Domain squatters

[AtW]

The mall owners would not give a toss as long as all rents were paid.

That's not true - right now big mall owners refuse more retail space (even when they have vacant units available for rent) to mobile shops because too many of them around. That's right - mall owners are not that stupid to get short term rent increase over long term damage done to customer base - they want nice right mix of shops because otherwise attractiveness of the shopping center will drop.

Domain squatters are not limiting the supply of domain names.

Most of domains name - millions of them - are bought by domain squatters. I know that for fact because I actually analysed the situation when we had to crawl these domains - there are IPs on which hundreds of thousands of domains with holding pages are hosted!

Such behavior would not have been tolerated in real world because there are anti-competitive laws that regulate that kind of stuff: they should be applied to cyberspace too to get rid of those parasites.

[The Lone Gunman]

That's not true - right now big mall owners refuse more retail space (even when they have vacant units available for rent) to mobile shops because too many of them around. That's right - mall owners are not that stupid to get short term rent increase over long term damage done to customer base - they want nice right mix of shops because otherwise attractiveness of the shopping center will drop.



Most of domains name - millions of them - are bought by domain squatters. I know that for fact because I actually analysed the situation when we had to crawl these domains - there are IPs on which hundreds of thousands of domains with holding pages are hosted!

Such behavior would not have been tolerated in real world because there are anti-competitive laws that regulate that kind of stuff: they should be applied to cyberspace too to get rid of those parasites.

I hope you see the Irony of your mall owners example. The mall owners are efectively domain squaters deciding the price of the shop fronts and deciding who gets to use them.
OK the domain squatters didnt build the internet.

My bottom line is that domain names are a comodity and an enterprising company has purchased them with the intent of cornering the market. If you dont like it dont buy.
I think a similar thing happened when 3G licenses went on sale.

The biggets travesty is that the domain name registration bodies have sold these domains by the million in the first place, particularly those that relate to companies already in existance.

Just because you dont like it doesnt make it wrong and if you had speculated a few million buying up names you would want a return too. Considering domains ar 5 quid a pop and you say some squatters have millions of names registered then the squatters have taken a hell of a punt.

[AtW]

I hope you see the Irony of your mall owners example. The mall owners are efectively domain squaters deciding the price of the shop fronts and deciding who gets to use them.

Mall owners actually create malls, these dont come for free, and they do not keep 90% of their real estate empty with sign - you can rent it for 10 times the normal price it costs: if domain squatters were not scum they'd be selling the domains they bought for any price, yet they choose to keep those for many years unsold in order to maximise price on some of the domains that they want rip off price.

Bottom line is this - its anti-competitive behavior that is not tolerated in modern market economics: such companies are subject to price controls, yet in cyberspace they get away with it.

[expat]

...bottom line...If you dont like it dont buy.

Well said.

[AtW]

Well said.

ok, so if you don't like water rates then don't buy it then? FFS, its a local monopoly that (thank goodness) is regulated and they can't buy all water facilities and triple prices just like that: you guys need to be up to date on subject of "anti-competitiveness" and "monopolies".

[Emperor Dalek]

If you dont like it dont buy.

Absolutely. If you won't pay the price DodgyDomains 'R' Us are asking for AtW.com then it is worth precisely nothing to them and they have wasted their money. Who's having the last laugh then?

[expat]

ok, so if you don't like water rates then don't buy it then? FFS, its a local monopoly that (thank goodness) is regulated and they can't buy all water facilities and triple prices just like that: you guys need to be up to date on subject of "anti-competitiveness" and "monopolies".

FFS it´s not a monopoly, you need to learn the meaning of the word (ah, now we're getting a good argument!). There's normally only one water supply, so they have a monopoly. There are many domain names, so someone selling one of them does not have a monopoly of domain names (ICANN does but that's another story). If you don't like the price for ska.com then register super-killer-app.com. Maybe you don't like it as much, but you have a choice. It's not a monopoly, just a market where your preferred product is out of your preferred price range.

[The Lone Gunman]

ok, so if you don't like water rates then don't buy it then? FFS, its a local monopoly that (thank goodness) is regulated and they can't buy all water facilities and triple prices just like that: you guys need to be up to date on subject of "anti-competitiveness" and "monopolies".

I was hoping to avoid calling you an arsehole today but you will insist on being one.

Why do you insist on bringing in irrelevant examples and the arguing about the examples? Waht the fook has water supplier got to do with domain names? Water is a local commodity and we can not live without water.
Domain names are not a monopoly nor are they a life and death issue and you can create any one you like. If it is already owned then you either negotiate a price or find another name.
There are so many examples of companies that buy up commodities to create a market price for themselves. So what?

You have no right to a particular domain name and if some enterprising chap is willing to take a punt then let them. You have a choice. Buy or walk away.

[TheMonkey]

There is no excuse for going in the sweet shop and buying ALL the push pops so you can sell them to the children for £19250 each (the precise markup of these squatters).

[AtW]

Nominet is a monopoly in the UK.

The behavior of cybersquatting companies who buy lots of domains from registars is a classic example of anti-competitive behavior: restricting supply of goods or services and charging a lot more for small part of such supply sold: they do not add any value, a domain is an electronic thing that is not made any better by having bought it, so price hike from $10 to $500 or more is purely speculative.

Let's just leave it at that.