Month: October 2010

The domain name FantasyFaceoff.com which was first registered in 2001 has sold for $12,500 on Sedo. 

“Fantasy Face off” is one of many fantasy type games where players match up “real people” such as sports stars and the players win based on the actual performance of the sports stars.  NASCAR has a fantasy faceoff where drivers are matched up and online players predict who wins. 

New owner for FantasyFaceoff.com

Who bought the name remains a mystery?

One domain investor comes to mind: Scott Day, who was featured in The Domain Game.  Scott Day’s portfolio ranges from Watermelon.com to FantasyFootball.com, and Shops.com to Haunted.com.  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for this Domain investor when it comes to Fantasy domain names.  Not only does he own some of the best like FantasyFootball.com and FantasyBaseball.com, but he operates them as businesses.

Currently the top result in google for “fantasy face off” is a Blog Talk Radio show called “The Fantasy Face off”.

Interestingly enough, TheFantasyFaceoff.com is not registered at the time of this posting.

I’m not sure when this partnership was struck, but National A-1 has partnered with AOL on their babies.com web site.

The goal of the Babies.com web site is to help people with helpful answers to all things baby.  If you need help on what to buy a baby, what babies need, or what to name your baby – as the web site states, “Babies.com offers honest answers for today’s parent, or any baby fan!”.

Babies.com is runs on the same server as several of AOL’s other online magazine properties such as Asylum.com and LemonDrop.com.

Last month, AOL agreed to purchase TechCrunch.com, the technology blog that profiles startups, reviews new Internet products, and reports on breaking technology news.

About AOL
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

About National A-1
National A-1 Advertising, Inc. was established in 1990 as a full-service advertising agency offering an advertising and marketing presence for retail, corporate, and professional businesses. Our services include media buying, ad placement, and graphic design.

Building profitable relationships with clients and their target audiences requires innovation and more than just a catchy slogan. We create powerful ideas that transform our client’s businesses. We are fortunate to work with many top businesses and professionals as well as many small businesses that have experienced dramatic growth using our premiere advertising services and employing our skills that put us in the forefront of technology.

National A-1 Internet was established in 2002 and was spun off from National A-1 Advertising Inc.

National A-1 Internet is a leader in the development of innovative, state of the art technology. We use that expertise to run our own websites and those of a select few of our partners. From the creation of cutting-edge software to hosting, encoding, digitization, and offering bandwidth, National A-1 takes ideas and creates solutions from conception to creation without relying on outside vendors.

The domain name GroupBuying.com is going up for auction at T.R.A.F.F.I.C Miami. 

A Fusible reader in May asked, “I wonder how much GroupBuying.com would sell for at auction right now” in response to my story titled: Are owners of “Group Buying” Domains poised to cash in?

It looks like we might find out in the next few days.

The reserve range for groupbuying.com is $100,000+.   

I have regularly covered the group-buying space since the domain HomeRun.com sold for $130,000 in February 2010, so this should be an exciting auction to watch, especially if end users are in attendance. 

While this auction could be exciting, it could also be disappointing.  If one thing is certain, it’s that group buying start-ups don’t need category-killing names to be successful.

Want to learn more about the Auction?

Here’s what you’ll find, when you visit GroupBuying.com today.

The internet domain name GroupBuying.com is being offered for sale via LIVE AND ONLINE AUCTION at the TRAFFIC Domain Conference & Expo in Miami, Florida.   Group Buying has taken the web by storm and venture capital is pouring in to the industry. The winning bidder will be in fantastic company; Groupon.com which was founded in 2008 by Wharton alumni Andrew Mason has secured $170 million in US in venture capital. The two year old startup is already valued at some $1.35 Billion. According to a recent article Mason explained that Groupon turns down seven businesses wanting to offer a deal for every one it accepts. This demonstrates that the market is just heating up and it is certainly ripe for more competition. What better name than GroupBuying.com?

Groupon’s stats:
– 700 incoming requests to be featured every single day.
– Waiting lists over six months long to be featured in most cities

GroupBuying.com will feature an attractive reserve price and as a result, it is expected to sell. Online bidding on this domain name is currently available for registered bidders and bidding will continue until the live event on Tuesday, October 19th 4:30pm through 7:00pm EDT at the South Beach T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Live Auction. Information about the auction and event can be found at Latonas.com, TargetedTraffic.com or RickLatona.com.

Why are generic domain names like GroupBuying.com so valuable? Year after year, the values of generic domain names have been rising dramatically. Domain names truly the safest investments in today’s time of uncertainty”. An easy-to-remember, brand-able Internet domain name is a key component to a company’s success.

Corporations worldwide are taking note of these developments, and are taking action accordingly. Recent high priced domain names include

Toys.com   $ 5,100,000
Candy.com $ 3,000,000
Ticket.com  $ 1,500,000
Luck.com    $   675,000

Once high-profile domains are acquired by large corporations, they may never be available for public sale again. Indeed, one’s only hope of controlling such a high-profile domain name would be to acquire the entire corporation, an undertaking thousands of times more expensive than buying the domain before the corporation acquires it. The appeal of high-profile domain names is undeniable. Make sure you don’t miss out on this one-time opportunity to acquire GroupBuying.com exclusively available at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. through Rick Latona Auctions.

If there’s one industry that is showing the power of catchy, brandable domain names: it’s the group-buying industry.

Group buying continues to be popular, not only among bargain shoppers, but among companies and individuals looking to cash in on the trend. 

Sure, building a business on a great domain name like Bargains.com can certainly help strengthen a company’s image, but companies like Groupon.com who are valued at $1 billion, have shown that it doesn’t take a category-killing name to be successful.

Prices for catchy domain names are far cheaper than the prices for category-killing domain names like Coupons.com, which was purchased for $2.2 million in 2000 in a private transaction.

Group buying domains

Here’s a look at some interesting group buying domains that several startups and established companies are using.

WeForia.com
Yellowbook launched Weforia.com in Southwest Florida.  The group buying site offers consumers up to 90 percent off the cost of products or services at local businesses. “We know lots of businesses close to where you play and are gearing up to help them offer fantastic discounts for you!”. 

Yellowbook registered the domain name this August.

DealSwarm.com
Cox Media Group recently launched a Groupon clone called DealSwarm. “We’re talking up to 75% off totally fun stuff in your neighborhood, one daily deal at a time.” 

Cox purchased the domain from Sedo recently for just $1,500 USD.

CityLoots.com
CityLoots launched in Dubai. “Our daily offers are for: Restaurants, Spas, Concerts, Sporting Events, Classes, Salons,Adventures and so much more…”.

The company registered the domain name in July 2010.

LocalGinger.com
Location-based media company WHERE announced in September that it has acquired LocalGinger.  “LocalGinger.com operates in multiple regions featuring exclusive local offers for our members.  We also manage social commerce marketing for merchants by creating branded promotion pages that help businesses easily leverage social media and reinvent word of mouth marketing using their own customer & prospect database.”

Localginger.com, was originally registered in 2002, and even had a web site online.  Though it appears the name expired and was registered again by a different buyer.

DailyD.com
DailyD is a group buying aggregator that recently raised $5 million.   “To start receiving 50-90% off great experiences for you and your family, simply complete the following two steps.”

The company that raised $5 million, paid just $3,000 for the domain name in 2009.  That, according to DomainTools sales history.

Wow.com
AOL has entered the group buying space with Wow.com. “Wow provides you and your family with savings at your favorite local and national locations each and every day! Eating, shopping, weekend outings – Wow offers things you want and things you need at a price that makes sense for your on-the-go lifestyle.”

On October 1, I wrote about the “soft launch” of Poker.org, the $1 million .org domain name that was sold by National A-1 to PokerCompany.com in February 2010.

Though news of the sale was widely covered, the news of the “soft launch” has gone largely unreported, despite the fact Poker.org is 2010’s biggest .org sale and the #5 publicly reported sale of a domain name this year.

Now that the web site is developed, its positioning in Google search is another story.

Today, Poker.com is first in the results, but it’s not the only domain with the keyword “poker” in the web address that appears ahead of Poker.org.  Although it’s early, here are some interesting, (some obscure) poker domains which are displayed in Google search results before the million dollar .org domain.

freepoker.org
Play poker for free with our texas holdem poker game. You can play free online poker games with NO download needed and very quick registration form

launchpoker.com
Comprehensive online poker guide at LaunchPoker.com – poker rules, online poker room reviews, and poker tips on how to play poker.

dozenpoker.com
DOZENpoker.com is a unique online poker index, offering detailed analysis of poker sites to find the very best in online pokerempirepoker.com
Play online poker, with texas hold’em tables and tournaments action. Over 200000 prize pools. The only online poker room with a VIP program.

online-poker-index.com
Leading online poker website objectively written by players for players. Get EXCLUSIVE BONUSES, read our thorough reviews before you download and much more

pokertalk101.com
Thousands of books, magazines and online sites are devoted to poker, the most popular and exciting card game.

These sites might not be ahead of poker.org for too long, but time will tell.

If you own a poker domain that displays ahead of poker.org, feel free to share in the comments.