Overstock.com has been running holiday TV ad spots and has included there $350,000 purchase of the domain name O.co in the TV ads. Overstock gives the O.co domain name small text and is providing the domain name by the text "Shortcut" under the main Overstock logo and domain name Overstock.com®.

The domain name is not mentioned in the ad, only displayed.

O.co is not the only "O" related domain name Overstock has purchased or has obtained lately.

O.biz was awarded to Overstock from the .biz registry Neustar. This is a stand alone website as per the agreement with the registry but I have yet to see any advertising online or on TV for the .biz domain. This site launched in October 2009. Press Release

O.co.za was also purchased by Overstock for $9,000 in November 2010. (South Africa ccTLD)

0.co which I happened to discover when writing this article. That is a ZERO and not the letter O. 0.co forwards to Overstock.com. I couldn’t find a purchase price for 0.co, so it may have been a "package deal" with O.co? No other single number .co domain names resolve. 1-9 are all reserved by the registry according to whois records.

Interestingly enough, Overstock filed for a trademark of O.com in 2006 but doesn’t currently own the domain name O.com. Only a few single letter .com domain names are used currently, with the remaining held by the registry. Paypal for an example uses X.com for its development network.

Here is the O.com trademark for Overstock:

Word Mark O.COM
Goods and Services IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: On-line wholesale and retail store services featuring general merchandise. FIRST USE: 20050805. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20050805
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 78312215
Filing Date October 10, 2003
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition May 25, 2004
Registration Number 3042536
Registration Date January 10, 2006
Owner (REGISTRANT) Overstock.com, Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 6350 South 3000 East Salt Lake City UTAH 84121
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

Overstock holds several word marks for different phrases related to O.com like: "O.com It’s All About The Prices" and "O.com Prices" and many more related to the O.com domain which they do not even currently own. The several O.co, O.biz  etc domains may be a pitch to obtain O.com if or when it may become available.

IMO, the O.biz site has pretty much flew under the radar and isn’t known by most. It does get traffic though, likely in the range of 25K-50K monthly. Overstock had stated they didn’t know what they would do with O.co when they purchased it in July 2010 and at least they are using it and promoting it in some way.. but for $350K I think they could do more / better with the domain. Everybody knows that I’m not a huge fan of a redirect / forward and the more money spent on the domain, the less I like it!

Overstock.com is a great domain name, brand name and much more, so I wouldn’t be pulling any focus away from what they already have unless it was generic domain names to some of the popular products they sell.