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.
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!”
