Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

Backorderzone.com – I ‘hate’ these guys.

Actually, I don’t hate them, but I’m amazed that they beat both SnapNames and Pool for a domain I had backordered.

While SnapNames sent me the usual “apology” for trying and failing to capture the domain, not a pip was heard from Pool.

Upon checking the WHOIS via DomainTools, I noticed that Backorderzone.com is the new holder of the domain.

The Colorado Springs company both captures and auctions domains and it’s free to join. It is not yet clear to me if Backorderzone also holds domains for themselves or only catches them for clients.

So far I haven’t signed up, but I might do so, if the domain I wanted is somehow sent to auction.

Good job, Backorderzone…

With regards to domain investment and sales, I tend to do things the fast way: I close deals quickly, after negotiating in a sharp manner.

I don’t have time to waste. My method and approach to doing business online is often perceived as arrogant, but trust me, I’ve never had any real life complaints.

The truth of the matter is that many disagree with me. And that’s fine, because one can be patient in how they approach certain business opportunities in domain investment.

When Rick Schwartz negotiated the sale of Candy.com, that was the ultimate paradigm of engaging patience as a domainer’s virtue.

Unfortunately, this is not a virtue that I can always stake a claim to, but I appreciate it in others. This way, I’ve learned that one can be flexible, e.g. when negotiating a price or when making an offer with long term benefits.

The bottom line is, that adapting to the flow of events but maintaining your own momentum works best. Sometimes, one has to slow down and regroup, other times one must go forward as if their life depended on it.

BuyDomains was served with a third UDRP in a week, according to Mike Berkens at TheDomains.

I’m not in the least surprised and I’ll explain why.

It’s a game of numbers. It’s pure statistics at work: the more domains one owns – assuming that they are spread naturally and are not intentional, blatant trademark violations – the chances of being served with a UDRP are higher.

With four million domains in its portfolio, BuyDomains is definitely a large player in the market. During the past few years, BuyDomains liquidated several thousand domains and released a few more. But the bulk of its portfolio has been held for years.

Sometimes, trademark holders or those who believe they have a case don’t wait any longer. Corporate lawyers change and younger, more aggressive legal teams take over the game of intimidation.

On top of that, BuyDomains monetizes its domains in a manner that gives plenty of fodder to those companies that witness their products, brands or those of competitors appear as ads on the web sites.

So it’s not really a surprise that those recent cases saw the light of domaining day. Domain investment carries its risk and BuyDomains has recorded plenty of success to prove that such investment is worth it.

I use LinkedIn – the network of professionals – to keep in touch with people I worked with in the past, present and those that I would like to work with in the future.

I also use it for a different purpose altogether: to gauge or ‘validate’ domain registrations.

Often, I peruse domain lists of available domains; some of which I generate from old corporate data. There are hundreds, if not thousands of corporations that ended their lifecycle; the domains often expire and drop.

That’s where LinkedIn comes to play. A lot of those corporate entities are still semi-active, at former employee level. They often form communities, sometimes they reminisce about ‘the good old days’ and thus provide me with valuable information prior to committing my selections of domains to register.

So next time you come across an available domain, or when you ponder about how much to spend on one that’s on sale, try a search on LinkedIn first.

I love that 80′s song by Falco and there was plenty of “Vienna calling” for the past 30 days at Sedo.

An Austrian buyer took forever to submit payment for one of my domains; first claiming he sent payment, then stating he went on Easter vacation and eventually assuring everyone “the check’s in the mail.” How do you say “bullshit” in German?

I was almost ready to place him in the same category along with 66% of my Swiss buyers.

Sedo Germany kept hammering though, contacting the buyer by phone every other day and eventually handing over the matter to the uber-aggressive Accounts Receivable department.

The matter closed today and I’ve pinned one more flag on the international map of domain buyers.

TGIF Sedo, danke schön!