Lots of people think that bringing end users to live domaining auctions is the way to go but I personally disagree. In my opinion, it’d be a flawed business model and this approach simply doesn’t make economic sense (waaaaay too much work for the 10% – 20% that auction houses would make).
By all means, feel free to post a comment and convince me that I’m wrong. How would you organize the live auction associated with a domaining conference and, most importantly, how would you generate win-win-win situations (in other words, situations where buyers, sellers as well as auction houses are satisfied)?
Scalability, Scalability, Scalability!
This is the most important aspect we need to pay attention to: while there’s no doubt in my mind that auction houses could generate bidding wars for one, two or a handful of domains, this approach is just not scalable.
Think about it for a minute and let’s assume that an auction house decides to find end users for let’s say 4 out of 300 domains. Here are some obvious problems right off the bat:
1) The sellers who own the other 296 domains would feel neglected
2) Since the event would be advertised as being end user oriented, domainers would price their inventory unrealistically and resellers would simply not bid
3) The event organizers would have a hard time attracting enough well funded end users to generate bidding wars (even for only a handful of domains) and after drawing the line, would this arrangement be worth it on their end (their investment of money/time vs. the revenue generated from their 10% – 20% commission)?
Can You Prove Me Wrong?
I’m not a narrow minded person and would love to be proven wrong. What is (in your opinion) the best solution for live auctions?
February 8th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
I agree, domain auctions are for domainers and not endusers. Those who want an enduser price had better start cold calling businesses or they can always book a broker if their domain is that special.
February 8th, 2011 at 10:31 pm
What makes domains any different from any other asset (homes, commercial property, art, coins, jewelry, office furniture, etc.)that they alone are of no interest to end-users. A fertile, growing industry needs transparency, efficiency, and professionalism which is attractive to the primary source of money – the end-users.
Cold calling is expensive, a waste of time, and like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. A professional conference that educates as well as bringing buyers, sellers and brokers together (auction or otherwise), coupled with a well organized marketplace that allows end-users to quickly and efficiently find the domains of their choice, would do much to increase the value of domains and assist end-users in finding the name they are looking for.
February 8th, 2011 at 11:28 pm
I personally prefer .orgs over .nets too. In my experience, .orgs rank way faster than .nets, and have a higher visitor “trust” quotient.
February 9th, 2011 at 3:58 am
I have some domain names that I want to put up for auction on GoDaddy.com. But before doing so, GoDaddy.com states, “Per the rules outlined in the Go Daddy Auctions® Universal Terms of Service, the domain seller is responsible for ensuring that a listed domain does not violate/infringe upon third-party trademarks.” How do I find out – for free?
September 6th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
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