Look no further than a Rocky Mountain News article to understand why.

What happens when a cybersquatter claims he’s a domainer, and then tries to differentiate himself from a cybersquatter? It gives domainers (i.e., domain investors) a bad name.

An article in The Rocky Mountain News covers Leon Lee, a man who has cybersquatted on several professional baseball players’ names.

Leon Lee jumped online and grabbed the domain name ClintHurdle.com the day the Rockies beat the Diamondbacks to go up 3-0 in the National League Championship Series.

A few days later, as the club prepared to battle the Red Sox in the World Series, the Union City, Calif., man paid less than $20 to register KazMatsui.com and YorvitTorrealba.com.

Lee, 32, had secured MattHolliday.com three months before. Though Holliday failed to win the Most Valuable Player award, coming in second, that online real estate is especially valuable.

It’s bad enough that he’s cybersquatting and coming out point blank to admit it. But then it gets worse. Lee explains to the paper that he’s not cybersquatting. Nope, he’s just a domainer. A cybersquatter, Lee explains, is someone who registers trademarks with the intent to sell them.

Lee sought to draw a distinction between the activity and “cyber-squatting.” That typically refers to people buying up domain names of businesses or celebrities with the intent of selling them for a profit.

Hey Lee, meet me at Camera 3.

Psst…over here. You with me? You see, registering a celebrity’s name and parking it is cybersquatting (unless, of course, you have the same name or its a common name). You’d easily lose any UDRP decision, especially now that you’ve come out and told the world your intentions. You can register a politician’s name (it’s free speech), but celebrity names are considered trademarks. And by calling yourself a domainer, you’re giving the rest of us a bad name.

Article talks about upcoming domain launch, also refers to domainers as cybersquatters.

It certainly wasn’t mean to be malicious, but a CNN.com article shows that the domain industry needs to keep spreading the word about what it really does.

The article “Latest ‘Net gold may rest in Asia’s domain” says cybersquatters and domainers are the same thing:

“The .Asia rollout shows in many ways how the Wild West days are dwindling for cyber-squatters — known as “domainers” — to mine high-value names”

For the record, a cybersquatter is one who registers trademark-infringing domains. A domainer is one who owns and invests in generic domains. Technically, a domainer can also be a cybersquatter, but not necessarily.

The article mentions .eu but doesn’t explain how .asia and .eu are different. .Eu was a country code domain, which meant that ICANN didn’t set all of the rules. Registrars of .eu domains don’t have to be ICANN accredited. .Asia, on the other hand, is a top level domain with ICANN’s oversight.

According to the article, trademarks for .asia will be handled differently than .eu. If multiple companies claim identical trademarks, the domain will go to the highest bidder. That doesn’t solve the trademark problem; people will still set up bogus trademarks in an effort to score valuable domains. However, it will make the cost of acquiring that domain much higher than the standard registration price.

Will .asia succeed? So far, the .eu aftermarket has been a bomb. The domains were snapped up mostly be investors, meaning the domain isn’t used much. Three character .eu domains frequently sell for under $1,000 and the aftermarket is very limited. Will .asia suffer the same fate? Will Asians actually use the domain? Only time will tell.

When you receive an offer on Sedo, should you send the domain to auction?

When Sedo launched its auction platform, domain sellers rejoiced. Prior to launching the auction format, sellers could only negotiate one-on-one with potential buyers. There was no way to trigger a reserve price and get added exposure similar to Afternic’s model.

When you receive an offer on Sedo, should you negotiate or send the domain directly to auction?

The answer: it depends on the name.

For example, say you receive an offer on a generic domain that should be interesting to multiple domain investors. An example would be Support.ws, which I sold* on Sedo. I received a low offer, but the name was generic. I knew that the added exposure on Sedo auctions would push the price up, which it did. For example, here are a few current auctions on Sedo that are attracting many bidders:

b9.eu – 23 bids
0zq.com – 18 bids
fazo.com – 19 bids
ekk.biz – 8 bids

I could have tried to negotiate the price of support.ws prior to putting it in auction, but having a low starting price engages more bidders and ultimately results in a higher sales price.

However, you’ll notice that most Sedo auctions end with only one bid. This is typical of domains with limited end user appeal (such as a small niche). I recently received an $800 offer for ITBackup. I was willing to sell for this price, but wanted to squeeze out a few hundred more. This domain only appeals to a small set of buyers, not the general auction populace at Sedo. I should have negotiated directly with the buyer to get the price up to $1,000 before sending it to auction to see if anyone else was interested.

The bottom line: if you have a generic domain that will be interesting to multiple domain investors, you are better of sending the domain directly to auction rather than negotiating. If you have a niche domain with limited interest, you should negotiate a favorable price first, as that will likely be your only bidder.

*For the record, the buyer didn’t end up paying for the domain and I still own it.

Silent auction ends starting at 3PM EST today.

The silent auction portion of Moniker’s first-ever geo domains auction ends today. Auctions will start concluding at approximately 3PM EST, but many will last into the evening.

A quick review shows limited bidding thus far, which may mean great buying opportunities. Anyone who has ever bid or registered in a previous auction can participate at no charge at silentauction.moniker.com. Prices start at $240.

Also mixed into the silent auction are domains from the Casino Affiliate Convention Macau.

Most of the geo domains include a city or state name and topic, such as:

SeattleEmployers.com $1,200
BoiseBailBonds.com $360
VirginiaShops.com $2,360
MissouriTuxedos.com $360
SacramentoBlog.com $1,180
VermontAttractions.com $3,760

Domains that didn’t sell in the live auction are also up for grabs. Bidding starts at the reseve. Two of my domains, SanFrancisco.us and KansasCity.us are available for bidding. After looking at the reserves for Memphis.us ($500k) and Denver.us ($1M), I’m wondering if my reserve on SanFrancisco.us is a bit low

[Update: As of 4:20 PM CST, the following domains have received bids:

PasadenaNews.com $3,530
VisitCapecod.net $360
BerkeleyNews.com $360
BritishColumbiaNews.com $1,180
MexicoCityBlog.com $1,180
NewJerseyCabs.com $360
NewYorkBoxOffice.com $530
WorcesterNews.com $1,180
AlaskaTravelGuide.net $360
AlaskaTravelGuide.org $360
AmazonPreserve.com $360
HamptonNews.com $1,180
UKCondos.com $240]

An auction for Affiliate.us is underway after receiving a 120,000 EUR bid at Sedo.

Affiliate.us is being auctioned at Sedo and the reserve is met. Bidding started after the owner received a EUR 120,000 bid (approximately $178,000 USD). The seller is well known, but it is unclear who the buyer is. Given the very high price, let’s hope Sedo verifies the bidder quickly to avoid any sort of embarrassment. “Affiliate” is a valuable term, but this auction would certainly set records.

Sedo has a few other auctions underway that are attracting attention. Porn.fr is currently EUR 30,000 (approximately $44,500 USD) and has met its reserve. DiscountTravel.co.uk is at 16,000 EUR ($24,000 USD), a very strong price for a .co.uk. Chrismas.co.uk has attracted 14 bids and is currently £13,000 ($27,000 USD), but the reserve isn’t met. Finally, ForexInvestor.com is 10,000 EUR ($15,000 USD).

A few of these domains may be up for sale from U.S. investors. By listing domains in Euros they can take advantage of current exchange rates. Although people should factor in differences between currencies, that may be thrown out the door in the heat of an auction.

Sedo’s next Great Domains auction kicks off on Thursday. Some of the top domains (and their reserve ranges) include:

Actors.com $50k-$200k
Coed.com $50k-$200k
Dormitory.com $5k-$20k
FatTuesday.com < $5k
Illustrate.com $20k-$50k
MailOrder.com $200k-$500k
Nap.com $50k-$200k
Our.com $50k-$200k
Per.com $50k-$200k
RSU.com no reserve
Silver.net $50k-$200k

[Update: Zimbabwe.com is now on auction at $130,000. The reserve has been met.]

[Update: Initial suspicions were founded. The auction for Affiliate.us has been removed from Sedo's site. My guess is this could sell for $5k-$20k, up to $75k under the right circumstances.]