Moniker shortens length of exclusivity period and changes auto-renew clause.
In an e-mail announcement sent to customers, Moniker announced it is changing the exclusivity period for domains submitted for its live and silent auctions. These changes are likely due to increased competition at upcoming auction events, including five separate auctions taking place at TRAFFIC in Brooklyn next month (although only two are accepting submissions from domainers).
The new period is 60 days from the date of submission or 60 days after the conclusion of the auction, whichever is later. The terms seem to indicate that this exclusivity period applies to all domains, not just those that are accepted for auction. The previous terms called for 120 days after the submission or 60 days after the auction, whichever was later.
Perhaps more importantly, the new terms change the automatic renewal of the exclusivity period. Previously you had to notify Moniker in writing 15 days before the end of the period or it automatically renewed. The new terms suggest that you’ll be given the option to opt-in to this automatic renewal if you wish your domains to be considered for future auctions:
To avoid resubmission of names for multiple auctions and events, if, at the time of submission of a name, the seller of the name elects to have any name which is not sold at a particular auction to be sold in subsequent auctions run by Moniker/SnapNames, the Exclusive Moniker Sale Period will automatically renew at the end of each term unless Seller notifies Moniker/SnapNames in writing within 15 days of expiration of the Exclusive Moniker Sale Period that it is terminating such period.
One of Moniker’s competitors at the TRAFFIC conference next month is TrafficZ. TrafficZ’s exclusivity period is 90 days from when you submit domains or 30 days after the auction, whichever is later.
Both Moniker and TrafficZ are still accepting submissions to the auction:
Moniker and all auctions formats will generate good will and more enthusiastic participation as a result of adopting the 60 day contract terms. The only other request would be to give submitters the option to select (at time of submission) whether they want to auomatically renew the contract, or have it expire in 60 days.
The way the contract language reads, it seems like Moniker will be providing this option.
Not sure about this one but is this about competition or just adopting the policies of your parent company. If memory serves me right the DomainFest/snap/oversee terms were very similar to these. It just looks like Moniker adopted them. … I’m sure competition helped but could just be a policy shift.
Adam, Moniker has changed its terms to the current ones since being acquired by Oversee, so I don’t know. I suspect competition had something to do with it. I know several people who opted to submit to TrafficZ instead. Personally, I stopped submitting to Moniker because of the 15 day renewal…I don’t want to have to bother with sending a message to cancel my exclusivity.