Say that you need to cash out your domain investments ASAP. Perhaps you need to pay some bills, and you can’t afford to hold on to some of your domain names any more. Where do you turn? Right now, I don’t think there are any absolute reliable options, but I do think Bido is going to change this.
If you put your domain name up for sale on a domain forum, it’s unlikely to sell unless it’s a great name and you price it under market value. What happens is that you list your name, and if it’s not snapped up in the first several minutes, others will pass it over, and eventually it will end up on page 5 – the annals of the domain forum. You then have to lower your price, and wait and hope that someone sees it the second time around. This is no way to liquidate a domain name because it isn’t quick and you aren’t guaranteed to sell it for what the market will yield.
When you put a domain name for sale on a site like Sedo or Afternic, you are competing with hundreds of thousands of other domain names, and a quick sale is very unlikely. It’s difficult (or expensive) to stand out on one of the leading aftermarket sales sites. These sites may be good for selling a domain name, but I don’t think they’re the right venue for a quick liquidation sale.
Auctions are also good spots to sell domain names, but they aren’t close to a sure bet, and you’ll end up locking up your domain name for weeks due to auction house exclusivity. Domain brokers can be great, too – but again, you have to work with exclusivity, and competition from other listings.
So after all of this, I really think Bido is going to be a great place to sell your names quickly. People have been commenting that the sales are far from stellar. I disagree. The names for the most part have been far from stellar, so the sales prices are in line with expectations.
Yesterday, ZJP.com sold for $4,055. I believe this is in line with what other 3 letter domain names are selling for now, and it shows that the market will set the price if the starting price is below market value, which is true with Bido’s $1 auction starts. Especially at this time, you can’t expect to get end user prices by selling to domain investors.
Domainers watch Bido and observe the auctions – whether the domains are great quality or poor quality. Domainers can bring liquidity to the marketplace, and if you need cash, selling to a domain investor is usually the quickest way to make a sale. Bido offers a great platform for domain investors to get liquidity. I would imagine they will open up for more auctions soon, and that should make it easier for people to sell their names.
