Although I don’t recall actively participating on a six figure auction on NameJet, I have been an observer on quite a few of them. One thing I found peculiar is that an auction could be in the half a million range and bidding would increase by just $100 per bid. This was a bit frustrating considering the auction is extended by 5 minutes for every bid placed in the final moments of an auction.
I just learned that NameJet has changed its bidding increments for auctions over $25,000. The new bid increments for auctions above $25,000 are below:
Current NameJet Bid Increments:
- Less than $1,000 – $10
- Over $1,000, but less than $25,000 – $100
- Over $25,000, but less than $50,000 – $200
- Over $50,000, but less than $100,000 – $500
- Over $100,000 – $1,000
I asked NameJet General Manager Jonathan Tenenbaum to share the rationale for the change, and here’s what he told me:
“During some of the recent high-value auctions, such as SX.COM, we saw that the bid increments were not really consistent with value of the current high bid. And although this might preclude some from bidding further, increasing the bid increments will speed up the auctions and help maintain a more productive rhythm. Ultimately, we want to create the best auction environment possible, and as we intend to bring even more high-value domains to our platform we want to make sure that it operates effectively.
For example, looking at XR.COM (which is currently live in auction at $552,000), a $1,000 bid still represents less than a .2% increase for the domain, whereas a $100 bid would be less than .02%, which is too small to allow for productive bidding, especially when the reserve has yet to be met (although it is getting close).
So now that this is implemented we will continue to evaluate and further adjust as needed.”
As a buyer, you need to be aware of this change because it can impact your bidding strategy. I presume some bidders liked to increase their bids by $100 to wear out the other party. As a seller, you need to be aware of this change because it could theoretically impact bids, especially on auctions in the 6 figure range.
I am sure Jonathan will be happy to answer any questions or discuss this change if requested.
i generally enjoy reading your blog but this was a particularly uninteresting post.
You have an error in the Namejet url link.
Fixed – thanks.
Yesterday’s auction of 742.com at NameJet has ended pretty low because top bidders realized that a bid (that just met a reserve) of user “lujch” for $113,000 on 10/19/2015 5:57am was phishy, the bid increment was below $1,000. Serious bidders backed off, refused to participate. NameJet is not trustworthy.
Why does it look “phishy” to you? That bidder won the auction and seems to have won auctions before (and participated in other auctions) according to Goldnames.com: http://blog.goldnames.com/?tag=lujch
Obviously trust is the most important attribute of an auction platform.
lujch $113,000 10/19/2015 5:57 AM
laoshu $112,111 10/18/2015 7:29 AM
NameJet requires a minimum increment of $1,000 for bids over $100,000.
$889 < $1,000
Maybe I am confused, but here is how I understand how NameJet works:
Let’s say I have an auction for DomainInvesting.com, and I set a reserve price of $105,555.
Now let’s say there are only two serious bidders: Andy and Mike.
Andy bids $75,000 out of the gate. The auction shows up at $75,000 with reserve not yet met.
Andy then bids $100,000. The auction shows up at $100,000 with reserve not yet met.
Mike really wants the name, so he places a bid of $125,000. The auction would then show a high bid of $105,555 with reserve being met. Even though his proxy is much higher, the high bid shows as the reserve price. This protects the buyer since he is essentially bidding against himself until the reserve is met.
– If Andy bids $124,000, the high bid would show as $125,000 with Mike being the high bidder.
– If Andy bids $125,000, the high bid would show as $125,000 with Mike being the high bidder.
– If Andy bids $125,500, the high bid would show as $125,500 with Andy being the high bidder.
That’s fine, but the increment should be still at least $1,000; unless it’s autobid matching user’s max amount, but then the timestamp would be different (before the other bid).