DomainLore Blog.uk domain aftermarket and .uk drop catching plus anything that goes…

I meant to post this about two weeks ago, when I firstly discovered that the domain name cashback.co.uk has changed hands. But my blog wasn’t yet ready at that time!

Today somewhere on the net I saw a press release issued by new domain owners to highlight their acquisition.

Submission Technology has extended its impressive portfolio of money saving websites with the acquisition of the Cashback.co.uk domain name.

The UK’s first ever online cashback company, founded in 2003, goes from strength to strength, boasting a multitude of customer acquisition sites, including wepromiseto.co.uk, and the hugely successful GreasyPalm.co.uk.

Submission Technology first coined the phrase ‘cashback’ in the market over 5 years ago so it is only fitting that they have acquired the cashback.co.uk domain name.

Cashback.co.uk will join rapidly growing reputation garnered by Submission Technology, and shows confidence that the cashback market is gaining momentum in wake of the highly publicised ‘Credit Crunch.’

Read it in full here

I’m a bit involved in cashback scene and been watching this domain (with some others) for quite a while.

When not long ago, Microsoft Corp. has announced it’s purchase of CashBack.com domain without disclosing any figures, I knew instantly they must have paid close to $1 million for the name. About a year ago, I had a brief e-mail chat with previous Cashback.com owner, Maynard Small of Creative Marketing Associates, Inc. He gave impression of a cold sharp sales man, pressed me hard to come up with initial offer and immediately squashed it by informing me he already has two offers for over $300,000 originating from the UK. I suspect one of them was from Submission Technologies.

Obviously, I was neither interested nor prepared to pay such amount for this domain name. I trust in some generics, some of them are must haves if you operate in chosen vertical, however with cashback I believe any name could be turned in a very recognizable brand with spending much much less. Anyway, Mr Small tried to pack me with ‘great alternatives’, like cashbacknow.com or 4cashback.com “for $20,000 which is a 66 percent discount from the $60.000 asking price.”, which only proved my suspicion of his aggressive salesman techniques for flogging overpriced (and useless) names.

At that time, I also shopped around and found that iCashback.com is listed on Sedo for 520 EUR (though the owner seemed to be rejecting everything below four figures) and Cashback.Us owner wanted 20,000 USD for the domain.

But for Microsoft, when they decided to buy Cashback.com, guess it was a swift matter to write required cheque.

If Submission Technologies were really trying to acquire Cashback.com and later realized they lost it to Microsoft, who also plans to penetrate UK market with their 100% cashback offer, owners of Greasy Palm (which still pays only 50% back) became really worried.

I think they already tried to acquire cashback.co.uk before, but it just seemed too expensive.
Now, when Microsoft could come to snatch it any day, it was strategically important for Submission Technologies to secure this domain before someone else does.

The seller, “Data, Media & Retail Ltd” (Ref: DMR is the UK’s leading operator of car classified portals, including Carsource.co.uk. It also provides online marketing services relating to data capture, profiling and email marketing) is in it’s majority owned by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), “one of the largest and most successful international media companies in the UK”.

Based on this info and current market conditions for things related to “cashback”, my educated guess is that cashback.co.uk was sold for around £100,000, if not more.