.ME Auction Results – $150,000+ in Sales

Elliot Silver
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28

Sedo’s  auction in conjunction with the .ME Registry ended this afternoon, and the auction netted $154,178. largest sale was for Cruise.ME, which sold for $28,500, and it was followed by Air.ME, which sold for $10,099. Almost 100 domain names were sold in the auction, which is a pretty stellar sell through rate of just under 50%.

The full auction results are below, although you should note that most auction have not been paid for yet.

Domain name Price (USD)

cruise.me 28500
air.me 10099
malta.me 8100
legal.me 8100
restaurant.me 6618
files.me 5500
japan.me 5269
oil.me 5000

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Sedo Great Domains April Auction Results

Elliot Silver
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13

Sedo’s Great Domains auction from April concluded last week, and the auction closed with over $175,000 in sales. The high sale was Drill.com, which ended at $40,500. Apps.net was the second highest sale at 24,100 EUR. Yali.com rounded out the top three, closing at $23,000.

The full list of sales is below. I don’t believe all of the sales have been finalized yet, so there could potentially be non-closing sales, but here’s the full list of domain names that met reserve and sold.

drill.com 40500 USD
apps.net 24100 EUR
yali.com 23000 USD
hbb.com 12100 USD
xee.com 10510 USD

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Contest: Where Will Hotspur.com Auction End?

Elliot Silver
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43

If you aren’t a fan of the English Premier League, you may not know that Hotspur is the nickname of the EPL football (soccer) team from Tottenham. The team website can be found on TottenhamHotspur.com, possibly because they didn’t have the foresight to register Hotspur.com (or perhaps they didn’t want it – who knows).

I was a bit surprised to see Hotspur.com up for auction on NameJet this week. The auction currently sits at $460 with 68 bidders, and it ends on Monday. Based on a Whois search I did, it appears that Hotspur.com is a true drop rather than a private auction. Hotspur.com has a creation date of March 1998.

Although Hotspur is the nickname of the EPL football club, there are several other clubs and companies using the Hotspur name (see the Wikipedia page for a few). The term is defined as “an impetuous or reckless person; a hothead,” and its origin is the nickname of Sir Henry Percy in the 1400s. I would imagine there are plenty of ways to use the name without running afoul of trademark laws.

All that said, I am wondering what you think the closing price will be. The person who is closest to the final price will get $100 from me via Paypal (doesn’t matter whether they are above or below the final amount). Contest closes on Sunday at 11pm eastern time. One guess per person or you’re disqualified. If there’s a tie, the prize will be split amongst the winners.

Two Auctions Starting Today

Elliot Silver
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5

There are two domain auctions that begin fielding bids today. The Moniker / Snapnames Spring auction runs from April 19 – May 17, and Sedo’s monthly Great Domains auction also begins today and runs through April 26. As of this post, there are 100 names in the Moniker / Snap auction and 85 names in the Great Domains auction.

Below are some of the names I like in these auctions. Feel free to share your favorites in the comment section below. I do not have any domain names listed in either auction.

Moniker / Snapnames highlights and reserves

  • Affiliates.org  $201-$500
  • Companies.org  $5,001 – $10,000
  • Mahogany.com  $25,001 – $50,000
  • MovingCompany.com  $250,001 – $500,000
  • Platinum.com  $500,001 – $1MM

Great Domains highlights and reserves

  • CustomPaint.com  1,000 – 4,999 USD
  • HBB.com  5,000 – 9,999 USD
  • LLL.net  1,000 – 4,999 USD
  • Train.net  5,000 – 9,999 EUR
  • Acknowledging.com  1 – 499 USD
  • Apps.net

It’s very possible that additional names will be added to each auction inventory, so visit the auction pages to see the full catalogs.

Great Introductory Auction at Brannans

Elliot Silver
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14

When I saw the list of domain names up for auction at Brannans.com, a recently launched domain brokerage and auction house founded by brothers Toby and David Clements, I was impressed. Frankly, I doubt the best names are going to sell at their reserve prices in the auction, but I do think it shows considerable trust in the Clements brothers.

Let’s have a look at what I think are the five best domain names in the auction, not considering reserve prices:

  • California.com
  • Connecticut.com
  • Futons.com
  • Digital.com
  • Renovate.com

There are many other great names, but these stand out to me as the best of the bunch. The prices are as high as can be expected, but having them listed for sale gives the company an opportunity to try and reach a deal with a buyer post-auction should a sale not be consummated at auction (assuming a customary exclusivity period exists).

I think it was smart to use Proxibid to handle the auctions. A few companies have tried to develop their own platforms, but there are often problems with managing a platform, especially the first few attempts. The Toby and David are wise for sticking with their knowledge base and letting an online auction expert handle the technology.

I wish David and Toby lots of luck with their new venture.

Things I Look for in Expiring Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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30

I’ve been buying and bidding on more and more expiring domain names at NameJet in the last couple of years. I wouldn’t say I am a big buyer, but I do spend quite a bit of time searching for good dropping domain names to buy, and I’ve had some success flipping auction purchases (never sold to a former owner though).

I want to share some of the things I consider when buying names on NameJet and Snapnames:

  • Previous owner
  • Development status
  • Inbound Links
  • GAKT information
  • Number of results for the keyword in Google
  • Potential TM issues
  • Age
  • Other TLD registrations and usage
  • Whether it’s a private sale

I weigh each of these factors differently, depending on the domain name, and quite a bit of my interest still boils down to a gut feel.

One thing I do is filter the names that have bids with an hour to go before the bidding deadline, and I analyze those based on gut feel. I figure I can check the analytics/stats during the auction, since as second or after bidder, I won’t be the leading bidder. Most of the time I place a bid on names of interest in that list and decide whether to be aggressive after the fact.

What do you look for when buying expiring/dropping domain names at auction?

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