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I have placed a few of my portfolio domain names up for auction at the NamePros auction today. I have included Coru.com, OIIN.com, and MyDrops.com. Some information below on each, and where to place your bids.

Coru.com - Registered in 1998 (over 10 years old). High quality and easily pronounceable. Take advantage of the lower market right now and pickup a great domain name at an even better price. (Currently $1081)

http://www.namepros.com/liveauction.php?a=prebid&id=23

OIIN.com - Registered in 2003 (over 5 years old). This fantastic LLLL.com has 3 vowels to start and is easily pronounceable. Plenty of acronmy potential, and has had several offers since I’ve held it. (Currently at $230)

http://www.namepros.com/liveauction.php?a=prebid&id=22

MyDrops.com - Registered in Jan of 2007 after it dropped. The domain name dated back to 2002 (according to Archive.org). Originally intent was to build a drop info site. Now, going at the NamePros auction. (Currently at $28)

http://www.namepros.com/liveauction.php?a=prebid&id=24

If you want to participate in the event live - the Auction is held in a NamePros chat room at 3pm Pacific.

http://www.namepros.com/chat2.php?room=Live+Auction

The auto-renewal came through today, but NameBio’s birthday was yesterday. NameBio.com has been online for 2 years and 1 day, and I am thrilled it has become the resource it is today. We will continue to build this resource and offer new and better functions in the coming months and years. A huge thanks goes out to our loyal users who keep us motivated.

Justin

CowboyHat.com sold for $16,801 today at NameJet. They keyword has several advertisers with a cost per click range is between .34-.79 and 335 daily searches (according to wordtracker). This domain name should pay for itself eventually, and with development, pay for itself much quicker. Congrats to the new owner.

CognitiveTherapy.com sold on NameJet yesterday for $25,100. Apparently even in troubled economic times, some domain names still seem to fetch top dollar. More than likely this domain name should recieve some type in traffic and should make a little bit of money per day. However, I do believe this price was on the high side. Congrats to the new owner.

HDJ.com sold on NameJet earlier this month for $7,100. It is now back at auction for the second time, currently up to $6,400.

With the economy taking a beating globally, LLL.com’s which were once considered the staple/blue chip domain, are now plummeting back to earth. Reseller prices are hoovering around the $5,000 mark for the weakest letters.

Recently, I detailed an issue on NamePros forum about a domain I had purchased via NameJet. A domain name I had backordered and won (over a month ago) somehow was renewed this past week using the original registrants credit card. The domain remains in my account, but somehow the old owner managed to renew it.

A network solutions rep responded on the forum, and I provided the domain information for him to review. He responded with:

"Just from what I learned there seems to be an issue with the ID
connected to the name. You still own it but the original owner was able
to go in and renew it for you.

We will keep the domain renewed for the year on your account and we will
refund the original owner what he paid. So in the end you get your
domain for another year."

My initial reaction was surprise as I’ve never known Network Solutions to be so generous, however the more I thought about it, the more I felt uneasy. How was the original owner able to renew domain names in my account? Ive spent quite a bit of money at NameJet since they launched and this is the first time I’ve felt less than safe with my purchases.

More to come, Im sure.

1. Domaining wont ever quite be the same as it was 8 months ago
2. Domains aren’t less valuable, there is simply less money to buy them with
3. Whoever the President will be, he has a tough job ahead of him
4. Drop-Catchers are still making a killing
5. There will be great opportunity for those who are patient

If your looking to take advantage of weaker LLLL.com prices, now would be the time. I am offering one of my prized CVCV.com domain names for $1,950. This domain name has been renewed for the past 10 years and has all major TLD’s registered.  Its clear and easily pronounceable.

Recent CVCV sales:

• Hibi.com - $2,300 (10/20)
• Vida.com - $70,000 (10/18)
• Bile.com - $8,300 (10/8)
• Vigi.com - $3,101 (9/28)

The domain will be sold on a first come first serve basis. Please email me at Justin (at) NameBio.com.

Its no secret that "content is king" . Sites like Rick Latona’s AEIOU and a few others are trying to cash in on the creation of unique sites and fresh content. On the internet original content is so important. But when it comes to the "real" world, it seems that content is being recycled and quite frankly, leaving a bad taste in our mouths.

Movies like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal skull try to cash in on a built in audience by recycling characters and story lines. The problem is that when this kind of content is recycled, it never lives up to the original. In the past few years, there has been an explosion of recycled content in the movie industry and few have lived up to expectations.

The Internet is much less forgiving for recycled content. Search engines like google strive diligently to insure a positive user experience. Sites with duplicate content can be hurt in rankings or removed entirely from Googles index. If only Google could punnish studios who produce bad remakes.

REI is a very popular, high-end Outdoors store. They sell some of the finest gear for the outdoorsman. Two times a year, they have what they call a "Garage Sale". Basically, its all the gear that gets returned or is damaged, and its sold for a fraction of its normal retail.

REI has a great return policy. "Every item you purchase at REI is 100% satisfaction guaranteed." which basically means they will take anything back for any reason. Due to this policy, they end up with a lot of slightly used goods. The Garage sale has shoes, climbing gear, backpacks, even Canoes.

You would think this would be a great oppertunity to advertise online and bring customers in that might not normally shop at REI because of the price ranges. Unfortunately REI does a terrible job of making customers aware online or by email.

Although Outdoor companies are doing a great job of getting online and conducting business, it doesnt seem they are doing enough advertising online to make customers aware of their sales and events. I do hope REI is able to change this in the future for their own sake.

On a side note. I spent all night waiting infront of the REI store in Tempe, AZ. I was 15th in line and was able to get several internal-frame packs that I needed for an upcoming European trip.