Sedo and Fasthosts Team up to Bridge Gap Between the Primary and Secondary UK Domain Markets

November 17, 2006; 02:13 AM
Fasthosts, the UK’s leading domain registrar, and Sedo, the leading online marketplace for the buying and selling of domain names, have announced an agreement to offer Fasthosts’ customers the opportunity to purchase previously registered domain names via Sedo’s secure and trusted secondary marketplace.

Heightened competition caused by the shrinking number of available domain names, has seen leading registrars like Fasthosts and UKreg, looking to offer new value-added services that grow customer loyalty.

"The Sedo community of domain owners represents a very dynamic global market for Fasthosts," said Stephen Holford, Director of Product Marketing, Fasthosts Ltd. "Fasthosts offers domain solutions for a variety of audiences from large and small domain name resellers to individual domain customers, but all of them can take advantage of Sedo's comprehensive secondary marketplace services."

Both Fasthosts and UKreg customers will benefit from the Sedo partnership – the first of this scale in the UK – by increased choice, added value and the opportunity to let their domains work for them.

“Many users are often unaware of domain acquisition options outside the traditional primary market. From our experience in linking the primary and secondary markets in the US, we have found that users are pleasantly surprised by the wide range of options the rapidly growing secondary market opens up to them,” said Nora Cotter, Director of UK Operations for Sedo. “Fasthosts, in facilitating this pioneering link in the UK understands not only the value of the domain aftermarket, but the importance of providing the highest level of service and choice to customers. We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with Fasthosts and are looking forward to a healthy partnership.”

About Fasthosts and UKreg

Fasthosts is the UK's largest hosting company, delivering market-leading online services to the home, home office and SME markets. Along with its domain name specialists, UKreg, Fasthosts keeps over 1 million domains running smoothly and ensures over 6 million emails are delivered safely each day from their dedicated UK data centres.

Fasthosts has a successful track record and proven business model in providing high value, award winning products. Innovation drives Fasthosts’ business, designing new ways of giving their customers control of the internet, since their inception in 1999.

Fasthosts gives its customers unparalleled online control, enabling them to manage hosted services including domain registrations, shared web hosting, business-class email, dedicated servers, internet merchant accounts plus unlimited broadband. Their highly successful reseller channel has recently been rated Number 1 for reseller hosting by industry portal Web Host Directory.

About Sedo

Sedo (www.sedo.co.uk), an acronym for “Search Engine for Domain Offers,” is the leading online marketplace for buying and selling domain names and websites. Headquartered in Cologne, Germany, Sedo has assembled the world’s largest database of domain names listed for sale by their owners, with more than five million listings. Buyers and sellers are brought together through a searchable online marketplace, and conduct negotiations anonymously using an offer-counteroffer system, which is complemented by an in-house escrow service. Sedo’s domain name parking is the number one parking programme worldwide and offers domain owners the opportunity to create valuable revenue streams through the power of online advertising.

The success of Sedo’s model has attracted a global membership base of more than 350,000 domain professionals, and helped more than 5,000 businesses start their Web presence off on the right foot with a great new domain name.

(Sedo Integrations) Director of UK/International Operations Nora Cotter, +49 (0)221 340 30 231, [email protected], or (Sedo Press Inquiries) fama PR, Mike Kaplan, 617-758-4156, [email protected], or (Fasthosts and UKreg press inquiries) Rainier PR, Consultant, Sam Grace, +44 (0)20 7494 6570, [email protected]