While watching a little Fox News today, a bearded man was in a commercial talking about taxes and helping people solve tax debt.

The man never "said" the domain name of the business in the commercial, but the more I thought about it, how would of he said it? In text, near the bottom of the screen displayed the domain name txmstr.com . The companies name is Tax Masters.

Either the A, E and S were broke on their keyboard when they registered the domain name at 1&1 or it’s the new abbreviation for Tax and Masters I guess?

TXMSTR.com is one ugly domain name and IMO doesn’t even come close to TaxMasters.com. I would "create" a name and matching domain before advertising with that one….

Looking into the domain/site txmstr.com a little more, It looks like many past customers are very unhappy about the service provided according to ComplaintsBoard.com .

Just because a company owns a Premium Domain Name doesn’t always mean they provide a great service, but it’s more likely when a company has an Ugly Domain Name like txmstr.com that they will not have a very good BBB rating. No company is perfect, but I will stick with companies who pay up for a good domain that matches their name or product, as the company is also much more likely to provide quality service as well.

TaxMasters.com is a Parked Domain btw. Secondly, always use BBB.org before you purchase any service or work with a company.

This post is for tools that Cost Money and ones that I would at least Try or Buy if I could. I have purchased several of these tools but many I simply can not afford them all. (many people think I am rich, but the fact is.. I’m not)

Domain Tools that will help you be a better domain name investor:

DRT (Domain Research Tool) This tool costs $129 through my affiliate link. Normal costs can go as high as $499. I use this tool mainly to run domain name lists for Domain Age. You can use DRT to get many metrics on domain names and you can see the full list here or purchase it for $129 using that link as well. This is a One Time Fee. Nice Tool but last I heard support has fell off a lot.

FreshDrop.net PRO Subscription. I have Not purchased this, but I would if I could.  $32.95/Month ($395.40/yr) I do use the Free options provided like the TDNAM lists and love the service. The lists provided have all the metrics DRT provides (but they are already done for you), so FreshDrop Pro is an alternative options for those not wanting to run their own lists (minus PendingDelete lists) or buying the DRT software. FreshDrop Pro provides domain name metrics for domains listed on NameJet, SnapNames, Pool & Afternic. Plus don’t forget the free stuff like Godaddy (TDNAM), Sedo, Ebay, Fabulous and Reg Fee domains. Metrics are Very Important for sorting these huge lists, plus a domains value is many times found in it’s metrics. You can read more Here.

XSite Pro 2. I have purchased this software. If you are thinking of developing, XSite Pro is a Super Tool and great for mainly static style sites (info with a couple tools etc). You do not need to know code or any fancy tricks. The software is easy to use and allows you to put up a website very easy with a bunch of templates and stock images a click away (you do need Hosting). This tool is Not for somebody that is looking to build a bunch of dynamic sites. You can build some by adding script to the pages, but for the price, ease of use and it’s One Time Fee, XSite Pro 2 is worth it. The current promotion is $197, which is a $100 savings. You can read more here or purchase.

Estibot Pro Exclusive Membership. This is some pretty unique stuff! Many Bulk options for several of the tools which is a Great Thing! I have Not purchased this, but I would if I could. Cost for the Pro Membership is $39.95/Mo or $359/Yr. Check out the Membership Comparison Chart or just the Join page as a whole to see what Estibot.com offers Here It’s not just an appraisal site that’s for sure.

DomainTools.com Membership. I have purchased this service and am a Silver Member which costs $15 per Month (what I do) or is $149/Yr. I simply use the service for access to Whois History which I use for several reason, which include verifing if a domain name changed hands (really sold) etc. They offer 3 packages, Silver $149/Yr, Gold $292.50/Yr and Elite $2,700/Yr. You can read more about the services DT offers Here.

(Interesting side note… DomainTools.com holds the First 6 Spots (in my region) on Google for the keyword phrase domain tools. I have never seen that before. First 6 spots on an SE…)

Afternic.com Seller. I have purchased this service. In order to be able to sell your domain names on Afternic.com the fee is $19.95/Yr. It is a small fee, but I am in my second year of using this service and Afternic has only sold One of my domain names (I have sold a total of 3 or 4, but I sent the buyers for the others). I am leaning toward NOT suggesting to use this service, but the decision is always up to you.

BANS aka Build A Niche Store. This is a website script tool that allows creating websites using the eBay affiliate network. I have purchased this script and it was a one time fee of $99. I no longer suggest people to use it, as it appears Search Engines have a problem with the script and you are better off using Xsite Pro and the tools directly from EbayAffiliateNetwork.com IMO.

I’m sure there are many other tools and services available that I may have missed or didn’t mention but this gives you an idea of what I have purchased and or use and what’s on my wish list and so on… Feel free to post a service you think is worth getting put on the list. If I don’t like it, don’t expect it to stay in the comments. If I like it, I will add it to the list.

Since you are the one that reads DotWeekly.com I would like to hear from you! I want the good and the bad and even the ugly. I want to hear what you want!

I would like to hear things like the following:

• Do you like DotWeekly.com’s site design? Does it even matter?
• Have you used (clicked) any of DotWeekly’s ads in the past? What would you use if it was their? Ads are cancer and I don’t click them?
• If DotWeekly added a News Letter, what would you like to see in it? Would you sign up? I’m sick of News Letters?
• If DotWeekly offered to post about your company or product, would you send DotWeekly A shirt, Your Product or other promotional products from your company in return of me writing about it?
• Would you like me to do Video Posts? What would you like me to show if you would rather hear/see video posts?
•  Do you like to hear Industry News or would you rather me keep doing what I am doing? (tips, tricks and speaking my mind on domain related services and what works and didn’t work for me)
• If DotWeekly.com was no longer here, would you give 2 shits?
• What if DotWeekly was owned and run by somebody else? Would you still read it or at least give the new owner a shot?
• Should DotWeekly.com start posting about stuff "outside" the domain industry but stay geared toward the internet?
• Would you be happy if I stopped posting all these questions?

So let me know what you want! Shorter posts, more pictures, No ads on the site, stop bitching, be more positive, cheap domain names, expensive domain names, etc.

Basket.com brought in a unique price of $88,888 and MySoccer.com brought in $50,000 at Sedo.com . Crunchy.com was reported sold for $6,000 and FitStart.com brought in $3,350 as well.

Basket.com, according to Whois.sc was purchased by Megaraptor Limited which is located in Hong Kong. As many know, 8 is a very lucky number in that area and might explain the $88,888 purchase price. Still a great domain!

MySoccer.com is a bit more interesting so I wanted to look into it a bit. The domain was first registered in 1998 and appears to have about 4,500 monthly unique visitors. 6 Wikipedia pages and 1 Yahoo directory listing. I checked SERP’s for the terms Soccer, Play Soccer and My Soccer and the domain is only ranked for My Soccer which it is ranked #1 on Google and MSN. (Nothing overly that great so far). It does appear that the website might of been sold with the domain as well but the price for this one I am thinking goes to "Want" by the buyer.

For those interested, BailoutBill(.)com which I own and chatted about a little last week is currently in Escrow. I will update more with a full story on the purchase and so on after escrow clears.

An already famous book was wrote last year by David Kesmodel titled The Domain Game. Sometimes that title speaks volumes if you really think about it.

Selling anything is like a big game. It’s just how professional you are playing this game and how educated.

Domaining isn’t a game to me but I think many think it is. Some of the most popular places in the domain world are domain name forums like NamePros.com and DNF.com . I often think that Age plays a big part in any business or industry. With Time you become educated.

Are Lawyers 14-18? Are Stock Brokers 14-18? Are Doctors 14-18?

A 14 year old looks at things totally different then a 30 year old does. A 14 year old worries about having their homework done and praying mommy or daddy will wake them up for school the next morning after playing video games until 11 PM.

A 30 year old is already planning retirement, making and saving money. Many purchase life insurance to help their family if something were to happen to them. Many 30 year old people are waking up their kids who stayed up playing video games.. the same kids that do not even have an alarm clock. A 30 year old knows the value of money a lot more then one who is 14. Most 14 year old’s have never Earned a dollar in their life, so how would they value it.

If you are a domainer, did you know that some of the people that you may be chatting with on a forum may be 14 years old? 15 or 16? 10.9% of members on NamePros.com are 18 or younger. 10.9% doesn’t seem like much, but 6.3% of the members are 41-50 and only 3.9% are over 50.

Do you think these same members are at other popular places like Sedo.com, SnapNames.com, NameJet.com, Godaddy? I think so.

Have I made my point yet? Yes and No…

Domain name forums are Not the best places to do business, ok places to gain some knowledge and not always the best place find a lot of trust. Keep in mind that for a couple NP$ you can buy a Senior Member tag line by your user name.

Did you ever list a domain name on Sedo.com and the buyer never paid? Could be somebody who thinks buying domain names is a game? Did you ever bid and bid on a domain and finally win… maybe the other bidder was 14 and didn’t have a pot to piss in and never planned on paying… They made you pay though!

Ok, I’ll get to my point here.

Domain forums need to tighten up the rules. 18 or Sorry, can’t do it! Now it’s hard to verify the age of anybody online, but putting in steps can surely help. Credit card, two forms of ID to verify etc.

The same thing needs to be done via SnapNames, Sedo or any place Real Money is being exchanged. You can’t tell me that Real Business people buy domain names all the time and Never Pay! (I’ve had several $x,xxx sales on SnapNames that the buyer just happened to never pay, same with Sedo) The problem is when these people do not pay, you end up tieing up this domain name. Time spent with contacts back and forth to figure out what’s going on etc.

The domain industry has a lot of growing up to do. Businesses in the domain industry need to put on their big boy pants and lay down the law.

The next time you try and sell your valuable asset, think about where and who you want to buy it. When your buying a domain via auction, are you bidding against somebody that doesn’t even own a wallet?