I agree with many people in that this industry has its squatters. What I don’t agree with is the definition of squatter. A squatter to me registers a name that is registered merely to take advantage of the brand recognition and/or trademark of another entity. THIS is an example of a squatter and exactly the kind of person that gives the industry a bad name (although the guy is not a domain investor) . Many companies think that anyone that has a name that has their keywords in it is squatting. That’s just a person wearing blinders to the fact that dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of other companies have a similar name and that most of the world has not even heard of you. It definitely wasn’t on purpose. It was merely the registration of good keywords. For instance in the lawn service there are going to be hundreds of companies called A Cut Above or Cut Masters. I don’t consider this squatting because you are not targeting a company to hold them financially hostage. Although I do believe the company wanting the domain would think differently. The other point that can be debated is that most will agree the intent of purchase is to sell it to someone that already owns the name. I differentiate the two as one is buying the name for the intent to sell to one company vs buying because it would make a good brand. I realize its hard to prove the intent but its still the basis on which WIPO and UDRP is making a decision.
When you own a lot of domains you are more than likely going to get sued or UDRPd. Pretty much everyone gets that letter or email. I personally have received a few C&D letters. They were back in the day when I pushed the envelope trying to make a little parking money so I had about a dozen typo names. I recently received an email from someone that linked to court cases for a known domainer explaining that the person had been sued 10 plus times. The email basically said if I wanted to open a can of worms I could write an article about it. I don’t. I’ll leave the worms to Josh and his fishing. Honestly, I expected them to be typos that the company sued over. Or maybe the scenario above where it was a small company that thought it deserved the name. It was a mix of these and some straight up squatting. But pretty typical for the parking people that made a living on typos and adult.
So if you ever wonder why people call us squatters when we own a domain they want its two things. One, they don’t understand the difference between squatting and someone that owns a generic name. And two, they are right. There are still many people like the superhero movie guy that squat in the hopes that the company or entity would rather pay a price that fight it in court. Or in this case, get free tickets. Here are today’s names. Click through to see the current price and to fund this daily list
Quote of the Day: “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” ― Gustave Flaubert
Domain of the Day: PremiumQuality.com Premium is overused but still makes a great brand
Namejet and Sedo Names and Others
Peseta.com The currency of Spain. Not going to reach reserve but nice name
BionicWear.com I am an investor in a company called exoskeleton that is essentially this. its the future
PresidentBush.com You get two for the price of one with this one
NameMonger.com Rosener is going to buy this one. He used to be a fish monger now he’s a name monger
Autographed.com I think the reserve is fair. Autographs have been collected for centuries
FoodSensations.com Sounds like a new show on the Food Network. 1 bidder
HomeAnalysis.com What’s your home REALLY worth?
eScreener.com plenty of stuff that needs screening with all the malware and junk on the net
Godaddy Domains With Multiple Bids
Edura.com Upgrade name for a lot of different companies in a lot of different industries
HolidayZone.com Doesn’t take very many affiliate sales to pay for a domain like this
www209.com There’s quite a bit of these getting bids today. I assume its for the typo traffic.
TheFinale.com Sometimes the best part is the finale
BrandReality.com I think many are going to see BrandRealty but still has value. Nobody can say its not a brand
Copromote.com Company that didn’t quite make it. Listed on Crunchbase
AudioPlayer.com I know its going to do well but just a little boring/too generic for me
PetChannel.com Getting some action. I know people love their pets. The Internet loves animals. That’s good enough to give it value. But nothing comes to mind on use
Spori.com This type of 5L .com have been doing well this year. Most decent names are now 3 figures
SnowFrog.com Adjective + animal is almost always a good brand
TreadmillDesk.com I made one. I love it and absolutely never use it
Roomology.com ology names still keep popping up
Godaddy Domains With One or No Bids
FindAPerfectGift.com There are a ton of people just like me googling sites trying to come up with ideas for a gift. Perfect would just be a bonus. Amazon affiliate program in waiting
FlipLock.com Probably going to be a technology or product but at $12 its worth a buy as a marketing name IMO
LawnTamers.com Upgrade name for quite a few companies. No bidders
Jeevis.com A surname so it makes a good brand
IHateCandy.com Good email but I still think the statement is crazy
EndTheClutter.com A nice marketing name for a closet or garage organization company
BridalSales.com Surprised there isn’t a company already named this. I didn’t see one but there should be
DerbyHats.com This has a double use. Derby as in the type of hat and the frilly hats that the girls wear to the Kentucky Derby
RealHand.com I can spell it so it goes here
SmileTracker.com Camera and data gatherer that scouts for happy customers
EchoCell.com Its a band but would make a better tech name
DomainPriceReport.com Could be used by someone in our industry
The Rest of the Names With Bids
17woool.com
95Bio.com
CHS.cc
CIICTraining.com
CoffmanForCongress.com
ComputerConsulting101.com
CopingSkills4kids.net
CouncilTaxSupport.org
cxyrc.com
DeborahShaneToolbox.com
DevotionalBook.com
eMiler.com
FamousGlobal.com
GetCollegeFunds.org
Goalside.com
Greenwood-Management.com
HBIP.com
hnbccn.com
HomeWorkJobs.com
Horsia.com
ie-downloadhelper.com
inspiring-science-education.net
Interlect.com
InvestmentMatch.com
Iyogi.net
JungleGymUS.com
Kocelkss.com
LotteryBitcoin.com
Maciver.com
MagicMatch.com
MasjidProjectFunder.com
MyEquateAndAssurance.com
NashvilleOldTime.org
OldMainASU.com
OldPicz.com
OnlineCasinoCabaret.com
PC400.com
PlusTec.com
pqrst.com
Qire888.com
Raptors.org
RateMortgage.com
SeattleMazda.com
SecretSweater.com
SevenKittens.com
SpamBob.com
SurferPro.com
SwitchMods.com
Tech-Head.com
TheWishingWell.org
TopTenUSA.com
Twintex.com
UseCash.com
VXRP.com
w3Wizards.com
Wavepaint.com
WearAI.com
WorldClip.com
WorldVidz.com
www303.com
www328.com
www378.com
www386.com
www407.com
www425.com
www447.com
www469.com
www507.com
www698.com
www943.com
www947.com
wywy11.com
ZagaZig.net
ZayconFoods.com
I always take issue with the fact that a squatter by definition is a person that unlawfully occupies a property and often pays nothing in rent or for the ownership of that property. As domain investors, we lawfully pay rent to have these pieces of digital property. how is that squatting? Of course there are people with bad intentions as you mentioned, but just the word ‘squatter’ isn’t right. They should be called, domain mercenaries. That seems more accurate to me. As always, appreciate the blog Shane. Cheers!
To me, it’s the goodwill and brand identity that is also being squatted on. The squatter pays nothing for that and a company has often paid a great deal for it. The squatter often turns around and tries to leverage that for profit from the traffic via redirects, ads etc…