It’s great witnessing the domain industry work together, watching each other’s back.
Domains can be valuable assets, that are intangible; we can’t lock them inside one’s house, or in a box. Their lifespan is dependent on their owners’ ability to renew them, sometimes at the last minute.
In the case of the late Igal Lichtman, his legacy as Mrs. Jello LLC was passed onto his family. They took over a sizable domain portfolio, of approximately 5,000 domains.
Two days ago, domain investor Yinan – also known as Owntype on DNForum and NamePros – shared some alarming news about the Mrs. Jello LLC portfolio of domains: their managing domain, ExoticDomains.net, had lapsed at eNom a few days prior.
Losing control of one’s administrative account and linked email can be outright devastating.
Without access to it, a domain owner will probably not receive important emails from registrars about all the linked domains. Furthermore, should that domain drop, someone could acquire it and perform a series of malicious activities, such as hijacking domains under that domain’s control.
Luckily, Yinan shared the news, notifying the domain community. Tia Wood saw the post, and emailed me.
I messaged Nat Cohen, who is well-connected in the domain industry. He reached out to one of Igal’s relatives, and he in turn took care of business, letting his family know.
In the process, the premium domain Jerusalem.com was renewed as well.
This chain of information sharing and swift actions, saved not just a domain, but an entire domain portfolio of thousands of domains; it also preserved the sanity of many people that would freak out and panic, during or after losing their valuable assets.
In a separate incident, Bill Sweetman and Jamie Zoch, helped save Carrot.com from an expired domain auction, after its owner passed away; the domain is now in the control of his family.
It’s acts such as these that help preserve my faith in the domain industry, its people, and humanity overall. When people contribute their time and utilize their connections without the expectation of a reward – simply to help.
Many thanks to all that were involved.
Wonderful article — Thank you for sharing! The industry needs more stories like this, and less stories of stolen domains / price manipulation.
I can’t help but wonder, if all domainers took the approach of contacting the previous owner(s) of a valuable domain(s), rather than bidding, would the general public would have a better perception of the industry?
I know it’ll take more than that to rid the general public’s perception of the industry as cyber squatters who negatively affected small businesses through outrageous parking profits in the earlier days of the internet. Still, good deeds such as putting people before profits, may slowly change the public opinion.
Over the years I have contacted numerous registrants of dropping domain names to try to convince them to renew the domain names before the drop and, if interested and willing, sell the domain name to me for an agreed-upon price. I estimate that 99.99999% of the time, my communications went unanswered by the registrant and the domain names dropped regardless. It is often quite difficult to contact a soon-to-be former owner of a domain name. Thus, it would likely be a difficult tactic to use to enhance the perception of the industry.
I love it! It’s truly amazing watching people come together and help other investors avoid big mistakes/oversights. Putting a fellow investor first instead of trying to take advantage of their situation goes a long way.
Great read 🙂
Thus, it would likely be a difficult tactic to use to enhance the perception of the industry.
Challenge accepted.
Hey I had a carrot only yesterday! Communication is easier these days, a few minutes can save a lot of heartache.