Daily Poll

Yesterday afternoon, JE.com failed to hit its reserve price on NameJet. The high bid was $500,000, although the posted reserve price range was $500,001 – $600,000. Essentially, this meant anyone could place a $500,000 bid without any obligation to buy the domain name since the seller is not permitted to reduce the price to a high bid that did not hit the reserve.

Theo Develegas made this observation and suggestion on Twitter:

When the top bid is $1 below the reserve, that's safe bidding. Don't disclose the reserve!

— Domain Gang (@DomainGang) May 8, 2019

Not posting the reserve price range would likely eliminate bids at just under the reserve because it would be too risky for people to bid if they don’t actually want to buy a domain name. We would likely see more genuine bidding if people were obligated to purchase a domain name should their bid hit the reserve. This would give a better idea of the market value of a domain name.

As a bidder, I like to see the reserve price range so I don’t waste my time watching an auction that has a reserve range above what I would consider paying.

Notably, not all domain name auction platforms share the reserve price range. Sedo and NameJet both display the reserve price range. GoDaddy Auctions does not. I can’t recall whether or not other domain auction venues that offer private auctions display the reserve prices, so feel free to share that info if you know.

Do you think auction venues should publish the reserve range?

The valuable two letter JE.com domain name is coming up for auction at NameJet. The high bid stands at $400,000, although the reserve price range is between $500,001 – $600,000. It is currently in Pre-Release status, and then it will go to a three day public auction.

According to NameBio, there have been eight publicly reported LL.com domain names in the last three years. The lowest price achieved for one of these sales was $510,000 for FO.com. The highest price achieved was $3.77 million for HG.com. Undoubtedly, there have been quite a few other LL.com domain name sales in that time, but these often change hands privately (the sale of WW.com is just one example).

With a reasonable reserve range on JE.com, I would like to know if readers think the domain name will hit the reserve and sell at NameJet. Vote in the poll below:

Dave Evanson shared a reminder this morning about the Great Domains auction ending today on Sedo (link in his Tweet):

Here we go!! Only 5 hours left for @sedo Great Domains Auction! Several great names and it is going to be an exciting finish! Here is the auction https://t.co/nhRvAF57W4

— dave evanson (@SedoDaveEvanson) April 25, 2019

In an article I published yesterday, I speculated that the AAF.com domain name could come on the market due to the Alliance of American Football’s bankruptcy filing. I don’t know the status of the domain name, so I don’t know if the domain name is going to be sold, but I think it is quite valuable.

I am curious what readers think AAF.com could be worth if it were to go on sale or come up for auction. Vote in the poll below and share your thoughts in the comment section:

NamesCon Europe is coming up in a little more than two months. The conference will be held in Cascais, Portugal, which is a short trip from the capital of Lisbon. NamesCon Europe takes place this year from June 20-22, 2019.

I would say I am 95% committed to attending this NamesCon event. My wife gave me the go-ahead, which is necessary because our kids will still be in school and she won’t be able to travel with me like she did for the ICANN meeting in Barcelona. I just haven’t pulled the trigger on the flight yet but will probably do that in the next few days.

It would be great to know how many of you are attending. Feel free to leave a comment as well.

I had a discussion on Twitter with Ray Hackney and Theo Develegas regarding the coloquial naming of the new gTLD domain name extensions. I have almost always referred to them as the “new gTLDs” or something along those lines, and Ray pointed out that they are no longer “new,” having been introduced several years ago.

Ray has a point. These new extensions are not really new. However, from my perspective, they are still relatively new to the general public. In addition, the introduction of the new extensions has taken several years and some are still in the process of being introduced or approved (hello, .Amazon). While they are no longer “new,” they are sort of new and novel.