The valuable 2L domain RO.com.au is up for grabs on the expired auctions today.
When I see a good domain expire, I figure there always has to be a story behind it. And sure enough, with a little digging, I found that the company that originally owned the domain (ILH Group Limited) went into voluntary administration in December 2014. The firm Rockwell Oliver was part of ILH. Here is the story from the AFR. The Registrant Contact of the domain is a solicitor at Gadens (I presume they acted for the Administrator).
It Makes Me Wonder?
Why would the Administrators not have protected this valuable cyber asset? They could have easily sold it off for the benefit of creditors.
A similar instance happened with Toys.com.au – I wrote about this back in December 2015.
Good luck to all the bidders out there today (and the drop-catchers!).
Ned O’Meara – 20th April 2017
This happens regularly as administrators/liquidators know nothing about the value of domain names. The most obvious example being toys.com.au.
I’ve personally dealt with a situation where administrators sold off the client base of an online business to fulfil some return to creditors but not the actual domain name it ran under! It had a good reputation and ranked on the first page for key terms. It dropped a couple of months later after it expired and was snapped up by a competitor for $25. Crazy. The business turned over around $2 million a year online.
Agreed Joel.
One exception that I was personally involved with a while back was for businessloans.com.au. I had to deal with the liquidator to acquire this for a client. He had become reasonably savvy given he had a number of enquiries. I’m happy to say that I managed to acquire it for my client (who now has a great site up).
That’s a terrific domain! I’m sure your client would have been stoked that you secured that one for them
They were indeed Luke! As was I. 🙂