Join me online during today’s Moniker auction.

Coming off the heels of yesterday’s successful Rick Latona Auctions event at TRAFFIC in New York, Moniker gets the bill this afternoon starting at 4pm Eastern.

You can join Adam Strong and me in a live chat during the auction. We’ll get started around 3:50 ET. To join, go to tinychat.com/domains, pick a nickname, and enter password domains123. Or just go here.

Here are some of my thoughts on the auction:

.biz – All one and two character .biz domains have no reserve. They will all sell.

SwineFlu.net – $5k-$10k – I think SwineFlu.com sold for about this much, so the .net doesn’t make much sense to me.

eScripts.com – $5k-$10k – Used to be owned by Allscripts before they let it drop. In fact, I think I may have sold it to them, but it may have been another similar domain I’m thinking of.

NewYorkers.com – No reserve, no brainer

HonorRole.com NR – Given that this is a misspelling of HonorRoll.com, I’ve got to think the visitors to this domain aren’t on the honor roll.

NoseJobs.com – $25k-$50k – I helped a previous owner of this domain sell it several years ago. I don’t think it’s worth this much.

TrademarkLawyers.com – $5k-$10k – put up a simple directory site here and get trademark lawyers to advertise…earn your money back quickly.

Zimbabwe.com – $100k-$250k – I’ve given commentary on this one before. Now that Sudan sold for $120k, we have another decent comp on this one. Zimbabwe.com itself sold for $130k at Sedo in 2007. The likely buyer is someone who wants to shed light on the peril in Zimbabwe.

TermLifeRates.com – $2500-$5000 – it’s not “quotes”, but I still like this one

Raspberry.com $25k-$50k – good, brandable name.

Introduction.com $100k-$250k – another domain that has been listed before. Based on permutations of “Introduce”, I think this is priced high.

WoolSuits.com -$1k-$2500 – a great deal

If you have any domains in the auction (or not), feel free to add your commentary.

Fill out survey to (hopefully) shape ICANN priorities.

ICANN has opened a survey listing a couple dozen priorities and asking stakeholders to rank each priority as Low, High, or Very High. Examples of priorities include:

-The introduction of new top level domain names
-Introduction of internationalized domain names
-Security concerns and DNSSEC
-ICANN complying/meeting Affirmation of Commitments
-Compliance of existing contracts

I’m not sure how seriously ICANN will take this unscientific survey, but I recommend filling it out nonetheless. It only takes a couple minutes. If you’re concerned that ICANN is focusing too much energy on bringing out new top level domain names and not enough on registrar compliance, make your voice heard. (I bring up this example because a new TLD promoter has already started asking people on Twitter to fill out the survey with a priority to new top level domains. Of course, you should go with whatever you care about most.)

Lawsuit provides complete correspondence in alleged domain heist.

A lawsuit against Tucows provides a rare, detailed glimpse into a possible domain theft.

The suit was brought by Mrs. Jello, LLC against Tucows with regards to a domain name purchased by Mrs. Jello (MJ). MJ bought the domain name W9.com for $20,000 from someone purporting to be the owner of the domain name. MJ completed the transaction through Escrow.com and received the domain name.

Several days later, MJ received an email from 123CheapDomains.com, a Tucows Open SRS reseller where the domain was registered, alleging that the person that sold the domain to MJ had gained access to the real owners’ email to access the domain.

The lawsuit complaint (pdf) includes the complete correspondence between MJ, the alleged domain thief, 123CheapDomains.com, and Moniker, where MJ transferred the domain name upon purchase.

It provides a rare glimpse into how someone who allegedly stole a domain started communications with MJ regarding selling the domain. It includes their complete negotiations.

It also includes an email sent by a 123CheapDomains.com representative to Moniker requesting the domain name to be transferred back to it.

In an email from 123CheapDomains.com to MJ, the company claimed that MJ did not notice obvious irregularities and warning signs in the communications from the seller:

You did not do all the appropriate steps for aquiring (sic) the domain w9.com.

1. I looked at the attached emails and the person who sold it to you sent you an email from steve.rice@privatetool.com

This is not the email address on record for Whois. And Steve Rice is not the owner of the domain name and is not listed on the whois record as the owner. At this point you should been (sic) suspicious that someone is trying to sell you a stolen a (sic) domain…

3. Just because you went through Escrow.com does not make the transaction a legitimate one. Buying a stolen domain is almost as bad [as] hijacking one.

The lawsuit is worth reading to get a better understanding of how such events take place. And, assuming the domain actually was stolen from the rightful owner by the person who sold the domain to MJ, it’s a reminder that email accounts are often times the weakest link in domain security.

Auction results are impressive.

With Rick Latona Auctions taking over as exclusive auctioneer at TRAFFIC conferences next year, a lot of people questioned if it would be up to the challenge. Many of those questions were answered this evening in New York.

The final tally appears to be about $1.25 million or so in sales. That’s a respectable number. But it’s what’s behind the numbers that should be applauded.

Exhibit 1: PinkDiamond.com. This domain sold for $18,000, a decent sale. What’s impressive is that the domain sold for just shy of $8,000 at Sedo over the summer. Within a few months, Rick Latona Auctions was able to more than double the buyer’s money.

I wasn’t personally at the auction and wasn’t able to tune in for long online, so I can’t speak to how well it flowed. I caught the first ten minutes and am happy to report that it started basically on time. That may be the first time in domain auction history across all auctioneers that a live auction has started on time.

Here are the top sales from the auction, according to Proxibid:

Rio.com $450,000
Whiskey.com $185,000 (hopefully this will shut up everyone with liquor domains who think their domains should sell for $3 million like Vodka.com did)
SchoolLoans.com $137,500 (includes web site)
iAuction.com $50,000
Porn.co.za $45,000
Boy.com $45,000

Taking a look at today’s live domain name auction.

The Rick Latona Auctions auction at TRAFFIC starts this afternoon at 4:30 ET. Bidding is available online at proxibid.com/ricklatona. Here are my thoughts on a handful of domains in the auction:

Acronyms.com $150,000 – this is the type of domain the folks behind Dictionary.com might buy. I’m not sure if they’d pay this much for it, and I don’t know that anyone else would be interested.

Ballwin.com $11,800 – I grew up in this part of St. Louis. This is a great domain name. My concern is that people who live in Ballwin don’t associate so much as living in this particular city as they do living in West County, which includes several other suburban cities such as Chesterfield.

Rio.com $400,000 – seems like a winner if someone with deep enough pockets shows up.

Boy.com $26,500 – not exactly sure what I’d do with it, but this seems like a great opening price. Expect multiple bidders.

BroadwayShows.com $850,000 – I’ll defer to this guy.

Lisbon.com $200,000 – another well priced city name.

SchoolLoans.com $100,000 – apparently makes $3,000 a month. If it does that without lifting a finger, the web site might be worth the price. But I suspect a little elbow grease and maintenance goes into it. The domain itself is solid.

Coed.com $45,000 – will someone buy this domain so I don’t have to see it in yet another auction?

Hell.com $1,200,000 – I think Christian.com is worth more than Hell.com, and it sold for $600,000.