Domain Sales

Sure, you’ve heard about Slots.com and Photo.com, but what about all the other domains? First and foremost, ArabianHorse.com has sold for a $125,000 USD. Considering that some horses sell for quite a bit more than this amount, I think the buyer got a great deal. Other sales of note include …

ICANN announced this week the hiring of cryptographer Whit Diffie as Vice President for Information Security and Cryptography. The 65-year-old former chief security officer from Sun will use his advanced knowledge to help improve the security of the domain name system. Diffie is famous for co-writing a paper published in …

Traffic statistics firm HosterStats.com has released some interesting stats about TLD adoption. According to the company’s data, some 43.5% of .com domains are also registered on the .net TLD. Here are some other cool facts: 10.7% of .net domains are not registered on any other TLD. Some 70,205 names (0.54%) …

For years, WHOIS privacy services have acted as a proxy for registrants, using the service’s contact data in place of the registrant’s. Currently customers still own the names even when using a proxy, but an ICANN policy draft could change things: One central clarification: if a Registered Name Holder licenses …

Whoa… it looks like the domain aftermarket is heating up this week. In the wake of the sale of slots.com for $5.5 million USD, dating.com has sold for $1.75 milion at auction. Although $1.75 million is nothing to complain about, I believe the name is worth more. Online dating is …

The majority of the Internet’s 13.6 million .de domains were unavailable from between 1:30pm and 2:50pm German time yesterday. DENIC, the .de operator, reports that the names went “kaputt” after empty zone files were accidentally uploaded to the DNS root system. Information on the number of names affected varies. According …

Ed Teal, a Republican candidate in the Marshall County, Alabama Sheriff’s election, has filed a cybersquatting lawsuit against his opponent, Sheriff Chief Deputy Doug Gibbs. He alleges that the incumbent purposely registered some 19 domains, such as VoteEdTeal.com and EdTealforSheriff.com, to hinder his use of the Internet in the election. …

It looks like the owner of gambling domain Slots.com hit the jackpot… literally. A multi-day auction for the domain ended today. The winner bought the name for an astounding $5.5 million USD. It ties with Casino.com for the seventh most expensive domain ever sold and is the largest sale so …

Automotive domain 4×4.co.uk has sold for a hefty $35,000 USD. This is perhaps one of the more useful 3-letter domains sold lately. Other recent 3-letter sales include vins.com for €18,000 and isg.com for $23,000 USD. Wasser.eu (German for “water”) garnered €9,000, while analystics.net fetched $12,500. Here are some other interesting …

Facebook has filed a dispute with the WIPO over the domain Facebook.me, which is currently owned by UAE citizen Amjad Abbas. This is just one of many ccTLDs the site has gone after lately. Interestingly, the name’s current owner has it redirecting to Facebook.com. Why he would do is unclear …