I received an odd renewal notice today from a company I didn’t recognize. I looked to see if it was still in my account, which it was, and found the e-mail to be entirely fraudulent. This would be particularly dangerous for naive domain owners who take these kinds of e-mail at face value. The website is hosted at a Russian webhosting company, and the domain are registered in Latvia. The e-mail and whois records are below.

Additional information
ISPRenewal consults companies about their ownership of domain names on the internet. We supply information to companies about to their domain portfolios, administer domain addresses and when a domain name is due to expire we inform businesses that it is time to renew a domain name. If you wish to assign ISPRenewal to extend your domain, please click on the link above. If you do not not wish renew your domain, you may disregard this e-mail. Note! No changes will be made in the WHOIS information if you choose to your domain with us. You will still have your current Domain Service Provider. You may also request your resent Domain Service Provider to extend your domain. If you have any enquiries, do not hesitate to contact our customer service center at +44(0)20 33 55 4951 visit us on the web.

Here are the whois records:

Domain ID:D144355989-LROR
Domain Name:DOMAINRENEWAL-ONLINE.ORG
Created On:24-Apr-2007 11:02:20 UTC
Last Updated On:01-Oct-2009 13:01:59 UTC
Expiration Date:24-Apr-2010 11:02:20 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:DomainInfo AB (R29-LROR)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:DI-86-GRU
Registrant Name:Pierre Grundstom
Registrant Organization:Domain Renewal SA
Registrant Street1:Berzu 3
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Cesis
Registrant State/Province:
Registrant Postal Code:5400
Registrant Country:LV
Registrant Phone:+371.25977574
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:grundstromsthlm@spray.se
Admin ID:DI-85-GRU
Admin Name:Pierre Grund
Admin Organization:Domain Renewal SA
Admin Street1:Suite 9 Ansuya Estate
Admin Street2:Revolution Avenue
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Victoria
Admin State/Province:
Admin Postal Code:000
Admin Country:SC
Admin Phone:+32.28080515
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:+32.28080516
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:domainrenewal@email.com
Tech ID:DI-86-GRU
Tech Name:Pierre Grundstom
Tech Organization:Domain Renewal SA
Tech Street1:Berzu 3
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Cesis
Tech State/Province:
Tech Postal Code:5400
Tech Country:LV
Tech Phone:+371.25977574
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:grundstromsthlm@spray.se
Name Server:NS.SVIP.NET
Name Server:NS2.SVIP.NET
Name Server:NS.IVIDHOSTING.NET
Name Server:NS2.IVIDHOSTING.NET
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
DNSSEC:Unsigned

which forwards to this website:

   Domain Name: ISPRENEWAL.COM
   Registrar: DOMAINCONTEXT, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.domaincontext.com
   Referral URL: http://www.domaincontext.com
   Name Server: DNS1.PROXYWEBHOSTING.NET
   Name Server: DNS2.PROXYWEBHOSTING.NET
   Status: ok
   Updated Date: 17-sep-2009
   Creation Date: 21-apr-2009
   Expiration Date: 21-apr-2010

Registrant:

    Sia "ISPRENEWAL"

    Maris Vilumsons        (isprenewal@yandex.ru)

    Makonu 8

    Balozi

    ,LV-2112

    LV

    Tel. +371.25977574

Creation Date: 21-Apr-2009

Expiration Date: 21-Apr-2010

Administrative Contact:

    Sia "ISPRENEWAL"

    Maris Vilumsons        (isprenewal@yandex.ru)

    Makonu 8

    Balozi

    ,LV-2112

    LV

    Tel. +371.25977574

Technical Contact:

    Sia "ISPRENEWAL"

    Maris Vilumsons        (isprenewal@yandex.ru)

    Makonu 8

    Balozi

    ,LV-2112

    LV

    Tel. +371.25977574

Billing Contact:

    Sia "ISPRENEWAL"

    Maris Vilumsons        (isprenewal@yandex.ru)

    Makonu 8

    Balozi

    ,LV-2112

    LV

    Tel. +371.25977574

Status:ACTIVE

Domain servers in listed order:

    dns2.proxywebhosting.net

    dns1.proxywebhosting.net

and the from address in the e-mail:

Domain ID:D157233993-LROR
Domain Name:ONLINEREMINDER.ORG
Created On:30-Sep-2009 21:51:15 UTC
Expiration Date:30-Sep-2010 21:51:15 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Regtime Ltd. (R1602-LROR)
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:ADDPERIOD
Registrant ID:CO570046-RT
Registrant Name:MARIS VILUMSONS
Registrant Organization:Private person
Registrant Street1:Maskavas 55
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Riga
Registrant State/Province:Riga
Registrant Postal Code:LV1003
Registrant Country:LV
Registrant Phone:+371.25977574
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:ivihosting@inbox.lv
Admin ID:CA570046-RT
Admin Name:maris vilumsons
Admin Organization:Private person
Admin Street1:Maskavas 55
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Riga
Admin State/Province:Riga
Admin Postal Code:LV1003
Admin Country:LV
Admin Phone:+371.25977574
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:ivihosting@inbox.lv
Tech ID:CT570046-RT
Tech Name:maris vilumsons
Tech Organization:Private person
Tech Street1:Maskavas 55
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Riga
Tech State/Province:Riga
Tech Postal Code:LV1003
Tech Country:LV
Tech Phone:+371.25977574
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:ivihosting@inbox.lv
Name Server:NS1.NAMESELF.COM
Name Server:NS2.NAMESELF.COM
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
DNSSEC:Unsigned

One of the differences between domain investing and domain speculation is the annual game we play deciding which domains to keep, and which to drop. Domain investors should be investing in high-quality assets that have the highest long-term growth potential, and thus should have very few renew-or-drop decisions.

It is still a good idea to regularly analyze a domain portfolio on a domain-by-domain basis. Reacquainting yourself with your entire portfolio shouldn’t wait for tough financial times or because of adverse conditions.

Here is an example that best illustrates my beliefs:

Say you are investing in space-related domain names. A speculator will buy domains like SpaceTravelCoupons.com and BuyMoonRealEstate.com, while an investor will buy domains like MoonHotel.com and SpaceTravel.com.

An investment has long-term value, and long-term growth opportunities so you would want to renew the two latter domains for a few years out.

As I went through the remainder of my 2009 renewals over the past week, I noticed a few trends about what was renewed and what was not:

It Shouldn’t Be About Individual Domains
I am more frequently making decisions along verticals, for example: space domains out, swineflu domains in. I believe this is how investors should operate. An investor should have distinct groups of domains aligned along verticals, and most of those domains should be top-tier so that a decision to exit a vertical still has an upside.

Keep What Pays, Follow The Money, Be Rational
While a good investor makes decisions on quantitative data, sometimes we have to fight against our own irrationality. My favorite irrational excuse is “brandability.” In one vertical I classified HALF of the domains as “brandable” instead of keyword-driven. In another vertical I found myself hanging on to a group of domains that were making no parking revenue and had not received offers in over two years. Worse than that, they were IDN domains! If you are choosing to keep a group of unprofitable domains, do some calculations to determine how much you have wasted and how much it will cost to continue.

Everything I Dropped Was Speculated Or Poorly Researched
The domains most likely to be dropped were from my early days in a vertical, before I understood how different types of traffic converted. For example, say I speculated and bought the first two space domains mentioned above, and I found that moon-related domains converted better than domains with “space” in them. There were also some SEO terms that I targeted that had not been researched correctly, and it is amazing how time can sift out good decisions and good research.

So when it comes down to it, a good domain investor should not be shedding significant portions of a portfolio every year. You can be sure that you are investing when your portfolio forces you to renew out for many years instead of forcing you to drop.

One of the curses of using SnapNames is receiving domains at a large number of different registrars. And one of my big challenges is transferring those domains to a preferred registrar. I let one of my favorite domains expire by mistake, AmericanSoulmates.com, and was forced to fill out a paper form and pay a ransom of US$155 to have it reinstated.

I’ve experienced the “redeem” functionality of a number of registrars, each with their own quirks. However, Melbourne IT definitely is the quirkiest.