iEstates.com

The organizers of the TRAFFIC conference just announced there will NOT be any online bidding at the  live domain name auction held at the conference.

Of course for many of the first domain TRAFFIC conferences there was no online bidding, but later shows had online bidding through either SnapNames.com or Proxybid.

It seems phone and even some sort of text bidding will be allowed, but it certainly will give more incentive to people to attend the conference when online bidding is not available.

Moreover the organizers announced they had reached the limit and closed off any more paid submissions for any domain with a reserve of less than $50,000.

Here is the announcement:

We are going to have to stop the paid submissions to the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Auction TODAY for any domain less than $50,000!

We have had a GREAT response but if we take any more, we won’t have room for any of the domains we will be hand picking nor the premium domains we want to attract. So those that have contracts in your hands, you have until 5PM TODAY to get this done.

Opportunity comes in many forms and then Flies Away. This birdie is gone. And another T.R.A.F.F.I.C. idea will just be copied and then we will be told how bad T.R.A.F.F.I.C. sucks. Get the picture?

We will have NO online bidding.

To bid at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. auction you will either have to be there or will be open to PRE-QUALIFIED bidders with contracts and credit card on file 72 hours before the start of the show. We can handle up to 12 simultaneous bidders but have never had more than 4-6 on any one domain name. They will be given instructions 72 hours before the auction as far as call in numbers etc. Phone and/or text bidding only.

Each offsite bidder will have a total of 10 seconds to place a bid or not.

Once a phone bidder drops out or refuses to meet the current bid, he can not bid again for that specific domain and the contact is terminated. So the bidder is either in at each level, or not. This is going to be fast paced, exciting and different than previous auctions.

The Domain Industry runs right through the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Intersection and those that can’t accept that just get left further and further behind.

John Perry Barlow of the  Electronic Frontier foundation was the keynote speaker at the Dot Nxt show this morning and pretty much blasted the new gTLD program, ICANN and domain names in general.
“”I can’t see how expanding the domain space its going to be to the benefit of the internet.”

“ICANN is going to be sitting on a billion dollars from application fees, escrow fees, and I don’t see how that is going to anyone much good”

“However I understand that the train may have already left the station so I maybe left with just complaining about it.”

Mr. Barlow then went on to say his organization hasn’t participated in the ICANN process up to now because it so overly complicated and hard to understand.

“ICANN is impenetrable because it puts out some much information.”

“I don’t think ICANN is serving a useful purpose.”
Mr. Barlow then asked “how many times do you actually type in a domain name into your browser.”

“I don’t think people type domains into the broswer they go to the search engines to find out what they want”

“I don’t think Domain Names are necessary”

“I would like to eliminate domains all together let everyone have an IP address and let the search engines sort it out.”

“I prefer to see a system where you just use a search engine.”

Mr. Barlow really didn’t explain why he wanted to give control over navigation of the Internet to the “search engines” which of course we know is dominated by Google, and Bing-Yahoo which control 97% of the US market.

I told Mr. Barlow in the session that I owned 75,000 domain names and generated over 15,000,000 visitors a month informing him that people do in fact type in domain name.

“What do you do with all those domain names?”, he asked

“Monetize them like Google and Bing do with their search traffic by serving up the sames type of ads you will see on the search engines” I answered.

“Well frankly I wish your business didn’t exist” Mr. Barlow said

“Buy me out” I responded.

I think Barlow is a good intentioned guy but clearly doesn’t under the domain space.

Tomorrow night is the Domainfest Meetup in New York.

Part of the Meetup is a online domain name auction which starts tomorrow and concludes on September 20th at 3:15pm EST.

SnapNames.com has just put up the 400 domain names that will be part of the auction.

End.com, Hot.com and Customs.com are the domains that caught my eye.

The Meetup will be held Tuesday night from 7-10Pm EST at Mad46 Rooftop, its a nice venue with great views of the city.

Its $150 to attend and you can sign up here.

Here is the list of domain names in the auction with the reserve ranges:

The organizers of the TRAFFIC conference just sent out A notice regarding the live domain auction that will be held at the October Conference.

They are definitely trying to change things up including:  “The only domains that we will accept directly are the ones that have a flat fee paid in advance for the listing or prime domains with a $25,000 minimum value…We expect more than 50% of the listings will be paid listings!”

“”Every auction should be a contest. That is why we don’t care if there are 5 names in the auction, 10 names, 100 names. The only thing that counts is there are interested parties ready to bid and prepared to win”

Here is the full text regarding the auction:

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is where the live domain auctions started and where the records have been set. T.R.A.F.F.I.C. took a closed auction process and opened it up for all in our 2008 show.

The only domains that we will accept directly are the ones that have a flat fee paid in advance for the listing or prime domains with a $25,000 minimum value. All other domains will be chosen through one of the brokers like Sedo, or Aftermarket.com or any of the other premiere brokers in the space.

We will be publishing a list from these companies on September 12th. Each broker can submit their list to us and we will work closely with them to choose the ones we think will sell. We will supply the venue, the auctioneer and the production as well as the single most qualified audience in the business.

Those supplying names to us for our Guaranteed Placement Program will pay a flat fee and a very attractive commission schedule that can save you a lot of money IF you are serious about selling and IF you want to participate in your marketing. If you have been frustrated by not having the auction houses select your name, this gives you control.

You can submit your domains right on our website with the form on the bottom of the page.

Every auction should be a contest. That is why we don’t care if there are 5 names in the auction, 10 names, 100 names. The only thing that counts is there are interested parties ready to bid and prepared to win. The days of 200 domains crammed in an auction to put everyone asleep are over.

Reserves will no longer be tightly defined. You will have to bid on the merits and value of the domain not a predetermined value. That is why all auctions will start with a $1 or $1000 bid and work up from there. The days of starting at crazy high prices and working down and showboating are over. If a domain does not sell, at least a TRUE market value will be established by a qualified audience of buyers.

Some domains are already published for sale and more will be added each Friday as contracts come in. We expect more than 50% of the listings will be paid listings!

According to a Press Release out tonight the ICM Registry, the company who is running the .XXX TLD today announced it had signed to be the Diamond Overall Sponsor of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2011, to be held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida from October 16 to October 19, 2011.

“The event will be the first opportunity for ICM to unveil its long-term plans for the .xxx TLD to the Domainer community since approval back in March earlier this year.

“The event will enable us to promote and explain the Sunrise and Landrush processes first hand to the Domainer community, which is due to start on Sept 7^th’, explained Stuart Lawley, CEO of ICM.”

‘We have a unique opportunity with .xxx to bring together the online adult entertainment community and the domain owners in a way that has never been done before. We are currently working on several significant opportunities that will benefit the adult industry as well as the .xxx domain owners themselves’ he said.

‘Our decision to sign as the Diamond Overall Sponsor of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2011 was a pretty easy one, given Rick and Howard’s track record with previous TLD launches and we are very excited to be sponsoring the official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2011 Party in our home State of FL, which we hope will get attendees excited and in the mood for the upcoming launch and give them a taste of what destination .xxx is all about’ said Lawley.”"

I think is now the second year in a row that the overall sponsor of the TRAFFIC conference is a new TLD as the .Co registry sponsored last years show.

I think that goes to show you how important these new TLD will continue to be to the domain industry bringing new money into it.

For more information, please go to

http://www.icmregistry.com/

GeoPublishers.com the new trade association for the geodomain industry will be holding its inaugural Expo in Chicago, from September 30- October 1, 2011.

The Expo starts with the President’s reception on Friday September 30th, followed by a day-and-a-half program of keynotes and panels, and a sponsored dinner on Saturday 1 October.

The line up of Speakers is impressive.

These are the confirmed speakers:

• Don Jones, President of New Orleans.com
• Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates
• Sandy Martin, Director of Mobile, Schurz Communications
• Sara Mannix, Mannix Marketin
• Dan Hippler, VP Marketing, Vegas.com
• Sean Miller, NewYorkCity.com
• David + Michael Castello, CCIN

The event will be held at the Chicago Fairmont.

Here is the full information on 2011 EXPO

You can register for the event by clicking here

Registration fee is currently $595 through August 31, 2011 for members then increases to $695.

For non-members the registration fee is $695 through August 31st then increases to $795.

It sounds like they are putting on a great event and if you are invested in the Geo domain space you should definitely consider attending.

iBreakfast, the leading forum for Digital Media Companies and Smart TLDs are co-hosting the first conference on the opening up of the new Domains since ratification at ICANN Singapore on June 20, 2011. The one day conference in New York will be held on August 3rd on the new gTLD program.

The event is going to be Sponsored by Verisign, Afilias, Neustar, Dot Green, Definition6, and Herrick Feinstein LLC. ”

The conference is named:

“The Master of Your Domain – New TLD Conference” will be held on Wednesday Aug. 3rd 8:00 am – 12:00pm

I’m going to be speaking and I look forward to seeing any of you that are New York for the conference.  There is a great lineup of speakers and if you have any interest in the new gTLD program this would be a good event to get you started.

Remember the application period for the new gTLD programs opens in less than 6 months on January 12 2012

Here is the Press Release:

”

The “dot com” era is expanding and will soon be joined with a myriad of possibilities. This is the web’s new lakefront property frontier. Cities, brands, industries, interest groups, even start-up concepts could be your domain. ICANN’s recent ruling to open up the process to apply for and run new domain registries forever will alter the way things are represented online. The implications for SEO and trademark protection are critical, and the opportunities presented to brands, industry associations – even investors – is exploding. This iBreakfast Conference will sort through the opportunities and surrounding issues with industry leaders from around the world.

Confirmed Speakers include: Roland LaPlante, SVP/CMO, Affilias; Ken Hansen, Sen. Dir. Business Development, Neustar; Verisign; Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic and dotBrand Solutions; Michael Berkens, Co-Founder, Right Of The Dot and TheDomains.com; Barry Werbin, Trademarks, Herrick Feinstein, LLP.; Edmun Chong, CEO of DotAsia Organisation; Wendy Selzer, Esq., Fellow, Princeton University’s Center for IT Policy; Anastasia O’Rourke, Big Room Inc. (.eco applicant); Annalisa Roger, Founder/CEO, DotGreen Registry Corporation (.green applicant, remote); Scott Seitz, CEO of DotGay LLC. (.gay applicant, remote); and Dirk Kirchenowski, Founder of Dot Berlin GMBH (.berlin applicant, remote).

“The Master of Your Domain?” Event will have an opening keynote followed by three panels contemplating the different major sectors of the New TLDs. chronologically on Brand TLDs; Public Interest and Non-Profit TLDs; and City and Generic TLDs.

The event will be livestreamed, with Social Media DJ™ Jonathan Accarrino, Director of Social Media, Definition 6.

The Master of Your Domain TLD Conference is a must-attend event for big and small business, cities, brands, industries, advertisers, marketers, interest groups, investors, and digital professionals. Gain insight, share thoughts and network together as we explore this game-changing shift in the digital media world.

About iBreakfast:

The monthly iBreakfast meetings, started in 1997, are the longest continually running digital media strategy events delivering the latest trends and issues in the industry. iBreakfast reaches over 20,000 Tristate NY digital media executives through emails, Facebook. LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Smart TLDs

Smart TLDs is domain industry lobbying firm and domain name and IP holdings company. Smart TLDs reaches over 10,000 US and global domain industry leaders; social entertainment and technology executives; luxury brands; digital and social media agencies and stragtegists; law firms; VCs; publications; bloggers; and new media influencers.
# # #

The iBreakfast is the nation’s longest-running Forum for Digital Media Executives, Entrepreneurs and Investors.

 

Rich Schwartz has just tweeted that Bill Kara will be the keynote speaker at TRAFFIC.

Bill Kara (Bill Karamouzis) is someone who should be known to everyone in the domain industry.

Bill is head of HallPass Media, Inc.,  and was featured in a DNJournal.com cover story back in 2010 shortly after he purchased CookingGames.com for $350,000

In the DNJournal Story,  Bill said he had spent over $4 million acquiring domain names in the then past two years.

In April of this year, Bill’s company HallPass Media was sold to MindJolt for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition was covered by such mainstream publications as VentureBeat.com and TechCrunch.com to name a few.

According to TechCrunch is “the game distribution company that was acquired by MySpace founder and former CEO Chris DeWolfe last year.”

I think all attendees of TRAFFIC are going to find Bill’s story fascinating and inspiring.

TRAFFIC will be held on October 16th-19th In Ft. Lauderdale Florida at the Ritz Carlton.

A great selection in my opinion and I can’t wait to hear what he has to say.

I just received notice from someone attending the Live DomainFest auction in Barcelona that the auction for today has been cancelled due to technical issues and rescheduled for next week.

We wrote earlier that SnapNames.com the remote bidding system has been down for hours and Moniker.com is also down.

While we await some official word I’m told the domain name auction will be held next Wednesday at the same time 10am EST.

Unfortunately for me, I will be traveling to Singapore and will miss the auction unless I can catch it aboard the flight.

UPDATE 1:

Just received this email from Oversee:

“”"

Due to a technical issue, the Moniker Live auction in Barcelona slated for today will not be conducted as scheduled.

Our tech team is working to identify and resolve the problem as soon as possible.

Moniker and SnapNames very much regret the inconvenience this has caused our customers.

The difficult decision was made in order to protect the integrity of our auctions for both buyers and sellers.

I will have an update for you as soon as possible regarding the auction inventory and rescheduled auction activity”

We will keep you updated

Is SnapNames.com down for DomainFest?

I have been trying to connect to Snapnames.com and the direct link to the auction for the past 15 minutes and now at 10:05 Am which is 5 minutes after the auction was suppose to start from Barcelona the site is not coming up.

I’ve been told by at least one other reader that the site has been “down for hours”

About an Hour ago SnapNames tweeted:  “We are experiencing some unexpected issues. We are working to fix them as soon as possible”

If this continues it means that no one but the live attendees will be able to bid on the domains in the auction.

This has happened before at a RickLatona auction and they stopped the auction and rescheduled it for the next day.

I believe that is the proper move here.

If Snap remains inaccessible then those in the audience have a chance to pick up a bargain.

For Sellers it means that there assets are going to sell for way under value especially for those sellers that took a risk by placing a  low reserve on their domain to get mulitple bidders involved and a high price.

If the auction moves forward without remote bidding its going to be another huge black eye for Oversee.

We will keep you updated

UPDATE 1:

Its 10:30 and Snapnames is still down

UPDATE 2:

Moniker.com is down as well but Domainsponsor.com is working

UPDATE 3:

I’m told by someone in the room at DomainFest that the live auction scheduled for today is cancelled and will be rescheduled for an online auction next Wednesday, however we are still waiting on some official word.