elliot's blog Archives – We're Fusible

Proof that Zynga has plans for Rewardville: Trademark application filed in Europe

Rumor over on Elliot’s Blog is that Zynga, the popular social game development company, purchased the domain name Rewardville.com, possibly for a rewards program that was announced back in late November in a Zynga Press Release.

Being a big fan of Zynga, I did a little digging on the name Rewardville.

While the domain name, which recently sold through Sedo for $4,500, is privately registered and redirects to rewards.zynga.com as Elliot Silver noted in his story, here’s what I did find out that no other technology site or blog has reported.

Zynga filed for Trademark in Europe for word: Rewardville

In mid-December, Zynga Inc. filed for a European trademark that went unnoticed.

The trademark application can be found here, by typing the term “rewardville” in the trademark name search field.

Though Zynga’s ultimate plans for Rewardville are not known at this time, chances are it’ll end up being an online resource and directory of rewards programs offered between Zynga and its partners.

Must-see website: Latest offers above $10,000 on domains that were rejected by Worldwide Media

Mike Berkens of the popular domain news blog, The Domains, has launched a new corporate site for his company WorldWide Media – wwmi.com. According to a brief online interview posted on Elliot’s Blog: “WWMI will be part of a new company that will be announced early in January that will specialize in helping those seeking new extensions into making their extension successful”.

The website, as it stands today, offers more insight into the domain world of Mike Berkens who owns over 75,000 domain names.

If you browse through through the different pages on the site, you’ll find recent domain sales, a monthly report on offers over $2,500, featured projects, news and more.

One of the most interesting discoveries I stumbled upon was the Recently Rejected Offers sections.

Here’s a look at 13 offers over $10,000 that were rejected by Mike Berkens’ WorldWide Media. What’s so amazing about these domain offers is that Mike Berkens had the foresight to buy some of these domains in 2010 for far less, like Kevin.me for $530 which received a $10,000 offer.

D.tv $125,000
iBill.com $100,000
VisitBerlin.com $100,000
345.com $75,000
Stuff.com $75,000
MotocycleHelmets.com $60,000
RestaurantSupply.com $50,000
Aili.com $40,000
TheTour.com $30,000
Kevin.me $10,000
Ayanna.com $10,000
FreshPrints.com $10,000
BettertoKnow.com $10,000

Interesting Notes

Some interesting notes on the recently rejected offers:

D.tv, if you recall, was hand-registered in March 2010 for less than $22, then acquired by Mike Berkens for $18,000 through Sedo.

While Mike did turn down a six-figure offer for VisitBerlin.com, he did sell VisitStockholm.com recently for $77,000.

RestaurantSupply.com was acquired in 2008 at Moniker for $22,500.

Kevin.me sold for $530 back in April.

There have been some great success stories in the Domain industry in 2010.

With Mike Berkens’ new corporate site, and a range of consulting services being offered, 2011 looks to be a promising year for individuals and companies looking for help, particularly for those stepping into new extensions. In addition to branding and development tools and services, Worldwide Media will be providing consulting on new extensions.