Afilias release .info domain names.
.Info registry Afilias is letting go of a number of premium domains that were originally reserved under its sunrise period. People claimed bogus rights to domains such as mortgage.info, miami.info, and Jesus.info. Now these domain names can be yours — if you have a good plan to develop them.
Afilias is accepting applications for each of the domains, and will award domain names to applicants who have a solid plan to develop the domains. The idea is to boost the .info brand, much like what Neustar did with accepting RFPs for one and two character .biz domain names. That effort resulted in a major marketing push by Overstock.com, which has launched a site a O.biz.
This is a great opportunity for people looking to develop domains. Sure, you could pay $250 to apply and get rejected. But is that such a big risk for USA.info, Stocks.info, or Soccer.info?
Domain Investor says
Who do they think they are fooling?
Please send us $ 250. for each of the domains you wish to acquire and include a business plan.
We reserve the right to do whatever we want.
We may or may not award (sell?) any or all of the domains.
Since, we have them in reserve for many years, we might not be in a hurry to award them.
Do we see another Snapnames scandal in the making?
What an easy way to receive $ 1/4 million dollars (or more) and not have to do anything.
Why did Icann approve this?
It is strictly a money grab.
I’m getting very cynical about the companies
that have absolute and unquestionable power over the internet and the domain industry.
(Icann, registries, Google, ppc companies, etc.)
After receiving all the applications, what is stopping them from eventually auctioning them off thru Namejet or Sedo?
They are bleeding us with a thousand cuts.
Domain Investor says
Side note.
I just thought how Icann can save $ 10 million a year.
Elliminate all of the Icann conferences around the world and just buy one big rubber stamp.
APPROVED.
ben says
All these domains are rightfully mine 🙂
During the sunrise period I registered all these domains and got emails back saying I am the new owner.
Register.com even billed me for these.
Fresh Avails says
Nice one Domain Investor!
Regarding the $250 appliction fee, not sure why they have that other than to weed out the kooks from submitting. I don’t really see it as a money grab. The strategy though. Very smart idea to get the .info brand more integrated into the mainstream usage. I think more of the second tier TLDs should give them away to encourage showcase sites.
Domain Investor says
Could someone update us what Affilias/mobi did with the reserved/premium .mobi domains?
As I recall, didn’t they ask for applications for the reserved .mobi domains.
And, didn’t they eventually auction off some of them?
Did they ever award any?
Or, just a token amount to make it look legit?
I don’t follow .mobi that well. But, that will be the pattern Affilias will follow with .info.
JS says
If you submit one application with multiple domain requests it looks like you only pay $250. Is that correct?
Andrew Allemann says
JS – I wondered the same thing. I emailed Afilias for clarification
Parting an idiot from his money says
IMO, this is going to be a complete scam, pure and simple. Some of those domains will probably get thousands of applications and generate figures far higher than if the domains were put to auction. This will generate millions of dollars for Afilias but people who invest $250 a pop are not likely to fight back when they get rejected. Expect 1000’s of applications for domains like golf.info, jobs.info. Add in a few insider types like Halvarez and employee connections and you can definitely kiss your money good bye. There is no transparency, no accountability, but hey you might get a nice email from Afilias outlining your application not being successful. Now, if they advertised an “I have been rejected by Afilias” t-shirt in the deal I might have been tempted.
The clincher in all this is the relative low entry point of $250. This will have Tom, Dick, Harry and Jane dreaming of untold riches when they win the domain. People are idiots for accepting this kind of behaviour from a registry. This is akin to an expensive lottery ticket, with the exception, that while you buy a ticket it is not all to certain that your ticket will ever get into the draw.
Can they not change the domain allocation to a drawing competition? or maybe a Limerick competition or some sort of reality contestant TV program instead? Or can we not just donate a kidney?
Who the F made Afilias God?
M. Menius says
Andrew – Could you provide a link to more info on this proposal?
Thank you!
M. Menius says
Sorry, never mind. i see the links.
JS says
I also sent an e-mail. I am actually a fan of .info, especially when they are that generic.
To me, “.info” just makes sense for an informational site.
Steve M says
DI & Parting…thank you for my laugh of the day (and you’re both right).
My advice to anyone silly or uninformed enough to send them your hard-earned money is to pay by CC and do charge-backs if you don’t get what you “bid” on.
This is like an ICANN “pay for an app on new TLDs” ;just for the little(r) guy. Suck in a ton of money, tell most of the applicant’s “sorry,” and keep all the money.
Scam.info
Ms Domainer says
*
Please, .info
Cut me a break.
*
Sir Domans says
Section 1.0 of the application: Multiple domain names may be listed if they are related in terms of the business plan set forth below. Afilias reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to accept or reject this Application with respect to all domains listed as a group, or on a case by case basis with respect to specific domain names listed.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Sir Domans – thanks. That makes sense. There are some domains on there that it would make sense to have both, such as plurals.
Roger says
30 Oct 09 Afilias deactivating .info domains – Class action lawsuit call against Afilias Ltd. – Horsham, PA
After the “Sunrise Period” of .info domains, trademark owners had the opportunity to file a challenge against the allocation of their trademark to other people. In 2001/early 2002, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center examined these challenges, and in some cases decided to transfer these domains to the challenger.
Since then, the challengers legitimately owned these domain names.
8 years(!) later, Afilias is claiming that WIPO did not properly examine whether the challengers met all requirements for a Sunrise allocation and deactivated these domains. Now, Afilias is reallocating them in a very intransparent process: everyone can apply for these domains, providing he pays a non-refundable fee of $250 and hands in a business plan. This reallocation process will reward Afilias millions of dollars – at the expense of us, the legitimate domain name owners!
The prevailers of the WIPO dispute resolution process – who have legitimately owned these domains since 8 years, who have been paying fees for these domain names since 8 years, who have developed our domains since 8 years, who have gone through a WIPO Challenge procedure – will not accept this reallocation!
We are currently collecting addresses of all affected domain name owners to file a class action against Afilias.
Should you also be affected by Afilias illicit domain name reallocation, please send your contact information to afilias.class.action.lawsuit@gmail.com
Mark says
Step right up all ye suckers. And when the pot is up on these ….here comes another 20 extensions for the next group of suckers.
Yeah…we are all gonna get rich. I can see it now….swimming pools….movie stars. Yeah, man we gonna be rich!!!!
Brooks says
Let’s see. Price of a .info-about .72 each.
That’s about right.
Parting an idiot from his money says
Read the terms and weep ladies and gentleman.
Reservation of Rights
4.10.1 Afilias is not obligated to enter select or approve any Applicant or Proposal. Afilias is not liable for any costs incurred by any Applicant in the preparation and submission of a Proposal(s) or otherwise in connection with the Program.
4.10.2 Without limitation, Afilias reserves the right to:
(i) Select or accept any Proposal in its sole discretion;
(ii) Reject, decline or not accept any and all Proposals for any reason, with or without explanation;
(iii) Request additional information or clarification from an Applicant regarding any Proposal
(iv) Conduct investigative assessment of the Applicant’s representations in a Proposal;
(v) Rescind the Selection of a Proposal for any reason, with or without explanation;
(vi) Cancel or rerun the Program;
(vii) Remedy technical errors in these policies or in the Program;
(xiii) Negotiate with any, all, or none of the Applicants;
(ix) Waive, in its sole discretion, any requirements of the Program; and/or
(x) Cancel, suspend or re-appropriate the Domain and release the Domain or allocate it to another Applicant should the representations made in the original Applicant’s Proposal not be met or were found to be false
Is cowboys.info on the list? I suspect they are keeping that for themselves.