Using A Live Auction List As A Blueprint
As I sit here thinking about what to write I can’t help but to reminisce about the success of Moniker’s Premium Live Auction Powered by SnapNames LIVE Technology. The auction took place on January 28, 2010 from 2pm to 6pm at Domainfest. The unofficial results according to TheDomains.com comes in at $931,300. Leading the auction is LoanCalculator.com which brought in $215,000. In my opinion this is a very healthy number.
Since this was the first time I ever attended a Moniker Live Auction I made sure to pay close attention to the type of domain names being auctioned off. To go even further, I am going to keep a copy of the auction list to use as a blueprint for future domain acquisitions. There is an obvious demand for quality domain names and the Moniker Live Auction clearly proved that. My blueprint will allow me to segment off a portion of my domain portfolio which will purely be submitted into live auctions. I am in the process of developing a plan for myself, which will include a time line on when to finalize all domain submissions for future auctions.
While at DOMAINfest I had the chance to speak with Victor H. Pitts. For those of you who are not familiar with Victor, he is the Vice President of Sales and Client Services for Moniker. Victor took the time to explain the importance of submitting domain names into a live auction. He made me realize that even if I were hesitant about the quality of a domain name, I should still submit it. That’s been my problem for quite some time. I tend to doubt the importance of my portfolio and forget that every domain in the portfolio should always be treated as an investment. The main purpose of these investments is to make a profit! I am looking forward to submitting a few domain names and acquiring a few more based upon the blueprint.
For those of you reading this entry, I hope it has encouraged you to do the same as well. Live Auctions are a great way to cash in on some of your domain investments. These types of auctions provide a tremendous spotlight for the domaining industry and draw in investors from around the world. Domain names you might think twice about selling, potentially have the chance to net a nice profit.
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January 29, 2010 9:11 pm
Some of these domains aren’t worth reg fee eg. visitbolivia gets maybe 1 type-in a week.
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Jason Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Rashid,
I guess that really depends on what you are looking for. Domain investors obviously felt differently about the domains listed in the auction. Since I had the opportunity to sit in the room during the live auction I can tell you that it felt like a bidding war.
One word: Amazing!
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January 30, 2010 4:28 am
There can be drawbacks too (which should be considered) in submitting your domains for an auction.
Auctions often will not provide guidance as to whether a domain will be placed in the LIVE auction or the extended (non-live auction). They will ask for reserves that are very low in order to effect a sale (to insure their commission) thus placing entrants at risk of losing a valuable domain in a relatively low traffic auction where a good domain can be sniped in the so-called “silent auction” in the final minute of bidding.
Auctions will not allow their customers to submit “ONLY FOR” the LIVE auction (makes no sense). Also, they used to demand 180 contracts which thankfully were pruned to 60 days. Auto-renewing auctions are unacceptable. Rick Latona’s auctions have the right concept in that a 60 day contract auto-expires unless the entrant requests an extension. This should have been the standard all along (unwillingess by auction houses to do this was/is a poor business practice). Latona got that right and credit to him for doing so.
The “contracts” required by live auctions are generally no more than a commission insurance mechanism guaranteeing payment to the auction house even if you sell your domain 45 days after the auction to another buyer. In other words, most will not be actively marketing and brokering your domains, but they’ll want money from you if you find your own buyer. It is what it is.
On the good side, having your domain in the LIVE auction can lead to a sale. Be sure to carefully choose the reserve price because there is a very high likelihood that the domain will be sold at that minimum price.
Auction staff are famous for saying “Lower your reserve because it will generate more bidder excitement”. This is smoke and mirrors, and a somewhat disingenuous statement that when properly interpreted reads “Lower your reserve because we want to insure that we make money off of your domain, even if sells cheap”. It’s up to the domainer to arrive at a realistic valuation of their domain name.
The auction house usually want to churn sales as quickly as possible and will not necessarily be a reliable estimator of a domain name’s worth.
Domain conference auctions are predominantly domainer-to-domainer sales. Newbies may not realize this.
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