DomainTools Blog

Although the TRAFFIC Down Under Conference is officially over, it doesn’t mean that you have missed your opportunity to bid and acquire some quality domains. As witnessed during the auction, the No Reserve and the .AU names were hot commodities spurring on active bidding. There remain quality domains that are still reasonably priced. Below are current stats on available names, bids, estimated search results, click pricing and commentary.

Aftermarket.com Down Under extended auction is available until November 27, 2008, 9:00 AM AU EST / November 26, 2008, 3:00 PM PST.

We are pleased to announce the preliminary results from the TRAFFIC Down Under Aftermarket.com auction held November 20, 2008 in Brisbane, Australia. The marvelous venue setting coupled with the thoughtful program made this a truly spectacular event. We would like to thank all of the participants that gave their time and energy supporting our efforts.

The auction yielded sales of 75% of the lots offered. Having competitively-priced, top quality lots produced an excellent set of domain offerings. Here is the complete sales list:

Many participants likely noticed challenges with the auction itself. First, it started late due to the hotel venue AV technical problems. That was frustrating as it created rushed auction in an attempt to get through all the names. Then, with a network issue from the hotel to our servers in Seattle, we were noticing really significant delayed response from the server. There was considerable testing done prior to the auction. During the testing, the latency between Australia and the auction platform round-trip was approximately 5-8 seconds. However, we were noticing during the actual auction latency increased to 20 seconds or more. We were concerned about data syncing issues. We took a break to stabilize the network and databases in Seattle and then resumed again. Add to those two delay factors, the very active .AU domain name lots, time ran out. The initial 20 minute delay hampered our ability to go through the whole auction list. We apologize to all of the sellers and buyers for this situation.

However, online bidding will remain open until November 26, 2008 for lots that were not sold. Many of the names already have bids and remains some top quality domains at great prices:

BroadcastingSchool.com
Athletic.com.au
IUS.com
AntiItch.com
AccentTables.com
Somehow.com
LastYear.com

The full list of available names is on Aftermarket.com. Don’t miss this opportunity to purchase some of these great domains!

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under Final Call to Be Ready to Bid

As this incredible journey nears completion, we wanted to provide one last reminder for everyone to be ready!

Become Eligible!

Don’t be caught up at the last minute getting registered. Make sure you are eligible to participate in the auction. Participants need to agree to the Aftermarket.com Down Under Buyers auction contract and have a valid credit card on file in their DomainTools account.

Auction is OPEN FOR BIDDING!

Make sure to register at Aftermarket.com. Bidding has been open since November 14 and will remain open for the live auction through November 20th (AEST)! An extended silent auction will continue until November 26, 2008 to finalize any last minute deals!

Time Zone!

Make certain you know when the auction takes place in your time zone, a sample is listed below. Check your local time at Time Zone Converter.

Australia is for Auctions

The Aftermarket.com event which we have been featuring here is not the only game in town. This past evening local time (Wednesday, November 19) started off with a bang at the Internet Commerce Association Charity Auction. Co-sponsors Fabulous.com and T.R.A.F.F.I.C., joint organizers of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under event, held a charity event to auction ten premium domain names. The revenue will be donated to the Internet Commerce Association (ICA), a non-profit advocate for the domain name industry.

Fabulous.com, had generously donated domains valued at over $60,000 to the auction. These domains were auctioned without reserves. Rick Latona Auction (www.RickLatona.com) had also donated their expertise and time to manage the charity auction.

Speaking of Rick Latona:

Our good friends at Rick Latona will be hosting their own Live Auction Thursday, November 20th, at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under. Local time for those of you not good with the math will be Wednesday, November 19th, starting at 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

More information can be found by going to: http://www.ricklatona.com/auctions/.

To register for the auction and bid live, go to www.proxibid.com/ricklatona.

Here is their catalog:

Environment Produces High-Quality, Low Price Inventory for
Aftermarket.com T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under Auction -

OPEN FOR BIDDING!

In our last episode (TRAFFIC NY), our auction protagonists (to some) decided to set a cap on the highest priced domains in the auction at $100k. This was both strategic and a realization of the purchasing trends of the time.

In this new episode (TRAFFIC Down Under), we find that our villains (to some) made no such decree this time and yet somehow the resulting inventory contains no names with starting reserves over $50,000? Why?

For several reasons, first off, the downturn. As expected, economic depressions bring sellers closer to buyers and their needs - buyers whose assets are also diminished and closely-held.

Thus, the simple truth is we found far better DEALS in the lower ranges than we found in the upper echelon. This is the effect of a marketplace in flux and, as always, this produces the best buying opportunities.

And we know this because the list includes many names that would have listed eighteen or twenty-four months ago for three to four times as much and likely sold in that dissimilar environment too. Now many have “No Reserve.”

NO Reserve Domains
Normally I cringe at the words “No Reserve” as I get a mental image of useless domains without keywords, branding, SEO, resale or even registration fee value.

But as Dylan reminds - “times they are a-changin” and the zero-reserve landscape is truly altered by top buys like SafariAdventure.com, BirthstoneJewelry.com, LandDownUnder.com, ChildLocation.com, AntiItch.com, GourmetStores.com, BusinessFirms.com, CheckoutLane.com, Stealin.com, PrivateResort.com and countless more starting at everyone’s favorite price.

In the end, we chose fifty domains we feel turn the ?no reserve? mentality on its ear -including some amazing .com.au domains.

NO Reserve.com.au
One of the single best surprises of the auction is the astounding collection of premium .com.au domains listed for sale - at incredible prices.

Many of them, including gems like Camp.com.au, Broadcasting.com.au, Up.com.au, Hunting.com.au, Toons.com.au and more, are listed at NO Reserve! WTF? This is the single best ccTLD opportunity we’ve seen to date - by far, mates.

The Three Amigos
Not only does the list contain no names with reserves over $50k, it also, incredibly, includes three bona-fide category killers (single best name in a given industry) - never seen in these ranges. Camera.co.uk, Saws.com and Medicinas.com (medicines) are premium generics best covering three huge and expansive industries. Rarely do we see one domain from such expansive areas in these ranges, much less three that eat big fish for lunch at Outback steakhouse.

Generic names of this caliber mean “instant market share” in their given space. What is that worth in a multi-billion dollar marketplace?

Auction is OPEN FOR BIDDING!
Aftermarket.com has made it so easy, even fun for anyone to take part in the festivities, in person or online.

Their innovative system and interface brings auctions to the edge where you can watch and listen and bid and enjoy. As we’ve said before, Aftermarket.com has built the single best auction platform in the biz and it only promises to expand and improve.

Make sure to register, check out the killer interface and bid, baby, bid starting TODAY , Nov. 14th, on through to the live, broadcast conclusion in the land down under on November 20th! Extended silent will continue until November 26, 2008, to finalize any late making deals!

DomainConsultant.com Auction Inventory Review

The “No Reserve” domains have no comments/notes because we feel the price is the single best selling point ? any value above and beyond is pure moist chocolate cake.

For the other domains, we have included selected fragments of internal notes that offer ideas, review, comment and more from various DomainConsultant.com analysts.

We understand that not everyone will be satisfied or happy with the offerings - it is a natural of dealing with tens of thousands of submissions and being limited to 100 - can?t possibly get every domainer to agree with a dozen, much less a hundred.

Still, we, along with Aftermarket.com, have worked very hard to identify high quality buys and produce a top-level auction in which everyone can, and should, participate.

Don’t miss out on the action! Make certain you know when the auction takes place in your time zone, a sample is listed below. Check your local time at Time Zone Converter.

DomainConsultant.com - Aftermarket.com Auction Catalog Listing

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under conference is fast approaching. The Fabulous team has put together an outstanding program of events and speakers with all net proceeds of the conference benefiting ICA. They are also hosting special ICA Charity Auction held Wednesday, November 19, 6:30pm AU-EST. Full details of the agenda, events, charity auction are available on their website.

Aftermarket.com Down Under auction is shaping up nicely with a remarkable line up of domains. Tomorrow, November 14, we will announce the full catalog list and launch auction pre-bidding! Prior to this, there have been a couple of new features added to Aftermarket.com you should know about. Features we believe buyers and sellers will both greatly appreciate!

Be Eligible!

Don’t be caught up at the last minute getting registered. Make sure you are eligible to participate in the auction. Participants need to agree to the Aftermarket.com Down Under Buyers auction contract and have a valid credit card on file in their DomainTools account. If you have not purchased a product or become eligible to bid in a previous auction, we will ask you to donate $1 to Grassroots.org when you register - we know that it is a bit odd, but the good news is that you’ll help out a great organization and be ready to bid in the Down Under auction.

Attending the conference? Come visit us at the Thought Convergence booth to get registered early.

Be Ready!

Curious about new features? Check out our Non-Binding Test Auction available to explore the Aftermarket.com bidding interface. This is a test - and only a test - domains are test, bids are test. The domains in the catalog are invalid and are NOT representative of the Down Under auction domains! You will need to be eligible to bid for the test auction as well. If you have already verified with a credit card on file, all you need to do is agree to the Test Auction terms.

1. Bid validation confirmation - if your bid appears to be unusually high, there will be a request to confirm bid to ensure only valid bids are entered. The factor is 5x the bid increment:

Asking price: $10,000
Bid Increment: $1,000
Your bid: $16,000 = prompted to confirm bid (1000 x 5)

2. Instant notification of activity - As bids coming in on any lot, the lot price in the pricing column is immediately updated and highlighted for all participants to notice the activity.

3. Bid Now! button - Have you ever wanted to just push that button to make the next bid? Now you can! The minimum bid is clearly displayed below the button. Click the button and place that bid. Proxy bidding is still available as well.

A previous blog post explained the auction bidding interface. It is a great tutorial.

Be Alerted!
This is an auction you DO NOT want to miss! To aid you in not missing out, we launched an SMS service. Reminders about the auction will be sent to those signed up for SMS alerts available in your DomainTools Members area, select Mobile Alerts (SMS). It’s a simple sign up and verification process - just confirm your phone number and you will receive reminder when auction starts. Don’t miss out on the auction.

SMS service will soon be added to all DomainTools products that currently send RSS or Email notifications, too.

Aftermarket.com Down Under auction is not one to be missed. Make certain you have everything in place to take advantage of the excellent collection of domain names up for sale.

Aftermarket.com Adds ccTLDs to the Auction Mix

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Given the location and the attendees of TRAFFIC Down Under, it is given that Domain Consultant would look for and add high-quality .com.au’s to the auction inventory - and an amazing collection it is, many with no reserve.

On top of that have been many requests after previous auctions to include alternate extensions. And despite what others may believe, Domain Consultant is actually bullish on ccTLDs and high-value terms in alternate extensions - the Internet is global AND local all at the same time.

To that end, we added many names beyond the .com spectrum including such eclectic choices as Veg.as and among others. Bottom line is we have located some terrific brandable, regional names at prices that will bring everyone, globally, into the fold.

Here are today’s releases, enjoy! Stay tuned more to come:

We are pleased to announce the escrow for all domains sold at T.R.A.F.F.I.C New York 2008 were finalized last month. We are proud of the trust that both buyer and seller instilled in us to handle and transfer their assets in a timely and agreeable manner. By offering daily updates on status, we provided a clear and concise way for information to flow freely. We admit that we may have been over zealous in our efforts to keep everyone up to date, but we feel that it enhanced the openness of the flow of information for all involved.

For those wondering how the escrow process works, a few key points and features available at the customers Aftermarket.com Escrow control panel:
- Convenient ‘one stop’ access for all information related to sales and purchases via Aftermarket.com auctions.
- Friendly user interface providing information regarding: payment and transfer options, domain registrar information, lot transfer status and contact information.
- Complete sales information including: domain/lot name, sale price, disbursement/payment option are available to either buyer or seller.
- Personal follow up as needed to ensure any special requests from buyer or seller are handled.

Down Under Escrow Process

For the Aftermarket.com TRAFFIC Down Under auction, we are working with a local well known registrar, Domain Central. Domain Central, winner Australian 2007 Deloitte Tech Fast 50 award - ranked 2nd Fastest Internet Company in the Nation. A leading domain name registrar and web hosting provider, established in 2003, it entered the market as the first Australian registrar dedicated to delivering high quality domain name and web hosting services to customers at low prices.

Domain Central is assisting in the transferring of AU domains to ensure the AUDA policies are properly adhered. For full .AU policies, please visit the AUDA website . And to celebrate the first T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under, Domain Central has kindly offered to wave the existing $125 Administrative fee for the domain ownership transfers.

The quick synopsis (3 STEPS) for selling and buying .AU domains:
1) Seller: Completes and signs Page 1 of the “Change of Registrant Application” as transferrer.
2) Buyer: Completes and signs Page 2 of the “Change of Registrant Application” as transferee.
3) Completed Application is FAX/POSTED to the registrar Domain Central.

Download the Change of Registrant Application from Domain Central.

Domain Central will hold the domain until funds are received and will then reset the license and transfer to the domain to the new registrant.

IMPORTANT: The buyer MUST meet existing .AU policy to hold the domain license. Specifically: Policy No: 2008-05: Domain Name Eligibility and Allocation Policy Rules for the Open 2LDs (2008-05) - Publication Date: 30/05/2008. The AUDA recently updated their domain monetization policy. If you are interested in purchasing a .AU domain, partnering with an existing entity with rights to holding a .AU license is definitely an good alternative or researching acquiring your own. There is great opportunity in the .AU space!

In addition, Australia has a Goods and Service Tax law that applies to the purchase and sale of domains names. If you are Australian resident or company that sells or purchases at the Aftermarket.com Auction or a purchasers of a .AU domain, 10% GST will be added to final sales price to comply with the law. I am not a tax lawyer nor do I play one on TV. If you are wondering if this applies to you, I suggest you seek tax advice.

Through out the escrow process for this or any Aftermarket.com auction, we understand more than most that all buyers and sellers have specific preferences that they prefer when acquiring or selling domains. We keep those preferences at the forefront of all of our action items during the escrow process. There will always be instances where the process flows more quickly for some domain transfers than others, but rest assured we will always go the extra mile to accommodate participants when able.

It is the participants that make the auctions a success and we will continue in our efforts as we move forward with additional live auctions.

The selection and review process for the Aftermarket.com T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under Auction is in full swing! The amount and quality of domain submissions for this auction are impressive. Based on previous success, Thought Convergence elected to work with the Domain Consultant team in this endeavor.

Killer Sharks, Killer Names, Killer Prices
Snorkeling for Value in the Land Down Under

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Once again Domain Consultant has joined with Aftermarket.com to offer an exclusive line of high-quality names for auction at the TRAFFIC Down Under conference on the Gold Coast and this time, there’s lots of chum in the water.

We’ve searched high and low to find the very best domains at competitive, even bargain, prices. This time we decided to focus on getting the window dressing AND the right pricing - based on big increases in submissions and inventory quality.

For whatever reason, domain owners were initially hesitant with the last auction, but the apprehension has faded and the result is what promises to be the single best auction inventory we’ve seen to date - the .com.au selections alone are worth the admission.

And unlike the NY auction, which focused on pricing and value, this list promises to achieve the tri-fecta - pricing, value AND window dressing. Also different from previous efforts because we were given even more control; more say over the final listings and it has made a difference.

To their credit, Aftermarket.com has decided to focus instead on the platform - to build the single best interface and auction system possible. To their benefit, they have succeeded grandly - surpassing all else.

In the end, we feel this marriage of our inventory selections along with Aftermarket.com’s innovative and intuitive auction platform will create the single best opportunities, both macro and micro, the industry has witnessed.

We will be releasing the auction inventory over the next few days as well as a full Domain Consultant inventory review to follow. Here is a preview.

Cheers mates!

Below is a sampling of the inventory being considered. There will be regular updates of the list as selections are finalized. The full list will be available by November 14th along with Domain Consultant individual analysis and reasoning of selections.

Refrigerate.com
Veg.as
StartingCapital.com
Somehow.com
Southwest.asia
Camp.com.au
MyVision.com
2o.com
Exhilarating.com
Saws.com
Hunting.com.au
DownloadIt.com
Enter.com.au

Be sure to join the Thought Convergence community Thursday, November 20, 2008 for the second Aftermarket.com Live Auction The Aftermarket.com auction will commence on November 20, 2008, beginning at 8:30 AM AEST UTC/GMT +10 hours (Nov 19, 2008, 2:30 PM PST).

If you are not able to join us, you can participate in the simultaneous online auction. Be sure to preregister at www.Aftermarket.com.

Stay tuned for regular auction updates!

We made a decision some time ago that our live auction platform would function on all major OS’s and browser platforms. Sure, building a Java applet or ActiveX component may have been the traditional approach, but you risk locking out potential buyers if their system doesn’t meet a narrow set of requirements. Even if their system supports it, people may choose not to participate in the auction rather than installing software they don’t trust on their machine. Fewer participants’ means good domains unsold as buyers were not “present” to bid.

The Aftermarket.com Auction system uses the browser as the application container, much like Gmail or other so-called “Web 2.0″ apps. Most people already have Adobe Flash installed and are using IE 6 or 7 or Firefox 2 or 3, so when the live auction page loads, participants are immediately immersed in the action. New bids start appearing in their browser in near real-time, engaging them in the auction and encouraging participation in much the same manner as an auctioneer builds energy in the room. That is one of the most compelling attributes of our platform, and why other companies are taking notice.

Of course, getting the system working in four different browser combination’s, on both PC’s and Mac’s, is anything but trivial. Nothing mangles the carefully constructed project plan like a good set of cross-browser compatibility issues. Suddenly, that feature pegged for 3 days has dragged into the 3rd week, and not by any fault of the dev team. Once tight, clean code devolves into absolute confusion as we are forced to introduce new code paths to work around bugs in IE without messing up Firefox.

Implementing a good JavaScript framework helped us eliminate about 85% of those problems when we built the latest version of our auction platform. Now we face a new challenge: the JavaScript engine in IE7 is terribly slow, and in IE6, it’s almost unusable.

As web apps become more sophisticated, the JavaScript engine in the browser is pushed beyond what it was ever designed for in the first place, such as form inputs. Now, with our platform, every bid sends the browser into a frenzy trying to update all the pieces of the UI while still letting the user interact with the page. Some browsers, like Firefox 3, handle this relatively well; others, like IE 6, grind to a near standstill. IE 7 is marginally better, but Firefox is still superior, especially considering the improvements to the JavaScript engine in the most recent version of Firefox .

You’ll note that one browser is conspicuously absent from this discussion: Google Chrome. The “risk management” side of my head has been telling me not to list it as an officially supported platform for the auction, largely because I don’t want yet another browser to test in. I was mostly a spectator during the last browser war between Netscape (aka Mosaic) and IE - now I’m right in the middle of the arena, and things look considerably different down here than they did in the stands! I’m also nervous about the stability of the Flash plug-in in Chrome, but both of those arguments are losing force by the day and I’m beginning to yield. Frankly, my team thinks I’m crazy not to put Chrome on the list - some of them have been using it during testing, and they say the comparison between JavaScript engines in IE6 and Chrome is like comparing the zero-to-60 times of a tricycle and a Ferrari.

Our recommendation, if you weren’t sure after all this, is use the latest version of Firefox when you bid at our Aftermarket.com Auction in Gold Coast, Australia. It’s simply that much better.