For Sale February 23, 2011 – TBR session results overview

[Provider]

The last TBR run on February 23rd didn’t have many great names, but it had some generics, and many domain names with development potential. Usual winners such as Pool.com and Sibername.com didn’t perform very well, and Rebel.com picked the first one. Rebel.com chose GCE.ca, Pool.com was second picking BioChemical.ca. The real winner of this session though turned out to be MyID.ca making 4 picks out of the first 10 domains to drop. MyID picked up OnlineCreditCard.ca (3), CashStop.ca (4), Kelp.ca (9), and RAN.ca (10). Ran.ca was one of the most popular domain names during the pre-order at various registrars. Even though Sibername didn’t perform very well, they picked one of the best domain names to drop – Shelter.ca (6). The name that I liked the most – Watermelons.ca – was chosen by BareMetal.com (5)

Here are the first 20 results. In total 223 domain names were registered out of the 4131 that dropped.

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Update:

I just heard from one of the guys from Rebel.com and he is saying that Rebel.com belongs to the same company as Pool.com (Momentous). So, the end result is that Pool.com in fact performed very well by making the first pick. I am sorry, but it is very hard to keep track as who owns what during TBR. I will add Rebel.com as the 105th registrar that Pool.com uses to acquire TBR domains.

 

[lionfish]

Thanks Provider for this. I think it's a great idea to post a similar top 20 list each week. So hopefully you'll find the drive to keep on doing this.

105 registrars for Pool? Holly guacomole! That is insane. There were only 223 domains dropped and half of these would not be booked at pool as no ne would pay $60 for any. So in other words... Pool has a 1 registrar for each domain booked with them!!! Holly guacomole! That's $105k in CIRA licenses each year not to mention staff, rent, lawyers, accountants,... So their yearly cost is probably $250k or more. In other words, their operating cost is $5k per week! These numners make absolutely no sense.

And if any other registrar wants to compete, the entry fee is $210k to CIRA alone.

I don't know but it seems that any new TBR player is facing some serious odds. I think the market has become oversaturated and that the golden days for registrars making a killing are way behind us. Unless of course a $xx,xxx domain hits the market and is not picked up by Pool. If I am not mistaken, there were 3 five figure domains in TBR in 2010, one was picked by sibername (webdesign.ca) and two were picked by MyID (honeymoon.ca and oil.ca).

So while pool will always get the vast majority of names, the very top may go anywhere. But I doubt that this is as lucrative as it once was. Making ends meet will be a real challenge for all rars including pool and this will grow more if the number of TBR hookups continues to rise. The only winner here is CIRA.


But I digress Thanks again and please post a weekly TBR top 20.

 

[msn]

Thanks Provider for this. I think it's a great idea to post a similar top 20 list each week. So hopefully you'll find the drive to keep on doing this.

105 registrars for Pool? Holly guacomole! That is insane. There were only 223 domains dropped and half of these would not be booked at pool as no ne would pay $60 for any. So in other words... Pool has a 1 registrar for each domain booked with them!!! Holly guacomole! That's $105k in CIRA licenses each year not to mention staff, rent, lawyers, accountants,... So their yearly cost is probably $250k or more. In other words, their operating cost is $5k per week! These numners make absolutely no sense.

And if any other registrar wants to compete, the entry fee is $210k to CIRA alone.

I don't know but it seems that any new TBR player is facing some serious odds. I think the market has become oversaturated and that the golden days for registrars making a killing are way behind us. Unless of course a $xx,xxx domain hits the market and is not picked up by Pool. If I am not mistaken, there were 3 five figure domains in TBR in 2010, one was picked by sibername (webdesign.ca) and two were picked by MyID (honeymoon.ca and oil.ca).

So while pool will always get the vast majority of names, the very top may go anywhere. But I doubt that this is as lucrative as it once was. Making ends meet will be a real challenge for all rars including pool and this will grow more if the number of TBR hookups continues to rise. The only winner here is CIRA.


But I digress Thanks again and please post a weekly TBR top 20.

These 'numners' do make sense if one understands economies of scale and economies of scope.

Many of the .ca tags under Momentous are merely paper tigers with - now, at least - unique I.P. addresses. The variable operational costs are approaching zero for these 'registrars' while the other 'multiple TLD' registrars under Momentous share the same back-end infrastructure, support and coding, so even here there are few extraneous costs.

If Pool only took 105 domains and only at $60 each, it would have a gain of $5407.50 for a few minutes of computing power and a few terribly inconvenienced electrons in the upstream connection. If they do that every week for a year, they would have $281,190 as a baseline.

Each and every domain that sells for anything over $60 just adds to the profits, and the same infrastructure can be used for the .co.uk, .de, .net, .org, .com and so on when the hour or so per week of CIRA game play is over.

It is not quite a license to print money, but it is the same neighbourhood.

 

[Provider]

Did somebody from the forum buy Oil.ca and WebDesign.ca?

 

[DOTCA]

Did somebody from the forum buy Oil.ca and WebDesign.ca?

For all I know the "whois" fro WebDesign.ca is public info. But nothing that I know about Oil.ca.

 

[msn]

For all I know the "whois" fro WebDesign.ca is public info. But nothing that I know about Oil.ca.

It is like many of the MyID auctions: the domain never changed hands.

The TBR went on auction in the first week of July, and was still registered to MyID until November, when privacy was turned on.

From what we can see, it appears to still belong to MyID.

 

[Provider]

It is like many of the MyID auctions: the domain never changed hands.

The TBR went on auction in the first week of July, and was still registered to MyID until November, when privacy was turned on.

From what we can see, it appears to still belong to MyID.

msn, what does that mean? Yo think MYID is bidding on their own auctions, and winning some of the domain names?

 

[msn]

I have no idea:

Perhaps they repeatedly have bidders who simply do not pay, but then forget to auction the domain names again.

Perhaps they are bidding for themselves, just as what was recently discovered at a large domain back-order service in the United States.

Perhaps they hold domains in their own name because the winners of their auctions are not qualified under CIRA policy to hold the domain name registrations themselves.

Perhaps the winners in auctions valued in thousands or tens of thousands of dollars simply forget to ask to have the domains transferred to their accounts.

Perhaps there is some other reasonable explanation that we are yet to see.

 

[Provider]

I checked the WHOIS and both Oil.ca and WebDesign.ca appear to have owners. WebDesign has a public record as DOTCA mentioned, and OIL.ca redirects to ename.ca which has a public record too. So, I think MYID transferred both domains

 

[msn]

I checked the WHOIS and both Oil.ca and WebDesign.ca appear to have owners. WebDesign has a public record as DOTCA mentioned, and OIL.ca redirects to ename.ca which has a public record too. So, I think MYID transferred both domains

Sure, oil.ca has an owner. But there has been no transfer since MyID picked it up in the TBR last summer.

If you mean that since oil.ca directs to a selling page on ename.ca, which itself is controlled by someone who became a Canadian citizen but for a while was not living in Canada, and so has his domains registered at the very same address as Mondomedeusah Creative Inc., along with several other companies, which I need not name at this time, then yes, it is a small, small world after all.

One would have to have a high degree of trust to buy something in the tens of thousands of dollars and leave it in the name of another person, unless you knew that person very well, perhaps as a friend or co-worker/freelancer.

 

[RazorNF]

..

 

[Provider]

RazorNF ,thanks for the link.

MSN, I didn't understand everything you wrote . I confirmed with MYID 10 minutes ago, and they are saying that OIL was transferred to the new owner after they received the payment. You implying some kind of shady business practices took place?

 

[msn]

RazorNF ,thanks for the link.

MSN, I didn't understand everything you wrote . I confirmed with MYID 10 minutes ago, and they are saying that OIL was transferred to the new owner after they received the payment. You implying some kind of shady business practices took place?

We can only go with the public record.

I have a copy of every WHOIS change for oil.ca and would be willing to post them all here if it will help the discussion.

If the domain was transferred to the new owner after they received payment, why did the WHOIS not change back in July, or August, or September, and so on?

I think you see the pattern.

Earlier I noted some five possibilities as to what might have happened.

Based upon what you just posted as the answer from MyID, and what we can see from the WHOIS records, it looks like possibility number three, in that the winner of the auction had some concern that if the domain was put in his name, that he might have some trouble due to CIRA policy or then again, perhaps he is simply publicity-shy because earlier he lost a .ca domain registration and was concerned that it could happen again.

But I will note that this person picked up a domain at MyID and essentially parks his portfolio contact at the offices of Sibername - and the many other companies located in the same room - which led to the observation that it is a small world.

We have an rather infrequent member in this forum who works or has worked for both companies and likes fighting to defend their good names at inopportune moments - perhaps he will comment now.