legal GrubHub is buying web domains for the restaurants it lists

[EZPZYO]

Link... READ MORE

 

[EZPZYO]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m9vszEQ9A13tN4AFRXWXVKZamRpQFIltP452wSqAvFM/edit#gid=0

I wonder if they paid premium for any of these domains or they are all hand reg'd. Must be fun hand reg'ing 22k plus domains

 

[TCK]

The domains were registered over the period of at least 8 to 9 years, maybe longer. There could have been some automation involved but it would likely go through human review.

 

[EZPZYO]

They probably used an api to find all the domains (and register them)
Or their program made a list of domains and an human reviewed them before "throwing 8$ on every domain"

It would be cool to see if NameBio, Drop Catch or GoDaddy Auction has any historical sale data on these domains.

Do you know of any tools that can check sale history of 22k+ domains with one click?

 

[BrandPlease]

It's funny & tks for the article - i was scratching my head as I gotten a a few of low-ball offers on restaurant related domains. What wasn't weird was getting an occasional offer on 1 of them - but several at the same time was confusing. Who knows, the names I'm referencing are pretty good, but def. small (mom/pop) type names -maybe it was them. I have made counter offers, but will let you know if ones sells - &if there is no NDA/privacy required - I'll share.

P.S. there were all offers through Sedo, where I dont actively list anything - make offers only on Sedo.

 

[offthehandle]

It seems to me as most US consumers don’t realize that outside the US, there are many such non centralized “Express” delivery services. No app required. This isn’t anything new really elsewhere. Pharmacies even deliver where I travel. The entire business could be severely disrupted by drivers quitting and going independent working for a few restaurants in their local area after Restaurants quit and can work with them direct. Demand to get their domains back, hire web developers and bill direct. Unlike Uber, this service isn’t as instantaneous fulfillment. However, the mass market trust and acceptance and marketing like Amazon has achieved is a big value that GH provides, so 30% might be justified.

 

[jberryhill]

...and, no, it’s not as if the words jump off the page to say “we’ll register a domain name that should be yours and point it to our service”, but the language is certainly broad enough to include that.

 

[offthehandle]

It's also worth pointing out that the contract has a mandatory arbitration clause, so there aren't going to be any lawsuits either.

Thanks for replying. Yes, your assessment is correct. Anybody signing this is giving up a bunch of their rights. I mentioned that arbitration was required above, so my original repost from the earlier twitter lawyer post, wasn’t even applicable and they didnt read the agreement either. Without owning a restaurant and knowing how much business this generates, its hard to tell if their drivers and marketing is worth it. It must be though.

The agreement is written to cover themselves by leaving out Marketing DETAILS, like I stated. Registering a domain name is imo intentionally not listed, and the reasoning is self evident as that keeps it vague and part of what “proprietary” marketing services they offer. Well, at least restaurants can leave if it does not work with 3 days notice, it could have been an exclusive for 3 years. Lol. What they probably do is once you end the agreement, they have coded in the app to redirect the business to your competitors.

All the demographics, locations, marketing data, billing, pricing, etc is all owned by them, so they really dig deep into independent businesses. Being in similar arrangements before in unrelated industry in a situation like them, I always protected my data, private labeled, etc. so as to prevent the supplier from learning too much about my customer base.

 

[lock]

Tempting to buy all unregistered and play ball.

 

[Cal2]

For what it's worth:

How to ghost Grubhub and order your restaurant takeout ethically
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/5/2...doordash-takeout-food-restaurant-order-direct