Back on June 20, 2009 I had discovered that the domain name Coldwar.com had hit expired status and the past owner was CNN aka Turner Broadcasting.

Well, the allowed time has passed and the expired domain name auction has taken place and ending for $7,900 USD over at NameJet.com yesterday.

It was a busy auction with 221 bids from 185 bidders.

CNN made it’s own news when it paid $750,000 for the iReport.com domain name from Rick Schwartz, so one would think they know domain names have value!

CNN still holds the chance at getting about $1,580 from Network Solutions from the sale as NSI’s TOS states that:

if you registered the domain name with Network Solutions directly through our Web site, you will be eligible to receive twenty percent (20%) of the Net Proceeds received by us from our third party vendor as a result of a Direct Transfer

Section #14 of NSI’s TOS (i.). Network Solutions calls it a  "Direct Transfer" but it basically means them auctioning off the domain name, profitting off the sale of the expired domain and transferring off the domain to the new owner IMO.

One keyword is Net Proceeds, so they will not get exactly the amount I stated above which NSI explains as:

total fees paid to us by our third party vendor as a result of a Direct Transfer, less any registry fees, credit card charge-backs, processing and check fees, and other costs or fees associated with the Direct Transfer of the domain name

It may seem like a "nice act" on NSI’s part, but they put in a ton of loops to even get this so called 20%. A Direct Transfer Notification (email) will be sent out, but NSI still does not not make this payout easy…

have no obligation to pay you, and you shall have no right to receive, any percentage of the Net Proceeds unless, within ninety (90) days after the date of our Direct Transfer Notification, you first provide us with the name, address and related information requested by us (including, but not limited to, a Form W-9, if applicable) in our Direct Transfer Notification. We cannot guarantee, and we make no representation or promise, that any Direct Transfer will occur with respect to any particular domain name. You also agree that in the event your domain name services are terminated by us pursuant to this Agreement, we may transfer your domain name registration to Network Solutions or a third party, without any liability to you or obligation to compensate you in connection therewith.

Oversight or not, CNN dropped the ball with just letting Coldwar.com expire. If they just want to give away domain name, feel free to Give Them To Me

Tip: Be sure the Credit Card you have on file is up to date! At NSI, you have to manually turn on Auto-Renew. Be sure your email address on file is correct and that notifications from your domain registrar are not going into your spam folder.