Domain Name WLS is Anti-consumer, Anti-efficiency, Anti-shareholders

Berkeley, CA March 24, 2004 -– A report released today by DomainMart finds that VeriSign's proposed Wait-listing Service (WLS) is anti-consumer, inefficiently priced, and destructive to shareholder value. However, they recommend that The Commerce Department grant VeriSign a temporary approval to allow for a market-based competing product to emerge.

WLS would allow those seeking ownership of a particular domain name to pay a fixed fee for the right to claim it, should the current owner/registrant not renew it. The right would be allocated to those who pay for it, on a first-come, first-served basis, without consideration to fairness. I.e., some customers will pay the service fee for a domain name that may never expire, while others will either over- or underpay for the service. "A better pricing mechanism would be an auction," notes Alex Tajirian, President and CEO of DomainMart. "There is also no evidence that the proposed system would represent quality improvement over existing competitive services," adds Alex.

The report predicts that implementing the service would initially drive incumbents out of business due to VeriSign's monopoly in dot-com registry. However, they believe that domain-name registrars have a number of advantages over VeriSign to develop a viable service (similar to one put forth by DomainMart) that can drive WLS out of business. Such a real possibility leads DomainMart to believe that either adoption of the proposal will lead to shareholder-value destruction or VeriSign is using the controversy as a publicity stunt. Meanwhile, registrars will be motivated to develop a better solution.

The report discredits VeriSign's claim that WLS will alleviate strain on their system caused by requests; VeriSign can easily reduce the number of requests by providing accurate information on de-listing dates. Moreover, the report argues, substantial requests will continue unabated for expiring domain names that are not listed on WLS.

The report recommends that The Department of Commerce grant WLS a temporary approval. If the market fails to bring about a competitive product, then either regulatory agencies should control the pricing of WLS (with a fair return to VeriSign) or The Department of Commerce should reverse its temporary approval.

DomainMart is a leader in providing domain-name secondary-market services, including appraisal/valuation, escrow, leasing, parking, and protection management since 1996.
   
For more information, please visit www.domainmart.com/news/opinion-WLS.htm or contact:

Tom Saito, Marketing Specialist
DomainMart Inc.
TomSaito@DomainMart.com
Tel: +1 (415) 905-4234




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