For Sale Pool.com's Bank Account

[lotsofissues]

Damn think of the cash they have.

Anybody have details?

 

[Chaiki]

Pool reminds me of somebody who puts up a giant wall along the only road that leads to the river... and then doesn't just charge a toll, but puts their hand in your pocket to make sure you've given all you can.

I really hope Icann shuts down the model. Totally not fair because price per name nuts.. and all the profit flows to the registrar (pool) up in Canada.

There were supposed to be enforced rules to stop domain registrars from doing this. I'm honestly shocked that Icann hasn't said stop. What is the incentive for pool to let you renew your names for 8-10 bucks Why not charge $100 or they get to auction them again. Hope the other shoe drops soon. This is getting too far out there.

Estimate of profit to the registrar $50-60 k a day.

Heck give me a machine gun and a mask and I can make 50K a day too. Till somebody locks me up or makes me stop.

 

[lotsofissues]

Not quite $50k.

NW makes approx. $5k-$10k.

 

[hiOsilver]

And now you understand why we need WLS.

 

[ps123]

Talking about WLS I see people here blasting WLS again and again on the grounds that "we atleast have some chance of getting an expiring domain under the current system". This is total BS. I think most of those people are a bunch of day dreamers.

Why? Simply because 99.99% of domainers have no chance of getting the domain that BD/ultsearch badly want. Alteast not on a reasonable price. Just look at the insane bidding on pool. Does it matter who spent $69 to put a snap on the domains as many as 6 months before it expired? Mostly likely No.

With WLS any Joe average who is willing to spend $29-$33 per WLS subscription and time on exody lists 6 months in advance will have 100% chance of securing an expiring domain.

Although I agree $29-$33/WLS retail price is a very high price. It should not be more than $10-$15 for unlimited exchange subscriptions.

 

[Poker]

beginning to agree ps123

 

[peter]

the thing is, perhaps 6 months prior isn't even enough since the giants will buy wls's for all the good names! And 6 months leaves LOADS AND LOADS of time for the owner to renew, or for someone to email him and tell him to renew, and as far as I know WLS aren't exchangable?

 

[lux]

Originally posted by icehole
as far as I know WLS aren't exchangable?

You can't transfer your WLS subscription to another person; however, you can switch the subscription to another domain an unlimited number of times. Pretty much how SnapNames works now.

 

[peter]

oh! well that changes my view... I am actually starting to want WLS now...

 

[radioz]

Ditto - This stuff is insane! The registars may deserve a little more but those of us who spend hours and days trying to figure out what will drop, etc. deserve SOMETHING. As with most things (here in the USA, anyway), the little and even medium sized 'guy' is being shoved aside. Maybe it's time to develope some domains and reduce the looking.

 

[hiOsilver]

Originally posted by icehole
the thing is, perhaps 6 months prior isn't even enough since the giants will buy wls's for all the good names! And 6 months leaves LOADS AND LOADS of time for the owner to renew, or for someone to email him and tell him to renew, and as far as I know WLS aren't exchangable?

"will buy wls's for all the good names"

Hmm. So, is sex.com a good one? Let's look at sex.com:

Domain Name: SEX.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
Creation Date: 18-oct-1995
Expiration Date: 17-oct-2010

Would you pay for a WLS on this one? Perhaps you would. Do you think that BD is stupid enough to pay for a WLs on sex.com? I don't think so.

I picked an extreme example, but the reasoning applies equaly to each and every WLS:

Value of WLS on Name.com = function (N, P, E)

where N = value of Name.com
P = probability that the name will drop at the time of expiration
E = time until expiration.

In the case of sex.com, time until expiration is large and P = .0000000001. Even if the name is worth $20M, the WLS on it is nearly worthless.

Figuring which names to WLS and when will become the game. And, it is not a simple game. And, YOU CAN BE JUST AS GOOD AT IT AS BD OR ULT!!!!!!!!

In any case, without WLS, the direction that things are headed will transfer most of the profit from expiring domains to the registrars, especially those affiliated with NW, Pool, etc.

 

[clemzonguy]

This stuff is insane! The registars may deserve a little more but those of us who spend hours and days trying to figure out what will drop, etc. deserve SOMETHING.

I don't think the registrar should play any part in picking up names for parties as this is a conflict of interest ESPECIALLY when they setup such a deviant bidding system bound to drive up prices for their own benefit. But if you take that out of the equation then people will just go back to scripting the registrars and we can't allow that either so the only solution in my opinion is the WLS model or a version of it.

Remember the more the registrar makes in profit the less you make if you were to sell the name later. The current system only helps registrars. It does nothing for resellers, end-users, and others except give us a chance to give them more cash for names we want.


___END-USER___
    \
      \
       \       _$$REGISTRAR$$_
         \ _______ /
          {______}
THE SCALES ARE A LITTLE UNEVEN

 

[cyphix]

Originally posted by icehole
oh! well that changes my view... I am actually starting to want WLS now...

Why?

In my view being able to exchange them makes thing worse.. if you could only use them once then I'm sure BD's would be more careful what names they put WLS subscriptions on as if the name doesn't drop they lose the cash... if they kept doing this they would go bankrupt, this way you may have a slightly better chance of getting something, but still slim. Since it appears that they will be unlimited exchanges under the current WLS model, BD's can just buy hundreds of thousands of WLS subscriptions & move them over any names they like, covering pretty much everything decent. You'd have to be putting WLS subscriptions on names that are 5 years from expiry.

 

[clemzonguy]

Since it appears that they will be unlimited exchanges under the current WLS model, BD's can just buy hundreds of thousands of WLS subscriptions & move them over any names they like, covering pretty much everything decent

Very good point indeed. Since most snaps will convert directly into WLS subscriptions or credits this could be something to look at (since they already own a lot). I'm sure there would be a limit to have many times you could exchange it or a time frame similar to snaps. Then again I guess snaps are unlimited now so why wouldn't WLS be the same way right.

 

[hiOsilver]

In previous press releases, it has been stated that there would be limited transfers, like 3 or 4, to a different name.

In any case, you are focusing on the wrong thing. Without WLS, most of the profit in the expiring domain business will end up with the registrars.

This is due to the rise of Pool and NW. In effect, Pool gives the winning name to Pool (and its partner registrars) and then sells it to the highest bidder (from a limited set of those expressing interest before the drop).

BD will be competitive in any environment. They can be beaten now (rarely). The will be beaten under WLS (less rarely).

 

[.biz]

Originally posted by hiOsilver

Would you pay for a WLS on this one? Perhaps you would. Do you think that BD is stupid enough to pay for a WLs on sex.com? I don't think so.

I bet they do.

Many times domains are deleted accidentally.

 

[hiOsilver]

Originally posted by .biz



I bet they do.

Many times domains are deleted accidentally.

Well good. When WLS comes in, you spend your $ on reservations for names that have a near zero chance of ever dropping just for the dream that you might win a big jackpot. You can also buy lottery tickets for the same purpose and thrill.

Personally, I believe that BD will instead focus on names that have a good value and a high value of dropping. The closer a name gets to expiration without dropping, the higher the probability that it will drop. Also, the cost of holding a WLS on a name that is more than a year from expiration will deter all but the most foolish speculators.

BD owns an unknown but very large number of Snaps. They will want to own a lot of WLS reservations, but the idea that they will buy one on every decent name is obviously false.

 

[_Yakov_]

With or without wsl, people who cannot get domains under the current system, won't be getting domains under the wsl or any other system. People who are getting domaisn under current system will be getting domains under wsl or under any other system. The problem is not in the system, the problem is in your willingness and your ability to compete. Imo

 

[hiOsilver]

Originally posted by _Yakov_
With or without wsl, people who cannot get domains under the current system, won't be getting domains under the wsl or any other system. People who are getting domaisn under current system will be getting domains under wsl or under any other system. The problem is not in the system, the problem is in your willingness and your ability to compete. Imo

Yaakov,

First of all, this is not about me. You have no idea how successful I am. Your answer is one of the standard (and, frankly, misguided) answers by those afraid of WLS.

What you need to wake up to is this: Without WLS the profits in dropping names are steadily shifting over to the auction drop services and their affiliated registrars.

For example, I had bid on Mirror.net at Pool. Pool got the name. It went for $1550 and the high bidder had a max bid of $5001. I would have had to have paid >$5000 if I wanted Mirror.net. So, Pool.com made $1500 on that one name. Is that your idea of a great name? How many of us can make a living buying decent but not great names for $1500. On the same day, Pallet.net went for $451 with a max bid of $1201.

Wake up!! A year ago this was debatable. If the Domain Justice Coalition is able to get WLS scuttled, then it will not matter how well you compete. It will be your worst nightmare: In effect, the registrars collectively will own the dropping domains.

If the registrars proposed to ICANN that they all should be able to retain the dropping domains for their own accounts, how would everyone on this forum react? That would be so clearly a rip-off, that everyone would go ballistic. We have that scenario happening gradually now, without ICANN review or approval.

 

[garymayor]

Like i always said WLS is the way to go and don't think it won't happen just watch. Namewinner and Pool are making to much money of these names making them worthless.