You’ve been paying more at the pump. Now you’re paying more at the registrar.

I’m not sure when this happened, but a reader pointed out that GoDaddy has hiked prices on .net and .org domain names to $13.19 per domain. That’s a 30% increase.

This is probably just a business decision by GoDaddy to maximize profit. It can easily calculate how many .net and .org sales it loses and determine if the price hike is worth it.

When I asked GoDaddy about its high prices on Neustar offered domains back in June, a company spokesperson said “Our price points are a product of our internal research, testing and other market indicators.”

That’s fair. But registrars like GoDaddy can’t raise prices like this and then complain to congress about registry price hikes at VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) and other registries. GoDaddy has done that in the past, despite the fact that it has charged more for .net than .com frequently in its history and VeriSign charges much less for .net than .com.

If you’re a GoDaddy faithful, I’d recommend signing up with the Discount Domain Club. It costs $89.99 to join, but then you pay $6.95 for .com and $7.19 for .net and .org. Given current GoDaddy prices, you’ll make up the membership fee with as few as 15 registrations. You can save an extra 2% by prepaying by check or wire transfer.

Gregory Ricks loses three character domain name.

Long time domainer Gregory Ricks has lost the domain name BME.com to BMEzine.com, LLC. Ricks lost the case because of the content of recent parked pages on the domain and because the panel found that his initial registration in 2000 was not relevant because he transferred the domain between entities since then.

BMEzine.com is an ezine about body piercing, tattoos, etc. For the past couple years the domain has shown parked pages including ads for “Tattoo supplies” and “body piercing”. That didn’t look good to the panel.

What is more interesting is that the panel found that the date of initial registration should not be 2000, when Ricks originally got the domain name. He’s transferred the domain between entities he owns and different privacy services since then. Because one of the transfers between privacy services happened after BMEzine filed a service mark for BME, the panel judged that he made the transfer solely to “conceal his identity as long as possible.” A footnote says the panel can’t explain why he moved the domain between entities a couple times prior to being contacted by BMEzine. I think this would be relevant to the case.

So here’s a case that shows once again how important it is to protect three character domains. Had the ads on the parked pages had nothing to do with body art, my bet is Ricks would still own the domain.

Below: one of the parked pages from BME.com.

Moniker slashes prices for new registrations on .mobi domains.

If you want to get your hands on any unregistered .mobi domain names, now may be a good time. Moniker just announced $7.49 per year pricing on new .mobi domain registrations through October 24. The pricing applies to up to ten years of registration if purchased at the time of registration.

GoDaddy is also offering discounted .mobi domain registrations at $7.99 $8.19 each.

You might consider picking up the .mobi equivalent of any of your important .com domain names (I already own DomainNameWire.mobi)

If you need a little inspiration, here are some .mobi domain names available at the time of writing (I found these through NameTumbler).

BEWILDERED.MOBI
BREAKABLE.MOBI
COOING.MOBI
ENCOURAGING.MOBI
FLUTTERING.MOBI
HELPLESS.MOBI
HUSHED.MOBI
JITTERY.MOBI
MOTIONLESS.MOBI
PANICKY.MOBI
REPULSIVE.MOBI
SCREECHING.MOBI
SHIVERING.MOBI
SQUEALING.MOBI
TROUBLED.MOBI
UNINTERESTED.MOBI
UNSIGHTLY.MOBI
WEARY.MOBI
AMERICANBOBTAIL.MOBI
JAPANESEBOBTAIL.MOBI
PTARMIGAN.MOBI
RATSNAKE.MOBI
PEDESTRIANCROSSING.MOBI
BLACKBOARDERASER.MOBI
TURNSIGNAL.MOBI
ACCUSER.MOBI
ANGRIER.MOBI
APPROVER.MOBI
ARBITER.MOBI
ASSEMBLER.MOBI
ATTAINER.MOBI
ATTENDER.MOBI
BACKBENCHER.MOBI
BANISTER.MOBI
BANNISTER.MOBI
BATHER.MOBI
BEDCHAMBER.MOBI
BENCHER.MOBI
BLACKER.MOBI
BLUSHER.MOBI
BOLDER.MOBI
BOWYER.MOBI
BRAVER.MOBI
BRAZIER.MOBI
BREAKWATER.MOBI
BRIGADIER.MOBI
BRIMMER.MOBI
BRUISER.MOBI
BULGER.MOBI
BUNTER.MOBI
BURGHER.MOBI
BUSIER.MOBI
BYSTANDER.MOBI
CANTER.MOBI
CHANGEOVER.MOBI
CHARTERER.MOBI
CHRONICLER.MOBI
CLAMBER.MOBI
CLASPER.MOBI
COARSER.MOBI
COMMANDEER.MOBI
COMMONER.MOBI
CONVENER.MOBI
COTTAGER.MOBI
COULTER.MOBI
COWER.MOBI
CRIER.MOBI
CROFTER.MOBI
CROPPER.MOBI
CRUDER.MOBI
CURLER.MOBI
DARKER.MOBI
DEARER.MOBI
DEFAULTER.MOBI
DEMPSTER.MOBI
DENSER.MOBI
DESERTER.MOBI
DIMER.MOBI
DISCHARGER.MOBI
DISMEMBER.MOBI
DISSENTER.MOBI
DISTEMPER.MOBI
DITHER.MOBI
DOCKER.MOBI
DOUBTER.MOBI
DOWAGER.MOBI
DRAFTER.MOBI
DREDGER.MOBI
EMBALMER.MOBI
EMITTER.MOBI
ENCUMBER.MOBI
ENGENDER.MOBI
EQUALISER.MOBI
ETHNOGRAPHER.MOBI
EXPERIMENTER.MOBI
FAINTER.MOBI
FAIRER.MOBI
FALTER.MOBI
FIELDER.MOBI
FIRMER.MOBI
FLANKER.MOBI
FLYOVER.MOBI
FOREFATHER.MOBI

(Obviously, many of the good .mobi domains are already taken.)

Auction at TRAFFIC conference will allow for remote bidding.

Rick Latona announced that his auction at next month’s TRAFFIC conference will be simulcast on the web. The auction will use Proxibid, which Latona calls the “biggest and best online auction company in the business.”

Latona’s auction will include his own domains, including some real winners such as SecurityAlarms.com, LotteryNumbers.com, and Cyberspace.com. It is unclear how the reserves and pricing will work.

So here’s what the auction scene at TRAFFIC will look like:

Rick Latona – offering his own domains. He’s hired a live auctioneer and will simulcast on the web. [update: Rick says he's offering other people's domains too.]

Moniker – Moniker will hold the premier auction. As usual, it will allow for live bidding through its online interface.

TrafficZ – 60 or so premium domain names. You can submit your domains at Aftermarket.com. It will likely leverage the online bidding technology used at Domain Roundtable conferences.

Bido – it’s unclear what Bido will do. When it decided to hold a live auction it said it didn’t know what it’s exact plans were. Since then Bido has suspended its online auctions as it works through technical issues.

Rick Schwartz – Schwartz will auction off some of his own domains. I suspect that Moniker will handle the auctioning of his domains, but in a separate auction.

John Oliver explores anti-Clinton sites, only to find that the best domains are taken.

Daily Show fans are getting a dose of the Mile High City this week as the show covers the Democratic National Convention in Denver. On last night’s episode correspondent John Oliver tried to help Clinton supporters heal from their loss and support Obama.

The Clinton supporters he heard all had their own anti-Obama domain names:

ClintonsforMcCain.com
DemocratsforMcCain.com
HigherHeels.com
Puma08.com (Party unity my ass 08)

I may have misunderstood the first and third domain names as they don’t seem to resolve to anything. [Update: here's a lesson about the "radio test" for domains. HigherHeels.com is actually supposed to be HireHeels.com.]

But Oliver didn’t think these domains were that good. So he asked the Clinton supporters about an alternative:

Oliver: What about F@ckThatGuy.com?
Clinton supporter: It’s taken. I looked into a few names similar to that but they’re taken.

Alas, perhaps all the good domain names are taken.

But good news for the pro-Clinton anti-Obama camp. F@ckthatguy.com expired on July 2 and is currently in the redemption grace period. Perhaps you can pick it up in the drops.

Daily show video: