Acro.net - Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

Ever since I started registering domains with the intention to develop or resell (the option to monetize was added much later) I decided to stick to the same basic principle: if it’s in the dictionary, it’s something I can use. If I can use it, others can. If others can, then I have established the motive to register or purchase it.

I can honestly say that the selling potential of dictionary .com, .net, .org domains - the original TLD triad - is a sure winner. As long as I don’t need a dictionary to establish what the word means! Of course, there are dubious spellings or common typos, but the bottom line is that a positive dictionary word serves its purpose well, in real life and in the online commerce world.

I recall buying Gravity.org for a mere $105 on DNForum, at a time when everyone else was looking to buy domains with type-in traffic or typos. I’ve stuck to my guns of picking up dictionary domains as often as I can and this principle has paid off in the long run, more times than I can recall. Four years ago, Gravity.org was sold to a nice guy, who has since then developed it into a beautiful web site depicting his literary work.

Later on, I discovered a great source of such dictionary domains in the form of a well-known parking guru who decided to do what was best at that time, having had thousands of domains that generated little parking income and had renewal fees to be paid. I managed to pick up a lot of these domains in private transactions or via forums; others I bought on eBay and via direct communication with their owners.

There were so many dictionary domains in these days between 2002-2005 that could be had for as little as $20 to just over $100 - I became more organized when such sales would occur, by keeping Notepad open to paste into it the entire list and then I’d delete quickly the names I did not want. I found that to be faster than pasting over the ones that I might want.

It’s shocking even to me, that one such domain that I picked for $50 at a “feeding frenzy” sale on DNForum three years ago, was just sold for a whopping $6,000 via Sedo. Then again, I’ve had other such large sales of dictionary domains in the past - but none resulted in such a high return on investment. I will have to thank my traffic guru seller for this. By the way, it’s an .ORG!

It’s often frustrating trying to sell dictionary domains with inherent potential at reseller forums; the expected responses immediately inquire about traffic stats. When the brand is built around a domain that cannot be misspelled or mistyped, the traffic shall come. What won’t come again, is an abundance of dictionary words in the original three TLDs.

Frank Schilling, in his last blog post in months made this monumental statement:

A few years back I was approached by a company and encouraged to place my domain names for sale through their marketplace. I was given a host of reasons why this was a good idea. “These names don’t make any money”.. “ Selling the names will actually improve my overall portfolio’s value”.. “Selective pruning is just prudent”. Shortly thereafter, a second domain marketplace called. They suggested I sell my names through ‘them’ and that I should cap my purchase prices at $5,000 because that was the limit of automated credit card processors in their scenario.. They even sent me a list of names that I should sell.. tens of thousands of them that don’t make enough to cover their renewals.. and If I could get $2,000-$5,000 each wouldn’t that be Fabulous?! The problem as I looked through my list was that many of the names they suggested I sell were pretty good. I’d pay more than 2-5k for many of these names if they were dropping at auction. I politely declined their offer.

One should employ additional means of measuring the potential value of a domain, other than its visitor figures, and dictionary domains maintain a strong reselling potential regardless of the existing traffic. An experienced domainer will soon acquire a “gut feeling”, an “on-the-fly” evaluation ability that only comes after several successful transactions - and a few monumental failures.

At the same time, one should ensure that a solid business plan is in place; for which I recommend the services of a qualified Certified Public Accountant (CPA) so that every dollar earned or expended is accounted for. I know that I will paying a whole lot more in taxes next year.

What is the domain that resulted in an 120-fold ROI ? You’ll have to keep your eyes peeled on Sedo’s sales for that, in the next few days

From behind the iron curtain of a middle Eastern nation known for its anti-American sentiment, a self-proclaimed hacker seems to be the perpetrator of a series of recent, high profile purchases of domains - using stolen credit cards.

Using proxy servers located in Iraq, he took control of a Network Solutions user account and its main domain, Get-Hosted.com. Then, using either a credit card associated with the account or other stolen credit cards, he made purchases of domains offered for sale via the Network Solutions marketplace. These domains are brokered by two major players in the domain after-market field, BuyDomains and Fabulous.

Apparently, he tried the fraud scheme first at Fabulous, as their domains are typically priced lower. After testing the waters of his process by making several small purchases, he turned his attention to the higher-priced domains offered by BuyDomains. A week or so later, his appetite was large enough that one of these purchases made it on DNJournal: DomainTools.net was sold for $4,088.

Fabulous reacted quickly, reversing between 5 and 6 purchases of about $350 each and regaining control of the domains within days of the incident. The perpetrator, having gained experience from this test run, then decided to alter his process; the roughly 6 large purchases he made from BuyDomains were immediately transfered out to the compromised Network Solutions account and WHOIS protection was added.

Having used stolen credit cards - in other words, other people’s money - it was time now for the hacker to capitalize on the value of the assets; an estimated $25,000 worth of domains. Not too shy about declaring his location (Iraq), he created two accounts at DNForum and offered the domains for a quick sale, at extremely low prices. These aged or otherwise generic names were being offered for $200 to $500 each, with a couple of others seeking offers.

The DNForum sales thread about one of these domains, xdev.com, had a short lifespan; the domain was still listed for sale at Afternic by BuyDomains with a hefty $9,700 price tag on it. And yet, the seller was eager to take any amount of money, ranging from $1,500 up to a BIN price of $5,000. After all, he never paid a penny out of pocket for these domains. The DNForum community was quick to determine that the sale was extremely suspicious and to alert the moderators about the ongoing scam.

Other domains offered for sale included Getting.net, DomainTools.net, DoTrust.com and OrbitPay.com - all of them were being offered at unreasonably low prices. Thankfully, DomainTools.com maintains historical data on domain ownership; it was easy to see that all these domains followed the same pattern: they were sold recently by BuyDomains and were instantly transferred to Network Solutions, to an account with WHOIS shield.

It’s probably the first time that several major players in the domain market were involved as the direct victims of a scam:

• BuyDomains and Fabulous were defrauded, giving up domains in exchange for stolen funds
• Network Solutions & potentially Afternic were used as a Trojan Horse to facilitate the purchases through their respective marketplaces
• Sedo was consequently used by the scammer as a point of sale for some of these domains

Additionally, Visa and Mastercard obviously had to reimburse funds and to reverse charges to the legitimate owners of these credit cards.

Currently, all of the domains appear to have been recovered in a special trust account at Network Solutions. The investigation is ongoing, with regards to the legal ramifications of this act which could amount to tens of thousands of dollars in billable time. It would not be surprising if finally the FBI and Interpol are involved in this case.

Over the course of recent years, Internet scams have proliferated into segments of the global market that were left untouched by traditional crime. It’s imperative that international politics ensure a smoother relationship and cooperation between nations, instead of leaving predatory “black holes” such as Iran, Iraq and North Korea. These criminals operating from such countries feel untouchable by the lack of law and punishment in their own countries and often engage in these acts as a “sport” or a “hobby” - gaining bragging rights among their peers.

However, when other people’s money is involved, it’s not a game anymore.

As the fireworks fill the night sky on the 232nd Independence Day of America, now it’s the time for some introspecting.

I witnessed my first 4th of July extravaganza in 1998, my 1st year in the US as a transplanted immigrant. To be in the “land of the free” was a great accomplishment, that sustained me through the tough times, both financial and emotional. The sensation was that everything is possible; with hard labor any dream can become a reality - in the US of A.

Today, America has lost its luster, both to the world and internally. After almost eight years of the Bush administration presiding over the choices and freedoms of the American people, it is evident that a lot of damage has been done to the statue of Liberty - its patina depicts an aging of outdated ideas and acts.

On Independence Day, there are 4,113 fallen soldiers that lost their lives fighting an invasive war in Iraq, thousands of miles away from home. This second Vietnam has no lesser effect to the lives of the families that lost their sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and relatives - to the pretext of freedom fighting. One man’s ego has led these men and women to an untimely death - all 4,113 of them so far.

With elections approaching fast in less than 120 days, now it’s the time to ponder about the words that politicians use with regards to what constitutes freedom, independence and patriotism. While the US liberated Europe in WWII and offered its strong arm assisting the distraught European nations, today’s America is not a liberator - it’s an enforcer of political will unrelated to the basics that this great nation was built on. Americans cannot sustain four more years of conservative, aggressive, insanely uncivilized politicians like Bush and Cheney through a McCain presidency.

On this Independence Day, let’s watch the movie “Born on the 4th of July” to realize that freedom is not gained by launching and perpetuating wars but by ending conflicts, ensuring international cooperation and symbiosis, educating the people and by reaching out in the middle of the fire to cease it.

The fireworks are definitely beautiful - but war isn’t.