iEstates.com

After Frank Schilling shook up the domain parking industry with his release of his own parking company, Internet Traffic, it now appears he’s setting course to enter the race against incumbent domain name marketplaces. Schilling re-launched his DomainNameSales site today with a new look and new features.

The relaunch seems to be a natural progression for the company, after launching their own domain parking business. Schilling’s company has been selling domains from their own portfolio of hundreds of thousands of domains for a number of years.  The tools and systems and data that from these sales and inquiries are valuable insights in to the domain marketplace from one of it’s top portfolio owners.  The company freely released their own internal domain sales inquiry tracking system to the benefit of users of the InternetTraffic parking service a few months earlier.  We suspect that we’ll see more iterations from the crew at DomainNameSales in the coming months.

DNN is a big supporter of freeing up information and data like this.  Personally, I’d like to see more accurate reporting on prices, rather than broad ranges. We’ll take what we can get though. Tools and insight like this from leading companies in the domain space can only help to provide more intelligence and better decisions for all.  Clearly we understand that this information held privately is an asset that can improve revenues and fend off competition as well.  Data and information want to be free though.  They help inform the entire marketplace including buyers.  We’re glad to see this company leading the way like this.

The new site features:

• a domain search (displaying recent searches)
• a whois search (displaying recent searchs)
• a newsticker
• a list of recent inquiries
• a list of recent quotes (with price ranges)
• a list of recent sales (with price ranges)
• a chat system  (appears they found a new use for the company’s “chattr” online messageboard experiment)
• a valuation system based on the following parameters:

As announced in a Press Release that went out early this morning, DomainTools just launched a new site, ScreenShots.com. The site makes the entire website screenshots of DomainTools available for search. When you conduct a search on the site, aside from the history of screenshots it will also display the amount of domains the domain owner owns, the amount of domains on the same nameservers as well as similar sites.

The DomainTools thumbnail image capture system, the back-end service for Screenshots.com, was originally developed in 2004. The current version now checks up to 1,000,000 websites a day and, unlike other screenshot services, captures critical external resources like ads and images (even though those do not appear to show in the screenshots for DNN). With Screenshots.com, what you see is exactly what a visitor would have seen when they visited the site.  Domain investors, trademark attorneys and brand agents alike have relied upon DomainTools’ screenshot history tool to make more informed business decisions and to investigate and defend potential trademark-infringing domain names.

[Update] DomainTools just put up a background post on their blog.

The DomainTools network now emcompasses:

• Screenshots.com
• DomainTools.com
• DailyChanges.com
• ReverseWhois.com,
• Reversemx.com

DomainTools had bought the domain ScreenShots.com for $32,500 in Q1 of this year according to DNJournal.

Disclaimer: DomainTools is a current advertiser on DNN.

See the full press release after the jump.

Seattle, WA — December 5, 2011 — DomainTools, the recognized leader in domain name research and monitoring, today launched Screenshots.com, a website that allows users to view screenshots of what a website looks like now and throughout its history. Screenshots.com provides a web archive of images and data sets that can be used for discovering and evaluating the history of website homepages.  Users can track, and more fully understand, how a website’s homepage content has changed in its lifetime.

DomainTools has rebuilt the thumbnail engine that for years has provided a visual context to the powerful domain name detail information available at DomainTools.com. By launching on the premium domain name Screenshots.com, DomainTools is able to feature this important content in a more functional way for users that are specifically interested in home page archives.

Screenshots.com was created with key features in mind to help users better research competitive websites, easily scroll through a website’s image history, and discover details about the website.  Visitors can quickly uncover the year the domain was first registered, find similar type websites and learn how a website looked over time.  The site includes the ability for users to request an updated screenshot at any time.  The Featured Screenshot section on the home page scans news feeds for domain name references and showcases them on a rotating basis.

The DomainTools thumbnail image capture system, the back-end service for Screenshots.com, was originally developed in 2004. The current version now checks up to 1,000,000 websites a day and, unlike other screenshot services, captures critical external resources like ads and images. With Screenshots.com, what you see is exactly what a visitor would have seen when they visited the site.  Domain investors, trademark attorneys and brand agents alike have relied upon DomainTools’ screenshot history tool to make more informed business decisions and to investigate and defend potential trademark-infringing domain names.

For nearly 10 years, DomainTools has provided users with the most comprehensive data about domain names, and the launch of Screenshots.com helps extend that mission.  Together with DomainTools.com, DailyChanges.com, ReverseWhois.com, and Reversemx.com, individuals, small business owners, and many large enterprises use DomainTools’ breadth of tools to do everything from finding a good domain for a new business to verifying DNS and WHOIS information on corporate portfolios of thousands of domains.

About DomainTools

DomainTools is the recognized leader in domain name research and monitoring. Like the white pages of the Internet, DomainTools provides a directory that serves a comprehensive snapshot of past and present domain name registration and ownership records in addition to powerful research tools that help to uncover and discover everything there is to know about a domain name. DomainTools is a Top 200 site in the Alexa rankings. DomainTools is based in Seattle, Washington.

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (8)

The namespinner company Domainsbot today announced a relaunch of their main site, featuring a real-time search experience and new tools that make it easier for people and companies to search for domain names, Twitter handles and Facebook Page Names. By offering an integrated domain and social identity search, the new service makes it easier for users to find and obtain
unique, brandable identities. In addition to adding social identity search and revamping its website for speed and ease of use, DomainsBot also offers a downloadable mobile application, for identity searches on the go.

“Five years ago we only needed to worry about checking domain availability before naming a new business or product. Today’s challenge is to take care of domains and social media identities, such as Facebook and Twitter. Our goal is to simplify an important and time consuming process creatively,” said Emiliano Pasqualetti, DomainsBot, CEO.

The new domainsbot.com also features premium domains from GoDaddy and Sedo, the two largest marketplaces of names for sale. These partnerships will enable users to browse for the largest selection of domains available on the secondary market. Additional features of today’s release include the introduction of DomainsBot Deals, a selection of top discounts for domain
registrations and renewals in partnership with some of the most popular registrars, and a whole new selection of B2B services for domain registrars, registries and new TLD applicants. The services for new TLD applicants will provide statistics based on existing registrations estimating potential for new TLDs.

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (6)

A web address for great ideas. What a great idea.

.CO is for creators. For the people and businesses who make the world turn.
From products and stories to brands and beliefs, .CO is the web address that makes “making your idea a reality” a reality.

Find your .CO today

As announced today, DomainTools has just released a new site, ReverseMX.com, The website allows users to analyze MX (mail exchanger) and SPF (Sender Policy Framework) usage and configuration by region and or network, helping to uncover relevant relationships.

In order to build the ReverseMX product, DomainTools has researched and gathered intelligence on mail server data related to over 130 million domains by querying their nameservers. ReverseMX not only uncovers which mail services are the most popular on a domains-in-use basis, it also uniquely correlates relationships between mail servers. You can also see which domains are hosted by a specific mailserver.

Says Tim Chen, CEO, DomainTools, “The DomainTools brand has historically been about surfacing and correlating interesting data around domain names and the DNS. The release of ReverseMX.com gets us back to those roots while simultaneously allowing us to experiment with some new database technologies that will help us to serve more data faster. We are looking forward to seeing how our strong community of active users can benefit from our SPF and MX data.”

See the full press release after the jump.

This morning, DomainTools has announced a revamped verision of their API. What originally started as a tool for domain name suggestions and has since been expanded to include almost all of the data and functionality of the DomainTools website.

Sample uses of the API are:

• Add value to lists of domain names by highlighting important statistics such as historical event counts and related domain names
• Tap into the largest available database of historic Whois records to discover the true legacy of a domain name
• Set up a customized keyword or trademark monitoring system to keep tabs on domain registrations
• Quickly search through millions of domain names to find the perfect domain for a specific project

The DomainTools API is available today and can be set up in three steps via the DomainTools API Web page.

The pricing requires a monthly subscription of $39.95 for each of the services on top of per query pricing ranging from $0.0025 (domain profile) to $0.95 for (whois history). Reverse whois is priced based on the amount of domains included in the report. Services accessible via API are:

• Domain Profile
• Whois Lookup
• Whois History
• Hosting History
• Reverse IP
• Name Server Report
• Reverse Whois
• Domain Suggestions
• Domain Search
• Mark Alert
• Registrant Alert

Tim Chen, CEO of DomainTools, stated that “DomainTools has seen increasing demand for dataaccess, and we are excited to make these powerful new APIs available to our individual and enterprise clients. We are already seeing initial partners integrating our data into their service offerings, and expect that the community will also be building innovative new products on top of DomainTools data.”

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (3)

After DomainTools was purchased by Thought Convergence in 2008 many things happened. A settled lawsuit, forming it up as a separate company, a new Board of Advisors, new office space and 30% new employees. And now the company relaunched their website.

“An enormous amount of work went into rebuilding our core infrastructure in 2010, an effort that lays the groundwork for more rapid product innovation in 2011 and beyond”,Tim Chen, CEO of DomainTools told DNN. “Our new content and navigation better services the significant number of novice users who visit our site, while the flexible membership structure allows professional users to purchase only those products they plan to use. This launch is just the beginning; we will continue to improve the site and services throughout 2011 while rolling out new products.”

Here are the things changed on the site:

• Redesign with the goal to improve usability and access to products
• New Account Management Page
• New “Learn” Educational Section
• Connecting to its users via Social Media is part of the company goals
• New membership levels (see below)

The pricing was simplified and there are now three different membership levels:

1. Novice Account (free)
2. Standard Membership ($29.95 per month)
3. Professional Membership ($49.95 per month)

Existing members retain their existing pricing levels for paid members.

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (1)

When iWhois.com had a sudden change in its interface at the end of last week, many of its loyal users were surprised. DNN dug deeper and found out that there was also an ownership change behind the scene. The sales price has not been disclosed.

The new owner, industry veteran Richard Lau (who also is co-owner of the DomainName.com registrar) has added some new features to the site as well, allowing users to directly query domain related information at sites like Alexa, Compete.com and many more. Lau told DNN “As an avid and loyal user of iwhois.com for many years, I am extremely proud to carry the mantle as the new owner of iwhois.com.”

Andrew Moulden had established iWhois.com in December of 2004 with the aim to provide a secure way of looking up domain names – the site quickly gained popularity after it was mentioned on a private forum and many of its early users (including the author of this article) have remained loyal to the site. While the method of lookup has now been changed to use the DomainTools whois API, the site will remain free of any front running activities. Richard Lau also is a member of the advisory board to DomainTools. As Moulden told DNN, “it was a condition of sale that there would be no front running.”

The current trust policy states:

• We do not monitor searched domains at iWhois that are available for registration.
• We never access or extract such data from our server logfiles. These are emptied daily.

Lau added: “I have been running registrars since 2000 and have never engaged or enabled front-running and renew iwhois.com’s commitment to no front-running whatsoever.”

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (6)

If you’re tired of using Excel spreadsheets to come up with new domain ideas, you could try Kevin Ohashi’s new and free List Manipulator.

The online tool allows you to work with lists of items (not just domains) in the following ways:

• filter (alpha, alphanumeric, domains)
• match (contains or does not contain)
• replace
• add prefix or suffix

[via Kevin Ohashi's blog]

Thought Convergence just announced in an email that they the have launched Aftermarket.com. The site, originally used for the Aftermarket.com live auctions, is now back as a full fledged domain marketplace. The website bears a “BETA” badge and currently has three membership tiers:

• Free (cannot place bids)
• Verified ($1, can place bids up to $5,000)
• Premium ($1, unlimited bidding)

The standard commission is 10% not including escrow fees. The suggested partner for escrow services is escrow.com. The fee for a featured listing on the site is $10.00 per domain. The site also offers unlisted private auctions where the seller can invite a number of bidders via email for a fee of $20.00 per listing.

View the full text of the email after the jump.

Aftermarket.com is officially LIVE!

Thought Convergence is pleased to announce the official launch of Aftermarket.com; the premier online marketplace for domains.

Aftermarket.com offers Auction, Buy Now and Make an Offer domain listings. You can buy and sell with confidence knowing domains and buyers have been verified. Top tier partners ensure that each listing contains links to relevant statistics and that domain transfers occur in a timely and secure manner. Using the platform is simple and intuitive because Aftermarket.com dedicated significant effort to collecting feedback and saving you time.

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

Just in time for today’s drop, Jason Cupp and Patrick Ruddell have just relaunched the GoDrops.com website. After some beta-testing, the site introduces a premium membership today for the monthly rate of $19.97 per month. A free membership remains available as well, but limits access to lists of .com & .net domains, whereas the paid membership includes access to .org, .us, .info, .biz, .me, .tv and .ca lists as well. The site operators are planning to add more TLDs to the service. Paying members also see additional data (search volume, search results, CPC, estimated value of the domain etc).

The site monitors the state of the domains and offers a daily live chat during from 2pm to 3pm ET during the COM & NET drop. While GoDrops does not register the names for you, it will help you to find the right names to try to register during the drop.

See the full press release after the jump.

GODROPS.COM RE-LAUNCHING ITS SITE

The Much Anticipated Re-launch of GoDrops.com Has Finally Come To Fruition

April 23, 2010 – It was announced several months ago the site GoDrops.com was going to get an overhaul. The construction work is complete and GoDrops.com is ready for its re-release. A partnership formed between Jason Cupp of GoDrops.com and Patrick Ruddell of ChefPatrick.com has come together to create a new and improved version of the site.

In 1998, frustrated with his inability to land any generic .com’s, Jason created a script that helped him track names that were dropping, giving him a list to choose from. At some point he decided to publish this list, which is where the idea for GoDrops.com came from. He successfully ran the site since, but in late 2009 realized it needed help monetizing and marketing. This is when he partnered up with Chef Patrick who has shared some of his creative ideas and input, redeveloping what is the all new GoDrops.com.

Patrick offered a little insight saying, “Jason created something really solid with GoDrops. This is a great service that domainers can use to get an edge, giving them an opportunity to snag some great names that might not have been available to them otherwise.”

One of the major changes with the re-release is a membership program. It costs $19.97 per month to join giving its members daily access to the hand selected pending delete domain names list. In addition, paid members have access to domain stats, such as value, age, CPC, searches and frequency. Paying members will have access to drop data 24 hours in advance and 5 days in arrears. Previously members had to come to the site between 2-3pm EST only in order to have access to any drop lists during the live chat session. There will also be a members only forum available for questions, comments and conversations.

With the re-launch came more extensions. There will be nine extensions available to start – .com, .net, .org, .us, .info, .biz, .me, .tv and .ca. More extensions will be added monthly.

A great feature that remains is the live chat session. This is the only site offering this feature in conjunction with the release of the drop list live. It adds a fun social aspect to the service.

There is still a free service available for non-paying members. Those individuals will continue to have access to only the .com and .net lists without the extra benefits the paid members get and only as the drop is happening. The live drop and chat session runs from 2pm EST to 3pm EST.

The GoDrops team would like to send out a BIG thank you to Name.com for providing all the raw drop data and discounts for GoDrops members and also Estibot.com for providing the statistical data.

For more information and to sign up please visit GoDrops.com

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

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