Subscribe
Technical Requirements for Bidding online
August 4th, 2007 by 
Jay Westerdal
Q: What will I need to bid online?
A: A modern browser with Flash 8. Internet Explorer 6 (or above) Or Firefox.
We will be streaming information that is live and constantly updating to the live bidding page We are only allowing 4,000 connections to the event. So please login early if you plan on bidding remotely. Clients with Billing information on file will get priority connections. Of course, attending the live auction in-person is completely FREE as well. There is no admission fee or cover to attend the auction event. We want as many people to attend the event as possible. Any barriers to entry for outside companies is not smart if we are trying to attract large corporations that have never bid before in a live auction.
I will describe the interface. We are streaming not only audio but also video. The video feed may have a 2 or 3 second delay so it is important to not try and cherry pick in the last 5 seconds of the auction. Bidders in the audience will have that advantage most likely. Every time there is a bid, we will keep the current auction lot open longer. We will look at the previous bidders to see if they look ready to bid again. Once we have done this we will call out the traditional warning, “Going, Going,….. Going,….. Gone”. The webpage actually has an animated gavel that will lower at the same time as the auctioneer. It has 3 levels to let online bidders know how serious the auctioneer is.
The interface will have bids streaming to it. So if someone bids, it will just show up on your web page. You will see a bid history of all the bidders. We will not be hiding who is bidding by saying Bidder 1, Bidder 2, Bidder 3. You will see the alias name the person has chosen at DomainTools. Bidders in the live audience will show up as “Live Bid”. You will not know who they are because we will not be able to update that information fast enough. You will not need to refresh to see what has happened. Flash + Ajax + JavaScript is a wonderful thing. This is Web 2.0 at its finest. Remote bidders will have one advantage, Proxy Bids. Those Proxy Bids will allow someone to enter in high bid amounts. We will only bill the end user the minimum amount above the last bid. Of course users in the live audience are free to bid with their laptops as well.
I will give out more information later this week after the submission process for domains is closed (Aug 6th).
« Newer Post Older Post »
Posted in Domain Auction, Domain Roundtable, DomainTools Auction |
August 4th, 2007 at 3:11 am
Hi Jay,
By having non-persistant connections, you can make mysql server efficient and that would also work better with JQuery. I did not see the reason why there should be persistent connections. If one logs in, after sometime, there should be time_out for that connection if there is no activity.
But if a JQuery non-persistent connection is made, there should be ample opportunity to make connection if one wanna bid.
A good thing would be to make sure to have sufficient table_cache configuration in the mysql.conf so that the connection data does not swap.
Those things are extremely important to configure in a live event like this one.
UPDATE BY JAY: A persistent connection with Flash is actually connected to an echo server. So we are not tying up resources. Anything that alters values will be using JQuery and will have instant access to the web servers and databases. Trust me, we are testing this. We have several hundred thousand users each day and we will be running a test application on the pages they view.
August 4th, 2007 at 3:35 am
Sounds great guys, you might want to do a test and have some people stress test it before hand.
August 5th, 2007 at 5:55 am
Excellent Jay! What time does the auction start on the 15th?
UPDATE BY JAY: 11am sharp on Wednesday the 15th.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Hi!
Sounds great.
Sure there will be a countdown also on the page
Best regards and good luck to all bidders…
August 5th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Hey I have a domain that is top knotch still pending a review in the auction area - gin.co.uk
the other domain is in fine but I was hoping that would make it in since the deadline is monday right?
August 5th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I’m curious, does pending review mean they have not been looked at all? If there was a way we could know whether or not our domains have been looked, it might ease the confusion from the sellers side. I feel I have very good portfolio of names compared to what I’ve seen so far but I have know idea if they’ve been looked at yet. If you could comment Jay I would appreciate it.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Hi Jay,
congratulations in advance. It seems the auction will be a great success. Was wondering what you thought of these names that I’ve submitted? Haven’t heard anything yet back from your people.
Would value your opinion.
Good luck with the next few days.
Ciao,
Transporttimetable.com $90,000
Lightrailtimetable.com $90,000
Undergroundtimetable.com $100,000
Subwaytimetable.com $100,000
Tubetimetable.com $100,000
August 6th, 2007 at 9:23 am
shqiptarwolf … very long names that you would be hard pressed to sell for more than a hundred dollars. The Subway Timetable you may get $1000 for. I’m not a professional though, so I could be dead wrong.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
When will the “FINAL” list be out? Today is the deadline for submitted but when will all the submitted domains be reviewed etc.?
August 6th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Hi J. Regarding botpc.com.
included(mobilebots pcbots anibot mypersonalbot mypersonalrobot botplay botaction botpress)
I did not want to bother you again, but just in case of any interest, I never was able to re-submit above domain with reserve 25,000.
thanks, marissa
ps message said duplicate, but I checkd all.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Are there ever any exceptions to the 3 year rule (such as for a package of 6 similar names related to a very current topic)?
August 6th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
hey i jsut submitted my two domains, dollarmuch.com and sexymuch.com
wondering if they have any chance at all ?
thanks
August 6th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Is there a way to upload hundreds of domains as part of the ‘Lot’…doing one-at-a-time for hundreds is very difficult.
For example I have: Roommates.us, Roommates.ca, Roommates.info Roommates.mobi etc..
Also have most cities and states like NewYorkRoommates.us ..totalling hundreds…same for Canada.
Is there an easier way to do this?
Thanks
August 7th, 2007 at 10:39 am
It might be nice to have a “practice” auction, to get folks accustomed to the interface, and to ensure there are no last minute problems.
August 8th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Seems like I missed the boat again for submitting my domains.
MadeInSouthAfrica.com
Importation.com
August 8th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
jlandress..thanks for taking an interest.
And to others re point about bulk listing, yes, it needs it.
SHQIPTARWOLF
August 12th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
i have a domain call http://www.wikiimages.org, please buy only US $ 10,000