DomainTools Blog

Aftermarket.com’s home base of Seattle may have been cold and frozen over the past week, but, things continued to heat up at the live auction with the market leader in sell-through rate. Thought Convergence, Inc. is pleased to announce that Aftermarket.com has been selected as the premier auction house for Domainer Mardi Gras (DMG).

The live event is set to take place February 21, 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana. DMG is being sponsored by our friends at Parked and Modern Domainer with an agenda focusing on “Risk Management for the Modern Domainer”. This is your opportunity to submit your risk management related domains or names akin to Mardi Gras for consideration in the auction!

The domain submission period for the simultaneous online and in-person auction is currently underway at Aftermarket.com and will remain open until January 30, 2009. Log into your DomainTools account, or create one today, and go to the Aftermarket.com Live Auctions in navigation bar to submit your domains today. Aftermarket.com customers can choose to ‘move’ previously submitted domains into the Domainer Mardi Gras Auction for review. Select the domain(s) to move and then “Migrate Lots to Domainer Mardi Gras” in the drop-down selection box.

Here are some important dates to keep in mind:

• Open submission: NOW
• Priority reviewed submissions: January 16, 2009
• Submission deadline: January 30, 2009
• Auction Open / Pre-Bidding (silent): February 13, 2009
• Live Auction: February 21, 2009 2:15 PM CST
• Post-bidding (silent) ends: February 27, 2009

If you have any questions or for additional assistance please email, Aftermarket.com Support, support [ at ] aftermarket.com.

The Aftermarket.com auction at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under wrapped up last week. When the final gavel came down, it was an impressive sales rate of 80% of the auction inventory. As expected, the .AU domains were a hot commodity with 25 of the 28 being sold. In reviewing the bidding activity on those lots, they were the movers in the auction averaging 3 minutes bidding activity per domain. Add to those the no and low reserves, it was a frenzied bidding experience, challenging the auctioneer to keep up with the live and online bids.

In addition, the live auction experienced a start delay due to facility audio / video issues. Then, about half way through the auction, the Aftermarket team requested a break to review the auction system itself as we were noticing significant network latency at the hotel site and needed to ensure the accuracy of the bidding and transactions. With the active bidding and the delays, this impeded us from covering all lots in the live auction. We have been working independently with the buyers and sellers in transactions of concern. We appreciate the buyers, sellers and overall support and participation received

A great deal was learned during this auction. Aside from technical items, the business strategy of the catalog with the assigned time allotment needs more consideration. The guidelines set for number of lots, reserves and .AU names created a valuable catalog. DomainConsultant went through more than 30,000 submissions to create this catalog. Had there not been delays during the auction, there remains the chance time would have been pushed. That said, auctions in the 2-3 hour time allotment seems appropriate to maintain engaged participants.

The participation and feedback received from buyers and sellers throughout the process of submission, selection, auction and escrow has been tremendous and thoroughly appreciated by the Aftermarket.com team. The escrow for this auction is nearing completion and we look forward to another 100% success rate of closed escrow deals. The auction results are available on the Aftermarket.com site by selecting ‘Action Results’ tab and then select the Down Under Auction in drop down menu.

The next Aftermarket.com live auction will be held during Domainer Mardi Gras in New Orleans which takes place February 19-21, 2009. Discount passes are still available until the end of December. The live auction is February 21, 2009, 2:15 - 4:45 p.m. CST. Continue to check us out for more updates.

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 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.