First, I went to Bido to see what it was all about. The system there did not seem very intuitive and it appears that you have to pay to list your names, then people have to vote on it, then if you get enough votes it goes to auction, and even then it may or may not sell. I started to list a name there and then canceled the listing and decided to try something else. I know that many people are happy with Bido and it sounds like it is improving each day, but I am just looking for something easier.

Next, I listed a small group of names on Godaddy Auctions. When you visit the Godaddy Auctions page, there is a link that says “list a domain” and you can list it as buy it now, offer/counter offer, offer/counter offer with buy it now, or a seven day auction. If you have names registered at Godaddy, you can also list a name by logging in to your account’s domain manager section, then selecting the name and clicking the tab “cash in” and selecting “List on GoDaddy Auctions.” The only difference here is that I was unable to select the 7 day auction. The buy it now, offer/counter offer, offer/counter offer with buy it now options were there, but no way to push a name from your account to an auction. I would like to be able to send a name from my account to a 7 day auction, and was unable to do so without leaving the account manager section, going to the auctions section, and then manually enter the name and selecting a 7 day auction. Am I missing something here?

I then remembered seeing a “List Now on SnapNames” link in my Moniker account so I decided to try that. I selected a small group of names from my Moniker account and clicked the “List Now on SnapNames” link. I was taken directly to SnapNames and was given the option to set the minimum bid price and auction start time. So far, I have found this to be the easiest way to sell names - just a few clicks and I was done.

If you are in no hurry to sell your names, I think the best places to list them are Sedo and Afternic. If you want to sell some right away, I think that Moniker to SnapNames system is the easiest. Let me know what you think though - where is the best place to sell your domain names?

After over 7 years of running Domainstate we have decided to sell the site. It is with a sad heart that we have realised that it is no longer something we can commit the same level of energy as we once did.

Our aim is to have the site sold within the next couple of weeks and we are considering offers now so any interested parties please contact us ASAP at admin@domainstate.com.

We’d recommend that anyone with any particularly sensitive information within their private messages take advantage of the archive/delete facility within the private messages section of the user control panel in anticipation of a change of ownership.

We’d like to thank everybody for their contributions to the site over the years and wish everyone well for the future.

Domainstate Admins

There is a thread to discuss this here:

http://www.domainstate.com/showthread.php3?threadid=103873&s=

Thanks to Snoopy, Matt and Safesys for creating such a great resource and best of luck with the sale and your future endeavors.

Also, in case you are wondering, the domain I registered is one I use for my personal email address.  I still like it, but it does not have much resale value.  I didn’t start registering more valuable names until a few years later.

Update: Michael Berkins is auctioning a signed Rick Schwartz Bobblehead on ebay for charity, ending October 6, 2008.

Also, check out the Domain Name Dollar Store online at www.DomainNameDollarStore.com

Bacardi’s current headquarters and main production facility is situated most fittingly at an island in the Caribbean known as Puerto Rico. It is at the capital of this Caribbean paradise that one of Bacardi’s major facilities is situated.

What? Did it just take 38 words to say “Bacardi is located in Puerto Rico”

This is where the Digg voting method could help the search results. Google could display their search results along with a way to vote on the results. Useful sites get voted up, bad sites get voted down. This social search feature would not replace their algorithm, it would likely be one additional factor that they could use to improve the results or pagerank. They could also add digg style reviews or comments for each site.

Keep in mind that this is all simply speculation, but perhaps it is part of the motivation behind the rumored Google purchase of Digg. Obviously, any changes to the Google algorithm will have massive impact on domainers and site owners. If people are able to review site content, it could be bad news for meaningless “made for adsense” sites. On the other hand, it could be good news for people who develop sites with great and unique content. Content (ideally combined with a great domain name) is and always has been king, so those who develop quality sites with great content should have nothing to worry about.

Check out Ron Jackson’s recent post on DNJournal.com for more information about the strange history of this domain name:

In the past 15 months, two previous owners lost big bucks after buying Video.us only to see the registry delete the domain for Nexus/WhoIs violations. Now we will see if the third time is the charm for this star-crossed domain. The story began in April 2007 when a European company bought the domain from its American owner for $75,000 (the highest reported price for a .us domain to date).

Read more…

Ok, so I think I found the worst company name ever combined with the worst choice for domain names ever. This one is so bad, it might even make Aaron from good URL bad URL cry. It is so bad that I had to stop and take a picture of it (check out the picture below). My wife and I were driving to a restaurant when I noticed a sign with a company name - ΤranDotCom. I said “Hey, that’s a pretty good domain name, Τran.com.” My wife said, “Yeah, but why did they spell out the dot, instead of just using the symbol?”

I quickly pulled out my iPhone and entered “Τran.com” and sure enough, they do not own it. I said, “you don’t think…” and then entered “ΤranDotCom.com” which not only worked, but made the story even better. ΤranDotCom.com actually redirects to their company site at “www.ΤranDotCom.info.” Yep, that’s right, their company website is officially ΤranDotCom.info. I’m sure they are a great company, but I wonder how much time they waste just explaining their website address to people.

Can you imagine working for that company and talking to a customer on the phone.

Employee: Hello and thank you for calling ΤranDotCom.
Customer: Hi, I visited Tran.com and I could not find out anything about your company.
Employee: What website did you visit?
Customer: Tran.com
Employee: Oh, our website is actually ΤranDotCom.info.
Customer: Well, I just entered Tran.com.info and nothing happened.
Employee: Would you prefer to just send us an email?
Customer: Sure, what is your email addres?
Employee: Our email address is info@ΤranDotCom.info
Customer: Ok, got it. info@tran.com.info

Actually, I think that they probably had a few too many conversations like that because after reviewing their website, it appears that for email they are using tdcemail.com.

Bonus Picture: Employee of the month parking spot

Understandably, the employee in charge of domain name selection has never parked there.

Moving on, we see a couple of links that say “What we do” and link to Barnes and Noble. The link shows results for a search on Barnes and Noble for the search term “Bill Youdleman.” According to whois, Bill is the owner of this site. According to the Barnes and Noble website, he is an engineer on these CDs, which I guess explains why he registered this domain name.

Seriously though, congrats to Bill for having the foresight to register such a great name seventeen years ago, in 1991.

In 1985, the year Think.com was registered:

• The Web browser had not yet been invented
• Windows 1.0 was released, and Microsoft was a privately held company
• Ronald Reagan was president of the United States
• Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader
• New Coke was released. Anyone remember that?
• Back to the Future was the top grossing film
• The Berlin Wall was still up

So, what were you thinking about in 1985?