Subdomains listed on Sedo

Scam or new development?

[acersun]

I've found on Sedo domains listed such as:

widget.Example.com

Whereas Example happens to be a 2-letter domain similar to a certain ccTLD.

I am completely confused.

Please, someone enlighten me on this.

Thanks.

[jtara]

What's to be enlightened?

Would the name be of value to you, or not?

[Webwork]

Is it a perpetual licensing deal?

How is the price fixed?

Do you pay each year or pay "forever"?

What happens if the domain is sold? Is "the agreement" binding on successors, assigns, etc.? Really? How is that managed?

What happens if the domain is lost in a UDRP hearing?

What is the proposed subdomain involves exploitation of a trademark?

What, if anything, might jeopardize the root domain? So, if the root domain "has issues" does your website go down the tubes?

What is the reputation, history, etc. of the root domain holder? Longstanding? Functional model for years? Evidence that they root domain holder will be around for awhile: Corporate structure, etc.?

Is there a specific Sedo subdomain "sale" contract?

Lots of questions.

Subdomains have been sold for years. There have been and may be some advantages to subdomains. However, once word of any effort to game search engines gets out in the public you can be somewhat assured that filters will be applied.

Think for yourself before acting. Spend an hour thinking about what might happen. Write down your questions. Get answers before acting.

[acersun]

Webworks

You put my thoughs in very clear questions. This is exactly why I choose "Scam or new development" as subtitle.

I would never consider to "buy" a subdomain for exact these reasons.

For me to buy means to possess and therefore to control a good or a right. Non of this applies to a subdomain. Thus for me this offer has a smell like it was designed to trick non adept domain buyers, all the more that the mentioned ccTLD equivalent letter combination stands for a TLD which is currently before it's landrush period. (Mods, maybe this descripton goes to far, please edit if need be).

But being a noob or shall I say wannabe domainer, I took the opportunity to ask this question here, just to make sure that I did not yet discover that there are some sort of mechanisms available to make the buy of a subdomain less risky (such as lets say an escrow company running the server and controlling the main domain which of course would not solve any SE related consideration at all).

Many thanks to you, Webworks.

[gpmgroup]

Some very enlightening points Mr. Webwork thanks for sharing :)

[AhmedF]

Are we talking about .uk.com .us.com etc? Sedo has been doing that for a while, as the parent company of .uk.com/us.com/etc has been selling subdomains for a while.

[cerebrum]

Webwork is the "Grandfather of Domains Industry"

[Agzl]

It could be a scam. If you are buying a sub-domain for example: Hello.Example.com and Example.com is a fully developed website, the owner could be trying to raise some quick cash by selling some sub domains hosted on his site-This is a scam.

<Some domain resellers have an establihsed history of providing> FULL control control of subdomains,

[edited by: Webwork at 7:32 pm (utc) on Mar. 5, 2006]
[edit reason] Per TOS, no "sticky me" posts; Per Charter use Example.com. [/edit]

[jtara]

I apologize for my initial short glib response. Obviously, there is more to the decision than whether the domain is of value to you.

So, I'll give a short glib response that's USEFUL:

"Investigate, then invest."

Not limited to buying domain names. Remember to apply this to everything you buy from an unknown seller, and you'll be a lot happier. :)

As the last poster pointed out, there are several sellers of sub-domains that are well-established, having been operating for many years. And there are probably many more that are just scams. The wonderful thing about the web is that you can use it to help you tell the difference.

[acersun]

Thanks to all of you.

As Ahmed assumed, this particular cc Com domain is operated by the same company as the ones he mentioned.

After checking their company site, they seem to run a respectable business. Checking just the particular cc .com domain (eu.com in this case) beforehand, I found just one of those typical PPC pages pretending to be a directory of sorts.

Being a neebie trying to understand the Domainer industry, I learnd again something:

- buying sub domains is INDEED a risky thing
- however, there ARE established companies selling cc .com domains

I should have checked the domain owner's own site in the first place, before posting my initial question. Mea culpa, maxima culpa. I would then have phrased it differently:

Example.COUNTRYCODE.com vs. EXAMPLE.ccTLD - really an option?

Personally I doubt that. Even when there are no issues in terms of control of the particular sub domain, there are issues in regards to the SE performance of such a subdomain not to speak about the subdomain site's credibility when visitors check the main domain and find something absolutely NOT related to the sub domain's business.