EW3N Acquires DomainManage.co.uk (.com)

[Ryan Ewen]

Domain Manage was a pioneer as a landing page provider which we acquired for a 5 figure sum.

We will keep the platform running (with new features &. design updates) but will also use the technology to get a quick start for our com platform.

In the background our com platform (digital candy uk - soon to be renamed) is pioneering and will revolutionise the marketplace experience. We anticipate an end of year launch for our bespoke platform and features will include:

- Lease To Own
- BYO Lead
- Domain Categorisation
- Crypto & Payment Processing (Meta Mask Integration)
- Nameserver Management & SSL provision
- Domain Renewals
- Domain Monetisation
- Inline Chat
- LLM integration & Logo Creation (also available within Brandable.uk)
- Lending
- One click send to auction in any of our 100 specific auction platforms (launch end of year)
- Cross Platform integration with all our assets within EW3N & DOT UK GROUP
- Enterprise Analytics
- One click broker check-out, where brokers can request access to assets
- Salesforce integration for ROBO Brokering
- Domain Insurance & Legal Support

The com platform is inspired from a Web3 perspective so it will be innovative & intuitive.

 

[dee]

Cool. As a current user with a few hundred domains on the platform will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[DJ]

Very interesting acquisition I hope it works out well for you.

I was never able to try the platform properly under previous ownership as their nameservers were blocked on a BT Web Protect. I tried hard to get them removed, but to no avail at the time.

I'm no longer with BT so am unable to check if it is still a problem, but you might want to check and see.

Send me an email or message me if you need more info.

Congrats!

 

[Ryan Ewen]

Very interesting acquisition I hope it works out well for you.

I was never able to try the platform properly under previous ownership as their nameservers were blocked on a BT Web Protect. I tried hard to get them removed, but to no avail at the time.

I'm no longer with BT so am unable to check if it is still a problem, but you might want to check and see.

Send me an email or message me if you need more info.

Congrats!

Thank you.

I will look into it and see what the issue is. If you can email anything you have to [email protected] that would be appreciated.

 

[Helmuts]

Congratulations!!

 

[Ryan Ewen]

Cool. As a current user with a few hundred domains on the platform will be interesting to see what happens.

Would be great if we could have a chat this week to see what features you are using and what would make your life easier/better in the short term with Domain Manage

 

[dee]

Would be great if we could have a chat this week to see what features you are using and what would make your life easier/better in the short term with Domain Manage

No problem. Ill drop you a mail early in week

 

[DomainAngel]

Would have been nice to receive an email or website notice that new owners now had access to your domain data and not have to just read about it on a forum.

 

[JMI]

Would have been nice to receive an email or website notice that new owners now had access to your domain data and not have to just read about it on a forum.

I decided to let Ryan tell everyone about the acquisition rather than post it here.

Let me assure you I could have sold DM to other parties but came to the conclusion that only Ryan and his team had the necessary expertise to continue to provide this service.

 

[DomainAngel]

I decided to let Ryan tell everyone about the acquisition rather than post it here.

Let me assure you I could have sold DM to other parties but came to the conclusion that only Ryan and his team had the necessary expertise to continue to provide this service.

An email to your customers would have been more appropriate and then again from the new owner. Data breaches by the dozen and not two ducks given about your users. That's ducks with an F of course.

 

[Ben Thomas]

An email to your customers would have been more appropriate and then again from the new owner. Data breaches by the dozen and not two ducks given about your users. That's ducks with an F of course.

Not a data breach as acquisitions happen literally every single day. By GDPR scope, this falls under "legitimate interests", but I agree, some decorum is necessary when handing over your business to new owners.

 

[Ryan Ewen]

I've always been open an honest about our acquisitions. I apologise that you weren't contacted via email but your interests are being protected and nothing is going to change other than some site improvements which is why the acquisition went ahead.

 

[Whois-Search]

Has anyone actually stopped for a moment and thought to themselves:

- Why are long term domainers (developers) looking to “exit” the .uk market?

- If there was real growth in parking / auctions / landing pages they wouldn’t want to sell?

- Without platform consolidation (one brand) how can you continue to market and develop all platforms at once?

Even when Godaddy acquire platforms such as UniRegistry.com or Dan.com they eventually shut each acquired brand down. That is because they are buying up the competition (market share) and customers to pump in to the “Godaddy” brand:

Uniregistry market to shut down next month

Meanwhile the pioneers who really developed the innovative brands go on to do other things:

Dan.com founder launches housing project at Anyone.com

So my advice is follow what the founders and market does next and not continue to run what they left behind. You need to innovate and bring to market new products never seen before:

New ChatGPT integration allows SMBs to generate compelling web content in seconds

Just a thought…

 

[Ryan Ewen]

I think there are a lot of OG's who are a bit older. DM was acquired as we have 22k coms so wanted something to bridge the gap to our own platform and do updates that we need.

There is a transition going on and the uk market is flat so needs some quality developments to fill the gap that exists.

Riz wasn't a domainer which is why he exited. He will be back at some point now his GD terms are full-filled.

 

[Ryan Ewen]

Oh yes and money is made in down markets! UK is certainly down & Nominet recent situation doesn't help.

 

[Paullas]

This is why i started working on DomainUi.com as i felt the gap in my market with my domains was missing. DomainUi will not only allow my domains to earn the registration fees back each year as each domain only needs to earn 50p a month and the ones i am testing are doig that at the moment and more. I am adding features daily as those who i speak to on whatsapp and linkedin know what i am doing and know what is coming so if you havent signed up yet do it sooner rather than later to get your domains earning there keep back

This is why i am letting other sign up and test.use it and if there domains earn then great at least its another revenue stream they can bring in.

 

[JMI]

Riz wasn't a domainer which is why he exited. He will be back at some point now his GD terms are full-filled.

I hope the venture works out, might even need anyone/co/uk when it comes to blighty

 

[jamesbkk]

Great post thx.

Shame flip.uk was purchased and left to fade away.......

Has anyone actually stopped for a moment and thought to themselves:

- Why are long term domainers (developers) looking to “exit” the .uk market?

- If there was real growth in parking / auctions / landing pages they wouldn’t want to sell?

- Without platform consolidation (one brand) how can you continue to market and develop all platforms at once?

Even when Godaddy acquire platforms such as UniRegistry.com or Dan.com they eventually shut each acquired brand down. That is because they are buying up the competition (market share) and customers to pump in to the “Godaddy” brand:

Uniregistry market to shut down next month

Meanwhile the pioneers who really developed the innovative brands go on to do other things:

Dan.com founder launches housing project at Anyone.com

So my advice is follow what the founders and market does next and not continue to run what they left behind. You need to innovate and bring to market new products never seen before:

New ChatGPT integration allows SMBs to generate compelling web content in seconds

Just a thought…

 

[jamesbkk]

Oh yes and money is made in down markets! UK is certainly down & Nominet recent situation doesn't help.

....can i ask what is the situation with Nominet?

 

[Whois-Search]

....can i ask what is the situation with Nominet?

There seems to be a good explanation of the criticism of Nominet on DNJournal here:

Helmuts also brought up Nominet (the administrator of the .uk TLD). "Nominet did not attend the Summit officially but many their members were here, including Kieren McCarthy, Nominet's Non Executive Director, who presented a speech that was approved by Nominet. I feel bad that some members are attacking Nominet for not supporting the Summit this year (they did so last year), but UK industry professionals know that Nominet is currently going through a very tough time, so I understand their decision 100%.

However back to the reality of the situation…

1. Nominet didn’t attend LDC because of the “models” who turned up during their cocktail last year. This was specifically cited to me twice in Oxford recently.

2. Two candidates were disqualified from the NED election which starts tomorrow (one of those has threatened to sue Nominet here). Both attended the London Domain Conference instead and both had problems attending because of Nominet.

3. Nominet growth is down because of the introduction of .uk in 2014 has cannibalised the growth of the registry and total DUM has dipped below 11 million in recent months. You could also add failure to Standardize EPP quick enough and align with new gTLDs.

This is what happens when you take the eye off the ball, make random acquisitions (Cyglass) and not market your main product. Yet according to @Kieren it’s all the members fault?