The future of SMB domain sales is in the registration path.

It’s been about a year since I first start using Go Daddy’s Premium Listings option for selling domain names. This option lists your domain names for sale in Go Daddy Auctions, but more importantly in the registration path on GoDaddy.com when someone wants to register a domain name you own:

I currently have about 250-300 domains with Premium Listings at Go Daddy, although for most of the year it was in the range of 100-150 domain names. As of yesterday I’ve sold five domains through the service:

$950 in February
$500 in June
$449 in September
$4000 in October
$347 in December

You may be thinking that only one of the sales is decent. I disagree. In all cases I made a healthy profit. The domain name that sold for $500 is one I’d listed many times on many venues and never got an offer over $60. The one I just sold for $347 I considered dropping when it came up for renewal this year. And the one I sold for $4,000? I bought it on SnapNames for $59 just last year.

If you consider I had an average of 200 listings during the year then my sell through rate (so far) from Premium Listings alone is 2.5%. It’s a small sample size but that’s a great number. Although Go Daddy charges a 30% commission I’ve just baked that into my asking prices for the domains. Another bonus: I don’t have to deal with transferring domains I sell. It happens instantly and automatically.

This is one reason I’m excited about Afternic expanding its premium promotion level partners before the end of the year. Now if you have domains at Moniker or eNom you’ll be able to list them for sale through Afternic’s service, getting your domains in the registration path at large end user registrars such as Register and Network Solutions.

When it comes to selling domain names to small and medium businesses, this type of sales distribution is the wave of the future.

Four letter domain transferred to Apple based on content of parking page.

Last month I wrote about how Apple had filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Forum to get the domain name Appl.com.

Apple just one the case. But before you get upset about a four letter generic domain name being surrendered through UDRP you should read panelist Richard G. Lyon’s decision.

Lyon notes that Apple doesn’t have rights to any domain containing the word “apple” or a typo of it. In the instant case the domain name owner (who didn’t respond to the complaint) had a parked page showing links related to Apple products. In other words, the iPod manufacturer was being targeted. Lyon cautioned against Apple getting overzealous with this victory. Responding to Apple’s assertion that “Where, however, as here, Complainant’s APPLE Marks are so well-known and recognized, there can be no rights or legitimate use by Respondent”, Lyon wrote:

The predicate for this contention, that Complainant’s mark is distinctive, is accurate but not complete. Complainant’s mark is undeniably distinctive for computers and the other products and services offered by Complainant. As noted in the WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected UDRP Questions, paragraph 2.2, however, “apple” is a dictionary word and not necessarily distinctive for apples, fruit, groceries, or similar produce. Similarly, the four-letter sequence that comprises the disputed domain name could be an abbreviation for other common words, such as “appliance” or “application”. What makes Respondent’s conduct obvious cybersquatting is the similarity of the disputed domain name to the APPLE mark combined with competitive use, sometimes called “targeting” Complainant and its marks. Even the renown of Complainant and its marks does not confer a worldwide monopoly on the right to use the word APPLE or a variant in a domain name, under the Policy or under United States trademark law. The Panel points this out in the hope that Complainant, unlike some other owners of famous brands that incorporate common words, will limit its vigilance to proper circumstances, as it apparently has so far done.

Lyon footnoted his comment on “some owners of famous brands”, directly calling out Ralph Lauren for its attempts to get domain names including “polo” that didn’t have to do with its brand.

Application window for new TLDs could be pushed back to August.

ICANN’s board set back the process for new top level domain names last week by agreeing to meet with the Governmental Advisory Committee in February to hash out their differences. How long will the delay be?

Kevin Murphy discovered some recently disclosed ICANN staff documents that were used to estimate the previous application starting period of May 2011.

Based on the assumptions in the staff documents, it looks like the earliest date for applications will now be August.

Part of the plan for new top level domain names is a four month communications plan. That communication plan must include information on when applications for new TLDs will be accepted. This, according to ICANN staff, means the applicant guidebook must be approved prior to launching the communications plan:

As stated in earlier papers, the communications campaign should not be launched until the Guidebook is approved. The public question to be answered at the outset of any campaign will be: “What is the date?” Since we cannot answer this with certainty until the Guidebook is approved as final, the communications campaign should not be launched until the Board approval is made.

In other words, you need to add at least four months after the guidebook is approved before starting the application window. It’s possible that ICANN and GAC could settle on items at its February meeting and then the board could quickly approve the guidebook. But given some of the radical changes in the last guidebook, don’t be surprised to see another comment period somewhere in the process.

In other words, more delays.

Big bucks for an expired domain — but an even more interesting story.

Australia’s Woolworths Limited got into the domain name drop catching game recently by picking up the domain name Hardware.com.au for $33,000 AUS.

What makes this story more interesting, according to the Herald Sun, is that one of Woolworths’ rivals let the domain name expire.

Bunnings Building Supplies Pty Ltd owned the domain name but may not have received the renewal notice due to an outdated email address, reports the newspaper. Woolworths entered the hardware market in competition with Bunnings last year.

The company picked up the domain name from drop.com.au, an expired domain name service recently acquired by Fabulous.

(Hat tip: Sean)

I don’t understand the protocol for visiting a web site at a top level domain name.

Let’s say a brand like Nike gets its own top level domain name — in this case .nike.

Just how would people visit that TLD, anyway?

I must confess I’m a bit confused by this issue. I’ve asked a number of people and haven’t gotten an answer, so I figured I’d throw this up on the blog and let anyone who knows respond.

Let’s say Nike gets the domain name .nike. How will the typical web user visit Nike’s web site?

-Will they need to visit a second level domain, such as www.nike or shoes.nike? Or could they type “.nike” in their browser and get it to resolve? Right now they can’t just type a top level domain in their browsers.

-How would you email someone at .nike? Could you email person@.nike, or would it need to be something like person@mail.nike? (Again, a second level domain name.)

-Technically new TLDs will need to get software companies to recognize their TLDs. This could matter for both resolution and email. Will Nike have to go out individually to big software companies to get recognized?