The auction taking place tomorrow is a “No Reserve” Auction.   Click here to view the queue and place your bids.  If you have some domain names you’d like to submit to the auction queue, click here.

Below you will find the NamePros.com Live Auction Schedule.  Check it out, and mark your calendars!  See you there!

No Reserve Live Auction
Bidding Starts at Reserve Price
Mon, Jun 29, 2009, 3pm EST

Regular Live Auction – Short domains
5 letters or less
Thu, Jul 2, 2009, 6pm EST

Europe Special Regular Live Auction
Special timing for our European members
Mon, Jul 6, 2009, 5pm GMT

Regular Live Auction
All tlds welcome, multiple sales formats
Thu, Jul 9, 2009, 6pm EST

$1 No Reserve Live Auction
Everything starts at a buck with no reserve!
Mon, Jul 13, 2009, 3pm EST

Regular Live Auction – ccTLDs
.us .tv .de .co.uk .in .me .com.au .it .es .ws, etc
Thu, Jul 16, 2009, 6pm EST

Premium Live Auction
High Value Domains and Lots
Thu, Jul 23, 2009, 6pm EST

No Reserve Live Auction
Bidding Starts at Reserve Price
Mon, Jul 27, 2009, 3pm EST

Regular Live Auction – sTLDs
.mobi .asia .tel .jobs .travel
Thu, Jul 30, 2009, 6pm EST

Asia Special Live Auction
Special timing for our Asian members
Mon, Aug 3, 2009, 6pm IST

Regular Live Auction
All tlds welcome, multiple sales formats
Thu, Aug 6, 2009, 6pm EST

$1 No Reserve Live Auction
Everything starts at a buck with no reserve!
Mon, Aug 10, 2009, 3pm EST

Regular Live Auction – Geo Domains
place.tld or keywordplace.tld
Thu, Aug 13, 2009, 6pm EST

Premium Live Auction
High Value Domains and Lots
Thu, Aug 20, 2009, 6pm EST

No Reserve Live Auction
Bidding Starts at Reserve Price
Mon, Aug 24, 2009, 3pm EST

Regular Live Auction – gTLDs
.com .net .org .pro .biz .info .name
Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 6pm EST

OZ Special Live Auction
Special timing for our Oceania members
Mon, Aug 31, 2009, 6pm SYD

Regular Live Auction
All tlds welcome, multiple sales formats
Thu, Sep 3, 2009, 6pm EST

$1 No Reserve Live Auction
Everything starts at a buck with no reserve!
Mon, Sep 7, 2009, 3pm EST

Regular Live Auction – Domain Hacks
inter.net, tele.com, catch.us, founta.in, etc
Thu, Sep 10, 2009, 6pm EST

Premium Live Auction
High Value Domains and Lots
Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 6pm EST

This live event is set to kick off on Thursday at 3pm PST/6pm EST in the NamePros.com chat room.

It’s a great time to head over to the auction queue to see what’s in store, and to get your pre bids in early.

I was just browsing the queue, and I think you’ll agree that this auction is packed with domain names you won’t want to miss.

Here are some quick picks that you can expect to see:

Zad.net
NNNR.com
Mafi.com
4Z.cc
Mortgage.com.bz
InvestmentBrokers.org
EmployeeMedicalBenefits.com
Cabernet.in
ApartmentSelling.com

Remember, this is just very small sampling of what you can hope to bid on this Thursday… there is a very wide variety of domain names in various extensions just waiting for your bids.   Also, don’t forget to take a look at some of the great package deals some members are offering like  a portfolio of 82 Geo/Travel/See .info domain names!

The NamePros.com Live Auction Events are a great opportunity to meet with other web professionals, and find some great deals in the process!

See you Thursday!

The event will kick off at 3pm PST /6pm PST.  Click here to visit the auction queue to see what’s on the block, and to get your pre-bids in!

See you there!

Oddly enough, my love of words, and language is not what brought me into domaining, but it’s definitely something that keeps me going.

When I started picking up 4 letter .com’s years ago… I figured, despite popular opinion at the time, that there would be a buyout. What really fascinated me was what people were going to do with really random letter combos like “qkxz” for example. Now I just pulled that out of my head at random… but after checking it… it’s a developed website. It’s not in a language that I can understand… but it’s developed nonetheless.

There’s really no limit to what you can do with 3, 4, even 5 letter combination’s.

If you have a tough time coming up with words on your own, try using sites like TheFreeDictionary.com, or AcronymFinder.com.

Start by checking your entire domain name, for example sake, let’s use one of mine – QNHQ.com. As you might imagine, there are no listed acronyms for qnhq… so next, let’s break it down into parts, and check the first 2 letters “qn”.

“QN” does return some great results including quotation, queuing network, queer nation, and some others. You still want to be careful not to infringe on any trademarks. Now let’s break down the second half “hq” – this returns headquarters, high quality, and highly qualified, among others.

Now, I went looking for 4 letter domain names specifically ending in “HQ” when I found this one because I wanted to use “Headquarters” as the ending. Even though it might not look “pretty” according to most people’s standards… I now have a domain name to develop a quotations site called “Quotations Headquarters” using QNHQ.com!

You won’t always get lucky, and be able to break it down into 2 parts… sometimes, you’ll have to go much deeper and look for other ways to make it work. Try checking the first 3 letters… for this example, I will use FWIO.com – now FWIO is an acronym in it’s entirety… but it’s for “Federated Women’s Institute of Ontario” – not really something we can build on.

When we break it down into a 3 – 1 configuration, we find that FWI can stand for “French West Indies” using the 4th position “O” for Online. We can now develop FWIO.com – French West Indies Online. The French West Indies include Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin and Saint-Barthélemy. Great for a geo, or tourism website.

Again, you won’t always get lucky and get a 2 – 2, 3 – 1, or even 1 – 3 configuration. Once in a while, you be left with 4 randoms 1 – 1 – 1 – 1… and you’ll be thinking to yourself… what the heck can I do with this piece of crap! Well… there is always a way. There is alway something you can do. Getting creative, and brainstorming even the most impossible acronym can prove successful… so go ahead… make a list of your acronyms and start building your future.

Don’t want to do the work yourself?  Hire Me.

I’ve compiled a small list of names that I thought might be of particular interest to .us investors/developers.

If you are not familiar with the .us Nexus Requirements, it’s a good idea to review the policies before taking the step to register in the .us name space.

If you find something to register from the list, or you just want to make a comment… feel free to reply, or if you’d like to contact me privately, you can do so using my contact form.

If you’re already into developing the .us name space, I would like to invite you to submit your completed sites to FreeDirectory.us – This is a directory project that is reserved for  websites using the .us cctld.

Today’s .us Recommendations:

AmateurBlog.us
BagelBakery.us
BokChoy.us
CheapBoats.us
Contaminate.us
Damion.us
DataFeed.us
DetoxCenters.us
eRecords.us
Escarole.us
eScope.us
EquityLender.us
ExtinctAnimals.us
FreeClothing.us
FridayThe13th.us
GeoPolitics.us
HostServices.us
iBuying.us
iScope.us
ImageCapture.us
Keansburg.us
Lisette.us
MauiLand.us
MenuBoard.us
MeteorShowers.us
OceanCityNewJersey.us
PepperoniPizza.us
Predictable.us
ProxySearch.us
RefinanceHomeMortgage.us
RugOutlet.us
Secluded.us
Spelunker.us
Spelunking.us
SteakandCheese.us
StudentPortal.us
Toboggans.us
VerticalMarkets.us
WilliamShakespeare.us

The NamePros.com live auction events are a great opportunity to mingle with other domain name professionals, and pick up some great deals.

If you’re planning on attending, take some time to browse the auction queue to see the lineup.  Today’s auction has some impressive domain names up for grabs including several 4 letter .com’s,  3 letter .mobi’s, 3 letter .org’s, and so much more.

Here is just a small random sample of what you will see today:

Xoda.com
WebsiteDeals.net
Say.org
SpinachRavioli.com
Arlington.cc
DotNames.com
DesignBox.com

So, set your watch, pick up some supplies, and hunker down for the best live auction event on the net!

See you there!

I found the User Agreement to be a little confusing because in article 1, they state that commercial use is permitted, but not for illegal purposes (pornography, adultery, violence, abusive language etc) but the in article 8, they state that “Domains are not commercial, and should not be used for commercial purposes. It should only used for personal profile purposes only.”   OK, so which is it?

They are not ICANN accredited, rather a local corporation for delivering free domains for the personal network community. They also claim to support NS records, free redirects and unlimited registrations… however, when I tried to use the “redirect” feature, I kept getting an error that said “second name server is incorrect”.   I finally got it to work by using name servers, in conjunction with the redirect.  I tried to email them using the contact info found at the site, but the emails kept bouncing back.

Also, while they claim to support unlimited registrations on their home page, in their user agreement (article 7) it states

Domain registration does not have a limit, and you are free to register as many domains as you like. But you must use this facility appropriately, if you have more than one domain registration within a minimum threshold our system triggers your request and will destroy all of your domains assigned to your IP address using clever technology. All destroyed domains will be reviewed, and if accepted the domains will be publically re-available for registration.

It seems to me that there are a lot of contradictions… but, hey… you get what you pay for, right?

As fast as it comes, is as fast as it goes.  You’ve probably finished up the last of the leftovers, and are getting ready to pull down the tree and lights.  Besides that, you probably wouldn’t mind finding yourself an amazing deal or two…. that’s where I can help!

Right now, I am having an “After Christmas Spectacular” at the NamePros.com forum.  All of the domain names in the auction start at just $1.00.  That includes .com’s, .net’s, .us’s, and even some outstanding .cc’s.

Here’s a sneak peak at some of the names you can hope to find:   LuxuryApartmentsChicago.com, a bunch of 4 character .com’s like h-ao.com, TravelKona.net,  Jerrod.us, Sevens.us, Certification.cc, NIN.cc, and many other great selections!

This auction will run until Friday, Jan 2, 2009 at 8pm PST, 11pm EST.  There are NO BIN prices, all auctions will run until the end, and sell to the highest bidder, even if just for $1.00.

If you’re already a member of the NamePros.com forum, here is a direct link to the auction.

If not, visit NamePros.com to sign up for an account.  It’s fast and easy,  not to mention the best domain name forum on the net!

See you there!

We made a road trip out of it, visiting family and other interesting places along the way.  It was a long, exciting, and exhausting adventure… especially considering we did it with a cat.

Now that I feel settled down a bit, I think it’s time to get back to blogging.

I thought it would be nice to start things out with a nice list of Expired domain name recommendations.  There’s quite a variety, but there is a focus on Blog, and recipes domain names in this list.  Enjoy!

———————————
AfghaniRecipes.com
AmericasSociety.com (.org taken)
AnchorageBlogger.com
AppraisalBlogger.com
AssistedLivingPhoenix.com (.net taken)
AustralianAlpacas.com
BeefBurgundyRecipes.com
BismarckVacation.com
BorschtRecipes.com
ClutterOrganization.com (.info taken)
CockroachProblem.com
CoedForums.com
Copsewood.com (.net developed)
CornFestivals.com
CostaBravaBlog.com
CousinIsland.com
DownSites.com
DrummondvilleQuebec.com
EfficiencyForum.com
ExpeditionBlogger.com
ExperienceCharlotte.com
FijiBlogger.com
FilipinoFolklore.com
GolfingBlogger.com
GuamBlogger.com
HousingScams.com
HydroponicFarmers.com
JackSpicer.com
KenyaBlogger.com
Ketosteroid.com
KonaBlogger.com
LaCrosseBlogger.com
LearnKurdish.com (.net taken)
LightDessertRecipes.com
MarijuanaBlogger.com
MinistryBlogger.com
ProPokerBlogger.com
SheetMusicForum.com
SpainBlogger.com
SteakChili.com
TourismBlogger.com
TranslateDanish.com
TranslateFinnish.com
TranslateIndonesian.com
TranslateMalay.com
WhatIsNetworkMarketing.com
WhatIsOrganicFood.com

If you have some time… let me know what you think.

Up until last week, I thought so too!

I’m getting ready to move, so I was doing a little local real estate research online.   I typed my own address into the search bar to see if I could find other locally listed property values.   Instead, I found a couple of domain names that were registered using my information.

I often come across indexed whois pages for some of my domain names, but I usually recognize them right away.  I knew something was fishy when my first and last name, address, phone number and former business name appeared in the whois of a domain name that I never registered.

Right after I found the first domain name, I looked for others and found one more… I started to become frantic, but I kept it together and sent an email to the registrar where the domain names were registered.  Just a few minutes later I received a call from the registrar.   Of course, I was upset that I had become a victim of identity theft, so I’m glad Scott at Name.com was patient with me as I did a little flipping out.  I especially flipped out when I found out this individual registered 113 domain names using my info!!!!

I was assured that Name.com was taking the issue very seriously, and in fact, they did.  Within a few days, the domain names were taken out of my name,  out of the account, and the account holder blacklisted.

Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that this identity thief lost their domain names… but I feel like maybe something more should be done.  As far as I’m concerned a crime has taken place.  I was really worried for a few days that this person might attempt to do business as me.  It scares me how easy it was for someone to use all of my information… and that I found out about it by accident.

I don’t know if there’s a way to prevent something like this from happening… but I’d recommend anyone with a portfolio of domain names do some general research to be sure all of the domain names registered in your name are, in fact, yours.

If you have a DomainTools.com account, once you verify your email address you can pull a free report.  The one I pulled had a lot of domain names that I no longer owned on there, and not all of the ones I did.  I did, however, find another domain name that I didn’t register using my info as the admin and technical.

Give yourself a checkup… and if you have any tips to share, please don’t hesitate.