Pool.com

Type:	Corporation
Industry:	Secondary Domain Market
Founded:	2003
Founder(s):	Rob Hall, J. Michael Arrington
Headquarters:	26 Auriga Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2E 8B7
Country:	Canada
Website:	Pool.com

The business model of Pool.com is one in which domains are acquired when dropped or otherwise made available and then auctioned. Demand is established as customers "back order" domains that they need.

The site also contains a marketplace where sales and purchase of domains can occur. Pool.com has several thousand domains for sale. The site functions by tracking domains that are deleted that thus become available for sale, and it tracks tens of thousands of these every day.

There are also a number of other services offered that are related to the main business. They offer featured domain lists and key word alerts. The fact that the site functions via auction provides another useful market for those with domains to sell. At the same time, since the site tracks so many domains that are deleted, it is an excellent place for a person dealing with domains to do business, allowing for a rapid purchase as well as auctioning off of domains in one's portfolio.

Pool.com has quite an extensive network of registrars that powers the acquisition of names. These back order requests can be made free of charge, and allow the acquisition of a deleted domain at a nominal cost, unless there are multiple bidders and then any price is possible.

Pool.com's interface is well designed and provides easy viewing of domains going under auction, and enables you to put domains from your portfolio up for auction as well. There are adequate domain searches, as well as categorized listings to make purchases easier.

Business

Pool.com introduced the concept of auctioning off domains that came to the market and charging a customer fees only if they actually acquired a domain.

This made them very competitive as other sites in the same industry charged a customer whether they won a similar auction or not. Of course, now a lot of sites in the industry have imitated this feature, but the fact is that Pool.com instituted it.

Products and Services

Acquisition and auction of domain names, and its variety of supportive infrastructure.

The site's interface is considered rather bare, but on the other hand this is hardly an industry that requires a graphics intensive site. The interface is easy to use, and provides affective access to the site's vast domain marketing infrastructure.

Pool.com's domain market is both innovative and effective, and their auction system of selling available domains allows for cost effective sales and purchases of domains.

Recent news

During the year 2010 Pool.com began to auction IDN names that had Hebrew characters. With the considerable customer base, especially in Israel, this auction is expected to open a considerable market in Hebrew IDNs.

Controversy

Pool.com has received flack for advertising and selling pre-registrations for new gTLD domains months, even years, ahead of when they would be potentially be ready. In August, 2011 it was noted that Pool.com was advertising registration for new TLDs on its homepage. The new gTLD program had only just been approved by ICANN two months earlier, and no new gTLDs had yet been submitted, accepted, or created. It was unclear if this was a mere test run at the advertising and marketing approach or an actual business move.

Digital Archery Engine

In April 2012, the company announced its digital archery service offering to new gTLD applicants through its Digital Archery Engine. It was a pro-rated service, starting at a $25,000 cost for a first batch placement, and no fee would be assessed for a low batch placement.

In a letter to ICANN, the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) criticized Pool.com and described it as an "insider exploiting the digital archery system as a “revenue extraction opportunity." In his response, Rob Hall was thankful to the IPC for the free advertisement and argued that the company is not manipulating anything or offering its service to insiders but that they are offered to everyone.

External links

• Pool.com

Intellectual Property Constituency