Domain Hack DealsPl.us Loses Case for DealsPlus.com
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Company tries to get “proper” version of its domain through UDRP but fails.
I’ve argued many, many times that you shouldn’t create a web site at a “domain hack”, where the top level domain name is part of the keywords. Here’s just another example, courtesy of a decision at World Intellectual Property Organization.
Sazze, Inc, which operates DealsPl.us, has lost a case brought against the owner of DealsPlus.com.
DealsPl.us is a big web site, getting well over a million unique visits per month according to Compete. But imagine trying to tell someone to go to the actual web site:
“It’s DealsPlus. That’s deals-p-l-dot-u-s.”
That doesn’t work well.
So DealsPl.us filed a UDRP to get the better domain name DealsPlus.com. A three person panel found that the domain name wasn’t registered and used in bad faith.
Like just about every site on a domain hack that has become popular, I bet Sazze wishes it would have done things right from the beginning.
Further Reading:
Tags: domain hacks, udrp, wipo
Asking price of DealsPlus.com just went WAY up!
Spend $5,000 to bring a case that would cost you $250,000+ regardless of win or loss (as long as defendant knows how to fight). Brilliant!
With hindsight this is easy to say. There’s a million dating sites out there, a million deals and coupons site, a million games sites, etc. So you decide you’re going to make one, odds are against you but it costs almost nothing to get started and there’s a big win if you get it right. You’re not going to invest a few grand+ in a better domain right at the start unless you are really sure of yourself. Lots of these sites start as a hobby, a quality name is simply out of reach until they establish a level of success and at that point it is “too late” to get that name at the “below the radar price”.
I’m not saying this is a good approach, just that I can see how it happens time and time again. I guess is a good thing for domainers. Now big corporations or well-funded groups launching without the .com for their product / brand, well that is just dumb
@ dp – fair point. I’ve often “tried out” site ideas with inferior domains.
http://delicio.us
http://delicious.com/
http://Toys.R.US
http://Bit.LY
But, as you say, “do it right”.
…pick a 4-letter .COM and build a brand…
http://WOOT.com
@dp “but it costs almost nothing to get started”
It takes a lot of time, hard work and money to make a succesful website.
Of course it does, but you can *get started* on almost no budget. A domain, a cheap host, a text editor, an ability to learn, that’s it.
Heard a rumor (can’t get confirmation yet) of a LL.com that just sold yesterday for an amount that will place it in the top 3 of all time.
I’m not disclosing the domain here, because my source swore me to secrecy. This deal WAS NOT brokered by a company, but it is being purchased by someone who is making a mark in the “social mobile” world…the buyer IS NOT a large company, just a start-up with deep pockets.
The news should be coming out sometime next week, but I can’t guarantee it.