Domain name registrar signs deal to sell expired domain names to third party.
This is a follow-up to Domain Name Wire’s report this morning about Tucows (AMEX: TCX) selling a $1 million portfolio of domain names and entering into an agreement to sell up to $1.8 million in domains to the same entity over the next 18 months. As the previous article mentioned, the latter is some sort of expired domain deal.
On the same day it announced the $1.8 million deal, Tucows also announced a new partnership to sell expired domain names through NameJet.
I asked Ken Schafer VP, Product Management & Marketing for Tucows, how this private party expired domain deal will work. Will the buyer get first rights to domain names before they are sent to NameJet? Or will the buyer get to pick through any remnants that aren’t sold at auction? Schafer wouldn’t say much:
While we can’t disclose details of this agreement I can assure you that every day you’ll see thousands of names released through NameJet. I’m confident that many of those names will be appealing to domainers as well as businesses and individuals looking for a great domain name.
Some domain name registrars have deals with buyers to sell any expired domain names that don’t get picked up at auction. But if the buyer at Tucows is paying a similar average price to what he paid for the first $1 million worth of domains ($392), it must be some sort of off-the-top skimming. I’m not sure if the $1.8 million deal has the same pricing, but Tucows stated that this deal has similar terms to the $1 million deal.
Of course, Tucows also keeps some of the domain names for its own portfolio, so what you see on NameJet may be the bottom of the barrel.
Lovely… Tucows is always finding creative ways to squeeze out as much as possible and make the most $$$ off of expired names it seems they have gotten real serious about monetizing this part of their operation.
Can’t blame em… Smart! There is serious money to be made off of drops.
I’m thinking about putting together a proposal of $1,800,001 and sending it over their way — maybe they will do the deal with me and I can go through all the domains and cherry pick 🙂
That would be soooo awesome.
Mike
http://www.wannadevelop.com
DomainNameWire wrote: “…The best reason I can come up with for why registrars should be restricted in how they handle expired domains is that it creates a conflict of interest with customers. …”
Registrars being able to confiscate expired domain names sure Does create a conflict of interest with customers.
well ,alot of nice expired domain name
I was reading the rules for expired domains at ICANN at http://www.icann.org/en/faq/#rgp at the bottom of the page they state:
I want a domain that has recently expired, but the registrar won’t release it. How can I get the name?
Section 3.7.5 of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement requires registrars to delete domain registrations after a second notice and a grace period, unless there are “extenuating circumstances.” Some examples of such “extenuating circumstances” might include ownership disputes, payment disputes, or lame server delegations. Only the registrar would know exactly why it hasn’t yet deleted a particular name. No specific dates or deadlines are prescribed in the current provisions.
ICANN has not yet adopted a uniform policy concerning the handling of expired domain names. If you’re interested in helping to craft such a policy, you can learn more about ICANN’s bottom-up, consensus-based process for making new policies at ICANN’s website.
The registrars make millions registering domains but I feel the practice of allowing them to keep and sell off expired domains and making more millions wihout offering them to the public is a conflict of interest. Network Solutions changes ownership to http://www.cyber2.com/ which in general points traffic from expired names back to themselves. It’s just wrong imho.