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.

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?