Quotes.com was reported "sold" during the extended domain name auction for DomainFEST NYC which took place in August 2010 for $1,115,000 but I haven’t seen or heard anybody report who the buyer was, so I will.
That’s where the problem comes in. The whois still shows the same owner as before the auction and that was in 2010:
Registrant:
Dotzup.com Inc.
305 NE 6th Street #285
Grants Pass, OR 97526
US
1 360 366 0364
Big deals can take a long time to complete and I noticed a DNS change on January 22, 2011 to MarkMonitor and Quotes.com now forwards to http://www.allstate.com/landingpages/domain-quote.aspx?TFN=1-866-377-6840&campaign=444440000010195&cid=OTC-RedirectDomainPortfolio&att=quotes.com so I thought the domain did sell (to Allstate) but whois just wasn’t updated for whatever reason.
But that didn’t make sense to me! Who pays over $1 Million dollars and not update the whois data to the buyers entity and only change the DNS. They don’t!
After checking with a few sources, (very credible sources) it was confirmed that the "sale" never completed after the DomainFEST NYC auction for Quotes.com.
Why the DNS change to MarkMonitor in late January? Some kind of action likely took place with the domain (rent, lease to own, traffic test) etc. by somebody around that time frame and likely the reason for the DNS change/ redirect and the whois remaining the same. Was it the same entity that didn’t pay the $1 Million +? I’m not sure.
I do know that Quotes.com did NOT sell for $1,115,000 at the DomainFEST extended auction, because the deal fell through.
That has dropped the extended auction totals from over $1.2 Million in "sales", down to a little better than $100 grand and that’s if all the rest reported "sold" completed.
I did several searches using some data in the forwarding URL that Quotes.com goes to, but was unable to dig up that much credible data to figure out who is behind the forward. I was able to find several domains (Bergwood.net) which appear to be owned by Allstate and Allstate does use MarkMonitor, but other domains that do not appear to be owned by Allstate but still use the same redirect that contains data from the URL like "cid=OTC-RedirectDomainPortfolio".
Somebody is behind the forwards, but I wasn’t able to dig that info up.
PPC
Dude…..you need to be hired by some company in the parking biz to help them track shit down.
You have an uncanny ability to investigate. I’m not talking about this one domain, just overall you have a lot of angles.
If not be a lawyer, PI, or real estate investor that can wade though the barriers.
Gnanes
lol good one.
Jamie Zoch
@PPC,
I’d love to be PI! That would be fun.
Jamie Zoch
@Gnanes,
This is a true story. Just wanted to be clear about that. I know it’s April Fool’s day, but DNN.com took an approach to the AF post I was going to make, so I never wrote one.
BullS
It is a small town in Oregon, call him or her.
What that kind of money, s/he is freaking rich.
t
The domain redirects to a landing page for an allstate paypercall program. This program is used by affiliates. What is most interesting is this RedirectDomainPortfolio&att, I will guess AT&T bought it. Just a guess.
Gnanes
Ouch that’s a big loss. seller should sue oversee plus deadbeat buyer.
Jamie Zoch
@t,
I’m pretty sure the &att=quotes.com doesn’t mean AT&T. The &att is likely just part of the tracking URL. I think the biggest clue is OTC-RedirectDomainPortfolio. I think OTC, means Other Than Collision… or the OTC relates in someway to who the portfolio owner is.
Rob Sequin
I guess we’ll have to wait for Oversee to announce the news with the new auction total.
Right.
Just like I’m waiting for .co to announce how many new registrations they got from the Super Bowl ad.
Right.
Algis
jewelry.net is another one and I’m sure there are many such sales that never completed.
Jamie Zoch
@Rob,
I hear you!
Jamie Zoch
@Algis,
Thanks for pointing that one out. Jewelry.net was reported “sold” for $270,000 June 2010 at the TRAFFIC Vancouver auction. Tom Wargo shown as the owner before the auction and still today. I didn’t confirm this one, but by looking at whois, it very likely didn’t complete.
Louise
There were a number that didn’t close at that one. The initial sum was respectable, over a half million, until Jewelry.net didn’t go through and a couple others. UsedCars/UsedCar.net were bid on, but didn’t make reserve. Who knows what really happens behind the scenes? Maybe some of those sold in brokering later.