Aftermarket.com On The Ball

Elliot Silver
-
12

Aftermarket.comOne thing I find frustrating after live domain auctions is the time it can take to get updates from the auction house on payments and/or domain transfers.

It’s not unusual to see transactions reported in DNJournal 2, 3, and 4 months after the auction closed. I know it’s not always the fault of the auction house, but it can be annoying. especially on large sales when cashflow is important.

This does not appear to be the case with Aftermarket.com, the company that just concluded its Domain Rountable conference auction, grossing roughly $200,000.

In the DRT live auction, my company sold HorseStable.com and HorseCorrals.com. Although I didn’t get as much as I hoped, the pair of domain names did sell. I was hoping for $4,000+ but I realize these are not necessarily names for domain investors, so likely my bad for not finding end user buyers.

Within a day after the conclusion of the auction, I had an email from Aftermarket.com.  The email had all the information I needed to push my domain name to the Aftermarket.com escrow account at Moniker, and it also informed me that a transfer had been initiated at Network Solutions for the other domain name. In under 12 hours, Aftermarket.com took possession of the two domain names.

The Aftermarket.com auction was captained by Omar Kubba, brother of Ammar Kubba, whose company operates Aftermarket.com. If it wasn’t for Omar’s unsolicited email a few weeks ago, I probably wouldn’t have even submitted these two names for the auction. From the opinion of an outsider, Omar has managed the auction quite well, and I want to him praise for his efforts.

Assuming the buyer makes a timely payment, the auction should be squared away very quickly.

I don’t generally auction my names because of the significant exclusivity periods and long waiting time between auction and payment, but Aftermarket.com’s auction (from an operation point of view) has been one of the best run in quite some time.

Rocky Mountain Domain Conference Coming

Elliot Silver
-
4

Domain ConferenceAs I was skiing at Stowe last weekend, I was thinking about how cool it will be for domain investors who attend the Rocky Mountain Domain Conference in less than two weeks. Unfortunately, my ski trip out west is not taking place until after the conference, otherwise I would probably drop by to say hello.

The agenda looks like it’s going to be full of interesting speakers, and I think it’s going to be a small enough conference that you can do some very good networking. Bill Mushkin from Name.com, Jason Boshoff of Domain Holdings, and Braden Pollock are all scheduled to speak. I don’t believe I’ve heard any of them speak publicly before.

Read More

Domainer Mardi Gras on Hiatus for 2011

Elliot Silver
-
2

A college friend emailed me on Sunday to see if we could get a group of us to hit up Mardi Gras this year, and I realized that I hadn’t received any emails or heard anything about Domainer Mardi Gras this year.

I assumed it might have been cancelled or postponed in light of the heavy load of conferences in the beginning of the year, so I reached out to Michael Ward, Director of Marketing for Parked.com. Sure enough, Domainer Mardi Gras is on hiatus for 2011.

According to Michael, due to the Domain Roundtable conference  “in the Bahamas, along with ICANN SF taking place also in  March, we decided to not host DMG this year.” This is a bummer. Last year, I was scheduled to go but got snowed in, and the prior year I also had a conflict.

IMO, it’s a smart move to postpone it though, rather than compete with the other conferences. Michael hinted that the show  or a meet up of some sort could happen next year, and it’s possible that it might take place during Jazz Fest, another fun annual event in New Orleans. I love Mardi Gras, but Jazz Fest would be just as fun.

Marketing a Domain Name at a Tradeshow

Elliot Silver
-
25

Chocolate Pretzels

I’ve mentioned it in the past (can’t find it right now), so I will mention it again now. I think it might be a smart idea to attend an industry tradeshow in a vertical where you are selling a domain name to try and close a deal.

My Dad sent me a link this morning to the 2010 Chocolate Show, which happens to be taking place over the next couple of days in New York City. I am sure my Dad didn’t have this in mind when he sent it to me, but I recently acquired ChocolateCoveredPretzels.com in a secondary market purchase, and I would love to sell it.

I am planning on paying the $28.00 entry fee for the Chocolate Show to introduce myself to some of the producers of gourmet chocolate products to see if any would have an interest. Since many booths will be manned by marketing, sales, and c-suite staff, it could be a sweet opportunity to close a deal.

At the very least, I will satisfy my sweet tooth.  Anyone else want to come to this “business” tradeshow with me tomorrow?

Photo: Flickr

Make Your Travel Plans for DomainFest

Elliot Silver
-
6

I am someone who generally waits until the last possible moment to book a trip. It tends to cost me more in the end, but I always worry that if I book a trip too soon, something will come up along the way and ruin those plans.

Yesterday at Ad-Tech, I bumped into Jeff Kupietsky, CEO of Oversee.net, and we had the chance to speak for a bit. After speaking with him, I realized that DomainFest is just a few months away – February 1-3, 2011 in Santa Monica, California. It’s a little less than three months away, which I hadn’t thought about.

Three months may seem like a while, but it can be a good time to purchase airline tickets, not to mention that you can expense it in 2010 along with the hotel. I did a bit of research, and the flight from NYC to LAX is just $299 round trip on JetBlue, which seems very reasonable. American also has a similar schedule and pricing, but they don’t have Direct TV. Depending on where you’re coming from and the price, you might want to track airfares using Farecast.

I am probably going to book my flight and hotel soon, and I want to remind you that DomainFest is coming up.

Think TRAFFIC Trolls Are Bad? How About Paypal “Trolls”?

Elliot Silver
-
14

A lot has been said about some companies who may have been present at the hotel for the TRAFFIC conference, but did not purchase a ticket for the tradeshow.  I can see why it would irk show organizers, but you have to check this out.

WePay, a competitor of Paypal dropped off a 600 pound ice block outside of the Paypal Developer’s Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco today. Inside the ice was the message, “Paypal freezes your accounts. Unfreeze your money.” They also have the coordinating domain name, UnfreezeYourMoney.com.

Now THAT was really cold!

More details on Techcrunch – photo from WePay stream.

1...282930...44Page 29 of 44