ZebraDomain.com

I decided to take a look at 10 big companies around the word and checked when they initially bought their domains (and when they should expire, not that I would count on your chances of grabbing one… well maybe in the case of GM). All the data was collected using domaintools WHOIS.

Microsoft.com

Created: 1991-05-02

Expires: 2014-05-03

IBM.com

Created: 1986-03-19

Expires: 2018-03-20

GM.com

Created: 1992-01-16

Expires: 2011-01-17 (if they are lucky)

Apple.com

Created: 1987-02-19

Expires: 2011-02-20

CNN.com

Created: 1993-09-22

Expires: 2018-09-21

Google.com

Created: 1997-09-15

Expires: 2011-09-14

Nike.com

Created: 1995-03-04

Expires: 2011-03-05

Coca-Cola.com

Created: 1994-10-14

Expires: 2013-10-13

Mercedes.com

Created: 1995-03-04

Expires: 2010-03-05

Pioneerelectronics.com

Created: 1996-08-09

Expires: 2012-08-08

Domain Name Dictionary

Country code top-level domain (ccTLD) – is a two letters long Internet top-level domain extensions reserved for a country (such as .uk, .us, .ge).

Domain aftermarket – see Domaining.

Domain appraisal – is an estimate on the potential price of a specific domain name. Domain appraisals are usually rough estimates which chage according to market demand, the domain name specific extension (TLD), the length of the domain name and various other factors.

Domain hijacking – happens when internet domain names are stolen from their rightful owners using deception or fraud. This could happen in any number of ways including identity theft (via impersonation or other methods).

Domain broker -a company or an individual who can help sell or buy a domain names.

Domain parking – a service which allows domain owners to make use of their domain to make money (from advertising etc.) while they wait to sell the domain or develop it into a website.

Domain name generator – a service or software which help users locate potential domain names.

Domain name registrar – a company licensed to register Internet domain names.

Domaining – the business of monetizing Internet domain names by buying, selling and developing them strictly for profit with the intent of resale. In this respect domainers are a lot like the internet version of real estate agents or second hand car dealers.

Domain name – a name which identifies one or more IP addresses (for example zebradomain.com is a domain name which represent one specific IP address, Google.com represent several IP addresses).

generic top-level domain (gTLD) – one kind of Top-Level Domains (TLDs). gTLDs include (among others) the following extensions: .com, .info, .net, .biz, .name, and .pro (see the gTLD full list here).

Geodomain – a term used to denote a domain name for a city or country (for example: newyork.com, lasvegas.net or hawii.com).

Internationalized domain name (IDN) – contains non-ASCII characters required by many non-English languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew and Hindi.

Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) – the standard chosen to allow the use of non-ASCII characters in domain names.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – a non-profit corporation created in order to oversee Internet-related tasks such as IP address space allocation and managing the assignment of domain names.

IP Addresses – a logical (numerical) address assigned to devices in a computer network (for example 208.77.188.166). Websites also have IP addresses which could be used in the address bar of a browser to reach a specific website (for example http://74.125.45.100/).

Premium domain - is typically a more valuable domain name with unique characteristics (short, memorable and easy to spell) in many cases premium domains might also contain words that are regularly searched or are of significance to a specific sector.

Reverse domain hijacking – the practice of acquiring domain names from their owners by wrongfully accusing them of violating trademarks with the domain name.

Second-level domain (SLD) – is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in the .uk (United Kingdom) and .il (Israel) academic institutions would register under the ccSLD (Country code Second-level domain) .ac.uk or ac.il, while companies would register under .co.uk or co.il.

Sub-domain – is a domain that is part of a larger domain. For example support.microsoft.com is a sub-domain of the Microsoft.com domain.

Top-Level Domain (TLD) – the group of letters that follow the final dot of a domain name. Domain names include generic top-level domains (gTLDs such as .com, .net etc.) and country code top-level domain (ccTLD such as .de, .uk., .us etc.).

Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) – is a process established for the resolution of disputes regarding the registration of internet domain names.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) - typically refers to as a Web address (such as http://zebradomain.com/).

Web hosting - is a service provided by companies which includes storage space on a server as well as Internet connectivity, typically located in a data center.

WHOIS – a method for retrieving details on the owner of a domain name (including name, contact details, domain purchase date and renewals date), more info here.

As we shall do here on a regular basis I decided to to have a quick look at some of the recent domain names sold online. This week I will have a look at 13 domain names sold and published (May, 1, 2009) on Sedo.com.

1. Studentprogram.com – $2466
2. Roller-hockey.com – $666
3. Worldtravler.net – $1416
4. Pana.ma – $5000
5. Ixpo.ca – 529 £
6. Allocated.com – $1212
7. Gbs.com – $25,800
8. Slowcookrecipes.co.uk – $700
9. Nexteer.com – $3500
10. Point-g.info – 2500 EUR
11. Tutoweb.com – 1000 EUR
12. Croydon.co.ik – 9000 £
13. Grunder.de – 8400 EUR

First of all we can see that only 6 our of the 13 have .com TLDs. It will be interesting to see how this will evolve over time, but good .com domain names are already pretty hard to come by. When we examine the list more carefully we can see a few interesting points. Pana.ma was sold for $5000. Interestingly I was unable to find any info on this Moroccan TLD (no WHOis info of any sort). 

GBS.com is a different story. First registered back in 1993 this is a 3 latter .com domain and its no surprise it reached almost $26k. This domain went through a lot since it was originally registered. According to Wayback Machine in the late 1990’s this was home for a computer consulting firm (called Graphical Business Systems) which than changed hands (or name) and became Green Bridge Station and finally a website for an autoimmune disease called gbs (Guillain-Barré syndrome). Apart from the history lesson we can see that a good short domain name can easily be used for any number of different websites (and different topics) and the more obvious point: a 3 latter .com domain name will probably never be cheap.

Last but not least a few words on Point-g.info. This adult domain name was sold for an extremely impressive 2500 EUR (around $3300). Why do I even bother mentioning this domain? well, two reasons actually: 1. it has a hyphen (which typically go against what most experts will tell you when it comes to buying domain names). 2. the TLD is .info – typically a fairly low value for money TLD (I have a personal story to tell about Google and .info domains but lets leave it for another post). What can we learn from this purchase – I honestly can’t reach any conclusions but I will love to hear your input.

Ever bought an existing domain and wondered which websites it held before? I recently stumbled across a nice little online tool which can help you find out what was on the domain in previous years. This tool is called the WayBack Machine and is actually a part of the Internet Archive (a non profit organization created in order to record the “history” of the entire internet). Although the purpose of the WayBack Machine is mostly academic it could actually be a pretty useful tool for domain buyers looking to invest in an existing domain.

Here is an interesting example: the domain hybrid.com is currently offered for sale on Sedo for $990,000. Using WHOIS you can trace back the creation date of the domain way back to 1992, but much more interestingly using the WayBack Machine you can view some of the websites which used this domain starting back in 1996.

When you consider buying a top domain like hybrid.com the importance of knowing everything about your potential purchase is clear (nobody spends these sums of money without doing a proper research). But even when considering to purchase an existing domain for far less it might be a good idea to check the domain “history”. After all you would not like to find out by chance that your new religious website is sitting on a domain which used to hold an adult site or that your charity organization was once a home for illegal internet gambling.

There might be another reason for using the WayBack Machine. If you are considering buying an expired domain it might be a good idea to check its history. Why? Because you might find that in the past it hosted an online business. Some people used this knowledge to create a similar website on the same domain which could help them draw in more traffic, improve their search engine ranking and eventually make them more money.

I am going to continue using the WayBack Machine and report any interesting findings as I go along.