I’m sorry but they just aren’t in my opinion, definitely not at the 15% commission level.
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind paying 15% if the service is worth it. If I can only sell a domain for $1,000 and you can obtain $2,000 for it, I’d gladly pay you 15% because even after subtracting your commission, I’m still left with $1,700. Way better than the $1,000 I can obtain. I’d even be willing to pay 30% because hey, subtract your $600 commission and I’d be left with $1,400 which is still considerably better than $1k. Even a 40% commission leaves me $200 ahead… you get the point.
But when you want me to pay a 15% commission and can only sell a domain for an amount I’d be able to obtain myself, then you’re giving me a bad deal.
In my opinion, if an auction house isn’t able to put me at least $1 ahead compared to what I’d be able to obtain myself, I’m kind of getting scr***d.
And I’m not just talking for the sake of it.
I listed three really good and liquid domains at this month’s GreatDomains event as en experiment.
Never been a fan of their 15% commission but I figured I’d give them a try as an experiment.
Well… that experiment failed 🙂
I’m 100% (one hundred percent) convinced I’d be able to at the very least obtain as much as Sedo’s auctions got for them easily.
So essentially, I’ll pay them 15% to get me an amount I could have easily gotten myself by selling to other domainers directly and using Escrow.com.
Sorry but I’m going to have to call “FAIL” on this one.
I gave Sedo a fair chance but they failed miserably, so I for one won’t be using them again.
This post only represents my opinion, based on my own trial and error. Maybe your experience with them with be stellar but I doubt it.
I really hate writing negative posts but that’s what case studies are all about, enabling people to learn from the things I did right as well as from my mistakes.
And auctioning via Sedo has been a mistake.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:21 am
Sedo cannot outperform the market, especially when it comes to 4L.com when you are marketing to domainers, not end users.
4L.com do not have the amount of end users you would think, Chinese manipulation has made you think there is blazing demand for the domains outside this community, it is on a 1 by 1 basis, and every so often, so don’t hold your breath.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:30 am
@Rich: the thing is, they’re actually underperforming the market and at the end of the day, Sedo GreatDomains and Sedo’s auctions in general are for the most part reseller market (domainer to domainer) venues.
Let’s refer to LLLLs for example. There are now decent Chinese venues which charge roughly 3 times less than Sedo but unfortunately, Sedo hasn’t done anything to become more competitive it seems.
Did they lower their commission? Nope, still 15%.
Are they advertising all over the place to attract buyers? Nope, they aren’t.
After drawing the line, they’re giving domainers a bad deal IMO. And if they want to survive as a reseller market venue, that has to change.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:46 am
Sorry that your auctions didnt go as hoped for. No reserve auctions right now regardless of where at and how good the name is are a huge risk, hopefully things change later in the year.
April 28th, 2016 at 12:09 pm
Yes, I agree, I can tell you sedo is filled with vultures who are looking to buy 4-5 figure domains for between $60-$500.
There are so many venues out there, and you might have been better off to just sell it on namepros, and not eat the 15%.
Commission structures for the big houses are out of wack, take a real estate agency who has to stage, picture, market, and show a property, all taking physical time. They do not charge 15-20%.
Whereas domains are electronic instruments that sellers are being gauged between 15-30%, until domainers say F you, they will continue to live off our assets.
April 30th, 2016 at 12:43 am
Rightly said Andrei. And I tell you what… I just unsubscribed their crappy newsletter and promotional emails which couple of days before you published this post 😀