A Pure Drop Domain Formerly Owned By Verisign, ePhoto.com Sells On SnapNames.com For $16K
2012 February 8
The domain name ePhoto.com just sold on SnapNames.com for $16,000.
The high bidder’s ID was Maxbid.
In all there were 174 bidders in the auction with 7 bidding $5K or more.
The domain name ePhoto.com was a pure drop domain, meaning it didn’t drop to a certain service, and could have been caught by anyone.
According to DomainTools appears to have been last owned by Verisign and registered at melbourneit.com.
Whether Verisign actually owned the domain or took possession of it years ago on an earlier drop, and why they would simply allow it to drop again is anyone’s guess.
According to Screenshots.com the domain has been parked for a number of years.
Here is the old whois record:
Domain Name.......... ephoto.com Creation Date........ 1995-10-18 Registration Date.... 2009-09-27 Expiry Date.......... 2011-11-19 Organisation Name.... Verisign Inc. Organisation Address. 21355 Ridgetop Circle Organisation Address. Organisation Address. Dulles Organisation Address. 20166 Organisation Address. VA Organisation Address. UNITED STATES Admin Name........... Verisign Hostmaster Admin Address........ Verisign, Inc. Admin Address........ 21345 Ridgetop Circle Admin Address........ Dulles Admin Address........ 20166 Admin Address........ VA Admin Address........ UNITED STATES Admin Email.......... vshostmaster@verisign.com Admin Phone.......... +1.7039484300 Admin Fax............ +1.7039484331 Tech Name............ Melbourne IT Tech Tech Address......... 636 Ellis Street Tech Address......... Tech Address......... Mountain View Tech Address......... 94043 Tech Address......... CA Tech Address......... UNITED STATES Tech Email........... tech@melbourneitdbs.com Tech Phone........... +1.8669073267 Tech Fax............. +1.6509633266 Name Server.......... f4.nstld.com Name Server.......... g4.nstld.com Name Server.......... l4.nstld.com Name Server.......... a4.nstld.com
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I wonder when will iphoto.com drop
That domain is worth a LOT of money. Probably around $100,000 by itself ie no website. Kudos to the winner. He/she got a great deal.
She dropped because someone dropped the ball. I cannot believe how horrible employees can be and still have a job. Can you imagine someone asking you to pass along a message to your boss and you blow it off? Can you imagine your boss find out they lost several grand because f it?
Unreal!
If this name was worth 100k it wouldn’t have ended at 16k. Sounds impressive if a bit “last decade”.
SEm
Apparently 174 people were awake enough to be in the auction for a dropped name. No doubt just one of them felt that $16,000 was a bargain.
Only 7 of them were “serious” but I rather think others would have noticed a $100K name dropping.
@ Snoop
Ever heard of “digital photography”?
Perhaps I should clarify. I think end-user is around $100000 (although the sky is the limit) and reseller is around $25000.
Still think $16000 is a deal.
WOW, The domain name ePhoto.com just sold on SnapNames.com for $16,000.
I actually saw this domain was available, and had hesitated to register it because I was concerned about a UDRP/TM issue. The uspto.gov site showed that there were no live marks for the name. However, I did find there is an active company in California with the name “ePhoto, Inc.” Eventually, I decided to go for it, but by then it was too late – someone else already snatched it. Lesson learned – don’t hesitate. I can always drop it during the grace period if I determine it’s going to be problematic.
This domain was using private registration services from VeriSign DBMS, which is now owned by Melbourne IT DBS (contact email in whois). This is a corporate domain management company similar to MarkMonitor and CSC. I am *guessing* the company/owner removed the domain from VeriSign/Melbourne management and never updated the contact info to receive the expiration notice.
I know a lot of great domains ended up at Tucows from corporate clients that didn’t update their contact info after removing them from managment.