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!

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.