Domain name parking alternative gets funding, announces new ad network.

Auto-generated web site company WhyPark, which provides an alternative to standard domain parking, has received an infusion of angel funding from one of its customers. Domain Name Wire has learned that the investment totals $230,000 and will be used to further enhance WhyPark’s service.

[For those not familiar with angel funding, it typically represents investments by high net worth individuals and is less than what venture capital companies usually commit.]

One of WhyPark’s first customers, Alan Macomber, made the investment. WhyPark currently has 41,000 domains hosted on its system.

Separately, the company announced that it now has an integrated ad network. Previously, customers had to use their own Google Adsense or similar code to generate revenue from domains at WhyPark. WhyPark also inked a deal with Austin-based Click Forensics to ensure the integrity of its advertising network. I’m not aware of any other domain-related company that has signed a similar deal to cut down on click fraud.

Previous coverage of WhyPark: Auto-Generated Web Sites, Part 2

75% of survey respondents see domain values increasing in 2008.

Despite a rough economy, domain industry professionals are bullish on domain prices. 75% of those surveyed see aftermarket prices increasing in 2008 compared to 2007, and only 7% see values decreasing. The results are from Domain Name Wire’s third annual survey of 841 domain industry professionals.

Why are domain owners still bullish despite a hurting domain parking industry? This week I was on Domain Masters with Monte Cahn of Moniker and we discussed this issue. (Listen to podcast).

There are many forces at work here. I believe that the laws of supply and demand still apply in this industry. There’s a limited supply of good domain names, yet all new businesses need a domain. This is a good sign for holders of quality, mid-tier generic domain names.

On the flip side, parking revenue is falling. A lot of domain investors use domain parking revenue to buy new domain names. The source of their capital is drying up. This is exacerbated when these investors bought domains with leverage. Leverage is a great thing when asset values rise. It’s bad when asset values decrease (witness the current subprime mortgage mess). Some of these buyers aren’t getting the pay-per-click revenue they expected from domains and are reaching into their pockets to cover payments. I’m starting to see a handful of domains purchased at auction over the past couple years being listed for sale at about the same price they were purchased for.

On Domain Masters, Cahn said he isn’t as bullish on the aftermarket lately and sees a lot of pressure on it. He knows what he’s talking about; he personally helps sell tens of millions of dollars worth of domains each year.

Another factor that may keep the market in an upward trajectory is buyers outside the U.S. taking advantage of the falling U.S. dollar value.

What will happen in 2008? I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m curious what you think.

Comedian files arbitration request to get hands on domain name.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld or his management company or Sony is going after the domain name JerrySeinfeld.com, currently owned by Anything.com LTD. The case commenced on April 22 and will be handled by National Arbitration Forum.

At first glance, JerrySeinfeld.com looks like a fan site. It has the slogan “An Unofficial Fan site” and includes a bio of the comedian and links to a couple other sites devoted to Seinfeld. It also includes the disclaimer:

“THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL FAN SITE. THIS SITE IS NOT ENDORSED OR AUTHORIZED BY JERRY SEINFELD OR BY ANY PARTY OTHER THAN THE OWNER OF THIS SITE.”

But if you click any of the links on the left side of the page, you quickly see that this is a glorified parking page (see update below). All of the links lead to a secondary page with nothing but ads. Clever approach, but I doubt the panel will look at the site as anything but a parking page.

Anything.com is no stranger to the UDRP arbitration process. In 2002 it lost control of Flamingo.com to casino operator Park Place Entertainment. In 2000 it held onto the domains KIS.com, EZStreet.com, and VZ.com. A quick review suggests it hasn’t been hit with a complain in a while, at least under its main company name.

The official Sony web site for Seinfeld’s famous “Seinfeld” TV show is Seinfeld.com.

[UPDATED 4/28/08 1PM CST: The attorney for Anything.com reports that the company will voluntarily give the domain name to Seinfeld. Also, the ad links have been removed.]

Recent upgrades at Domain Name Wire.

After over three years online it’s time to make a couple positive changes at Domain Name Wire.

First, you may have noticed sluggish performance on the site in March and April. Despite the hundreds of thousands of page views each month, Domain Name Wire was still on a shared hosting service. It started to drag about 6 weeks ago. Posting comments took a long time for a server response and page load times were unacceptable. Last week the site was moved to a dedicated server and now the site zips along. Comment posting takes just a second or two. If you ever experience any site outages or problems, please e-mail editor [at] domainnamewire.com.

Also, Domain Name Wire’s categories have a new addition: Domain Parking. Looking back over the past 1,000 articles here’s a breakdown of topics covered:

Domain Sales 25%
Domain Services 22%
Policy and Law 21%
Domain Registrars 16%
Uncategorized 12%
Expired Domains 5%

Domain parking stories have historically been included in Domain Services, but it warrants its own section. Domain Services will continue to cover various services for the domain industry including domain financing and domain software.

There are also a couple advertising spots available, including the bottom of the left hand column, the bottom of the page, and the newsletter.

If you have any feedback please send an email to editor [at] domainnamewire.com (or just leave a comment).

Thanks again to Domain Name Wire’s loyal readers.

Sedo tops list of best online sales venues.

For the second year in a row, Sedo has been selected as the best online sales venue for buying and selling domain names. In a survey of 841 domain name professionals, 51% selected Sedo as the top online sales venue. Last year Sedo was first but only grabbed 36% of the vote.

The question on this year’s survey was slightly different from last year, as the question specified that it only pertained to online sales venues. Here are the complete results:

1. Sedo 51%
2. Forums 20%
3. Other 9%
4. SnapNames (non-expiring) 7%
5. TDNAM 6%
6. Afternic 5%
7. eBay 3%

(results do not equal 100% due to rounding).

Perhaps the most interesting statistics is forums only getting 20% of the vote. Domain name forums were the top choice amongst domain professionals in the first year of the survey, but have slid ever since. It is becoming more difficult to weed through the poor domains on these forums, making the time cost of searching for good domains to buy much more expensive.

The online sales channel is changing, and these results may be different next year. Moniker is integrating its online marketplace with SnapNames, which could create a powerful force in the industry. Also, Domain Distribution Network is gaining steam as is NameMedia’s integrated marketplaces including Afternic and BuyDomains.

The next survey results will discuss which company is most innovative when it comes to selling domain names in the aftermarket.

[View survey results here.]