Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

I like NameJet for a single reason: it offers the pre-release of aged, really old domain names; some from the late days of pre-commercial Internet – circa 1992-1995. Yeah, that era of Al Gore and “Information Superhighway” when gas was 95 cents a gallon and a burger cost $2 bucks. Or something like that.

I’ve spent many thousands of dollars on NameJet’s babies and I will continue doing so because there are some great deals to be found. I was “cheap” momentarily and did not bid $2,712 for Amphibious.com but overall, the quality of the domains there is remarkable, as they’re Network Solutions inventory of expiring domains. Your not-so-favorite registrar has found the fountain of domain youth through its exclusive co-operation with NameJet – a former project of eNom’s.

Things were good until I realized that a few odd things were happening. Some domains that reached high, competitive bids ended up in the hands of various entities within days of the auction’s end, despite being won by the same bidder. Then, quite a few high-bid domains were never claimed; their deadbeat winners still bidding away on other domains. Apparently, some people at NameJet bid with other people’s money, and others don’t pay when the deal falls through.

Lack of ethics in a competitive market; what an opportunity to show one’s true colors of 100% stinky brown.

The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back came earlier this week, when a trustworthy source brought to my attention the sickening and unethical practices of a NameJet bidder, who approaches trademark holders as a “savior”, offering to grab a domain name at auction on NameJet – for a cool few bucks, I am sure. In the process, he describes other bidders – excluding himself – as “cybersquatters” and seems to have developed a streamlined modus operandi. I wonder if Mr. Slick acquired his skills from talking to barflies.

Here is the modified copy from the email that he sent out to one of the corporations; the dates, names and times have been edited out. Our Slick friend even sends screenshots of private NameJet auctions attached to his smooth-talking, brown-nosing, corporate coyote bark of an email.

I wonder how NameJet will feel about all this.

Pursuant to our telephone conversation moments ago, I appreciate your help in passing this important message along to XXXXXXX’s I.P. legal department. It would be helpful, as well, if you would forward the information to related senior management at XXXXX:

The domain name XXXXXXXXX.com, which had previously been held by a cybersquatter, recently expired and was deleted from the domain registry this afternoon. As displayed in the screenshot below my signature (he then pastes the Namejet bidding screen), one of several service registrars which capture deleted, high-demand domain names at the instant they become available is conducting a private online auction for the trademark-protected domain name, XXXXXXXXX.com on xxxday, xxxx xx at about x:xxpm (EST). Insofar as XXXXXXXX is a globally recognized trademark, all but one of the xx pre-registered bidders clearly have designs on infringing on XXXXXXX’s mark by monetizing the domain’s valuable type-in traffic. This domain name is the plural of XXXXXXXX.com, which XXXXXXXX already owns and publishes.

I bring this to XXXXXXXX’s attention because we routinely monitor expired domain names which infringe on famous brands, in an effort to foil successor cybersquatters and quickly recover branded domain names for their rightful trademark-holders. To that end, we can help. I have reserved a bid position in this private online auction and, with XXXXXXXX’s prior written authorization, will be pleased to acquire XXXXXXXX.com in XXXXXXXX’s behalf. No muss, no fuss, no litigation required. And based on our auction monitoring of recent brand-infringing domain sales, this will not likely be a costly domain acquisition.

Lest XXXXXXXX somehow misinterpret my intentions, as lawyers are often prone to do, be assured that I will not participate in this private auction without XXXXXXXX’s consent. We protect famous brands, not infringe on them. We have successfully recovered domain names for major corporate and entertainment-related clients worldwide. We would be pleased and honored to serve XXXXXXXX, as well.

Time is short. Please contact me at your earliest opportunity and I will be pleased to explain the acquisition process.

Namejet’s utilization of the Network Solutions pre-release service has created an aftermarket for really old domains that expired and were not renewed. Instead of dropping them, Netsol offers them up on auction. Several people, myself included, go through the pre-release lists for domains of value: aged domains, traffic generators or simply brandable domains. So far, I’ve invested several thousand dollars into this business.

Here lies the problem: two different platforms, with no common support system.

Namejet is a spinoff of eNom, another large domain registrar. Network Solutions is the original domain registrar, with a huge and aged inventory of domains. Although they are in this venture exclusively together, they share no common ticketing system.

My credit card was charged the nice sum of $2,500 in the middle of last week, after I won a Namejet auction. Since then, the domain has not landed in my Netsol account. Upon calling tech support at Netsol, I am told that they cannot confirm the status of my order and that I need to either wait past the 24-48 hour window or to contact Namejet. The problem is, it’s been 4 days since my credit card was charged.

I opened a ticket at the Namejet web site as they don’t offer phone support – another major flaw for an operation of this magnitude. I suspect that they simply share resources with eNom, the ticket system is identical and I get the same canned replies. So I was told that Network Solutions has been notified when payment was made and that the domain WHOIS shows my details. Except, it doesn’t. The WHOIS at Network Solutions still displays the usual “Pending renewal or deletion” blurb and their tech support, despite their ultra-polite demeanor, have no idea why the domain is not in my account yet.

To add a twist of absurdity into this, Namejet mentioned that transactions that end before the weekend or before a holiday might extend the process time of the domain. Only problem is, another transaction that ended on 8/31 – a Sunday – was processed immediately by Namejet and I got hold of the domain instantly. The difference: the domain was with eNom, not Netsol.

So who’s telling the truth, Namejet or Netsol? Personally, I don’t care. I paid for something four days ago and have yet to receive it. It’s easy to blame computer software for delays in processing but when a credit card is successfully charged the items should be delivered within the reasonable time set forth in the agreement. Four days is not a reasonable time in the domain world.