services Plated.com - From a $9.99 registration, to a $300 million acquisition by Albertsons

[News]

Plated, operating from Plated.com, sends its customers the necessary ingredients to cook their own meals. This is what a “meal kit service” is all about.

Plated.com was just acquired by Albertsons to the tune of $300 million dollars.

According to an article on CNBC, the founders bought a “$9.99 domain from GoDaddy,” in 2012, and it’s been a learning curve since...

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[xynames]

This is misleading. The domain was not sold for $300m the business was.

yahoo.com was a hand reg as was eBay.com at that time. So, they sell for billions someday and you come in and claim the domains sold for that?

I realize you're just paraphrasing an article but still. Domaingang is known for sensationalism.

 

[xynames]

You know, I made a comment yesterday right on the article itself about how this is the sale of the business not the domain, and so far, Domaingang suppressed the comment. They seem not interested in the truth, just misleading sensationalism.

 

[namekart]

We had sold Plated.in to them.

 

[frank-germany]

don't read domaingang
if you don't want to become confused

 

[xynames]

This example does not mean that a domain name does not matter, quite the contrary in fact.

Plated is a very good domain name for this business. To plate means to serve or arrange food on a plate before a meal.

To me this affirms that an EMD or at least a real word or words domain especially something that connects to what the business does or stands for remains the best choice for a business. These guys were just lucky to have found such a domain as a hand reg.

 

[promo]

What's misleading? Oh, you failed to read the article and came here to complain.

Where did the article say the domain was sold for $300 million?

Sensationalism exists in your mind only.

Clickbait refers to the headline. Not the article content. The headline clearly indicates that plated.com was hand regged for 10$ by the current owner. Which it was not.

You are not the only one using such techniques today but own it if you do it.

 

[amit chowdhury]

If you check through archive.org, you will see the archive dates back 2002. Upto March 2012 from 2002 (from 2002 to early 2005 there are continuous captures, then mid 2005 to early 2009 no capture & 2009 to early 2012 very little capture) it was a metal plating business site.

 

[Lox]

it was a metal plating business site

metal plated ref $ links, not business.
domain dropped and from may 2012 available for hand reg.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

domain dropped and from may 2012 available for hand reg.

Where did you get the may 2012 available for hand reg info from? According to WHOIS, the domain has been regged since 2008.

From (in or around) July 1st, 2011, to (in or around) October 1st, 2011 the nameservers were set to InternetTraffic.com

(in or around) November 1st, 2011 the namevers were set to Above.com

From (in or around) Devember 1st, 2011 to (in or around) August 1st, 2012, the nameservers were set to Parked.com

(in or around) September 1st, 2012, to (in or around) February 1st, 2013 the nameservers were set to Zerigo.net

(in or around) March 1st, 2013, the nameservers were set to AWSdns

 

[Chris Hydrick]

To recap events (to match with namesevers), per the CNBC article Plated incorporated June 7th, 2012.

Plated twitter was created August 2012.

DomainTools has a screenshot of Plated being developed as early as November 2012 (earliest available)
______________________________________________________________________________________

If you notice the nameservers, the domain was parked with several different platforms prior to the development of Plated. Doesn't look like it was dropped. Given that the domain was developed in November 2012, I think it's safe to assume the Zerigo nameservers were in use by the people of plated.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

It's called an adjective: faded, fused, admired, colored etc. Plated can stand for covered with a coating such as paint, or - as in this case - served on a plate.

Anybody name one time you heard the term plated used in your life regarding food..

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Locatio...rtree_Isle_of_Skye_The_Hebrides_Scotland.html

 

[creataweb]

Just saw these guys on a re-run of Shark Tank yesterday.

 

[platey]

What's my np user name worth then lol haha it's only one letter out

 

[platey]

Plated means something rude where im from lol.

Allegedly lol

 

[1Darko]

I have checked at hosterstats and the domain goes back to 2000 and is probably even older. It dropped in 2008 and regged again the same year:
http://www.hosterstats.com/historicaldns.php?domain=plated.com

 

[likemike]

Very interesting for about a second!

 

[promo]

Clickbait...

 

[drakeholm]

as always obtaining the name is not the whole sport. Building a destination worth visiting is.

 

[Acroplex]

This is misleading. The domain was not sold for $300m the business was.

yahoo.com was a hand reg as was eBay.com at that time. So, they sell for billions someday and you come in and claim the domains sold for that?

I realize you're just paraphrasing an article but still. Domaingang is known for sensationalism.

What's misleading? Oh, you failed to read the article and came here to complain.

Where did the article say the domain was sold for $300 million?

Sensationalism exists in your mind only.

 

[Acroplex]

Clickbait...

Only if you didn't really read the article.

 

[promo]

Classic clickbait.. Make a claim in the headline and "debunk it" in the article.

If you really want readers, turn down the hostility a notch or two.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Thanks @News - I really enjoyed this thread!

@Acroplex - Thanks for the article! Correct me if I'm wrong, but the "click bait" nature of the headline, was to geniously point out what is wrong with mainstream reporting and fact checking.

According to an article on CNBC, the founders bought a “$9.99 domain from GoDaddy,” in 2012, and it’s been a learning curve since.

Obviously to us domainers, we could tell this might be a tall tale given the registration dates don't match up. Are we to expect CNBC to fact check this? DomainGang did (right after mentioning the CNBC report)...

While Plated has met success without a doubt, the $9.99 dollar domain reference might be a long tale. Plated.com was indeed being used in November 2012, for the functions of the newborn, at the time, meal kit company. But the domain Plated.com was registered in 2008, and prior to its use by Plated, it displayed brass and copper plating content.

If we look closer at what CNBC.com had to say, we will find.

"We incorporated from my couch on West 14th Street on June 7th. We bought a $9.99 domain from GoDaddy, and it's been testing and learning since then," says Taranto.

The day after the sale was announced, and five years after starting from his couch on 14th Street with a $9.99 domain, Taranto says he is indeed living the American Dream.

Thus. I think DomainGang chose the headline, to highlight that the $300 sale did not derive from a $9.99 domain purchase (given the domain purchase was likely more)

For those wondering, CNBC chose this headline: How 2 young guys went from the brink of bankruptcy to selling their 'Shark Tank' business for $300 million

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Exactly. Which means that the domain was resold, not hand-registered, and that's explained in the article - a benefit to those that actually read it.

I already blew through my historical WHOIS this month, but if I can find the previous owner, it'd be cool to reach out and try to uncover the real sales price of the domain. It would have been a nice plug for the domain aftermarket if Plated would have flat out said they purchased it on the aftermarket for X as it was a premium domain that helped market their business. Something of that sort.

 

[Acroplex]

Loxline, it's clear that Plated.com didn't drop in 2012. It still retains its 2008 registration, see raw data: https://gwhois.org/plated.com+dns