Dave, Serves me right for responding to a question with a question. ;-)
So let me be as straight forward as I can.... Q: I'm a reseller, can i opt-out of the tucows auction service? A: Yes!! There is currently no way to opt-out a single domain of the auction program, hence my question about what scenarios would require it if you were a participating reseller. But at a global level we can set you up so that names drop as they have in the past. You've made a number of other great points, to which I wont address directly at this late hour, but would like to discuss further after having a few discussion internally. The indemnity question is particularly juicy and I'd like to take that one on sooner than later as well. Thanks! James On 11-Nov-05, at 4:58 PM, Dave Warren wrote: > First of all, pardon my language. I'll keep it to a minimum. > > In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > James M Woods <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> What kind of scenario do you envision needing to opt a domain name >> out of a possible auction? > > 1) General principle, for one. > > 2) My reading of the registrar agreements suggest that the auction > service may or may not be contractually permissible, especially if it > happens prior to the domain redemption process. The fact that > "everybody else is doing it" didn't hold any weight when I was a > teenager and everybody else was smoking or drinking or getting > high, and > it doesn't hold any weight with me now. > > Argue if you want, but until Tucows legally indemnifies me, > including a > contractual requirement for Tucows to pay all legal fees, plus my time > for any time and energy I spend should any legal troubles arise, > I'm not > going to be satisfied. If I'm wrong in my reading of the > agreements and > there is no potential lawsuit waiting, then it shouldn't be a risk for > Tucows, so lets see it happen, k? > > I would like to isolate myself from potential lawsuits from litigious > customers, since my vendor has painted what I consider a bulls eye > on my > head, all without offering me anything substantial of value in return. > > The DNS hijacking thing is supposed to bring in an average of what, > $50 > for every 1000 parked domains? If I gave a damn about $50 I'd be at > SRSPlus instead of OpenSRS, I'd be paying $2.50/domain/year less then > I'm paying now and I'd make that $50 back in a fraction of the time it > will ever take me to have 1000 domains expire. Yes I'm tiny, but size > doesn't matter, by the time I'm at 1000 domains and making that $50 > I'd > have saved $2500. > > As for the auction thing, I've listed domains on eBay on behalf of > customers before, rarely have I recovered my costs -- For my typical > customer profile, I'm not expecting any resale of domains post-expiry. > Yay, another risk, without the accompanying reward. > > 3) So what's this risk I'm going on about? Well, lets say it's not in > violation of ICANN's agreements at all and I'm completely wrong. > Wouldn't be the first time. > > I've been threatened more then once by a trademark holder's team of > nimrods over domains which fell close to a legal trademarks. > > The most recent case was a gray area, but was potentially confusing to > customers. Nobody wanted a fight though. > > I was CC'd on all the paperwork, the cease and desist letters > indicated > that I would be a target of the lawsuit both as a reseller and a host. > My lawyer indicated I hadn't done anything wrong, but I'd still > have to > defend myself in court if I was sued. > > The trademark holder and the customer settled, under the terms of > which > the owner of the domain would cease use of the trademarked name as a > business/trade name. > > The domain owner could continue to receive email for the duration > of the > domain registration period, but the customer was explicitly forbidden > from sending mail, publishing the URL, or renewing, selling, giving > away > or otherwise changing ownership of the domain. Any attempt to profit > from use of the domain was also explicitly forbidden. > > Both Tucows' hijacking of expired domains for advertising revenue and > the auction service would have placed both myself as well as my > customer > in potential legal jeopardy as both myself and the customer could > potentially have benefited financially from these actions. > > > > Lets step back from specifics here for a minute though, and look at > why > I selected OpenSRS in the first place, and why I'm still here. It's > sure not for the price. With GoDaddy selling *retail* at $7.95/year, > SRSPlus in the same ballpark in the wholesale world, and OpenSRS > had the > gall to raise prices? -- I'm paying more *wholesale* then my users can > buy RETAIL. Luckily most of my users don't come to me for price or > I'd > have been out of business a long time ago. > > All I really want out of Tucows here is the minimum contractually > required communications between *my* customers and *my* vendor, as > specified by ICANN's agreements and my registration agreement. > > I don't want any value-added crap thrown in, I don't want auctions, or > advertising. I don't want Tucows trying to sell some spam service to > me. I especially don't want Tucows marketing to my customers. > Period. > > Let me repeat: I don't want Tucows involved in my relationship with > *MY* > CUSTOMERS any more then is absolutely required by ICANN. > > Renewal notices, fine. WDRP reminders, I'll live with that (I'm not a > fan, but the good outweighs the negative in the grand scheme of > things.) > Tucows' name when the domain is transferred in or out, again, I get > that. I wish ICANN recognized resellers, but they don't, so I'll > grumble, but that's not Tucows' fault. > > Beyond the contractually required minimum contact, all I want is for > Tucows to stay as far away from my customers as possible. For many > years you did that, and I happily paid more wholesale then the going > retail price, but ultimately everyone was happy. > _______________________________________________ > domains-gen mailing list > [email protected] > http://discuss.tucows.com/mailman/listinfo/domains-gen James M Woods Product Manager - Domains Tucows Inc. www.tucows.com 416.538.5453 My Blog: www.warpjam.com _______________________________________________ domains-gen mailing list [email protected] http://discuss.tucows.com/mailman/listinfo/domains-gen
