 13 different users’ watch lists.

How much will the final sale price be?

“I have no idea,” said Eddie Krassenstein, the current owner. “I feel it is extremely valuable, so we will let the market decide.”

The owner of AY.com is heavily marketing the domain name, taking out a number of press releases and even changing the homepage of AY.com to plug the auction over at Flippa.

When AY.com sells at Flippa, it could be the company’s biggest sale in 2011.  And it could be the site’s all-time top sale to date.  While 2010 had a number of six-figure sales for the marketplace, S9.com at $400,000 was the biggest reported sale, confirmed by Flippa.

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Threats by Zynga backfire as thousands line up online to play Blingville on Facebook

Blingville

Recently, it came to light over at TechDirt, a technology news blog, that Zynga sent a cease & desist letter to Blingville LLC, the West Virginia company that runs Blingville, an up and coming Facebook game that is currently in Beta testing.

Zynga’s threats against the company, which resulted in Blingville responding with a lawsuit (which can be read here), appear to have backfired at this point.

While no decision has been made as of yet in the lawsuit filed by Blingville, thousands are lining up to test the game online, partly thanks to the press Blingville has received by dozens of technology blogs and news sites, including domainer blogs The Domains and Domain Gang.  

I signed up earlier today to become a Beta tester, and was welcomed by a message stating, “Beta Testing in Progress: Your #20,992 in line to test Blingville.”  According to the message, testing will last a couple more weeks as the game is prepared for a full launch on Facebook.

Zynga/Ville Trademark developments

People have their own opinions on what the outcome should be when it comes to Zynga vs Blingville.

Whatever the case, there are more “ville” trademarks not owned by Zynga, than there are trademarks actually owned by the social gaming development company. 

In fact, earlier this month, Build-a-Bear applied for trademarks on Bearville.com and Bearville.  The company owns and operates Build-a-Bearville online, an extension of the in-store experience it offers to customers.

While Blingville LLC, hasn’t put out too much information, the company does have a subscription-based newsletter that aims to keep fans and supporters connected.  The company also registered additional domain names related to its soon-to-be released game, including BlingvilleCash.com, which re-directs to Blingville.com.

The last public statement by the company was posted on the company’s Facebook page and read: ” Blingville would like to sincerely thank all of our loyal fans for their support in our defense against Zynga! Your comments are greatly appreciated!”

Categories
News

Top domain sale of 2011 blown out of the water by sale of Action.com for $270,000

Ip Man Donnie Yen

It wasn’t like the sale of Soulmate.com was expected to stay at the top of DNJournal’s year-to-date domain sales charts at $100,000.  Soulmate.com, which sold at AfternicDLS for $100,000 in early January has now been blown out of the water by the sale of Action.com over at GreatDomains for $270,000.

In 2008, the domain Action.com sold at Moniker for $230,000.  By the time the New Year rang in for 2009, it finished at #36 among the top sales of 2008, the same year Fund.com sold for $9,999,950.

But you can’t expect Action.com to enjoy its reign at the top too long in 2011 either, with domain names like gambling.com and tournament.com  up for sale.  Gambling.com is expected to fetch a price tag in the millions.

Though billionaire Calvin Ayre has no comment on whether he’ll bid on gambling.com, some think he’ll be the new owner by the beginning of February. 

At the time of this story, action.com is parked at Sedo.  The registrant’s information is hidden by Moniker’s Privacy Services.

Categories
Disputes News

Former OASIS star Noel Gallagher wines and dines owner of noelgallagher.com (who demanded small fortune for domain)

Noel Gallagher

The Sun has an interesting story published today about musician Noel Gallagher who split from the English band OASIS.  The artist who has become a solo artist, decided it was time to get with the times, and get online. 

According to the Sun, the domain name noelgallagher.com, was registered over 10 years ago by a Spanish OASIS fan who demanded a small fortune for the domain name from the English Star. 

Instead of paying the money outright, Noel decided to wine and dine the fan, who eventually agreed to turn over the domain name for signed memorabilia and guest list passes to Noel’s upcoming solo shows.

Noel took matters into his own hands last week. He paid for the Spaniard to fly to London, put him up in a plush hotel and met him in person to thunder out a deal.

And after some serious haggling, and a few Oasis anecdotes, the chancer changed his demands from tens of thousands of pounds – to some signed memorabilia and guest list action at Noel’s next solo gigs.

Instead of filing for a domain dispute (which Noel may not even be familiar with), it looks like he found it easier to go this route.

According to Whois records, the domain name is registered to a Steve Ithell, and was last updated in March 2010.

Steve Ithell
   54 Linhope Street
   London, London NW1 6HL
   United Kingdom

Read about the Noel Gallagher domain saga.

Categories
News

Unbelievable: Six-figure domain name Childhood.com expires at Network Solutions, going up for auction

childhood

It appears the owner of childhood.com, a domain name which appraises for $136,000 at Valuate.com, has neglected to renew it.  The domain expired at Network Solutions on January 18, 2011, and is now pending renewal or deletion. 

Childhood.com is being made available at NameJet, the aftermarket auction company, which has an exclusive partnership with Network Solutions, the registrar where the domain is currently registered.

At the time of this story being published, the domain is in the pre-bidding phase and already has a high pre-bid of $5,000 with over 100 interested buyers.  The name is set to go to private auction on February 22, 2011.

A little history of childhood.com

Childhood.com was first registered back in 1996, at a time when premium .com domain names were readily available.

In the late nineties, the URL served as the home page for the Carlon family web site, according to Archive.org.  The multi-page web site featured family photos, art, and more about the family.

By 2000, the homepage got a new look.

Instead of showing off things about the family, the owner listed several domains that they had registered and were willing to take offers on.  The names included anonymoustips.com and anonymoustip.com – two domains which appear to be registered to new owners.  Anonymoustips.com sold at Afternic in 2005 for $1,260.

Who knows why the owner of childhood.com let their domain name expire, because it has definitely expired according to the latest Whois information.

Childhood.com domain name

Maybe it’s because they never got the right offer  or maybe perhaps they began neglecting their domains starting back in 2000. 

Whatever the case, if childhood.com isn’t renewed in time, it’s certain to fetch top dollar at NameJet.

Updated:  In a discussion thread over at NamePros that was started from this story, members had some interesting comments about the expired domain.  Keith writes, “A quick search shows that the name was expired this time last year as well. It was obviously renewed and it was under the same ownership. Maybe he will do the same thing again.” 

This is a technique used constantly, as Shane_mac points out.  ” Without a doubt he will renew it, same as last year. Its just very clever marketing from a very shrewd businessman”.

Though it might be nothing more than a marketing stunt, members have tried to call the phone number listed for the doman.  Though it’s an incorrect number, Keith from Namepros mentioned on the discussion thread that the person has received a number of calls from people inquiring about the domain name, “Funny thing is that the guy who answered said, man there have been a ton of calls lately from people who are asking for this person, lol. The domain vultures in action!”