Free Annual Report from International Domain Brokerage Guta.com Breaks Down 2021 Sales Results 

With the final quarter of the 2021 domain sales season now in the books, international domain brokerage Guta.com, who has offices in both the U.S. and China, released their annual Premium Domain Sales Observation Report (.pdf file). Guta issues free quarterly reports throughout the year, then their full year review once the Q4 numbers are in. 

The report summary noted, "In 2021, one-word English .com domains remained the most popular category, continuing to record steady growth in annual transaction volume. Its sales count went up from 133 in 2018 to 351 in 2021, an increase of 164%. End-user purchases in this category also remain on the rise, hitting record highs over the past four years.
Following 2020, the annual sales of LL, NN, NNN, NNNN, NL, LN .com domains did not see any bright turn (L = a Letter, N = a number). By contrast, LLL .com domains were relatively stable during 2020 and 2021."

The Guta report also cited the U.S. market as a center of strength in 2021, noting "The USA market has shown strong purchasing power in terms of quantity and price in the post-epidemic era. End-user buyers, in particular, showed an unprecedented buying spree."

The full 15-page report is loaded with sales numbers and charts, including top sales lists for the various domain categories. Again, you can get the full free report here. 

(Posted January 26, 2022) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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BankFirst.com Sold for $800,000 - SEC Filing Confirms Sale First Reported by DomainIncite

I usually read everything Kevin Murphy posts at DomainIncite.com, but  but while I was busy writing up our latest bi-weekly domain sales report Wednesday, I missed Kevin's article about an $800,000 sale of BankFirst.com he had gotten information about. The CFO at a Wisconsin bank told Kevin they had acquired BankFirst.com from another financial institution in what is a very big upgrade from the name they have been using - BankFirstWI.bank. 

This afternoon I got a message from George Kirikos letting me know he had found proof of the $800,000 BankFirst.com sale price in a 4Q-2021 SEC filing made by the Wisconsin bank. The relevant passage stated "During the fourth quarter of 2021, Bank First incurred a one-time expense when it purchased a domain name from another institution for $0.8 million as part of a rebranding initiative."

Image from Bigstock

In the same message, George, who has uncovered more big previously unreported domain sales than anyone, alerted me to Kevin's story, so a double thank you to him. As of this writing the BankFirst.com sale is the second largest reported at this early stage of the new year, trailing only the $1,228,2000 sale of Unlock.com that we told you about Wednesday.

(Posted January 22, 2022) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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Attorney Howard Neu's Annual Reports on UDRP Cases Bring Good News & Bad News for Domain Investors

Earlier this week, we published our 18th annual State of the Industry Cover Story in which 22 domain experts explained what fueled the 2021 boom in the domain market and provided their forecasts for the industry's prospects in 2022. Those we ask for commentary are among the busiest people in the business, so several we call on each year can't respond before our deadline. One of those this year was pioneering domain attorney Howard Neu who was tied up compiling his own popular reports on critically important UDRP case results. Howard published his latest reports this week and was kind enough to send us a summary of his findings so we can share them with you. His commentary is below. 

As you know, my primary legal practice is in defending registrants who find themselves on the wrong end of a UDRP Action.  The UDRP was set up by ICANN to make it easier and cheaper for trademark holders to obtain domain names from registrants that they 

Attorney Howard Neu
NeusNews.com

believe are "confusingly similar" to their trademarks.  The primary purpose was and continues to be the best way to defeat cybersquatters and typo squatters who try to capitalize off of the trademark holders' fame and popularity by directing users to their site.  To a very great extent, this has been very successful in defeating those "domainers" who give all domain investors a bad name.

At NeusNews.com, I publish semi-annually the results of cases brought before the two primary providers of UDRP; WIPO and the FORUM.  Within the past few days, I have published the Annual Reports for both providers (WIPO Report, FORUM Report).  I am happy to say that the cybersquatters are still losing their domains to the trademark holders with 3,515 domains transferred at WIPO from default cases and 1,642 domains transferred at FORUM from default cases.  That means that over 5,000 domains were transferred from virtual cybersquatters.  This is why all domain investors are looked down upon by trademark holders and major corporations as "cybersquatters".

The biggest problem for domain investors, however, is that they are now being held to a higher standard than other registrants when it comes to whether or not the domain in question was registered and is being used in "bad faith".  The general rule is that if you register a domain where there is no "confusingly similar" trademark OR use it by not trading on the fame of an existing trademark, there is no "bad faith".  That is because the UDRP Rule is that if a domain is registered AND used in "bad faith" it will be transferred to the Claimant.  Domain investors, however, must show that they did extensive research before they acquired the domain to make sure that there were either no existing trademarks at the time of registration, or that there was at least more than one trademark holder.  

A recent case held that there was only one trademark holder of a mark that was "confusingly similar" to the registrant's domain, and that therefore the registrant domain investor was targeting the claimant even though the domain was never offered by the investor to the trademark holder for sale and was not using it to capitalize on the claimant's trademark. The panel held that the domain investor registered the domain in "bad faith" and transferred it to the claimant.  This is going to make it increasingly difficult for auction houses, including GoDaddy's Afternic and drop catchers like Snapnames and NameJet to find domain investors who are willing and able to spend the time necessary to research each domain that is up for auction to determine whether or not the domain can be bid upon and registered without resulting in a UDRP Action.

Editor's Note: The issue that Howard raises about domain investors now having to meet a higher standard than other domain registrants in UDRP cases is a matter of fairness that should concern all investors. Fortunately, the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) exists to address just this kind of development. I believe the best thing we can all do to protect our rights and insure a level playing field  is to support the ICA as a member.

(Posted January 21, 2022) To refer others to the post above only (and not the full Lowdown column) you can use this URL:
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New Backordering Platform from Web Hosting Canada Offers Opportunity to Get Valuable .CA Domains at Bargain Prices 

Canadians now have access to a new backordering platform from Web Hosting Canada (WHC) that gives them a chance to get valuable .CA domain names before they become available to the general public through CIRA's TBR (To Be Released) process. Every week potentially valuable domains are dropped, presenting an opportunity to acquire those assets for as low as $20 (the entry cost to place a backorder for a domain). If more than one person wants the same domain it goes into a 1-day auction (also managed through the WHC platform). 

WHC Founder and CEO Emil Falcon said, "With over 3 million active .CA domain registrations, finding an available Canadian domain name for your business is becoming more challenging. Before today, .CA domains did not have a single platform that could be used to confidently secure expiring domains. Our new Backordering platform aims to change that.” 

Frank Michlick, WHC’s Domains Product Manager, added, "What makes WHC’s backorder tool unique is that it “regularly wins more requested domains than other providers, with an average success rate above 70%. Our .CA backorder system is the most advanced platform of its kind, and thanks to continuous R&D investments and ongoing development of our domain management platform, we have plenty more improvements on the way.”

You can use WHC’s Backordering platform to bid on domains that drop every Wednesday at 2PM EST. The $20 entry bid includes the cost of a 1-year domain registration. Customers aren’t charged any fees unless they win the domain, so there’s no risk involved in participating in a drop. For more information about WHC’s backordering platform, visit: whc.ca/backorder

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Big Honor for Kate Buckley, Monte Cahn Gets His Own TLD  & Domain Sales Break Another Record!

That Didn't Take Long! First Seven-Figure Domain Sale of the New Year Revealed

Post Holiday Round Up: Three Cheers From the Zak Pack, Prognostications, .XYZ & NFTs! 

New Year's Day is DNJournal's 19th Anniversary - A Sincere Thank You to Everyone Who Made It Possible!