Subscribe
Auction Extended until Jan 10th
Submit to Digg.com!
December 31st, 2007 by 
Jay Westerdal
A lot of people are worried about the Holiday tomorrow and there not being enough time to put in a bid prior to Thursday the 3rd so we have extended the deadline to January 10th at 11am PST. This will allow enough time for everyone to download the list and analyze it prior to the gavel closing. With over 170+ domains there is a domain that fits everyones budget.
My favorite domain is still HealthyHeart.com
for $225,000. The best value is Grampa.com for only $2,500; I have a feeling the market will set the right price on this one and it will not be anywhere near the reserve price.
To place your bid, just go to the bid page. If you are not already a paying member of DomainTools, you will be prompted to enter your credit card to verify your identity. After that you are free to bid and then to own some of the best domains available on the auction block.
« Newer Post Older Post »
Posted in DomainTools Auction |
69 Comments »
December 31st, 2007 at 6:54 pm
what about my domains? 3lb.net
m3z.net
8mt.net
matchmade.net
Please take a look at them for the next auction
December 31st, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Still a typo, Jay. Should be “graMpa.com
” not “graNpa.com
” (at least the list shows graMpa.com
)
December 31st, 2007 at 8:00 pm
isn’t the correct spelling “grandpa”? I guess people in different parts of the world/country may say it differently. Dictionary.com
says “grampa.com
” is informal for “grandpa”, and doesn’t show “granpa” at all.
December 31st, 2007 at 8:15 pm
yes, I think the more normal spelling is grandpa, but I think a lot of kids who say it end up saying grampa. I know my 2 kids do
I think grandpa is more official.
Either way, there seems to be confusion on the site as to whether graNpa.com
or graMpa.com
is being auctioned. On the bidding page it shows graMpa.com
with a bid already, but on all the whois pages, the little promo for the auction at the bottom of the whois shows graNpa.com
for sale: http://whois.domaintools.com/grampa.com (at the bottom in the gray box with the gavel)
“Great generics like Granpa.com
for $2,500″
UPDATE BY JAY: Thanks I fixed the spelling in the promo. The list and bid interface was correct.
December 31st, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Hi,The last auction was simply great. That made me list a few domains for this auction. I’m trilled to see one of my domains been included in the list (ShareAccount.com
):D
Jay, When you say the auction is extended it means that the final in-person auction is going to be on the 10th is it?
January 1st, 2008 at 1:00 am
Hey Jay, quick question. Could you possibly make a post with some suggested tips/links/email wording that sellers could use to attract (end user) buyers to the auction who may not fully understand premium domains and the benefits of direct navigation?
The reason why I suggest it is because I just found a goldmine of potential buyer contacts for one of the domains that I have in the auction, and I want to learn the best way to notify them that the domain is coming up for sale and maybe some quick bullet points on why they’d want the 1000+ visitors a year that type in the domain.
January 1st, 2008 at 2:58 am
Jay – A quick heads up that the live auction page does not show more than one domain name per lot (even for the lots that have more than one domain name in them…)
UPDATE BY JAY: Ah, I will have that fixed first thing Wednesday.
January 1st, 2008 at 3:07 am
Extra domain names in a lot are also not included on the download CSV…
January 1st, 2008 at 3:48 am
Grandpa is the more formal spelling, and sold at the last conference for $55k. I’ve never actually heard any Americans pronounce it that way (Grand Pa) though. The more commom American pronunciation is as spelled in the auction here Grampa. For example, The Simpsons is an extremely popular TV show and the character is spelled Grampa Simpson even though they use the formal spelling in the url.
http://www.thesimpsons.com/bios/bios_family_grandpa.htm
January 1st, 2008 at 7:11 am
Hi Jay. I’ve entered info in order to bid, but the site won’t accept it. Also, I’ve listed 15 domains. Will they be considered for this auction? Thanks.
UPDATE BY JAY: The development crew will be back in the office tomorrow. I will have them fix that issue right away.
January 1st, 2008 at 1:14 pm
FYI – Sorting based on “goog” does not work. It’s sorting as text, not a number.
UPDATE BY JAY: Thanks for the feedback, I will see if we can get that fixed.
January 1st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
healthyheart.com
for 225k? What kind of pot are you smokin
January 1st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
“healthyheart.com
for 225k? What kind of pot are you smokin”
That good stuff, dipped in formaldehyde, sprinkled with crack rock particles.
January 1st, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Jay, I am trying to get confirmed to bid, but it won’t let me. I have my phone and payment confirmed, but it wont allow me to confirm my acceptance.
January 1st, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Jeff9:
I think Jay only sticks with the good stuff:
Seriously, HealthyHeart.com
has one big thing going for it besides the very respectable type in traffic. Dominance in the name space… bottom line, it is the BEST name for any company wanting to promote a heart healthy product.
Yes, I am hoping for some end users or developers to pick up the name, it is a shame just to park it. You really could build a business around it, I have some plans if it doesn’t sell.
Also, pick up any magazine, watch TV, walk the supermarket aisle, all around you will see products screaming “Healthy Heart”. Even Quaker Oats is promoted that way. This is BIG business, and HealthyHeart.com
has sooo much more value based on all of those possibilities. (Not to say anything bad about the other names, but how many can you really build a business around? – the are what they are)
A quick story, last Super Bowl a major drug company spent a couple million on a commericial promoting their new heart drug. It was a fine commercial, but then the end they told you to go to their website, it was something goofy like…. well, I actually have no idea. It was not memorable at all, they probably pad $5000 or less for the name. Not a very smart investment since they spent millions on the commercial!
January 1st, 2008 at 5:02 pm
A great, well thought out response BUT…..$250,000 is very pricey for the name.
I can’t imagine it has that much type in traffic. At most maybe 50 people a day as per WordPress. The buyer of this name would not be looking at it as investment (There is no justification) but rather as a “vanity plate”.
I have literally hundreds of catchy real world terms that I would sell collectively for less than $25,ooo. But that is neither here nor there. Here are the stats on Healthy Heart as per estibot:
The STATS
estibot.com/results.php?domain=healthy%20heart.com
The way I value any domain is:
1) Type in Traffic
2) Overture keyword Selector Traffic
3) Google PPC Ads when in ” ”
4) How generic the term is, OR how specialized
5) Similar domain name sales
6) If te other domain extensions are registered and how much they are going for.
7) How hard it would be to develope the name vs. what is out there and further how hard would it be to make the name more viable. This Should be one of the largest considerations, as it determines how much you can earn from a name
I think the name would be great for “big pharma” or any product that speaks to health, but how do you attract those buyers? It cost’s money and time to woo them, so this name as good as it is, is allot of work and I beieve in picking the low lying fruit…
UPDATE BY JAY: The price given by Estibot is not accurate at all. A human that knows this market is the only way to figure out the price.
January 1st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Regarding HealthyHeart.com
, I don’t necessarily disagree with your reasoning… but, as they say, it is what it is. We will see.
And I don’t want to compare it to Cardiology.com
($550,000), but healthyheart.com
beats it for traffic at Compete.com
, the 50 to 175 visits a day (which convert at 50 to 120 percent) ain’t so bad either.
One thing I can guarantee, HealthyHeart.com
will be a developed website soon, either by me or a buyer.
Regardless, good luck to ALL with the auction!!!
January 1st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
…and you get healthy-heart.com
as part of the deal!
January 1st, 2008 at 11:04 pm
$225,000 is a steal rptek….do not sell for less…industry will pay…just a matter of time.
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:16 am
As per the estibot…..I know the valuation is not accurate BUT, the other stats are. That is what estibot is used for:
Frequency (Google) 3040000
in Anchor Text 154000
in Title 176000
in URL 14200
Backlinks 0
Alexa Rank Not Ranked
Traffic (uniques) / Day N/A
PPC Ads Score 34
Overture/mo 2749
Wordtracker/day 55
The above excertpt from estibot is very accurate-
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:29 am
Here is a shameless promotion….
vs. HealthyHeart.Com
Jewel.Mobi
I know a .Mobi, but they have been very hot as of late and the term Jewel is a single word, generic, very popular term. And at a $1,000 Reserve you do the comparison:
Jewel.Mobi
Stats
Domain: jewel.mobi
Keywords (Autodetected) jewel
Frequency (Google) 73900000
in Anchor Text 1340000
in Title 1870000
in URL 649000
Backlinks 1
Alexa Rank Not Ranked
Traffic (uniques) / Day N/A
PPC Ads Score 2
Overture/mo 179311
Wordtracker/day 3776
HealthyHeart.Com
Stats:
Domain: healthyheart.com
Keywords (User-Defined) healthy heart
Frequency (Google) 3040000
in Anchor Text 154000
in Title 176000
in URL 14200
Backlinks 0
Alexa Rank Not Ranked
Traffic (uniques) / Day N/A
PPC Ads Score 34
Overture/mo 2749
Wordtracker/day 55
Jewel.Mobi
is a very good deal…..we have many like it so we are testing the waters to see if it will bring any $.
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:34 am
As for the Wordtracker on Jewel showing 3,776 per day, that is on the .Com I am sure, BUT lets say you get 1% of that…..that is still 38 people per day, and that is without .Mobi taking off….
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:46 am
who is in charge?? it will not let me bid it has my payment information but wanted a phone number I put it in and there is no button to submit
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:17 pm
About the issue that the guy raises with respect to the type-in traffic that his .mobi gets vs the healthyheart.com
name for 225K.
exactly how many consumers does he think will buy a “jewel” from their phone? and my phone pulls up .coms just fine…
that’s the part i don’t get about .mobi???
Now healthyheart.com
….. well almost everyone has a heart…
and they ALL want a healthy one….. whoops sounds like sound marketing concepts be employed here……
HealthyHeart.com
will prove to be a bargain…
but the REAL steal at auction is subprimerefinance.com
for $5k…
20% of a TRILLION DOLLAR MORTGAGE MARKET IS SUBPRIME….
AND it all needs refinancing… simple.
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
“20% of a TRILLION DOLLAR MORTGAGE MARKET IS SUBPRIME”
Isn’t subprime an “industry” term (jargon) more of a common term that consumers would use?
I don’t know if many consumers would want to classify themselves as “subprime” even though that may be where their credit score lands them.
Meaning, the domain does have some negative connotations.
Not saying the domain doesn’t have value, but I don’t think it has the type in or positive industry value of healthyheart.com
. Consumers aren’t looking for subprime loans (at least not with that terminology).
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
It has name recognition… some may think that its negative…. but in 2007, it was one of the most frequently used terms in the media.
If you’re a consumer with a subprime mortgage (self-employed, jumbos, no doc, etc) who reads the news then I think you would at least want to see want the subprimerefinance.com
web site has to offer you before your 1.2 million dollar subprime mortgage clicks over from that 2.375% teaser rate to 7.375, but maybe I’m wrong… they may be too embarrassed & instead will elect to shop prime mortgages when they need a sub prime.
In fact any loan that doesn’t meet fannie mae or fha underwriting is subprime..
Been a commercial RE broker for 20 years… many of the wealtiest people are in subprime (nodoc loans) not because they are subprime indivisuals but because they refuse to layout thier complex financials for a prime residential mortgage broker to read.
Self employed and wealthy borrowers know exactly what that terminolgy means and thats the most lucrative part of subprime.
Bank of America has trademarked “nonprime” i assume to address the alleged negative conotation…. or because subprime is generic and can’t be marked.
NonPrime….. that’s great for boa but what will the other 900,000 mortgage brokers do… use BOA’s trademark?
The fact is BOA’s mark affirms the long term market that exists in subprime… the clear and present need to fund it.
subprime has always been in the market and will always be in the market…. fact.
HealtyHeart is a great name… no doubt… so is jewel.mobi
…
but subprime brings home all the bacon (5K RESERVE) with ONE LOAN FUNDED. I don’t have any idea if it will bring more than the 5k but it should…
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
HarryV writes
“and my phone pulls up .coms just fine…”
Exactly my thoughts – time for .Mobi to go live the life of a whale – underwater….
All the .mobi lovers will soon move to .Asia then to the next new extension – Natural progession – ride the waves and the little people get hurt because they never sold when the time was right.
Stick to the top 3 extensions and you will be fine – outside of that box and you might as well call 1-800-GAMBLING……
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
“and my phone pulls up .coms just fine…”
Really…My blackberry doesn’t go figure. That being said a .Mobi is very useful. For example….
Let’s say you have a ton of content on your main site, does someone want to search that from a phone?
A .Mobi provides a stripped down venue for Mobile Phones period. Easy surfing, easy navigating specifically for monile phones. A quick reference while out and about. Could be especially useful for many business so contrary to some peoples beliefs .Mobi will be here to stay, makes sense and will act as supplemental to .Com, NOT in replacement of-
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
icap – yes, your blackberry doesn’t always bode well with .com’s but technology has already started to evolve with the touch screen browser(iphone) that lets you view pages in the same format as a desktop regardless of the extension – blackberry will also come around to this in the next couple years – so your comparison is fair in today’s world but not for tomorrow’s … New techonology will not care and that’s what domainers are buying names for – tomorrow…
You like them – I loathe them but hey – can’t we all be friends
…. my peace has been said. Too many threads about this last forever so these are my last words on the topic. Peace out ….
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:20 am
HealthyHeart.com
is a steal. At the moment it is the catch phrase of every low fat food producer and statin manufacturer touting the benefit of their product in benefiting a healthy heart. A lot of these companies are known for using generic phrase domains to reinforce a particular message about their product. If you got 4-5 companies aware that the domain is on auction there is no telling where the price may end. I suspect the biggest problem for this domain will be lack of awareness at the right corporate level. This is very much an end user domain. Any statin manufacturer, cereal producer, would love to have “Visit HealthyHeart.com
” as part of any advertising campaign promoting their product.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:14 am
I wasn’t at the last auction so I was just wondering… is it normal to have so little activity early in the acution with most bidders waiting until the last day to bid.
So far I see only four domains having any bids and only about five bidders having made any bids.
I realize a lot of folks are still on vacation (it was a very good idea to extend the auction)… but from you folks with experience at these auctions… is this slow start normal or is this going to be a bust?
Jim K
UPDATE BY JAY: Yes, it is normal for 99% of the bidding to be in the last hour.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:27 am
Hi Jay,
I submitted 8 domains on 12/31/07 & verified them, but still showing pending confirmation. When you think they will be OK for auction. Thanks.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:37 am
My domains are:
matchingsutra.com
mate17.com
mate18.com
products-central.com
sexsutra.net
iphone-ringtones-club.com
loan-river.com
lustsutra.com
Thanks
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 am
hemant_vijay2001. Not all domains that are “verified” will make it into the auction. Verification just makes sure that you own the domain.
All the domains that will be in the auction are already on the list, so it doesn’t look like your domains made it this time:
http://www.domaintools.com/live-auction/list.html
I don’t work for domaintools, but judging by the process I’ve seen, that seems to be the case.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I submitted my domains last week and they are all still “pending review”…..will they ever get into this auction?
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Ok….Here is a question, I bid $2,500 to start for Capitalization.Com
, and was the only bidder, and current highest bidder…Now it shows no bids with a minimum bid of $5,000. So, let me understand this….Why would it show NO bids now and the reserve raise after the auction already started…..Am I missing something, I hope I get a good answer to this, otherwise it undermines the whole auction……Scary stuff-
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Here:
$2,500 $5,000 losing
$250 $250 winning
Personal Bid Statuses
Lot # Domain My Proxy Price Status
155 Capitalization.com
166 EastTimor.org
The opening bid was $1,000, I bid $2,500 to start….and now it says NO BIDS with a minimum bid of $5,000
What am I missing….This is verrrrrrryyyyyyyy Shady-
UPDATE BY JAY: Sorry about that. The domain had the wrong reserve entered into the system. Nothing shady going on just had to update that domain. We removed the bids because they were below the reserve price. The reserve price is still very low. The user did not understand how to set the reserves and had a support ticket in on it.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
The home Page Even uses Capitalzation.com
at a $1,000 reserve as a draw…..
See actual excerpt from home page below:
Want to own some of the best domains? Excellent high quality domains are going up for auction on Jan 10th. Bidding is now open. The stats on these 170+ hand picked domains can be downloaded and analyzed prior to the auction. Great generics like Grampa.com
for $2,500. HealthyHeart.com
for $225,000. NationalIdCard.com
for $3,000. HivVirus.com
for $2,000. BookUniverse.com
for $1,500. Capitalization.com
for $1,000. BasilGarden.com
for $1,500. WorkRemotely.com
for $8,000.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I agree… there really needs to be an answer to icapmedia’s inquiry. Everyone reviewing the auction noticed it.
Jim K
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
In the domain management interface it seems that you may be able to change the reserve for “on-list” domains after the auction has started. Hopefully that is just a design oversight/bug that can be fixed quickly. Jay, please confirm… thanks.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Jay, good afternoon.
I submitted the following domain names fo the January 3rd. auction and still no confirmation. Is there still a chance of entering.
torcha.com
gotsommelier.com
ventasapple.com
gotclic.com
cliclatino.com
getlatino.info
valleyswine.com
mexicofoodnwine.com
chinacquisitions.com
mexicoacquisitions.com
selfabhomes.com
self-fab.com
mrsalads.com
gotcerveza.com
corredordenegocios.com
assetsbroker.com
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I also noticed bids on capitalization.com
and cellularservice.com
have disappeared. The reserve also seems higher now.
I hope this is just a programming glitch that allowed the reserves to be raised after the bidding has started. That shouldn’t be allowed.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
capitalization.com
and cellularservice.com
are still showing $1000 reserves on “the list”:
http://www.domaintools.com/live-auction/list.html
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Domains (3) are submitted, but not reviewed yet, so I guess I didn’t make it this time, but I marked the submission for the April auction as well. Hope you get the domains reviewed by then
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Jay,
Please either accept my domains for an auction or somthing I submitted these the last part of November the first part of December and still pending review. I know that it is impossible for the Jan 3rd Auction but please for the next one I have good names like 3lb.net
matchmade.net
exchangeupdates.com
m3z.net
8mt.net
and more
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Jay….
I read your reply to my post #37, and I respectfully disagree- It is quite obvious thi name was a “draw” when it had started at $1,000 to change the reserve amount with a “sorry” after the fact is not good business, at the very least an email should have been sent out previous to the action being taken. Further, it is plaster everywhere including on the Domain Tools home page that it has a reserve of $1,000…. I don’t like the feeling I am getting. I have 10 Domains in this aucttion and am Thankful for that but changing the price while a name is in play makes me hesitant especially when Snap Names big Auction at Domain Fest wanted the very same names…. We own many more “pretty good” names and would like to work with you but this “reserve disparity” is questionable-
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Now the home page says $5,000 to match the change in the reserve….Wow…is this a John Grisham Novel..Lol
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I agree, the changes to the reserve after bids have been placed should have been done with more transparency.
The trust of the bidders is very important, and even if it was a technological mistake, it should be taken very seriously and the seller and bidders should be notified in an official manner directly from domaintools staff.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Jay;
You have deleted my post which contain some of the domains listed. it seems you dont have a fixed policy as i am finding many posts here. I submitted more than 70 domains which you didnt select even a single one for this auction.I think you are looking at the traffic not the name before you select.
Well thax, I deleted all my domains from my account
UPDATE BY JAY: Listing your domains in blog comments is not a way to get picked. Just the opposite.
January 4th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Where’s the off-site advertising for this auction? Could someone please show me where this has been advertised so I can feel better about listing domains here with low reserves (as requested). Low reserves are a great drawing card if you have a lot of bidders for the auction, but if there are only a few bidders due to lack of advertising it becomes strictly a buyers market.
UPDATE BY JAY: We have 500,000 visitors a day, please show me another website or blog with that much draw. We are alerting all previous buyers and the word is out. You will be hard pressed to find someone that doesn’t know.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Interesting to see HealthyHeart.com
also listed for the DomainFest Snap auction as well. # 2500 on the list. ????
UPDATE BY JAY: We have a signed contract on the domain. It should be removed from DomainFest soon.
January 4th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Regarding the DomainFest Snap list, the names at the bottom of the list are ones which are no longer being considered for the DomainFest auction, that is why they are out of sequence. HealthyHeart.com
will NOT appear at that auction.
January 4th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Sometime today, January 4th, 2008 in a UPDATE BY JAY:
“We have 500,000 visitors a day, please show me another website or blog with that much draw. We are alerting all previous buyers and the word is out. You will be hard pressed to find someone that doesn’t know.”
You’re doing a great job Jay but I do see some communication issues. When you’re dealing with people’s money and making decisions that seem to question the worth of their portfolio you’re dealing with fire.
And 500,000 visits doesn’t mean they all notice your blog or the auction banners and read further. You gotta get their attention.
There’s a slew of commuter buses running around Loudon County and going right into Herndon and Reston, Va. I never seen any posters on any of those advertising your auction. That area is heavy with people who might want to buy a domain. And have the money to spend big.
My first suggestion outside of advertising is to clear any backlog in the trouble ticket system before setting the auctionable domains and their reserve/starting bids. This would have possibly kept the $5,000/$1,000 discrepancy in the reserve from occurring. Of course you’d need to watch the trouble ticket system (and email) during and after the auction start process.
My second is to communicate better to those people whose domains are not selected for any particular auction. Maybe a “declined for this auction” status message.
My third suggestion is to hold a second auction (while the attention is still on auctions and the site) for anyone who gets declined in order to let the market tell the owner the worth (or lack of worth) of their “declined for the previous auction” domain name.
My fourth suggestion is to provide several graphics in various sizes to use as links to the auction(s) for people to advertise your auction(s) and their domains for sale at your auction. You’ll need to provide some instructions and example code.
My fifth suggestion is to be a little more informative about what your doing. For instance the “Parking Beta”. Most Beta testing kinda infers “this is Beta and may not work exactly right” but it will work right at the end of the Beta time.
Your Parking system went out of Beta with just a statement that it no longer accepts new domains. You could at least have explained why to people like me who elected to use your parking service exclusively. And now wonders when if ever we’ll be able to add more domains. It’s a great idea and I’d hate to see it go.
My sixth suggestion is to advertise outside just a little to targeted markets and use the sites of your regular users here when you can. ie: There’s no good reason to use my Monster Truck Trading Center or most of my other sites to advertise a domain auction unless one of my domains are up for auction but it’s good for “Four Walling” as a part of a mini marketing blitz. Give me a graphic and I’ll be advertising your auction when ever I have a domain there.
Or them buses in Northern Virginia. Or some guy in a booth at Disney Land in Orlando. Or a Monster Truck with your logo on it. Or a Ink Pen. A Hot Air Balloon at the Millwood, Va. Balloon Fest. Etc. Or a float in several parades each year. There’s so many ways to get your message out. Get Mikey and family to build you a Chopper!
You have friends here who will cut you a deal because they are your friends. And there are a bunch of site owners here with sites to advertise in. Use them!
UPDATE BY JAY: These are all great suggestions, we will be implementing on some of them. 2008 will be a year of a lot of growth.
January 4th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Very thought provoking comment spambait. I must agree with some of your points – relying on the visitors to the site only as our audience is a little short sighted. Heck i’ve reloaded the auction page at least 50 times today myself. How about some press releases? someone out posting hoopla on message boards. A bigger banner or advertisement on the first page of domaintools.com
.
The lack of bids is just so discouraging.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
I as a bidder on multiple names…but that has since changed when the “I didn’t know what a reserve is”, I have a number of names listed for sale, I put what I consider low reserves on them to get some action going, can I change my reserve on the last day so my names don’t get bought for a song?
Signed: Would have bought allot-
January 4th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
I was…not I as…
January 4th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
On January 4th, 2008 gramma Said:
“Very thought provoking comment spambait.”
and
“The lack of bids is just so discouraging.”
Thanks, Gramma. I guess I might as well say this, too.
The auction was extended until the 10th. A whole week due to the holiday. But the holiday was only one day and part of the day before. So I’m thinking why 7 more days?
Most auctions don’t heat up unless something interesting is on the block and the time is drawing short. So people are getting frustrated with the slow bidding while bidders are probably waiting until the last minute to keep from showing their hand!
When I bid at places like Ebay I usually bid (proxy) my highest bid unless I’m very interested in winning. When I really want something I wait real late in the game and proxy bid my highest dollar. Some buyers get caught up in auction fever and run up a item’s price as the bidding goes along. Others hold back and don’t bid until the last moments.
I wonder if a lot of bidders are waiting til the last couple days to start bidding? Since they now have until the 10th.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Why remove the comments? They weren’t negative, simple statements of fact, well it is you blog
January 5th, 2008 at 1:46 am
**Important** The Domain List (http://www.domaintools.com/live-auction/list.html) should be updated to reflect the modified reserve for capitalization and cellularservice so that is consistent with the auction listed reserve.
I can understand that you may have had a problem with your software on the reserve, but I don’t know of any auction houses that let the reserve be modified once the auction starts regardless of the issue. What’s interesting is that I think the bidding would have exceeded the reserve on at least one of the names if it had been left to run its original course. The fact that you posted a thread from Namepros about the problems with the .mobi auction at Sedo (http://www.domaintools.com/live-auction/list.html) indicates that you understand that strict procedures need to be adhered to in order for an auction and the company that runs it to have the appearance of propriety and neutrality at all times. Thanks for allowing me to provide input and prospective on the subject.
January 5th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
What’s up with the Password Reset? It’s always nice to hear “Official Word” on the blog when something like this is taking place. Is this for real? Was DT hacked? Never seen a “New Year” password reset before?
UPDATE BY JAY: It is always nice to shake things up a little. We also changed the encryption scheme on passwords too so it was necessary. Not really that blog worth.
January 5th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I would recommend modifying the domain list (http://www.domaintools.com/live-auction/list.html) to accurately reflect the auction reserve for the domains Capitalization and CellularService. It is still showing the old reserves. I like most bidders feel it is very important that the auction house, in this case Domaintools, maintain the highest sense of propriety and neutrality. If there was a problem with the reserve system, I believe there should have been a clear message posted as soon as it was discovered somewhere on the auction homepage. System issues, if they are known to Domaintools, should be appropriately presented especially once the auction has opened and the change will cause a change in the domains and how they will be they will be auctioned. A change in the auction shouldn’t be hidden in a brief comment in the blog, in my opinion. I know that you and Domaintools care about what you are doing…. by the fact that you posted the thread about the .mobi auction at Sedo and the problem of how one domainer was impacted by the changing of auction conditions by Sedo after it had started.
I hope that you take into consideration my comments and consider modifying your auction procedures amongst your staff so that you always error on the side of disclosure. If you want to develop a golden reputation in the domain auction business, you need to have a tight set of standards that reflect desire. Thanks as always to listening to our input.
UPDATE BY JAY: mhavoc, I completely agree with you. I will make sure that we are more transparent. Any changes that take place in future auctions will have a discloser section that list those changes.
January 9th, 2008 at 6:04 am
jay;
I am not finding any bids on your selected names yet( ofcourse only 2) I need to wait and see till the end.I feel my domain names are far better than 90% of your list if you look at name factor but i was wondering about your algorithm
January 9th, 2008 at 7:13 am
I have bids that are not showing now…..What is going on? easttimor.org
we were bid, now we are not? It was bad enough the Reserves were raised on other names mid-auction, now our bids are gone again????
Please Advise-
January 9th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
icapmedia, I don’t think you’re reading it right. easttimor.org
has a bid for $250. The next bid has to be $350 ($100 bid increments).
Also, for the rest of you guys, I’d strongly suggest that you go to Google and find some potential buyers for your domains. Don’t just sit there and hope that someone bids. On Jay’s last auction I sent emails to dozens of people who were potential buyers — and that domain was sold for four times it’s minimum! It’s just takes a little research and a few emails.