Auction features domains originally reserved during 2001 sunrise.
Domain name registry Afilias is working with Go daddy to auction off over 100 domain names claimed in the .info sunrise that were later deemed ineligible.
The 106 domain auction runs December 4 through December 14.
The domains were originally requested during the .info sunrise in 2001. This was one of the first ever “sunrise” periods for a top level domain launch that gave trademark holders first dibs on domains.
As with this sunrise launch and a handful of others after it, the system was largely gamed.
In the case of .info, World Intellectual Property Organization determined that about 1,400 sunrise registrations were invalid.
DomainTools shows that 1,167 domains are still registered to “Afilias Ltd / Sunrise Pending Reallocation”.
The auction includes some good keyword domains such as doctor.info/doctors.info, event.info, and land.info.
All domains start at $100 with no reserves.
It will be really interesting to see how much these domain sell for, especially in light of the impending release of hundreds of competitive top level domains.
It sounds like they just need some publicity city the extension is dying from phishing, crap sites, domain deletions, four letters in the extension, etc….
The extension sucks. They know it, we know it, and everyone else is catching on.
It has become a dollar store brand, Some guys from China bought up 50,000 99 cent special names, gone the way of .us which has been another let down.
I agree it will be interesting. Odd one might think that this is coming out now in what is considered a poor economy. Seems like with so many hundreds of extensions coming out they figured that it would get lost in the mix. A sought of now or never.
I am of the opinion it will go for reasonable amounts as this will be the only time there would be many at once bidding on that .info domain. I dont expect however that the resale would be any higher to an end user hereafter.
I just can’t believe that limks to GoDaddy auctions still don’t work if you click on them from an iphone. They relink to the mobile auction site and just to the home page at that.
I’d rather a .INFO than a .BIZ, if your coming at the spam/phishing Rep angle, .INFO used for abuse less and less. The fact it’s cheap is really why I still pick up a few tho. Still prefer com/org but info is my third choice for clients.