news Alter.com repurposed as FURM.com

[omnia]

Looks like the old alter.com site has been repurposed and the new focus is on trademark searches and domain appraisals.

 

[raghibreza]

Looks like the old alter.com site has been repurposed and the new focus is on trademark searches and domain appraisals.

its true

 

[Samer]

FURM is a nice LLLL.com domain!

 

[alcy]

FURM is a nice LLLL.com domain!

I think it sucks. it sounds like meow or a cat site or some joke with fur on it... I'd never use furm if I wanted to be taken seriously... but alter.com now that has seriousness and authority.

 

[Samer]

I think it sucks. it sounds like meow or a cat site or some joke with fur on it... I'd never use furm if I wanted to be taken seriously... but alter.com now that has seriousness and authority.

Alter sounds too religious, and is a 5L, not 4L.

F U R M

 

[Reallybigidea.com]

Probably furm brandable of firm..
Interesting move.

Alter is more fit for alternative universe gaming vr etc.

 

[alcy]

Probably furm brandable of firm..
Interesting move.

Alter is more fit for alternative universe gaming vr etc.

alter...change..etc

sure it can be about vr or realities ...or about million other things... while furm is just for cat poop

 

[Samer]

alter...change..etc

sure it can be about vr or realities ...or about million other things... while furm is just for cat poop

I think you’re right.
i changed my mind.

Furm is shorter, but alter is an actual word.

 

[pb]

Alter sounds too religious

I think you're confusing it with altar.

 

[Samer]

I think you're confusing it with altar.

How does this pass the radio test?
Alter, Altar;
Both are still actual words, unlike furm.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I stumbled upon the redirection to FURM a couple of days ago and wrote up a little article on it at Name Talent (I don't think I am allowed for link, but basically it just gives a bit of Alter history and about the new redirection).

I found the TM search at Alter a handy fast check with nicely presented results, so glad to see it back. I hope that FURM will also bring back the marketplace, but I have no idea who the owner is or what the plans are.

For those who found the Alter appraisals helpful, it turns out they are back too, although not as far as I can see directly linked. You can get to them by going to https://furm.com/appraisals. That seems like a hint that the plans for FURM are more than Trademark search.

Now let me share a bit of the story that I did not put in the article, that seems strange. It's true I checked Alter and saw it redirected to Furm. It turns out that was not how I first discovered the redirection however. I always like to follow up to see if names I sold are in use. So there is a pretty ordinary two-word .com (a hand registration) that I sold at Afternic back in July 2022. There really is nothing that special about it, and frankly I was surprised when someone just paid the BIN ($$$$) and bought it. It has not been used in the year since, but now when I enter it, it takes me to the FURM page for TMs related to the second keyword in the name. https://furm.com/trademarks/keywords/EXAMPLE, with EXAMPLE replaced with the second keyword in my name. It is not a unique or in any way TMed term, a standard dictionary term that is used all over. Actually more than 1.7 Billion search results when one does a quotation mark Google search.

The most logical explanation is the buyer was a domain investor, and is using some of their domains to bring some traffic to FURM. But it seems to me a lot to pay wholesale, and beyond that the name is not listed at Dan, Afternic or Sedo, and with no working lander, it seems a very unusual sales strategy.

Because I don't know exactly what is happening, I did not want to mention the name here where it would be searchable.

Anyway, that is how I first discovered the redirection. I thought others would find it interesting, and perhaps someone has an idea about why the owner would redirect this way.

-Bob

PS Mystery Solved -- Although I sold the name at Afternic, I had it listed at Alter, and although the buyer moved it to GD as registrar, they never changed the DNS from pointing to Alter. It appears any names with the Alter DNS now bring traffic to the FURM TM search for the keyword in the domain name. If you have a name that was sold but the buyer did not change the DNS see if it does the same.

Since I think I know what is happening, I will share the name, but please don't refer to it in this thread without the masking. The name is T / a / s / t / y / T / r / a / i / l / e / r . com and it directs to a FURM page of TMs related to term T / r / a / i / l / e / r

PPS Someone pointed out in some thread that I can no longer find that there are still a rather significant number of names with DNS pointed to Alter, long after the end of the marketplace.

 

[Randy93]

I would say both alter and furm is worst choice of domain selection. Is there any abbreviation for furm?

 

[Samer]

I would say both alter and furm is worst choice of domain selection. Is there any abbreviation for furm?

i made a joke before that flew by everyone.
Check the abbreviation for the first two letters of furm.

 

[silentg]

@Deven Patel could be freeing up the name so it could be sold in the future.

 

[NameInbox]

I like to listen my domains names it's like some options on Squadhelp

 

[Bob Hawkes]

FURM is a creative spelling of FIRM. I like it as a name, although as Samer points out the first two letters may signal negative connotations in some, and of course audio test confusion.

The Internet Archive show periodic results on name at least back to 2002.

The really strange thing, the name seems currently listed for sale at SH with a 6-figure price and a September scheduled price increase.

-Bob

BTW Oxley has Firm for sale.

 

[NameInbox]

They couldn't sell FURN at BrandBucket/Squadhelp, so decided to create it's own

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Ah... I checked at HosterStats, so yes it apparently was listed at Brandbucket, then at Alter, and now at SquadHelp.

-Bob

 

[Randy93]

Most probably it could be single man behind the app just wanted to exit if there is good price or keep things running as usual. Nothing wrong in the mindset. People develop good applications and sell for nice price then move on to next one.

 

[NameInbox]

I just checked at furm for furm
https://furm.com/trademarks?q=furm

FURMENIC, FURMIA ...

also no for Alter

 

[NameInbox]

single man behind

Like you and Domtry

 

[Randy93]

Like you and Domtry

Yes but I wont sell Domtry. It just a baby of this monster space it need some time to shine.

 

[JudgeMind]

I sold furm .com in 2017 on flippa

 

[alcy]

I sold furm .com in 2017 on flippa

I bet it was cat poop site when u bought it

 

[Samer]

Reminds me of my local construction conglomerate “BECN.com” in place of ”Beacon” And they are huge.