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3-2-1 .Contact

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Donuts readies another top level domain for launch.

Picture of Donuts with the word ".contact" overlaying the photo

Donuts, the largest domain registry in terms of number of top level domains, is gearing up to launch the .contact top level domain name.

The company acquired the top level domain name from Jay Westerdal’s Top Level Spectrum, Inc. last year.

Donuts is positioning the domain for many types of users:

As uncertainty grows with connection on social media platforms, there’s more reason than ever to have a personal contact page that an individual can maintain independently of a platform. .Contact is also ideal for freelancers and consultants who want to attract more leads and give clients an easy way to contact them. Plus, businesses of all sizes can benefit from a designated contact page and URL to help customers know their trustworthy channels for communication.

The first two examples fall into the “business card on the web” idea and make sense. For the last example, I’ll be curious to see if businesses decide they need a separate website for their contact page.

.Contact has two things going for it from an investor standpoint.

First, it’s inexpensive; Donuts says the domains cost less than .com. (Of course, it’s up to registrars to set retail prices. Donuts’ own registrar, Name.com, is charging $8.99 for the first year and $10.99 for renewals.)

Second, Donuts is sending almost all domains to the market without premiums. Only about 50 names will have premium prices.

Early Access runs December 2-9 and General Availability begins December 9.

 

MMX to launch pricey .Forum top level domain name

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The company plans to acquire rights .Forum rights from Jay Westerdal.

.Forum top level domain logo

Top level domain name company MMX (AIM: MMX) has laid out plans for the upcoming launch of the .forum top level domain name.

Sunrise will run from November 16 through December 16 of this year. General availability won’t begin until March 2, 2021.

You’ll need to open up your pocketbook if you wish to start a website on .forum. Wholesale pricing has apparently been set at $1,000 per year, although there will be a first-year promotion for half of the normal price.

The pricing might make sense because this likely isn’t a high volume domain name. Internet forums aren’t as popular as they used to be, but popular forums attract a large crowd. This might be one of those domains that needs a high price to make up for lower volume.

ICANN records show that Jay Westerdal’s Fegistry, LLC is still the owner of this top level domain name. Fegistry, LLC was administratively dissolved by the State of Washington earlier this year for failing to file its annual report. (This is somewhat typical for small businesses, and the business can easily be reinstated.)

The website at nic.forum recently changed from Westerdal’s site to one created by MMX.

I’ve reached out to representatives of MMX and to Jay Westerdal for comment and will update this story when I hear back. Update: MMX said that it is providing RSP services for the Dot Forum launch and intends to become the Registry Operator later in 2021.

Domain appraisal scam now mentions Sedo

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If you get one of these emails, just delete it.

Image of man with phone in front of him and the words 'scam alert'

Heads up — the ever-evolving domain name appraisal scam now tries to draw on the reputation of Sedo.

The latest iterations of the scam starts with an email sent through (or apparently sent through) GoDaddy’s new Whois contact system. Once the domain name owner responds, the fake domain buyer broker demands that the person purchase an appraisal before they send funds for the domain name. It’s a spin on many classic scams in which people promise to send money to someone, but need them to send a small verification payment to them first.

A DNW reader received one such email that claims it’s a Sedo certified offer. It’s a bit odd that the scammers would name Sedo since Sedo offers its own domain appraisals. And an astute observer will note that a) Sedo and GoDaddy are not partners and b) Sedo is not a retail domain name registrar.

But these emails are not aimed at astute observers who know who all of the domain name companies are.

Here’s the latest follow up email:

From: <support@authorize-incorporated .net>
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2020, 19:27
Subject: RE: Someone would like to contact you about your domain.
To:

Hello!

Our offer has been finally verified by SEDO so we can write each other direct now. Since it’s a SEDO certified offer you will be protected during the transaction.

My name is Elizabeth Kristiansen. I work as a broker of International merchants in a merchant provider company – Authorize Inc.(Norwegian Subsidiary). We help our VIP clients to establish a business online (secure domain, develop a web site and establish our payment system). I will help you to finish the sale of your domain.

I represent a buyer – a company from Bergen. They want to use it to drive more traffic to their new web project. Commission of our company is only six percent. It’s paid when you get the money.

They will pay you via the Escrow / Swiss Escrow service. You can be paid via wire, Paypal, check or any other method you prefer.

The buyer offers $60,000 usd.

Do you have a law compliance certificate for Norway? It’s required by his registrar SEDO (partner of GoDaddy) to protect the buyer.

The final sale price will depend on the certificate ($60,000 minimum – if it comes higher they will pay more).

If you don’t have the certificate it’s not a problem. You can order it online.

The certification must be from a source authorized by SEDO and contains a copy in Norwegian.

The certification includes the following:

1. Independent valuation of the market price. It will show your domain name is not overpriced. On the other hand if the valuation comes higher, he will increase the price accordingly. In the domain name industry, there are many appraisal tools that people use to estimate the value of a domain name. My client does not want to risk and doesn’t accept services that use scripts. If you are unsure about some service feel free to ask me.

2. TM and law compliance verification. It proves your domain has no trademark problems. He would like this verification to be included in the appraisal report. It’s not a problem because some companies include the TM verification for free.

3. Copy in Norwegian.

The process is very easy:

1. Go to the certificate agency site and order a certificate. Just submit your domains and let them know you have a buyer with $XX,XXX offer. It will help you to get a better valuation.

If your domain is worth at least $10000, they will send you the payment instructions. If it’s not possible, they won’t send you the instructions. This way you will not lose anything. It’s very convenient and gives you the full protection. Other services charge you upfront even if your domain is not worth spending the appraisal fee, so I don’t recommend them.

2. Send the certificate to me and we will start the sale process. As soon as the buyer receives your certificate they will buy your domain.

If you are new to the certification process, I can help you with the step by step instructions.

To read the review you must have Telegram Messenger installed on your smartphone. To communicate with me online please use Telegram messenger. Here is the invitation link to our Domain Sale Group: https:// t.me/ dnsales

Add me ( @ ElizaSupport ) to your contacts and we will be able to chat in Telegram. If you don’t have Telegram you may install it on your smartphone from Google Play or AppStore.

One of my sellers already sold to this buyer from Oslo. You may read his review at https://t.me/dnsales/1754 Feel free to contact him.

Please respond ASAP. No risk for you to proceed since this is a certified by SEDO domain offer with full proof of funds. If you send the certificate the buyer will have to pay you the same day.

Elizabeth Kristiansen

Vice President

Investor Relations

Drammensveien 149

0277

Oslo, Norway

Authorize Inc. (Norwegian Subsidiary)

What is a four-initial (4i) domain?

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You call them Chips. The Chinese call them…

In my last article, I gave an overview of Benmi, a site that aggregates domain sales data from Chinese marketplaces.

When you visit the site, you may see the term “Four initial COM domain,” as shown in the image below. So, what is a four-initial domain?

A chart showing domain prices for four initial domains

In the west, domain investors are familiar with 4L (four-letter) domains. A 4L domain consists of 4 letters taken from the alphabet a to z. Any of the 26 letters can be used. Some examples are DNWE.com and Epik.com.

In China, there is a subcategory within 4L domains called four-initial domains. For simplicity, I just call them 4i domains. These domains can use only 20 letters among the 26 alphabets; the letters excluded are a, e, i, o, u, v.

Such domains are more commonly known in the west as Chip domains for “Chinese Premium”. (The term “chip” was originally invented to refer to 4L domains only, but later was expanded by some investors to include other types such as three letter and even numeric domains.)

In other words, 4i domains are 4L chip domains. They are used as acronyms for Pinyin words. Aeiouv are generally not favored by Chinese investors because of their limited or even impossible use to represent Pinyin words. See “What is special about Chip domains?” for a more detailed discussion.

So, next time you come across “four-initial domains” in Chinese media, just remember Chip.

How can we make domain marketplace inventory more accurate?

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Marketplaces can help sellers keep their inventory fresh.

Picture of frustrated man staring at computer

Yesterday, Jamie Zoch posted on twitter about how poor the accuracy of inventory at domain name marketplaces is:

I agree with Jamie that this is a big issue. It’s a bad feeling when you think you’ve bought a domain on a marketplace, only to find out that the person who listed it no longer owns it.

I’m guilty of being part of the problem. I don’t immediately remove my domains from all marketplaces when I sell them (although I do verify ownership before responding to a sales inquiry).

Marketplaces can help domain sellers keep their inventory accurate, thus keeping the marketplace accurate. Here are some ideas:

1. Use a verification system – AfternicDLS has a system that recognizes if a domain has been unlocked or is being transferred so that it can remove them from the distributed network. Could this be applied industry-wide? I know it isn’t easy with GDPR, but whatever they have seems to work for domains that are opted into Fast Transfer.

2. Integrate with registrars – The best way to confirm ownership in a world without full Whois is to integrate with registrars to confirm the domain is registered in the seller’s account. It would be helpful to have integrations that would automatically remove domains from marketplaces when ownership transfers or the registration lapses.

3. Make it easier to update inventory – Marketplaces should offer a downloadable spreadsheet that lists the domains in your marketplace account and their data — what’s in Whois, nameservers, registrar name, etc. This will help sellers identify anomalies to discover which domains they no longer own. Marketplaces also need to make it easy to delete these domains.

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