Acro.net - Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

Despite a surprisingly rainy morning that lasted until noon, Orlando was sunny and dry when I hit the road driving west, towards the Disney Resorts. After getting lost twice in the maze of entertainment parks that good old Walt Disney decided to build in the middle of the swamps in the 1960’s, I arrived at the Grand Floridian at around 1:30pm.

At the registration desk I met Christian Higgins of Parked.com who just happened to be there, sporting a “PARKED.com” shirt. After registering, I met Rick Schwartz who was busy making sure things were going smoothly.

Soon after, I met with other members of Parked.com, including Donny Simonton and Michael Ward. It was great meeting in person with people that in the past I only exchanged emails with (some of which were not so nice!) and we all headed for lunch at a restaurant within the resort. The Parked guys were all very friendly and energetic despite the 90 minute haul from Tampa and we had a nice conversation about - what else - domain parking. As an extra bonus, Donny paid for lunch and by 3pm we all headed back to the conference area.

Usually at that time, people that are newcomers to TRAFFIC were given some sort of introduction to the features of the conference; this time we were left to our own devices and met others as they were casually walking by. Sahar Sarid was just like in his pictures - all-smiling and friendly and very recognizable by most people. I met with Michael Collins, executive director of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) and co-founder of Afternic. We talked about the problems that the domain industry will be facing in the years to come and about potential methods that can be used to raise awareness in the domain community, in order to protect our assets.

Soon enough, our small discussion circle broadened as others joined in while we were anticipating the 5:30 cocktail party. Bill FitzPatrick, president of Boston Domain Exchange described the challenges of monetizing themed domain portfolios. Michael Gilmour of ParkLogic came to Bill’s rescue, discussing the methods and features that his company uses to generate revenue for its clients. Divyank Turakhia of Skenzo talked about how the current range of domain conferences around the world require him to fly for 18 to 24 hours at a time, something that he seemed to handle pretty well.

Ron Jackson arrived with his wife, and at long last I had the opportunity to meet him after 6-plus years of online interaction. Ron publishes the most authoritative source of domain sales at DNJournal, along with very well-written articles portraying icons and pioneers of the domain world.

Despite our late lunch, everybody seemed to be getting hungry and at 5:30pm the main exhibits lounge opened up, serving a variety of buffet delicacies and drinks. Finally I got a chance to have a full picture of the attendants and the exhibits and to further discuss industry matters with fellow domain investors. Ron Jackson sported a brand new Sony camera that gave him a hard time only for a short while, before he proceeded to take pictures of the event. The exhibit booths were colorful and each one had its own distinct corporate color and identity. It wasn’t hard to walk up to virtually anybody and strike a conversation - although at some point the three-member band playing live was a bit too loud!

I met with the people behind Domainer’s Magazine and discussed the opportunities that exist in the domain market for real print publications. They seemed to be very excited and aware of their contribution to the industry via a printed medium.

Market Leverage, one of the web’s largest “Cost Per Acquisition” (CPA) networks that enables web Advertisers and web Publishers to harness the power of performance marketing, featured a great-looking booth and very friendly hosts. The company is based in Lake Mary, FL and despite the fact that they originate from an industry not directly related to the domain market, they were eager to be present in such a big domain event. Sal Guarino, president of Market Leverage, had the cunning ability to tell that I am Greek, simply by looking at my name on my business card!

I must have walked several miles in that exhibition lounge, as my feet started to hurt! To my salvation came the 8pm bell, which marked the beginning of the Moniker domain auction. We all moved to the auctioning room that featured round tables and comfy chairs - along with the opportunity to do more networking before the auction started. I sat at a table with Bill FitzPatrick and four folks from Grimbsy, England who claimed their small town was probably unknown to the rest of the world. Except that an old friend of mine lives in that town, so naturally a new conversation about 8-bit home computers, Sir Clive Sinclair and Crash/Sinclair User/Your Computer magazines brought back great memories!

The auction started with several low-priced names ending up in the hands of new owners, some after several rounds of competitive bids. Monte Cahn of Moniker and the auctioneer in charge were able to keep up the spirit of everyone, thus motivating more bids at this relatively low profile auction. My domain Julio.net was sold for $3,500 (pending verification) and that added up to my personal excitement.

The clock was ticking past 9pm when the day ended - but not without yet another surprise for me. After meeting with Dr. Christopher Hartnett, chairman of Tedhens Limited he introduced me to a fellow Greek who owns Lease Domains, manager of a large domain portfolio. What are the chances that two Greeks meet at their first TRAFFIC conference? Let me tell you, less than having three instead - and yet, that one in a million syzygy became a reality when Nick Spanos, president of Bapple.com joined us for a loud-mouthed conversation in Greek!

It was the perfect ending for a great, busy and rewarding day. Looking forward to Day 2, tomorrow.

You can view some quick snaps from Day 1 here.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - May 19, 2008 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Acroplex® launched today its newly redesigned corporate image, including a new web site at www.Acroplex.com. The launch is intended to coincide with the Targeted Traffic domain conference (T.R.A.F.F.I.C.) which takes place in Orlando, Florida from May 20th until May 24th inclusive.

Theo Develegas, General Manager of Acroplex LLC will be attending this exclusive domain event, in order to further establish business relationships and to seek new strategic alliances with other members of the domain monetization community.

In the words of Rick Schwartz, TRAFFIC co-founder:

” As an event that is by invitation only, TRAFFIC sets a standard that cannot be matched. That is why TRAFFIC has become such an important part of doing business for those that own domains, buy and sell traffic, have parking and PPC companies, search related companies investors and all the way down to the store on Main Street. TRAFFIC brings the biggest and the best together. It’s just that simple. We keep the noise out and the business in. “

TRAFFIC / Orlando is approaching fast!

I’m looking forward to meeting in person with other fellow domainers, to exchange ideas and promote our mutual interests at this great upcoming event, which will take place in O’Town from May 20th till May 24th, 2008. I am extremely excited and it’s showing; it’s probably the first time such a large scale event is taking place in Central Florida.

Not only will the food be great, but some of the best and biggest names in the domain industry will participate, including yours truly in person!

The following domains of mine will be auctioned off during the TRAFFIC / Orlando conference - so check your budgets and wallets and be prepared to bid on them when the time comes. See you there!

Live auction domains:

360.ORG
JULIO.NET

Online auction domains:

ASSASSINATION.ORG
ATTRACTIVE.ORG
CATNIP.ORG
CAVALRY.ORG
DOCUMENTARY.NET
FROGGER.NET
GRADUATING.NET
IDOLS.ORG
KOJAK.NET
MASSAGER.NET
MONOGRAM.NET
NATIVITY.NET
SITCOMS.ORG
SWEET.ORG
TAVERN.ORG

Till now, I had no name for this abominable practice of lowering the price one is willing to pay for a domain, right after a verbal agreement is reached. After watching a CNN video about the British real estate market, I realized it already had a name: gazundering.

According to everyone’s favorite resource of general information, Wikipedia, the term “gazundering” is defined as “the practice of demanding a reduction in price to secure the sale of a property. This is usually done during contract negotiation. The timing of this demand is usually intended to prevent the seller from rejecting the lower price, as the sale could collapse if they did, although it may also reflect a genuine downturn in property prices in an area.”

Apparently, the British law gives little value to hand-shaking, virtual or not, unless it’s finalized with a written contract bearing the signatures of both parties. Long gone are the days of committing to one’s offer that was negotiated through an exchange of communications between buyer and seller and which was accepted.

In the domain market, this practice appears to work as follows: an offer is made, through a non-committing medium e.g. via a phone-call or an e-mail. The seller agrees to a selling price and proceeds with the drafting of a contract agreement, potentially involving a third party who’s an expert in the composing of such documents - for example, an IP attorney or a paralegal.

Then, as soon as the iron is hot off the deal anvil, the buyer changes their initial offer by means of counter-offering less money for the exchange. The process might involve the feedback of real or imaginary business partners who, during the course of negotiation, seem to have changed their appraisal of the domain or its business costs; all, at the financial and emotional expense of the seller who’s now left wondering if this is a bad joke.

Where I come from, a deal is a deal. No need for a handshake even, especially in today’s electronic, global market. And yet, even in the acclaimed domaining world, one will find individuals that resort to such a low tactical warfare approach. One’s word reflects their business and personal ethics; it’s a projection of anything done in the past and a prediction of anything that will be done in the future.

A game of chess obviously unfolds the parties’ strategy on the negotiation table. If an offer is not high enough to be accepted, the potential buyer then usually returns with a higher offer in order to close the deal and obtain the goods. But in chess, the rules are known in advance and the most important one is: if you pick up your chess piece, you have to move it.

Domain gazundering will apparently lead more people to offer their domains via centralized selling platforms that allow for a lock-down of the agreement as it is reached; once the price is viewed by the seller as acceptable, it’s as if both parties’ signatures were instantly recorded on the contract.

In an ideal business world, instant buying and selling is a smooth, painless operation that offers inventory and receives monetary funds in exchange. In the real world, a person with no scruples, no ethos and little regard towards the seller’s time and property will try to gazunder a deal, whenever possible.

To counter such gazundering activity, one has to disengage themselves emotionally from the deal, flat out refuse the post-agreement lower offer and, whenever possible, seek legal advice that would potentially entitle them to compensation, should such an act of pulling out of a deal occurs.

As I am multi-tasking away in the 25th hour of the day at my computer, my email notification “dings”; is it yet another Viagra spam or an offer from an automated user of the DRT software?

I take a sip from my Gatorade bottle - lemonade flavor is my new favorite - and I switch over to Eudora. No Outlook for me, thanks. I’ve been using Eudora since I got away from Mail and Pine, both residing in the heart of the then Unix - now Linux - operating system. That was 15 years ago; if Eudora were a teenager, she’d be looking like Miley Cyrus by now.

I delete a few obvious spam emails that somehow made it through the server’s firewall and the spam filter; the Hoodia peddlers are getting craftier these days. I scroll down to what appears to be a series of messages from eNom, a reminder for tomorrow’s meeting and…an offer from Sedo.

A click later, the subject line seems to contradict the domain referred to in the message itself. But, we’re all human and make mistakes: Matt at Sedo is a nice guy that I’ve talked to on the phone a few times. Very polite, easy to relay my concerns to. He’s now trying to broker through an offer for a domain that I own.

I gawk at the amount. It’s $2,200 - for a domain that Sedo themselves recently appraised at more than $5,000. What the fuck is going on???

Flashback time.

The same domain of mine has been getting a lot of inquiries recently. Some come from anonymous cowards that attempt to exploit their apparent advantage of hiding behind an offer with no signature. Like that guy from Norway who made a $60 offer, then accepted my $75,000 counter-offer, only to conveniently claim it was accidental, two days later.

Whatever, bitch.

I don’t get worked up much, unless shit like this happens, when a company that wants to be taken seriously, such as Sedo, fucks up in their own modus operandi.

More flashbacks.

After that $75k “deal” was annulled faster than Britney Spears’ first wedding (poor chick, she has a nice ass but no brains) I received a direct offer in my email. A few email exchanges later, I was talking on the phone with a potential buyer; to whom I mentioned my firm asking price of mid 5-figures.

The potential buyer then pulled back, to discuss their options. Fair enough.

A week later they emailed me, with a double-whammy: an offer within 10% of my asking price (a winner, in my book) and a paid appraisal from Sedo. Curious as I am, I opened the Sedo Adobe PDF; only to almost piss myself.

OK, I’ve been in the domain business since February 1997, that’s when I bought my first domain. Even back then, I would not be as clueless in order to valuate domains based on some random jumbling up of similar words in comparable sales.

Each domain is different; it has its own features and characteristics beyond the traffic and revenue it might be generating. There is also the age factor; in my book, a 10 year old domain tips the virtual scales more than a 2 year old.

Sedo’s appraisal was such a joke that poor old Matt heard me getting all frothy and furious on the phone, unlike other times. I’m a nice guy - I don’t cuss, unless someone pokes me hard in the eye. I don’t punch, unless someone tries to grab my ass.

First of all WHAT IN THE G-D DAMN sake does Sedo think, when they offer $39 appraisals to Joe Blow, for a domain they don’t own, which is actively parked and brokered through Sedo themselves? When that very same Joe Blow comes to me - all smirking - with an appraisal from Sedo and shoves it down my throat, saying “This is how much your domain is worth, this is how much I will be paying” - what can I say back, when I am using the very same broker, Sedo, in order to commence a profitable sale?

I don’t know what I said to Matt, I was seeing red during my conversation. My voice was spewing dragon breath, not mint and niceties.

So, I’ll say it again: STOP UNDERCUTTING us, Sedo. Stop offering domain appraisals, as if you were GoDaddy or Network Solutions or Jim Bob’s Domain Appraisal Store on eBay. Think for a second what it’s costing us, the seller that uses your services, then think what it’d cost you - the broker - in lost fees. Your brokers and valuators just plain SUCK ASS.

This time, I took two mid-5-figures sales outside of Sedo.

Sorry, but although I like the efficiency of their process, I have had it, man! I don’t want the kind of shit that creates more problems than solves. I am tired of being told by morons, that Sedo appraised my domain at $5k, then receive brokered offers for half as much! Jesus f-cking Christ! Does Sedo keep track of a domain’s history in their German databases? I thought Germans were organized, all the way down to the fall of the Berlin wall.

Enough of this.

In two weeks’ time, I will be seating my ass on a fat “wallet” and maintaining a stronger relationship with domain outlets such as Escrow.com, Moniker and AfterNIC. Too many slip-ups by Sedo and there is always the proverbial straw that somehow broke the camel’s back.

I said camel’s, not camelto.es

One of the best decisions I ever made, was to entrust my tax processing to a professional. No, I am not talking about those colorful individuals from H&R Block. Surely, if you’re in a hurry, as an individual with uncomplicated financial status and in no need of real savings, you can go with these guys - or even buy one of the several commercial software solutions and just do it yourself.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for real attention about tax & business-related issues throughout the year, it’s worth locating and establishing a long-lasting relationship with a CPA - a Certified Public Accountant. Preferably, one that is aware of all new laws regarding the handling of “virtual” or intangible property, such as domains.

The first few times I did my taxes by myself. Back then I was married filing jointly, with kids, a house and a full time job. Over the course of several years, I am quite certain that I lost several thousand dollars due to being unaware of minimum deductions that apply by default: without a need for any real receipts. Did you know, for example that your car - once used to conduct business - has a depreciating value applied each year, including gas mileage? I didn’t know and neither did the software I used to do my taxes, after I gave up on the standard 1040 form done by “hand”. At one point, I missed out on $1,000 of deductions which I only discovered by accident a few months later; I was smart enough to apply for an amendment and I can only thank Google for that.

A CPA literally takes the burden of tax processing off your shoulders. Preferably, they run an office within close proximity, they have an active web site that you can manage your documents at and they offer support and consultations with you on a per request basis. Most important, they don’t charge for their services other than the annual processing fee.

Just tonight, I read on CNN that “tax season became a little more taxing this year, with the average person spending more than a day and more than $200 collecting, calculating and compiling those numbers for the tax man, according to a report based on Internal Revenue Service figures.”

Two hundred bucks is a lot of money to bear the burden of responsibility and the task of doing everything right, all by myself!

The first time I used my current CPA was a little over 3 years ago. At that time, I was recently divorced, had sold my home and moved to another job; all while using Turbo Tax, which had taken me through all the loops and automated whistles it offers. At the final page I was looking at a grim $1,275 of tax payable to the IRS. Not too thrilled, if you asked me.

My girlfriend of that time suggested that I should use the very same CPA her parents used for years for their taxes. Now, I take advice from women very seriously, especially the ones with pretty blue eyes. So - reluctantly - I contacted their office and provided all the information needed, hoping that they’d do a better job than Turbo Tax. That year, I had a return of $850 after my fees to the CPA were paid. How’s that compared to a potential loss of $1,275 to the Man?

Of course, one still needs to be on top of things and save receipts, document transactions and register purchases and sales - along with “bugging” the usual suspects, the parking companies for the 1099 forms each year and all other sources of income. I must say that both Parked.com and Sedo.com are religious in their sending of the forms and that gives me plenty of time to gather all the information and submit it to my CPA. Thanks guys, at least all the money you make off my traffic goes to good use.

A Certified Public Accountant can be located in your local Yellow Pages, or - preferably - can be referred to by other friends and relatives in your area. It’s an investment well worth the cost (in the $200 to $350 region per year). Did I mention the CPA’s tax processing charge is a business deduction as well?

This year’s April 15th tax deadline is already here; get a CPA for your taxes and file for a 6 month extension with the IRS. You won’t regret it.

In an unprecedented late-night meeting that lasted well into the early morning hours of April 1st, ICANNT members emerged from the organization headquarters in Arlington, VA with the big news: all single letter .com/.net/.org domain names, will be released effective today, 9:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time. When the clock strikes 9:45 all names will be released on a first-come, first-served basis; the price will be the standard registration fee (plus $0.25 handling fee per domain to cover ICANNT overtime costs.)

Only 26 such letters, per TLD, exist on the entire Internet thus making them extremely valuable.

This obviously comes as a shock to many domain investors and corporations like Overstock or Yahoo! who held high hopes of registering trademarks with “O” and “Y”, respectively before claiming the single-letter domains in a public auction, as it was announced last year. These companies were willing to invest tens of millions of dollars in this partially untapped namespace, so far owned by literally a handful of entities, such as Quest - Q.com, Nissan - Z.com, Paypal - X.com, X Org Foundation - X.org and Thunayan Khalid AL-Ghanim (Elequa) who owns I.net.

As the news came in, we rushed to inform a few influential individuals in the domain industry. Among them, Jerry Floski of Metadata Data Corp, Andrei Dimitriev of Bulgarian Domain Exports and Olga Hollander of Out of TIME & Space Magazine - all of which expressed both excitement and shock at hearing the news.

“At 9:45am, Internet history will re-write itself“, Hollander said.
“It’s a chance for me to grab the big ‘O’ although I am sure Oprah Winfrey will be trying to register it at the same time!“, she added.

No major domain outlets have been notified yet as there will be intense competition that would enable speculators to charge hundreds of dollars in fees. It’s certain though that major registrars, such as eNom and GoDaddy will be fighting tooth and nail against Entertainment Yesterday and Gayest Media respectively, to secure ownership of “E.com” and “G.com”.

While .com is still king, it is expected that the lesser .net and .org TLD’s will be registered as well within minutes of the 9:45am landrush - after all, that’s only 73 domains that in the early days of the Internet one would have hand-registered in a few hours, all while enjoying a slowly-roasted cup of java connected via Compuserve at 300bps. This time however, it will be considerably tougher to register more than one such domain via the special registration portal designated by the Registry.

Good luck everyone!