Poll: Are You Using “NameJet Classic”?

Elliot Silver
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8

At the end of November, NameJet underwent a website overhaul, and the new design was launched. I’ve become more accustomed to the design and found it to be easier to save searches. On the top of the site, there is a link to return to the “Classic” look, which had been the primary design since inception.

I’ve only visited the Classic design a few times, but in speaking with a couple of colleagues who are also active bidders, it seems that there may be a number of people continuing to use the previous site design as their primary means of accessing NameJet. I am curious how prevelent this is, and I’ve added a poll below to see.

If you are using the Classic site, would you mind giving your insight about why you’re doing this? NameJet did not ask me to post this, nor do they advertise or compensate me for writing anything.


Go Daddy Moving Back Into Private Auction Space with .Pro Auction

Elliot Silver
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8

I received an email this morning from Go Daddy announcing a private .Pro auction event. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t recall Go Daddy ever hosting a private auction event in the past, and if that’s the case, it’s pretty big news in the domain industry (update: a friend told me they hosted “Signature Auctions” several years ago).

According to the email I received, “Go Daddy Auctions is holding a special event auction for some fantastic .pro domain names. They are one, two and three character names never before released to the public.

Go Daddy is facilitating the auction, but does not support .pro TLD … yet.”

The auction will begin on January 10 at 7am PST and run through January 17. Some of the domain names at auction include the following:

  • 1.pro
  • 2.pro
  • b.pro
  • x.pro
  • go.pro
  • pet.pro
  • xxx.pro
  • we.pro
  • buy.pro
  • inc.pro

Auction starting prices range from $50 up to $5,000 for the single letter and number domain names. I don’t know if $5,000 for a single letter/number .pro domain name is a good price, but the market will tell us.

For the most part, I’ve only seen private event registry auctions like this held at auction venues like Sedo, Pool, Snapnames, and NameJet. With new gTLDs around the corner, this could be a foreshadowing of events to come. Perhaps Go Daddy has hopes of securing special event auctions on premium domain names in new TLDs. It might be a wise idea to hold a private .CO auction in conjunction with the .CO Super Bowl commercial.

Personally, I don’t see a whole lot of investment value with .Pro domain names, but this particular auction will certainly be worth watching considering the audience may include far more end user buyers than usual.

Domain Auctions Should Hold Domain Names in Escrow

Elliot Silver
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24

Earlier this year, I won an auction at Sedo’s Great Domains. Immediately after I received the email confirming my auction win, I sent payment to Sedo. Unfortunately, the domain name was never transferred, the transaction was cancelled, and my payment was refunded.

I’ve heard many stories about deals not being completed after auctions conclude, and it happens at all auction houses. Although buyers may have legal recourse, that option is generally expensive, time consuming, and it’s not usually worth the effort to complete the deal.

I believe there is something that domain auctioneers can do that would mitigate this issue.

If the auction house takes possession of the domain name prior to the auction, the domain owner would not have the ability to back out of the deal. Since the owner has already committed to completing the deal, the only issue post auction is the follow through, and if the auction house has possession of the domain name, completing the sale wouldn’t be an issue.

Of course, taking possession of the domain names requires additional resources to ensure the domain names are pushed to the auction house accounts at various domain registrars. I would bet that expense would be covered by the commission from completed deals that may have fallen through.

It’s 2012, and there’s no reason domain auctions should fall through. It’s disappointing as a buyer, and I am sure it’s also frustrating to the auction houses.

Easy to Save Searches on NameJet

Elliot Silver
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6

I am finding myself adding more saved searches on NameJet than ever before. I don’t know if it’s because the new website layout makes it easier to use this feature or if the search functionality has made it more useful, but I’ve set up a number of daily search result emails to help find domain names.

Here’s how to set up a daily search email:

1) Visit NameJet, click on My Account, and log in

2) Scroll to the bottom of the left column and click on Saved Searches

3) Click on Create a New Saved Search and enter your information

There are a number of keywords I search for, primarily with my keyword at the end + .com. You may also want to add variations, like s for plural or ing. I like to make sure I only receive the name once, so it sends me new domains only.

If there was one thing I could change, it would be to create a way to have all of these searches sent to me in one daily email. I get enough emails over night, and additional saved searched generates more emails. If you have 10, 20, 50+ saved searches, that’s a lot of emails to go through when one would suffice. I would probably add more keyword searches if I could have them all sent in one email instead of multiple emails.

If you haven’t tried the save search functionality on NameJet, I recommend trying it out.

December Great Domains Auction Results

Elliot Silver
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19

Last week, Sedo’s monthly Great Domains auction concluded, and the results of the auction are posted below. I think there were some pretty solid buys in the auction that should result in good returns for the buyers.

cart.com 49999 USD
my.net 49000 GBP
646.com 20000 USD
tcp.com 18500 USD
sparkonto.de 13100 EUR
stunner.com 7603 USD
womensex.com 6100 USD
pokerevents.com 4999 USD
nominations.com 3806 USD
orangutans.com 2271 USD
refurnish.com 2250 USD
spongy.com 2150 USD
bulbs.net 2150 USD
blender.co.uk 1900 GBP
beddings.com 1750 USD
sciencefiction.co.uk 1590 GBP
decked.com 1570 USD
rehire.com 1258 USD
instinto.com 1150 EUR
flask.co.uk 1051 GBP
fity.com 1050 EUR
makeovers.co.uk 1050 GBP
soothes.com 1000 USD
paperback.co.uk 999 GBP
7v.net 999 USD
database.info 999 USD
ddi.net 999 USD
automatenspiele.com 900 EUR
gamesroom.co.uk 895 GBP
continue.net 651 USD
approves.com 510 USD
waiver.net 510 USD
kiss.us 499 USD
wagered.com 435 USD
freegadgets.com 385 USD
uncollected.com 385 USD
ilt.co.uk 370 GBP
igif.com 360 USD
armytanks.net 345 USD
ksr.co.uk 325 GBP
szf.net 320 USD
1un.com 280 USD
foxo.net 260 USD
tunafish.net 260 USD
assumes.com 212 USD
lifeinsurance.nl 160 EUR
datenight.net 135 USD
row.me 110 USD
itch.me 101 USD
collectes.com 100 EUR
classicguitars.net 100 USD
contrataciones.es 100 EUR
accommodates.com 100 USD
buyerhub.com 100 USD

Picks from the Great Domains Auction

Elliot Silver
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7

Sedo is running a Great Domains auction beginning today, and I want to share some of my top picks for the auction. The auction ends on December 8, and many of the domain names have reserves.

Listed below are my favorites from the auction along with the reserve price range. Feel free to leave a comment with your favorite(s) from the auction.

  • Modeling.com  ($100,000 – 249,999 USD) – Can be used by a fashion model agency or by a statistical / database modeling company.
  • Stunner.com   ($1 – 499 USD) – Great brand name for under $500.
  • TCP.com ($5,000 – 9,999 USD) – Three good letters and LLL .com names are almost always liquid.
  • Orangutans.com  ($500 – 999 USD) – An animal name for under $1k is usually a good deal. Start a sports team 🙂
  • Accommodates.com ($1 – 499 USD) – May not be the exact match term, but for under $500 it’s solid.
  • Making.com ($5,000 – 9,999 USD) – Great action domain name

FYI, the link is NOT an affiliate link – it’s a tracking code I am not being paid for this post nor was I asked to post it I also don’t have any names in the auction nor did I do a Whois search to see who owns what.

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