The domain name Beach.org has reportedly sold for $95,000 USD to Generation Zero Group Inc. who plans to use the domain name to report information on the Gulf Of Mexico oil spill.

According to an article on CityBizList.com:

"Generation Zero Group Inc. has agreed to buy the Internet domain name, www.beach.org, for $95,000 and use it to publish information on the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to an SEC filing."

"The Atlanta-based Internet marketing company said it would pay the company that owns the domain name $50 per month, beginning July 1, until the full purchase price is paid by Dec. 31, 2011. The seller will retain all revenues during the period."

I’m not sure if that math adds up… $50 payments each month until Dec 31, 2011 doesn’t add up to $95,000 the last time I checked. It would take 1,900 fifty dollar payments to add up to $95K. Even if it was a typo, it would take 190 payments of $500 to complete the purchase and not the 17 stated.

The domain may have sold (I am trying to contact the owner), but the math simply isn’t matching up for me.

You may recall that I wrote yesterday the domain name GulfOfMexico.com is currently for sale for $50,000 USD or for lease for one year. IMO, this domain would be better related to the current oil spill instead of Beach.org. Plus they could have saved some $45K or nearly double of what is reportedly being paid. Beach.org would be a better "travel" site than covering a oil spill that is hitting some beaches IMO.

UPDATE: I did hear back from the seller (Steve) and he did confirm the sale for $95K and suggested to taking a look at the SEC filing which clears up the payment a bit. Steve has dealt with GZGI before and the reason he felt OK with the payment structure. Here is the SEC filing which states the following:

"On or around June 8, 2010, Generation Zero Group, Inc. ("we," "us," and the "Company") entered into an agreement to acquire the Uniform Resource Locator ("URL") www.beach.org ("Beach.org"), which includes full and unrestricted control over the URL. The purchase price for Beach.org is $95,000, payable by us at any time prior to December 31, 2011.

Beginning on the date of the agreement, we have the right to have the Beach.org URL pointed to wherever we desire; however, the seller will retain ownership and control over the URL until the full purchase price is paid, and will have the right to terminate the agreement and take back full control of the URL if an event of default occurs under the agreement. Additionally, we agreed to pay the seller a license fee of $50 per month (beginning on July 1, 2010) for the use of Beach.org (until such time as the entire purchase price is paid in full) and to pay all costs associated with the operations of Beach.org, and the seller agreed that we would retain 100% of the revenue (if any) generated by Beach.org prior to the consummation of the purchase.

The Company intends to operate Beach.org as a portal for current information about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the beach areas that are affected and plans to donate 5% of the gross revenues generated by Beach.org to not for profit causes dedicated to helping individuals or entities impacted by the BP oil spill."

In another article I found on MSN.com GZGI CEO Matthew Krieg stated:

"My initial interest in beach.org was based on tourism and travel. When the oil spill incident occurred, we decided to change the focus to an information portal at least for so long as this oil spill and the aftermath continues. We hope that the oil spill situation is resolved as quickly as possible. After that time, we plan to refocus beach.org to a more commercial travel related website. However, until we refocus Beach.org, we plan to donate 5% of the gross revenue GNZR generates from the Beach.org website to not for profit causes dedicated to helping people and/or businesses impacted by this disaster."

At least he was thinking in the same lines as I was, as I see Beach.org best fit to the travel industry.