Right of the Dot, the domain name industry company founded by Monte Cahn, announced it will be running a live, independently-operated domain name auction at the end of February. This auction is unrelated to the NamesCon auction that is being hosted by GoDaddy later on this month. Monte and his company have managed domain industry auctions for more than 15 years.
A press release with details about the auction was published this afternoon. Here is a brief excerpt with the most important details about the auction:
“On February 25, 2021, RightOfTheDot, in partnership with best selling author and World Champion Auctioneer Wayne Wheat will take the gavel to auction off 50-75 super premium domain names. The live auction will occur on February 25, 2021 beginning at 12:00 PM CST at https://ROTD.hibid.com/, preceded by a timed online auction with hundreds more domain names available. The live auction will be webcast in real time from a live production studio in College Station Texas.”
I am not familiar with the HiBid auction platform, but I will have a look once the auction listings go live. Platform registration will be required in order to bid on the auction. I believe participants can place proxy bids prior to the live auction.
Industry veteran Scott Pruitt, who previously worked on the NameJet auction platform, will be working with Monte to manage the auction. I chatted with Scott about the types of domain names they are looking to include in the auction and here’s what he shared with me:
- 2 to 4 number
- 2 to 4 letter
- 1 word (with meaning) .com
- non-premium renewals
To submit domain names for consideration, you can visit the ROTD website. You will want to reach out to the ROTD team to get the details regarding exclusivity, commission rates, and other important details.
Thanks Elliot! We are very excited about carrying on an annual industry tradition I started officially at the first TRAFFIC conference in 2004. As you recall, I conducted the first domain auction in the late 1990’s with the sale of Wallstreet.com for $1.3million and then again with Autos.com for over $2million. $550million in transactions later, I feel its especially important this year to continue conducting the right type of premium domain auction to keep the market fluid and growing!
No one should participate with these high commission rates.
Gregg – commissions are not taken from seller reserve prices, they are added to the reserve to create the auction reserve. Also most every live auction platform such as sotherbys, Christies, Jacksons, etc. charge in upwards of 45% between buyer and seller premiums/ commissions to the auction house. We are a fraction of those fees. Glad I clarified that for you. And of course we are handling all the escrow fees, marketing, processing outreach, inbound and outbound lead generation, PR, etc. all out of our pocket.
What’s non-premium renewals?
Hi Charley – that would be any premium priced new TLD renewal or tiered priced domains over $100 per year.
I noticed the auction and considered it for my domain. However, it’s not easy to find and has no listing of what is on the block. So very little marketing and no “300SL Gullwing” to bring in a crowd )-:
So the comparison to Sotheby’s, Christies, or Jacksons is way out of line.