Subscribe

Whois Lookups for Live Auction Domains

Elliot Silver
-
0

One issue that is sometimes cited for low live domain auction sales is the lack of publicity. I have an idea that may help Jay Westerdal’s DomainTools live auction and perhaps other auction houses who are hosting domain auctions in the near future.
If Jay would add a link to Whois lookups for domain names that are up for auction, he could inform the searcher that the name will be for sale. This simple tactic would allow domain investors and non-domain professionals to see that the name they just looked-up could be acquired in an upcoming auction. For example, if someone looks up Whois.sc/WireRack.com using Domaintools’ service, they would be able to see that the name is not only for sale, but coming up for auction soon. With Domaintools’ interface, they could sign up and place a bid prior to the auction without much hassle.
I don’t know the technicalities involved with doing this, but it doesn’t seem like something that is difficult. With all of the mergers, acquisitions, partnerships…etc in the domain business, I would think this could be done for other auctions using other Whois look up services. It’s a simple idea, but it could be impactful.
***UPDATE BY ELLIOT***
Just received an email from Jay:
“I would like to do that, and it will be done in 2008 at some point. However that feature is not done yet.“

Domain Sales/Steals of The Week

Elliot Silver
-
6

I don’t usually spend much time pining over recent sales, but I think there were two great buys listed in the DNJournal.com sales report this past week, both of which took place on GreatDomains. I think Our.com selling for $60,000 was a great price. I know what I said about 3 letter .com names, but this is a great 3 letter, one word name. As I said, there are some names that are worth every penny, and this is one of them.

In my opinion, the biggest steal was FatTuesday.com, which sold for just $16,500. This is the perfect domain name for a website about New Orleans and Mardi Gras. There is also a famous bar with locations throughout the east coast called Fat Tuesday, and they own the domain name Fat-Tuesday.com. They serve some pretty good mixed drinks like the “190 Octane” and “Hurricane.” I’ve been to a few Fat Tuesday bars, and its always Mardi Gras when you’re there! The buyer got a great deal on this one.

Jump the Domain Market

Elliot Silver
-
2

In the investment world, once a story hits the press, the price of the affected company’s stock is impacted almost immediately. In the domain industry, news travels less quickly, and because of that, you could possibly get a jump on news before price increases are made. Timing is everything.

One way to get a jump on the news is to review the list of domain names that are scheduled to be auctioned in an upcoming live auction. Do your best to determine the value for each live auction domain name based on the venue, comps, current market value…etc, and compare your calculations to the reserve prices. Should your valuation be significantly higher than the reserve price, there may be a strong chance the domain name will sell at auction.

When a domain name sells at auction for a significant price, the demand for similar names may increase as a result. In the week or so before the auction, if you are confident that a particular name is going to make a big splash in the auction, attempt to acquire similar domain names using Whois searches or via domain marketplace. If you don’t have the opportunity to do this quickly enough, you can do the same thing immediately after the auction. I recommend this strategy if you have a strong feel for the domain market and are willing to take a financial risk.

Of course, the caveat is that not all domain names are similar, even if they look the same. You need to know the market well enough to feel comfortable going out on these types of limbs. Also, the demand for similar names may be short lived, so this is a short term strategy.

Afternic Launches Pre-Expiry Domain Auction Service

Elliot Silver
-
1

I received an email from Pete Lamson, Senior VP and GM of NameMedia this morning announcing that Afternic was launching a pre-expiry domain auction service. This is good news for the domain business, as Afternic has extensive experience in the domain auction vertical, and all of the NameMedia properties have strong customer and technical support in place. It will be interesting to see which registrar(s) will be partnering with Afternic on this venture.

———

NameMedia Launches Domain Auction Sales Platform

New Service Will Feature Exclusive Domain Inventory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 19, 2007 Waltham, MA—NameMedia today announced the launch of Afternic Auctions on the company’s award-winning AfternicDLS domain sales platform.   With this launch, NameMedia expands AfternicDLS’ suite of products to include exclusive pre-expiry domain auctions.   These daily auctions will allow buyers to purchase domain names from among thousands of names that have not been renewed by their owners prior to expiration.

“We are pleased to further enhance our marketplace by operating exclusive, daily domain name auctions,” said Pete Lamson, senior vice president and general manager of NameMedia’s marketplace. “The Afternic Auction platform, backed by Afternic’s personalized service and flexible bidding options, gives domain buyers another source of premium domain names.”

The Afternic Auction platform, launched after extensive customer usability testing, includes the following product benefits:

–       Simple search functionality and bidding interface
–       35 day “Preorder” period, followed by extended 5 day auction
–       Individually prepared Domain Appraisals available for every auctioned name
–       Personalized bid management system including:   Bid Increase Alerts, Domain Watch Lists, Closing Soon Reminders and more
–       Capability to download the inventory of upcoming auctions to facilitate analysis and bidding strategies
–       Secure domain escrow process

“Customer reaction during beta testing was very positive, particularly with respect to the platform’s search technology, bidding interface and bid management summary,” said Adam Gross, product director for NameMedia’s domain marketplace.   “We look forward to this launch of another new service for our customers.”

For more information, visit www.Afternic.com

####

For Press Inquiries, Contact:
Libby Levinson
781-839-2809

For Business Development Inquiries, Contact:
Tom Murphy
Vice President, Business Development
781-839-2871

About NameMedia

NameMedia operates a leading targeted online media business and a leading online marketplace for domain names. Further information is available at www.namemedia.com.

Sedo to Repeat .mobi Auction

Elliot Silver
-
1

According to a post on DomainNameNews.com and a post on NamePros, Sedo will be repeating the recent .mobi auction. In an email to clients, Sedo and the .mobi MTLD decided that the results of the recent auction would be null and void after some technical glitches occurred. As reported here, the initial auction set a sales record for total value of .mobi names sold ($1.5 million) and for the highest sales price for a .mobi name – $616,000 for Music.mobi.

.mobi MTLD and Sedo announced that they will will conduct a new auction at Sedo.com beginning on January 23rd, 2008. Coincidentally, this falls on the same day as the Snapnames/DomainFest live auction in Hollywood, California.

The Problem With Domain Auctions

Elliot Silver
-
12

Ask almost anyone what the biggest impact on the domain aftermarket in 2007 has been, and chances are they will tell you its the emergence of live domain auctions everywhere. Moniker, Snapnames, Godaddy, GreatDomains.com, DomainTools…etc all have announced or held live auctions recently. While this is good news for the most part, I’ve personally noticed it has caused some problems in the aftermarket.

The first problem is that many domain investors aren’t willing to sell their top quality generic domain names other than at auction. They know that top dollar is often found at auction, and they aren’t usually willing to compromise, unless an offer blows them out of the water. While this isn’t unreasonable, it has hampered buying opportunities outside of auctions.

Another problem with domain auctions is that many buyers aren’t buying domain names other than at auctions. Many buyers know that many great names will be up for auction, and they would prefer to make a big splash at auction rather than through a private sale, unless it is a great deal. Buyers may be reluctant to buy a name privately in the event that they need the cash for an auction.

The sheer amount of domain auctions that are going on within the industry is also causing an issue. It is difficult to get all buyers to focus on all auctions. As a result, there may be less competition among bidders, and names may sell for less than they would have if more buyers were present. The auction houses want the market to determine the prices, so they encourage sellers to set reserves as low as possible, but this becomes a difficult task, when the market for certain domain names may not be bidding at a particular auction.

Some owners are struggling to determine the best venue in which to sell their names, as the different auction companies hold auctions at various industry conferences and on their own. Also, listing domain names in an auction often requires exclusivity (before and after the auction), removing names from the market whether or not they sell at auction. Finally, if a name doesn’t sell at auction, an artificial price ceiling is created for that name, even though it might not have sold simply because the right bidders weren’t in attendance.

I know this may sound crazy, but while domain auctions are having a positive impact on the industry as a whole, they are also impacting the industry in other ways. I think the most important things auction houses need to do to grow the industry is to encourage end users to attend the auctions to acquire the best names for their business.

1...106107108...111Page 107 of 111
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv