There are a couple things here worth commenting on.
First, no one here (that I know of) has ANY sort of ethical issues with the secondary market. It is a positive sign of a healthy eco-system.
Second, we made a concious decision to focus on service providers who used domain registration as part of a solution or a suite of services for their customers. This segment has specific needs and specific processes that are different from those of folks who heavily participate in the secondary market.
We have a number of customers, George and others, who have chosen to use our platform to manage their inventories. A small number of our biggest customers fall into this group. They generally choose us because the tools fit what they are doing and they trust us with their valuable inventories. They tend to acquire the names elsewhere and manage them with us.
Third, I am quite happy to admit that I underestimated the time it would take for this market to reach a long-term solution and the size of the opportunity. Sometimes we are right and many times we are wrong!
We have explored partnering with some of the folks in this space. We still may. I am of the opinion that the long-term solution is not even close to being reached. Also, I honestly don't know that we could add a lot of value for you guys in the current environment (ie. partnering with pool, club drop, snapnames, etc.). I would love to hear where you think we could help you. I hate to waste time where we cannot add value.
I know that in a world of hundreds of threads we cannot do much on our own.
Lastly, Chuck, I am sorry to took what you heard as us not wanting your business. It is much more about where limited focus and resources are spent.
Comments welcome as always.
Regards
Russ Goodwin wrote:
At 07:16 PM 8/9/2004, George Kirikos wrote:
--- Chuck Hatcher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > will Tucows/OpenSRS perhaps start pursuing expired > > domains? I'd join a system that would help increase > > my odds of getting the names I desire.
Absolutely... I'm astonished they haven't already joined up with Pool, Snap, or Enom, et al. Missing out on some big bucks here folks.
> You don't think it would be unseemly for Tucows to promote domain > name > speculation as a legitimate activity? (I always got the impression > they > viewed this kind of customer as sort of like that odd uncle the > family > doesn't like to talk about.)
Unseemly? You may not like real estate developers, but Donald Trump has made a pretty penny, lost it, and made it back. The same thing is going on with domains. As a registrar, Tucows should be partnered up with one of the "drop catching" services; in there picking up choice domains every day for auction.
How do you know who is a "speculator"? When one registers a domain name, it doesn't ask what your intended use is....
Your intended use doesn't matter as long as you aren't breaching the terms of registration. If you are, the injured party will come after you via UDRP or the courts and take your domain (and maybe some damages), have a nice day, please come again.
Even if we agree on a definition of "speculator" (aside from "he has the domain I want, and won't sell it to me for $35"), in a capitalist society, what makes such behaviour "illegitimate"? Last I checked, Tucows/OpenSRS wasn't a registered charity, neither are most of its resellers. Although I'm sure many of us do give to charity, from our profits on other activities.
"Speculation" is part of a healthy market and is here to stay - congrats on jukebox.com, George, I hope it's making you a mint. ;)
Tucows could get into the game but apparently chooses not to do so. I'm sure Domain Direct could use more customers - especially the sort who's willing to pay $10k+ for a single domain.
-Russ
-- Elliot Noss Tucows Inc. 416-538-5494 enoss.blogware.com
