From dessert names to rather unflattering names, here are 14 odd domain registrar names.

People get creative when coming up with domain names. Even registrars sometimes get into the act when naming their registrars.

Many registrar names are created by companies creating drop catching registrars. Since they aren’t public facing registrars, they get really creative. Here are some of the more amusing registrar names (both drop catching registrars and regular ones):

Afterdark Domains, Inc (eNom) – what is this, a registrar for porn names?

Backslap Domains, Inc. – just a really funny name for a domain registrar

BearTrapDomains.com LLC (Moniker) – I guess the visual makes sense for one of SnapNames’ domain registrars.

Betterthanaveragedomains.com LLC (Moniker) – Sell it to me!

Decentdomains, LLC (Dotster) – I’m having a tough time choosing between Better Than Average Domains and Decent Domains as my domain registrar.

Chocolatecovereddomains,LLC (Dotster) – Yeah, I’ll take a dozen.

Domainsouffle.com LLC (Moniker) – or maybe I want a souffle instead.

Dontaskwhy.ca Inc. – I won’t ask why. Forwards to NameScout.

DuckBilledDomains.com LLC (Moniker) – uh, ok.

eNom’s numbered registrars enom1008 Inc., enom1009 Inc (enom) – eNom didn’t have the all night drug induced namestorming session that SnapNames apparently had

EurotrashNames.com LLC (Moniker) – Love it!

Microbreweddomains.com LLC (Moniker) – Little know fact: name was brainstormed at a microbrewery.

NotSoFamousNames.com LLC (Moniker) – No thanks, I’ll keep my business at DecentDomains.

Wild West Domains (GoDaddy) – got to wonder what GoDaddy was thinking when it named its reseller division. Nothing says “lack of trust” more than the Wild West.

Tags: Domain Registrars

Major League Baseball makes another big domain acquisition.

Just a couple days ago I was revisiting a post I wrote in 2010 about Major League Baseball’s domain names. The only change to the list since I posted was MLB picking up Angels.com.

But this week MLB picked up another one. Jamie Zoch of dotWeekly discovered that the league just bought Athletics.com.

That leaves just five teams that MLB doesn’t own the “exact” domain name for. Of the remaining domains, Rockies.com and Twins.com seem like they would be the most “available” given their current use and owner.

Now, let’s go back to something I tweeted about on Monday:

MLB has been paying a couple hundred grand per domain it acquires. It also got a late start with domain names. Itwasn’t the original owner of MLB.com. MLB.com was owned by one of the league’s law firms. (You can read the fascinating story of its transfer here.

All things considered, I bet Major League Baseball applies for .mlb. I don’t know if they’ll use it, but it’s relatively inexpensive and worth picking up just in case. And this just may be one of those cases where a brand needs to apply for a domain to keep someone else from getting it, since MLB could stand for multiple things. Like a law firm.

Tags: athletics.com, major league baseball

Intuit picks up Apps.net domain name and other notable domain purchases.

The biggest name on this week’s end user domain sales report is Intuit. The company (of Quicken and Quickbooks fame) bought Apps.net for EUR 21,400 at Sedo. It already owns Apps.com. It offers Intuit Apps for many of its products.

Here are other domain name purchases by end users over the past week.

Sedo

Ad network Multi-View, Inc. made this week’s big $112,000 purchase of AHHA.com.

Travel Networks Europe Ltd, owner of rental car finder CarJet.com, paid 3,000 GPB for CarHirecover.com

Jasper Engines & Transmissions paid $2,000 for MyJapser.com.

The restaurant data company behind FoodServiceReport.com bought RestaurantData.com for $1,299.

Travel services company HOTELBEDS SPAIN, S.L.U. bought AttractionStore.com for $1,895 and ResortActivities.com for $1,295.

University of Toronto mathematician James Colliander bought CrowdMark.com for $995. It will be interesting to see what he does with it.

Afternic

Westport, Connecticut cycling/spin studio JoyRide Cycling Studio picked up JoyrideStudio.com for $1,495. It currently owns Joyride-Cycling.com and JoyrideWestport.com.

Embassy Loans bought the singular version of its domain name — EmbassyLoan.com — for $1,500.

Healthcare company Primary Care Partners in South Florida bought HealthyPartners.com for $3,788.

The Catamaran Company, seller of catamarans (a type of boat), paid $2,088 for LagoonCatamarans.com

Elite Estate Buyers Inc, which already owns EliteAuction.com, bought EliteConsignment.com for $2,088.

Business intelligence company Third Time dropped the hyphen in its domain name for $1,200 by picking up ThirdTime.com. Nice purchase.

Book publisher Health Communications, Inc, whose slogan is “The Life Issues Publisher”, bought LifeIssues.com for $8,800. Nice sale.

Godat Landscape Construction Company paid $1,388 for Godat.net.

ShortTermStays.com, an L.A. short term rental referral service, bought ShortTermStay.com for $2,100.

It appears that Lufthansa Technik has purchased LTCS.com for $2,500. The whois record for the domain doesn’t mention the company, but the registrant’s email address is LTCS.aero, which is owned by Lufthansa. The actual registrant is Gordon Weller, Sr. Director Customer Service & Account Management for the company.

Max New York Life bought MaxLifeInsurance.com for a whopping $21,000.

Affordable Power, L.P., which goes by the name APG&E, picked up APGE.com for $5,088.

The owner of Waverlyhomes.ca bought Waverlyhomes.com for $2,000.

Calgary Co-operative Association Ltd. bought YourCoop.com for $2,655.

A brand new company called Canada Carbon has purchased none other than CanadaCarbon.com for $1,995.

Instant Home Loans, Inc. d.b.a. Instant Capital, bought InstantCapital.com for a strong $14,500. Its web site is MyInstantCapital.com.

American Trash Management, a unique company whose mission is to “reduce the environmental impact, costs and problems of trash”, bought SmartTrash.com for $2,188.

Production company Flatland Pictures bought MusicProfessor.com for $1,888. Perhaps the title of an upcoming film?

Tags: Afternic, apps, Domain Sales, intuit, sedo

Request for .xxx domain name denied.

United Kingdom insurance company BGL Group Limited, better known as CompareTheMarket.com, is the first complainant to lose a UDRP for a .xxx domain name.

The company filed the complaint against UK resident Jon Watkins, who registered the domain back in December when .xxx became generally available.

But as I’ve argued previously, it can be rather difficult to prove bad faith in the registration of a .xxx domain name. Most complainants aren’t in the adult entertainment business. And few .xxx domain names will be parked, which could have result in PPC ads related to a complainant. So unless the mark is very famous (and not descriptive/generic) or the owner of the domain tries to sell the domain to the complainant, proving registration in bad faith isn’t easy.

That’s what happened here. A Czech Arbitration Court panel wrote:

But Complainant fails to prove bad faith registration or use of the domain. Complainant states that the domain is “completely inactive”. Complainant does not show that Respondent tried to sell the domain to Complainant, has registered other infringing names, or otherwise has tried to profit from the domain or cause any other harm to Complainant. Respondent is not shown to have had prior UDRP cases in which he has been an unsuccessful Defendant. Clearly, “compare the market” could relate to myriad different types of markets and myriad different comparisons within each one, as demonstrated by a simple web search.

I’m not quite sure why BGL went after this domain name. If it were an active domain name with porn on it and it was getting search rankings I’d understand. Otherwise this seems like a waste of money.

Companies have filed over 20 UDRP cases against .xxx domain names. None had lost prior to this case.

Tags: .xxx, czech arbitration court, udrp

Zimbabwe.com sells for a fraction of what it sold for in 2007.

We always hear stories about people who bought domains and flipped them for many times their purchase price. But the opposite also happens.

Take the case of Zimbabwe.com, which just sold for $42,500 at Sedo.

The last time this domain (reported) sold was in 2007. Purchase price: $130,000.

It’s possible the domain also changed hands in 2008. Regardless of if it has changed hands since 2007, the domain took a total haircut of $87,500 during that period.

Not pretty.

There’s not a whole lot you can do with Zimbabwe.com from a commerce perspective other than offer elephant hunting trips.

Ideally a buyer would use the domain to help shed more light on Robert Mugabe’s atrocities.

Tags: domain auctions, sedo, zimbabwe.com