No sooner than a person is introduced to domain investing, affectionately known as “domaining” by domain investors as known as “domainers”, that they soon encounter the ramifications of legally transacting payment and agreement of domains.

Most new investors, a few old ones too, blindly play the payment roulette game when using PayPal or a non-secure payment method when transacting payment and agreement of domains.

Individuals soon come to find out they robbed themselves blind from receiving payment as well as losing their domain in the most horrific cases due to payment clawback, chargeback or disputed credit card payment by purchaser. 

While attending and participating at MERGE! this year, I had the privilege of meeting and moderating a panel — Secrets of Domain Leasing — that included Stevan Lieberman (opposite end of panel from myself), IP Attorney at Greenberg and Lieberman.

Emoji domains burst onto the scene over a year or so ago with a handful of domain investors, speculators, and hobbyists registering nearly 21,000 .WS emoji domains and a few hundred .TO emoji domains.

While the emoji domain craze has subsided with just under 1,500 .WS domains registered (best guess) and mostly single-character, the market for emoji domains has started the journey towards emoji marketing education and usage.

Whether a domain buyer or seller, one of the most challenging questions to answer realistically is how much a given domain is worth?

While one person could think their domain should be valued at 6-7 figures, another person would scoff at such a valuation, rendering the domain’s value as a few hundred dollars on the best day, or simply worthless.

As most of you all know, I attended and participated in the 2nd Annual MERGE! Conference in Orlando, Florida this year.

Having attended its inaugural debut last year, I was honored to Moderate two sessions this year:

• Secrets of Domain Leasing
• Domain Name Solutions for Blockchain Challenges

Both sessions were attended, received and engaged quite well by attendees and industry professionals.

In addition, one of the most anticipated and talked about segments of MERGE! was Appraisals, Comps, & Aftermarket — How do we know that our domains are worth?

While there are only a few new top-level domain extensions that have captured my attention and a few investment dollars, there aren’t many likely to stand the test of time.

While there are thousands of new top-level domain extensions to choose from, there are only a handful of industry professionals I’d be willing to put my money on being and building a profitable success.

With Day One and Day Two of MERGE! long gone, I had the pleasure of kicking off Day Three moderating the Domain Name Solutions for Blockchain Challenges panel which consisted of Jothan Frakes, Jebidiah Burnett, Toby Hall, Dave Evanson, and Jodee Rich.