Subscribe
NameJet goes live this afternoon
October 5th, 2007 by 
Jay Westerdal
Network Solution and eNom domain names that expire or delete will be landing in a new auction house this afternoon. The brand new NameJet appears to be a joint venture between eNom and Network Solutions. It appears eNom owns the NameJet.com domain name or at least controls it and Network Solutions owns the NameJet Trademark. The company NameJet, LLC was registered in Delaware on Oct 3rd. Traditionally domain names from those two domain companies have gone through Snapnames prior to deleting. Network Solutions started the process a few years ago when Snapnames struck a deal to be the primary auction place for all expiring domain names that Network Solutions was letting delete. Then earlier this year eNom’s deleting domain names started appearing at Snapnames.
NameJet is launching this afternoon, you can be assured that they are actively talking to other registrars to join the program. Snapnames was the first and biggest Pending Delete auction marketplace, I think it will be a matter of time before NameJet takes that title. The company that controls the Network Solution deleting domains controls the market. NameJet seems to have come out of no where and is moving fast. The caliber of Network Solutions domains is awesome because most of the generic domain names where registered at Network Solutions back before the multiple registrar system was invented.
Taryn Naidu was the past president of Pool.com
joined eNom last year around November. It would be likely that Taryn is the project leader for NameJet. Paul Stahura was quoted last year saying, “Taryn is a true domain name player whose expertise coupled with his solid reputation is very valuable. We have our sights set on growing the aftermarket business, and with Taryn’s experience, we can implement our new aftermarket strategy.”
I will keep everyone posted as more details of NameJet come out.
UPDATE: It appears the NameJet is live. ClubDrop has moved its auctions to NameJet.com. ClubDrop is dead, long live NameJet.
« Newer Post Older Post »
Posted in Demand Media, NameJet, Network Solutions, eNom |
30 Comments »
October 5th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Is there no moral angle to this issue? I mean, why would they be in a hurry to action someone else’s domain name?
UPDATE BY JAY: I don’t see a moral angle. If someone fails to renew a domain, the domain gets deleted, very simple. An auction is a better market process for figuring out who should own it next.
October 5th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Hi,
This is now whats up at Enom:
http://www.enom.com/auctions/namejet_jump.asp
Peace!
Dan
October 5th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I can’t create an account there.
Isn’t it fully operational yet, Jay?
UPDATE BY JAY: Try logging in with an eNom username and password.
October 5th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
So, now, domaining will become a rich person’s venue as the cost of the good generic deleting names go into the stratosphere, well beyond the means of most start ups.
Very disappointing news, indeed.
Possible backlash: as the good generics get parked on parking pages, users will start to think of dot-com as one huge parking lot filled with ads and, thus, will slowly start turning to dot-net, dot-info, etc. and the country TLDs for REAL information.
Ms Domainer
October 5th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Prices & values for good-great .com generic keyword domains…Is a GREAT thing.
As for any “backlash”…only time will tell. I personal see none coming.
Peace!
Dan
October 5th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
David15776,
If there is a moral angle here, this notice on their auction page has to be it:
“Attention Customers: NameJet™ is a domain auction service which allows businesses and individuals to express interest in, and register, newly available domain names. In the event that you are a trademark holder and you feel that a domain name infringing your trademark is currently listed for auction, you should contact us immediately at________
Do [sic] to the nature of this service, we are not in a position to determine what may or may not be trademark infringement. That analysis is best performed by trademark holders wishing to protect their rights. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this policy.”
In essence, with this disclaimer, they have shirked all ethical responsibility to (1) domainers (who, admittedly, ought to be policing themselves, especially with the major KNOWN TM’s) and (2) to small businesses that may not truly have the resources to police the thousands of daily deleting domains, and (3) to newbies (even newer than me) who may spend thousands on a domain, only to have it taken away in a trademark dispute.
Very dangerous practice. Enough p’od people could draw the attention of the U.S. government (who could give a rat’s a$$ what ICANN thinks–dot-com resides in the US), and companies like Snapnames and NameJet could face some future stiff fines for stiffing customers.
Ms Domainer
October 5th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
What moral angle exactly do you want on this issue? And does the registrant still own the domain name if it’s expired and not renewed on time?
October 5th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
The last domain I bid on went for nearly $6,000. While it was a pretty good domain, it was a niche (very limited market) two-word generic, with an Overture score of 500, and a Google score of about 1,000,000.
Frankly, I think the winner overpaid. But because the market has been pretty much cornered, prices will continue to soar as bidders duke it out for the gemmy generics, though we may eventually end up in another dot-com bust…
For new domainers with low cash flow, perhaps this is the time to comb the fire sales (while they last–who knows?) and find among the crap and TM domains some pretty good generic domains (with little or no Overture score) that could be developed and built out. They do exist. I picked up LiteraryLanguage.com
, and plan to build a very specialized open source dictionary (with ad$ense on each page) related to that term (and it’s in my field).
I suppose we newbies will just have to find and develop domains in a different way.
I mean, really: how many lame parking pages can the internet support before some future upstart, born circa 1995, says, “Enough, already!” and invents a http://www4 with an xyz TLD that could be 1,000 times better than dot-com and actually contains helpful information (along with the ads–of course, consumers do expect a tradeoff)? (Just an example–I have no inside info).
I’m just afraid dot.com
will eventually become associated with pages filled with ads and nothing else.
I don’t want to see that happen.
Ms Domainer
October 5th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Hi Ms Domainerm,
I see your point, And valid point it is. But I see the future unfolding a bit differently, more of a huge boom than a huge bust for generic dot com keyword domains.
I will try to give one example that I hope and think could get repeated a few million or so times over the next 5-10+ years or so.
Currently if you do a search for the keyword ‘tools’ on google you get these results:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tools&btnG=Google+Search
The generic domain tools.com
does not appear on the first page at all. Just for my examples sake we will say the following about this domain tools.com
.
We will say you own the domain, You have it ‘parked’ or have at least developed a bit to show some ads and information on the subject matter of tools…and are doing quite well, making very good money from direct navigation, and have managed to get it indexed on the first page of Google,in the #1 spot for this keyword search… resulting in much more traffic and income.
Now, The day comes…that say 3 or more companies ‘get’ how valuable it would be to their business and brand to own tools.com
, developing the site into a comparison type website comparing some of their top products with 2 or 3 of their competitors top products…NOT having ads on the site at all, but maybe discount coupons for their products…with only out going links to their company or product ordering website. I guess it would smart for them to have some sort of setup to get peoples names and emails etc…
Say these three companies are:
Snapon Tools
Sears (Craftsman’s tools)
Stanley Tools
Now,lets say on average between these these 3 companies they spend $50k a month on contextual advertising through Google adwords, MSN and Yahoos contextual ad system(s) which they gain customers and make some at. (for just the keyword ‘tools’)
When I say they finally ‘get it’…I mean that they realize a well constructed website on tools.com
(as described above)in the #1 spot on the 3 main search engines would bring them anywhere from 5x – 30x more traffic than their contextual ad campaigns and convert 5x-30x better. It would seem it would be a ‘no brainier’ to own this domain and use some kind of strategy like this.
They would not have to discontinue there contextual advertising…but lets look at some numbers if they did.
Save $600k a year in expenses, might they be willing to pay a ‘multiple’ of 3-6 years in savings for tools.com
now? (maybe more)
Say your making $10K a month from just ‘pure’ typein or direct navigation income. from PPC ads. Might you now require may say a 5-10 year multiple on this income before you would consider selling this domain tools.com
?
Here what the sale of this domain might hypothetical look like in the future when these companies start to ‘get it’:
Willing to pay for the domain tools.com
Multiple for advertising savings from not running any more contextual ads for the keyword ‘tools’:
4 years @ $600k a year = 2.4 million dollars.
Multiple to pay you for all the direct navigation visitors and the income resulting from that:
5 years @ $120K (10k a month)a year = $600K
Inherent value and branding value of owning tools.com
= ($500k)(most likely a lot more)
For right now we are up to: $3.5 million dollars for just this one domain, and I would say you would be a ’seller’ of this domain at this price…right?
I also think my ‘valuation’ for this domain is pretty conservative and does not take into account, any competitive bidding or interest if 3 or more of these companies ‘get it’ at the same time and come after you for the domain about the same time.
Now this… scenario, could and should get ‘repeated’ millions of times over the next ten years or so for a whole host of different generic keyword domains.
The result would be, no more flooded market of great .com domains with just PPC ads on them.
I think you will have the exact opposite….A market with vastly improved websites and content for all to enjoy.
Just thought i would throw this out there, to see if it sticks…lol
Peace!
Dan
October 6th, 2007 at 12:56 am
> $70 minimum bid, plus the regular domain registration fee.
I thought it would be cheaper than snapnames. I was mistaken.
Nuno Oliveira
CatalogDomains.com
October 6th, 2007 at 1:03 am
And to become a verified member you have to use a fax machine?
“To become a Verified Bidder, you must download our Verified Bidder Request form. Please sign and fax the form along with photo identification to the number provided.”
I don’t use a fax for 10 years now! In which time do we live in?
And what does that prove? I can go to a post office and send a fax from there. Why is it different than an email?
Nuno Oliveira
CatalogDomains.com
October 6th, 2007 at 1:19 am
And you can still find many references to ClubDrop inside NameJet, like:
“Notify me of ClubDrop news & updates”
Other than that, I overall like the platform. I just don’t like that the price of domain registration isn’t included in the $70 minimum bid, that is already higher than usual.
Nuno Oliveira
CatalogDomains.com
UPDATE BY JAY: The $70 price does include the first year domain registration.
October 6th, 2007 at 3:06 am
How can they be award winning if they just opened? That’s weird…
/Andreas
October 6th, 2007 at 7:38 am
“How can they be award winning if they just opened? That’s weird…”
Someone probably sent them a tray of donuts or something hoping to get their business.
October 6th, 2007 at 7:43 am
Anything that involves Network Solutions rasises a huge red flag for me. This is no different. And Jay, I am very surprised at your statement above:
“An auction is a better market process for figuring out who should own it next.”
Let’s see, we can sell a domain to the highest bidder, which shuts out all the small players, or we can have a system where you can backorder the domain with one or more services, and the first one lucky enough to get the domain, pays the reg fee plus any backorder fee.
The auction model is ONLY good for the company selling the domains, NOT the buyers, in my opinion. Frankly, the whole thing has a reek that may draw someone that knows about antitrust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antitrust) stuff. The way I understand it that seems to fit what I know about this unholy alliance.
October 6th, 2007 at 9:07 am
The idea makes sense for both companies. However, from the viewpoint of a domainer Network Solutions is a lot like Microsoft. Both have a history of screwing their customers until they can no longer get away with it.
Hopefully, domainers will remember how Network Solutions abused their monopoly over registrations. Now that they can’t abuse a registration monopoly, they are trying to abuse one of the last monopolies they have remaining: quality expiring domains. I will not use any service provided by Network Solutions. I just hope I’m not the only one.
October 6th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Hi,
On this page at ENOM it say’s:
* All bids will include domain registration – No extra fees
* Minimum bids for all Backorders: $70, except Backorders for names that were in Pending Delete by October 5, 2007, which will process with previous prices.
http://www.enom.com/auctions/namejet_jump.asp
So, Enoms ‘ad copy’ is wrong somewhere about this.
I would say it makes no sense… NOT to have the domain registration included in your bid.
Peace!
Dan
October 6th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Streamline/Dan,
Thanks so much for your thoughtful and in depth post–what you say makes sense and offers a scenario I hadn’t considered; as I have said, I’m new at this.
I like the way you think.
The domain I didn’t win would have such future possibilities, although, as of now, the dot com generic gets one type in hit per day (according to the January 2007 Overture figure). My idriven parked page gets more than that, and it’s not even a dot-com (I reg’d it because it’s the beginning of a book title of a book I’m trying to shop around, back when I thought such domains would help me sell my book–not that long ago).
May I republish your post on my newbie blog? (MsDomainer [dot] com) (with attribution to you, either your ID or real name).
I can also envision a scenario in which businesses become weary of paying millions for generic domains and decide to abandon the www dot-com altogether and develop a consortium of businesses who would then work on an alternative to the www (I have already seen www2 sites, mostly educational ones); together they would have enough money to advertise this alternative to the gills; more importantly, they could work independently of ICANN. Remember, ICANN works only because, so far, there is overall industry agreement to abide by their rules, but if enough people become p’od that can change quickly.
This scares me as well: I have heard talk (maybe it was on this blog) of Google or Yahoo selling exclusive browser rights for generic direct navigation “keywords” to companies. Can you imagine what it would be like if you “owned” the word “book” so that when anyone typed “book” into the Google browser box, your search would go directly to the book dot-nothing site, no matter what you had on it (such as your grocery list), you would essentially corner the book market. In other words, if a searcher wanted a list of options, he/she would have to type in something EXTRA, like, books + “best sellers.”
Of course, the choice words would go to the well heeled; I can’t imagine a land rush period here, at least for generics.
I definitely share the same concerns shared by others, particularly the monopoly aspects of the NameJet auction venue. I’m not overly fond of Netsol’s policies either, especially their extra charge to redirect a domain; I have three domains with them, reg’d when domains were $35.00 a year.
S-L-E-A-Z-Y.
Ms Domainer
October 6th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Hi Ms Domainer,
No problem on the re-post.(please feel free to correct my spelling…lol)
I just think now that people are staring to recognize the value of generic dot com’s that the way to set your brand apart from everyone else will to be to own the keyword .com
Heres a great article that came out a few months back:
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/57262.html
The days of owning just one 1000 page website and trying to ’seo it’ for all your related keyword’s and trying to land in the top of Google for all of them…are over…and was never to practical of an idea to begin with. (sorry seo’ers,there still will be plenty of work at there…lol)
Take a company like Sears.
They would be much better off buying domains like:
tools.com
,refrigerators.com
,tvs.com
,etc…and making specific sites like described in my tools.com
example and then putting them in the #1 spot in Google for that specific keyword only…and then driving all the traffic to a product and/or order page for those specific products on their sears.com
website.
People still search for specific information and reports on any given product or service, before they decide to make a move and purchase something. If Sears made these sites from more of a perspective that it looks like the information is from kinda of an ‘non-bias’ ‘independent’ comparison source…it builds instant creditability with prospective customers. I think the marketing folks would call this some type of ‘up-selling’ or ‘front-selling’.
This also does a few other valuable things for a company like Sears.
First, it builds a brand awareness and association from these keywords to their main brand. Over time, people will automatically associate these quality domains and words with Sears. The .com gives them huge creditability as its the best.
Second, Because they own these high quality domains, it denies all their competitors access to them. (only one .com out there for every keyword)
What are their competitors going to do… pump millions into a .net or .info to try and gain the same brand and quality awareness?…never going to happen.
Just my ‘hopeful’thoughts on the future…lol
Peace!
Dan
October 6th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Sorry…I forgot a third point.
This also does a few other valuable things for a company like Sears.
Third, Because of Google’s ‘algorithm’ anyone that has ever had a multi-page website indexed for a lot of keywords knows that one weird shift in this ‘algorithm’ of Googles and your traffic can be devastated over night, and as a result your income. Building traffic from these multiple keyword sites, helps protect your traffic/income from taking a huge hit from Google’s ‘algorithm’…
Peace!
Dan
October 6th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
You’re right, Dan, about generics.
Old Country Buffet, a franchise located right across the street from where I live, just acquired the domain buffet.com
, which they advertise on all their flyers. Do they serve the best food in the world? Not by a longshot (though it isn’t bad, and it’s fairly inexpensive, and they cater to kids and senior citizens), but they have pretty much cornered the information highway and market on the buffet model–at least the control of information about their buffet, and siphoning traffic from other buffet restaurants.
But what if you no longer needed ANY TLD to corner the market? What if software were created so that if you “owned” the word “buffet” (no dot-com needed) all info about buffets would filter through YOUR site? That time may come, and for all I know it may already be here.
Yep. The new elite will control information access, not necessarily the actual commodities, such as oil or sugar.
The two-word domain I preordered this week now has well over 100 bidders involved and is currently up to $7,000. I’m astounded, to say the least. I knew it was likely it would be going to go to auction and that I wouldn’t have a prayer of getting it, but I never thought it would climb this high. In a way, choosing this particular domain confirms that I’m on the right track in choosing good domains. I just can’t afford most of them.
The domain in question is definitely a build out domain (not nearly as useful as the domain I didn’t win last week), but it looks as though the very active bidders have some big plans for it. Though it seems to have a slightly unsavory past (I checked the wayback machine), I’m sure the right builder/domainer could get around that. Because the auction is still active, I probably shouldn’t reveal the domain, and I don’t know what the industry protocol is about blabbing the amount of past sales, but once the info comes out in dn journal, I figure the info will be fair game.
Thanks, Dan, for the permission; I’ll be posting there tomorrow.
Best, Ms Domainer
October 7th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
I haven’t posted Dan’s post yet, but I do have something to say about the aftermarket auction platform (and other domaining issues), so I have discussed my concerns there, instead of cluttering Jay’s blog with thoughts that veer dangerously off from this NameJet topic.
If you’re curious, see http://msdomainer.blogspot.com/2007/10/is-domain-auction-aftermarket-corrupt.html.
I also offer a narrative about my own auction experience with LiteraryAgent.com
, which sold for 6,758.00.
Best,
Ms Domainer
October 7th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Hi Jay,
Well, we sure do live in interesting times. Who would have thought Snapnames would be so vunerable, so fast?
Question regarding your excellent Advanced Auction search feature on DomainTools.com
. Up till now, I have searched on this and selected domains have gone into a “shopping cart” of sorts. Once the Bid option is selected, I have been taken to the Snapnames main page for login and confirmation of bids.
As many of the domains I (and everyone else it seems) select are expiring Netsol domains, what will happen now to this Advanced Auction earch feature? No point in automatically being forwarded to the Snapnames page if they won’t be handling Netsol names.
Your Advanced Search feature is really excellent and so much better than the quite rough model on Namejet. On Namejet there seems to be no option to block numbers or hyphens (for example).
So, please let us know how your Advanced Search will work from now on.
Thanks for all the continuing great up-to-date information.
UPDATE BY JAY: We will update the system to point domains to the proper system.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:03 am
In this business, it pays to keep one eye open and not to get too smug about one’s position in the food chain.
It would be interesting to see who from Snapnames has jumped ship and is now flying with NameJet.
Ms Domainer
October 8th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Hi Ms Domainer,
Don’t be so fast to bury them yet. Some very smart ’sports fans’ over at Domain Sponser (oversee).
Peace!
Dan
October 9th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
You’re right, streamline. Perhaps Snapnames will find their own niche. I was poking around there today, but I didn’t find much of interest (I now check everything via keywords). I wasn’t looking for sports names, though, so maybe I’ll take another look.
BTW, right now, Pool is a great place for bargains–I just picked up a prime dot-com generic domain for peanuts (all the other major TLDs except .tv gone and it has an overture score!); it hasn’t migrated to Whois yet, but once it does, I’ll write it up in my blog.
I did repost your post, streamline, with some comments. I really do appreciate your sage advice and your take on this industry.
On Sunday, I watched a domain close at $36,000 (I participated in the auction, but I barely got out of the gate–I’m not quite ready to bid that high yet). Payment has cleared, too.
The high bidders must have really wanted it big time–five or six bidders duked it out to the bitter end. It’s a fine domain with lots of possibilties, but it will need to be developed, at least enough to recoup that price tag.
(Once DN Journal announces the sales for this week, I’ll reveal the domain.)
Best, Ms Domainer
October 12th, 2007 at 4:13 am
Now that Snapnames & Network Solutions aren’t partners, it seems Snapnames & NameWinner are really pushing that partnership.
Also, here is a little note about NameJet …
This is at the bottom of NameJet’s website:
In the event that you are a trademark holder and you feel that a domain name infringing your trademark is currently listed for auction, you should contact us immediately at auctions-legal@namejet.com.
However, upon contacting eNom & NameJet about a name that is a typosquat trademark, this was the reply I got:
As a domain name registrar we do not, and are not required to perform a trademark analysis on domain names, nor do we make decisions regarding legitimate uses of domain names based on who requests/registers the name.
By utilizing the Namejet.com
service requesting these names be registered on your behalf, you agree to the terms of service which include a $70 charge. If you choose not to pay for the domain names, a $10 non-payment fee per domain will be assessed to your account and the names will default to a public auction.
In the future, if you notice your trademarks being auctioned via this service, please contact LEGAL@NAMEJET.COM.
What’s the point in contacting them again if they don’t care? I’m sick of the fraudulent activity all of these companies allow in order to make a buck. If you find a domain that’s trademark infringement and you contact them, they don’t reply back … they just drop them. Then you wait months just for some drop service to charge you extra fees to get your name, or you can wait till it drops in which case you have zero chance of obtaining the domain … instead the circle just starts all over again.
The UDRP is broken. The losing domain holder should be forced to pay the fees.
I’ve decided I’m going to start a nonprofit organization to go after these companies that allow the registration of domain trademarks and who upon being contacted, don’t care. If anyone would like to join in, let me know. I have the servers, the bandwidth, the programming knowledge and the funding already … I really just need a few additional voices to help push the cause.
October 14th, 2007 at 1:48 am
Ok please be a bit more open minded REGISTRARS must allow people to REGISTER what they want according to Registry rules,its in the ICANN agreement.The
UDRP HEAVILY FAVORS TRADEMARK holders yes it is broken but not the way you may think the UDRP is a way to possibly save money vs court but MAJOR CORPS can and do just out dollar most cases even if they lose a UDRP and some times they make no sense at all.Both
sides have valid points on Domains,DONAINS not unlike many products are TOOLS how they are used determins what is right and wrong and should be taken on a case by case bases,the website CybersquattingForum.Tv
is now up to assist in Seeking Domain Rights thru Dialogue and Reason feel free to browse or post.
March 1st, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Be very careful when you use NameJet. They “shared” my contact information and interest in a domain name with Melbourne IT.
Instead of paying the minimum bid of $29 (b/c the domain name really had no value to anyone else but my business) I was basically told that I have to fork over $60 USD to the Australian company if I want the domain name.
When I asked point blank about how they got my contact information and knew I was interested in the domain name, Melbourne IT was forthright about working “in conjunction” with NameJet whereas NameJet denied it completely. Well, someone’s not telling the truth.