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…

As of September 30, 2011 there are nearly 220 million domain names registered worldwide across all extensions and out of which 112 Million are .com and .net domain names.

The increase of 4.9 million domain names equates to a growth rate of 2.3% over the second quarter of 2011, and an 8.2% increase over the same quarter in 2010.

It also marks the third straight quarter with greater than 2 percent growth

The Internet saw the addition of 4.5 million domain names in the first quarter (a 2.2 percent increase) and 5.2 million domain names in the second quarter (a 2.5 percent increase).

The .com and .net Top Level Domains (TLDs) experienced aggregate growth in the third quarter, reaching a combined total of 112 million names.

New .com and .net registrations totaled 7.9 million during the quarter a 5.9%  increase year-over-year in new registrations.

The .com/.net renewal rate for the third quarter of 2011 was 73.3%, up from 73.1% for the second quarter.

The top TLD’s after .com in order were:

.de (Germany),

.net

.uk (united Kingdom)

.org

.info

.tk  (Tokelau)

.nl (Netherlands)

.ru (russianfederation)

.eu (European Union)

.cn (China)

.br (Brazil)

.ar (Argentina)

.it (italy)…

The second quarter of 2011 closed with a base of 215 million domain name registrations across all Top Level Domains (TLDs), which represents a 2.5% increase over the first quarter of 2011 and a 16.9 million, or 8.6% year-over-year increase.

Verisign’s combined base of .com and .net domain names ended the quarter at approximately 110 million.

New .com and .net registrations totaled 8.1 million during the second quarter, an increase of 2.0% from a year ago.

Renewal rates for .com/net were at 73.1 down from 73.8% from the 1st quarter.

21% of all .com/.net websites are “one page websites” which include parked pages

When Verisign last reported on Parked domains they said it made up 7% of all domain registrations but no longer report that number.

12% of all .com/.net do not resolved to websites.

ccTLD’s grew by 3.6% quarter over quarter and 8.4% year to year.

You can download the entire report here (pdf)

 …

According to the report as of December 31, 2010 there are over 205 Million domains registered an increase of 1.7% from the 3rd quarter and 6.3% from a year ago.

.org moved up the chart from 5th most registrations to 4th most displacing .co.uk

Of the more than 205 Million domains, 80 million were ccTLD’s.

Renewal rates of .com stayed steady at almost 73%.

“”The fourth quarter of 2010 closed with a base of 205.3 million domain name registrations across all Top Level Domains (TLDs), or a 1.7 percent increase over the third quarter. Registrations have grown by 12.1 million, or 6.3 percent year over year.

“New .com and .net registrations totaled 7.6 million during the 4th quarter, an increase of 4% from a year ago.”

To download the entire report click here.…

When I first heard about the product it sounded like a DomainTools.com killer.

But now that the product has launched, I think DomainTools.com doesn’t have much to worry about.

Here’s how  Verisign’s described the service when it made its request to ICANN for product approval: (pdf)

“VeriSign periodically receives requests for historical domain name registration data, including information on domain name which have been deleted. These requests are made in order to address a wide range of needs, such as a request from registrars who may need for a more complete registration history of a particular domain name or a request related to investigations or legal action related to trademark infringement claims, or other investigations of potential nefarious uses”

“Once a domain name deletion request has been completed, the domain name is removed from the registry Whois service and the Whois data associated with such domain name is no longer publicly available.”

“By implementing the Domain Name WhoWas Service, VeriSign will provide an automated capability for a customer (which may be either a registrar or non-registrar) to look up a domain name and receive a response with the registration history for the entire life of such domain name which will include the domain name, registration dates and registrar of record for each period of time”

Sounded good right, kind of like the information you would expect to find at DomainTools.com for a domain, but at a much lower cost.

Problem is that under the WhoWas product you don’t get prior registrant information.

So although you get to see the registrar, creation date and some other info, you don’t get to see who used to own the domain.

So WhoWas doesn’t tell you WhoWas the owner of the domain.

Here is the VeriSign’s own example of how the product works:

“For example, a request for history of “example.com” would return:”
Domain Name: Example.com
Domain ID: vrsn-123
Registrar: Current Registrar, Inc.
Create Date: 1-jan-2009

ICANN Registry Request Service
Ticket ID: Z5K1I-4P7Z6
Registry Name: VeriSign, Inc,
gTLD: .COM, .NET, .NAME
Status: ICANN Review
Status Date: 2009-07-01 13:53:45
Print Date: 2009-07-01 13:55:15

Expiration Date: 21-dec 2011

Domain Name: Example.com
Domain ID: vrsn-003
Registrar: Xyz registrar, Inc.
Transfer Date: 15-apr-2003
Deletion Date: 17-apr-2006
Domain Name: Example.com
Domain ID: vrsn-003
Registrar: Abc Registrar, Inc.
Create Date: 21-nov-1994
Transfer Date: 15-apr-2003

“This example shows a domain name with two distinct registration periods, indicated by the gap from the deletion date to the  next creation date and the change in the Domain ID.…

Its part of VeriSign year long celebration of the 25th anniversary of the 1st .com registration.

The campaign is called, HowDoYou.com.

Basically VeriSign is looking for you to tell how .com changed your life and is putting up a prizes of $10,000, $5,ooo, $2,500 plus they are giving away 10 iPads.

To enter the contest which is opened until August 31, 2010, to anyone in the world click here.

The official word from VeriSign is below.

“Tell Us How .com Has Changed Your World and you could win $10K”

“”Maybe it helped you meet your boyfriend/girlfriend/dog walker. Or keep a friendship alive from continents away. Or learn something that protected your health or that of a loved one. Whatever role .com has had in your life, we want to hear about it”"

“”Simply enter the contest and submit a short video or essay that tells us how .com has changed your life. If your entry wins (by a combination of judging and popular votes), you could win one of ten iPads™, $2,500, $5,000, or $10,000.”"

“”.com has already changed the world. And now it could change your world even more.”"

“”The deadline to submit your entry is 11:59 p.m. MDT on August 31, 2010—don’t wait to tell your story!”"

“”Videos should be under 2 minutes, and essays should be 300 words or less.”

“Submissions will be reviewed prior to posting and may be rejected if inappropriate, so keep it clean, folks! Remember that by submitting an entry, you are representing that you are eligible to participate and you have read, understand, and agree to comply with the Official Rules for the contest. Click here to view the eligibility requirements and the complete Official Rules.”

Good luck to all and if you win don’t forget to give a little love back to TheDomains.com!!!!…

New registrations in the 4th quarter of 2009 came in at around 3.7 million domain name registrations per month,  to total approximately 11 million new domain name registrations.

This reflects an 8% increase in new registrations from the 3rd quarter of 2009.

The overall base of .com and .net domain names grew to 96.7 million domain names at the end of 2009, a 2% increase over the third quarter and a 7% increase over the same quarter in 2008.

New .com and .net registrations were added at an average of approximately 2.4 million per month in the last quarter of 2009 for a total of 7.3 million new registrations in the quarter.

The renewal rate for the 4th quarter of 2009 was 71% which represents a slight change from the 3rd quarter of 2009 which was approximately 70.5 percent.…

“The domain name business remains the subject of a lawsuit originally filed in 2005, by a group calling itself the Coalition for ICANN Transparency – arguing that VeriSign’s deal with ICANN violates antitrust laws, while artificially inflating prices.”

“”The lawsuit had been dismissed, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed course and potentially re-started the case on June 5 of last year. That day, VeriSign’s stock price started a slide from over $23 to roughly $18, a 22% decline.”

“”"The appeals court decision noted that VeriSign’s agreement renewal with ICANN in 2006, which enabled the company to increase .com registration fees, was reached “after no competitive bidding” – while its presumptive 2012 renewal will also be spared from rival bids. “Concerted action between co-conspirators to eliminate competitive bidding for a contract is an actionable harm to competition,” Judge Mary M. Schroeder wrote.”"”

The Journal article then went to discuss the hearing a House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet last year and the statement of Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.)  “ICANN’s contract with VeriSign for the register of .com domains is characterized by a deplorable lack of transparency.”  “I have grave reservations about extending this contract after it expires in 2012.”"

According to the appeals court’s decision, plaintiffs suing VeriSign have suggested that a domain name registry service equal to what the company now

Interestingly VeriSign according to Journal spent “roughly $2.4 million last year lobbying Congress, the White House, a Commerce Department agency and others on issues including “domain name registration and pricing,” and “issues related to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.”

“If it was decided that these [plaintiffs] have a good case, you could see the process being opened up to have multiple parties included in a bidding process,” . “That would imply that the contracts themselves would be less profitable, and that is a concern.”…

In 2008 there were 6.3 million new domain name registrations, compared with 7.5 million names during 4Q 07.

There are a lot in interesting information in the report including these gems:

“”"”The decline..reflects the continuation of weakness in names registered for the he online advertising portion of the Naming business, which accounts for 7% of all domains.  These Domains are seeing pronounced weakness due in part to weakening EPC trends, including Google’s AdSense program, change and lower spending trends in internet advertising.”"

“”We expect online advertising will increasingly become a smaller part of our Naming business.”

“”Currently these online advertising names make up 7 percent of registered names and .com and .net names”

“As a result we plan to discontinue the reporting of metrics for online advertising after this quarter.”

“”we expect that the first quarter of 2009, will also see the highest number of non-renewals.”"

“”"The renewal rate for Q3 rounded up to 72%, but was down from 73% in Q2. While the Q3 renewal rate decline was most obviously affected by domain names registered for the purpose of monetizing online advertising traffic, the renewal rate for traditional names also came down in Q3.

While renewal rates are not fully determinable until 45 days after the end of the quarter, we believe that for Q4 it may decline slightly more than 1%, with the Q4 renewal rate rounding down to 70%.”"”

One of the participants, in the earnings call, Phil Winslow from Credit Suisse, asked the following question:

Regarding renewal rates, In the previous down cycle (reffering to the late 1990′s when the internet blubble burst), renewal rates got down into the 50s and even at one point touching the 40s. What’s different about this cycle than the last and where would you expect renewal rates to bottom out at?

Mark McLaughlin, President and COO,  responded for VeriSign.

“”I don’t think we see anything near what we saw in …when the bubble burst, and primarily the reason for that, is back then, what we saw was the business models and the domain name business that weren’t yet baked at all, so, there was a tremendous amount of name given away for free by registrars that went into the base with some wild attempts at monetization.…