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Auction Platforms Shouldn’t Benefit from Default Bidders

Elliot Silver
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13

If the winning bidder for a domain name auction does not pay and the auction platform offers the domain name to the next highest bidder(s), the default bidder’s bids should be removed entirely. The platform should treat the auction as if the default bidder never existed. Otherwise, the platform would benefit from a default bidder at the expense of other participants. This is unfair.

Rick Schwartz has been railing against Dynadot’s auction policy for the last couple of days, and I think he has valid points. Nobody can speak for Rick better than Rick himself, so I shared the post he just wrote on LinkedIn and a post from yesterday. If you haven’t experienced this issue with before, you can read his posts to learn what happened and understand why he is upset.

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LTO is Betting on the Buyer and the Platform

Elliot Silver
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2

When you agree to a lease-to-own (LTO) domain name deal, you’re making two bets: one on the buyer’s ability and willingness to complete the payments, and another on the platform’s ability to stay operational for the entire lease term. It’s easy to focus on the buyer, but the platform should also be considered, and that decision shouldn’t be made based solely on the transaction cost.

There are some platforms that have operations governed by a governmental authority. I believe Escrow.com, for example, has specific escrow requirements in the different states it operates. I think it also has California-specific escrow requirements it must meet to operate because the business is located there. Law firms and attorneys also have specific governmental requirements and oversights for managing escrow payments and transactions.

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Andrew Rosener on Miss Understood Podcast

Elliot Silver
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2

Andrew Rosener is one of the top domain brokers. I had to strike “one of” because I know as soon as I hit publish, I’ll get a WTF message from Andrew with a photo of his Escrow.com awards and ring. Joking aside, Andrew is a great domain name educator with a wealth of knowledge that is second to none.

This morning, Andrew posted a link to a video interview he did on the Miss Understood podcast with Rachel Uchitel. This is more of a high level interview with Andrew, but I have always found some nuggets of gold in these types of interviews.

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Get Expiry Reports to Keep Sales Platforms Updated

Elliot Silver
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For many years, I kept my portfolio at around 500 domain names. It was easy to manage those domain names on the sales platforms I used. During the past several years, I made a conscious effort to grow my portfolio, which gives me more consistent sales. The downside is that it is a bit more work to manage my 2,500-strong portfolio of domain names.

Because many of the inventory-quality domain names I buy are essentially lottery tickets, I have been letting more of these domain names expire. If I have owned a domain name for many years without any inquiries and the metrics don’t look nearly as good as when I bought it, there’s a good chance I will let it expire. Those domain names will be replaced by better domain names.

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Confusion = Clicks = Confused

Elliot Silver
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0

Since the beginning of domain name monetization, domain investors have touted the value of type-in traffic. People type-in a domain name either expecting to find something related to the keyword they typed or to find a company with that brand name. Oftentimes, they would click the links on the landing page, and that would generate pay-per-click (PPC) revenue for the owner of the domain name. Cha-ching. Many homes, cars, and luxuries were purchased courtesy of PPC income.

For many of these visitors, there was some level of confusion involved in their typing and clicking. They either didn’t know what website they needed or they were on the wrong domain name looking for something else. Had they known specifically what they needed or where they intended to visit, they may have used a search engine or typed in the correct domain name.

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Following $50k Sale, Surge.xyz Live

Elliot Silver
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Swetha Yenugula recently reported the $50,000 sale of Surge.xyz. In her post about the sale, Swetha shared a screenshot of the Escrow.com closing statement, likely because of the flack she has received regarding previous .XYZ domain name sales. Swetha also mentioned the transaction was brokered by Domain Agents, a platform that represents buyers who want to acquire domain names anonymously.

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