[lac-discuss-en] [registration-issues-wg] [CPWG] [GTLD-WG] Verisign Dissing Domainers?

[Greg Shatan]

This post is actually taking aim primarily at REGISTRARS who buy huge
numbers of .com domains at wholesale ($7.85 per domain) and then hold them,
in order to try and sell them later for a premium price. That’s not really
dissing domainers in the general sense, just these registrar-domainers.

The writing is a bit sloppy on this point, and the blog pivots to ICA
toward the end, but even there, the focus is on the registrar-domainers,
not on the general domaining public. Look again at the post, and you will
see references to “speculators” who buy at a “regulated price.” That’s the
Verisign price they are talking about. Regular registrants don’t have that
opportunity — only registrars. The “Domainer Name Wire” article largely
misses this point — partly because the post is vague and partly because of
a tendency to “rush to judgment” in the domaining press.

As Jonathan notes, ICA argues it’s protecting the little guy, when they are
actually providing loads of protection for some very “big guy”
registrar-domainers.

While this is not “insider trading,” it is really a form of diversion based
on insider access — the registrars abuse their privileged position to buy
cheap and to buy before any “regular” registrant (even a domainer) can, and
then they hold this portfolio and charge secondary-market prices for
domains that are not really in the secondary market. Registrars’ unique
ability to buy domain names directly from the registries was never meant to
produce this result. This is a bug, not a feature. The end user domainers
should really be pissed off at the registrar-domainers, not at Verisign.
(Of course, they are permanently pissed off at Verisign, especially with a
price increase in their “commodity.”)

Maybe registrars should be prohibited from buying for their own account for
investment purposes. GoDaddy apparently has 2.5 billion reasons to oppose
that idea.

I don’t know if I would call them scalpers (though it’s a fair comparison).
I see domainers more like the folks in Boston who get up in the morning,
sit down in a lawn chair in a prime parking spot near the Fenway Park
baseball stadium, and then sit there until game time approaches. Then they
charge you $20 or more to get out of the way so you can park there. This is
not entirely accurate either since this is a lot more work than a domainer
would put in (at least for a single domain name.

Greg

On Fri, Nov 2, 2018 at 3:10 PM Jonathan Zuck <JZuck at innovatorsnetwork.org>
wrote:

> We'll, it's not particularly easy to take them back. Blog raises some good
> points about where the money goes. The ICA rhetoric about small business is
> pretty silly.
>
> Jonathan Zuck
> Executive Director
> Innovators Network Foundation
> www.Innovatorsnetwork.org
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* GTLD-WG <gtld-wg-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org> on behalf of
> Carlton Samuels <carlton.samuels at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Friday, November 2, 2018 2:59:12 PM
> *To:* cpwg at icann.org; lac-discuss-en at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> *Subject:* [GTLD-WG] [CPWG] Verisign Dissing Domainers?
>
> Um,.......hmmmm, a flag up the pole to see who salute you think?
>
> Assuming the posting it is sanctioned as official view, what is the end
> game here? Afterall, they are gifted ownership of every name, known and
> hitherto unknown, in the .com space! The domainers merely 'rent' them!
>
> Hmmm....we have a saying in my corner of empire, 'o*ne hand alone can't
> clap*'. Gotta follow the money.
>
>
> https://domainnamewire.com/2018/11/02/holy-sht-verisign-just-called-out-domain-scalpers-and-its-biggest-customers/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ==============================
> *Carlton A Samuels*
>
> *Mobile: 876-818-1799 Strategy, Process, Governance, Assessment &
> Turnaround*
> =============================
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