Old Linn Run Coffee Bean Roastery : Domain name rant continued :-)

Who we are......by Kandi

Who we are...... by Kandi

It was my desire to have a coffee roasting business in Ligonier Valley for many years. I discovered a transportable roaster and knew that “now was the time”. My partner, Dave was crazy enough to agree to the idea and “so it began”. Our business was established in June, 2010

We ordered the roaster, made with all U.S.A. parts, from a small company out west, traveling nine days round trip to pick it up. It was quite the adventure--- as I’m sure the business will be too.

Our intention is to offer quality coffee that is fresh roasted. This makes all the difference in taste, as our increasing number of coffee “fans” can attest to. To maintain peak freshness, the beans are roasted after they are ordered.

Since our first event, Back to the Garden Market, “just down the road” from us, we’ve brewed and sold coffee at many festivals and markets. Along with purchasing direct from us….our coffee is sold at various other businesses from Rector to Pittsburgh with more in the works. A list is posted. Other businesses have expressed interest and we are receiving a lot of phone and e-mail orders. The positive response is very encouraging.

We hope that once you try our coffee you’ll taste the difference too and become a valued customer and friend as well!!

Friday, March 22, 2013

Domain name rant continued :-)

Please excuse these long posts. I hope that they will help other small businesses in some way. Maybe you can use our trials and tribs to learn what to do or….not to do.

Last time I posted here I was ranting and raving about the fact that I discovered some obscure website had our loooong domain name. I was not able to purchase it after the local website designer let it expire & someone else came in the “back door” and purchased it.

I am still royally pissed off that this stuff is legally allowed to occur…if it is legal!!! Our name is associated with a random page with Thai language on the side. I copied some of the Thai and translated it over a site online. It took me to a facebook page of some young man (assuming Thailand) with horrid photos of abused dogs, some skinned alive.

A couple of friends taught me about the “whois” links to find out who owns our domain name and the expiration date…...
Terry McDermot
Wild West Domains, Wild West Domains dns@wildwestdomains.com
Wild West Domains
14455 N Hayden Rd Suite 219
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
+1.4805058800 Fax -- +1.4805058844

I chatted w/Intuit rep- How can I get ownership when it expires soon? He said: domain name was purchased through GoDaddy. I had to contact them & to relay details.

Chatted w/GoDaddy rep explaining in detail the situation.

Some of the information gained:

Wild West Domains LLC owned it
Once domains expire it can take up to 90 days to be released by the Registry in order to be able to register the domain again. So you wouldn't be able to get it back right away.
You can try and see if the current registrant will sell it to you,
otherwise you can attempt to capture it with a backorder or wait until it is released a register it again.

His suggestion: use the backorder option. I created a GoDaddy account. OLR paid $20.98 to backorder our domain name. It will be monitored and we’ll be alerted if there's any other buyers. If not, we'll buy it for $20.98 OR if so, get into a bidding war via domain auction. Hopefully no one will want it. (side note: if you ever need to actually speak to someone at GoDaddy, there isn’t a toll free # & the wait was 18 minutes when I tried... did the online chat instead) Please WISH US LUCK with this!

I became more curious. Obviously Wild West Domains LLC’s business is buying expired domain names and “holding them for ransom” to sell to the actual business or person that created it. I did some more research. I wondered if I should add WildWestDomains.com on my backorder list and buy that too OR what if I just kept the bidding going to get the SOB to have to pay a tidy sum for it? Revenge…… fun to think about. ;~)

As I researched, I began to connect the dots. Something “smelled rotten in Denmark"…or Arizona this time. Go Daddy is located in Arizona. Wild West Domain is located in Arizona….same area code too. hmmmmmmmm

Then I found this article from 2008:

http://domainnamewire.com/2008/12/03/standard-tactics-llc-how-godaddy-profits-from-expired-domains/

I do believe I hit on something. Now what to do with this? (Maybe we should all backorder the domain name GoDaddy.com and make them pay big $$$ thru the auction process. ) Seriously though, I’m wondering if there is some agency out there that I should report this too. Nothing like wasting time on this when there is soooo much to do otherwise but this is just not right!

What do you think? Would love to see the comments here on the blog!!!

Old Linn Run Coffee Bean Roastery