The DomainConsultant team is putting together quite the event for Domain Madness auction. DomainConsultant launched the auction with a twist implementing a bracket contest. Taking it a step further, Domain Madness is now being broadcast live from the Palms in Las Vegas. If you are interested in attending, RSVP to the auction team (admin @ domainconsultant.com).

The auction is getting quite a bit of visibility. The domains up for auction are a fully sourced list with good reserve pricing. Searching and sourcing for quality domains is more effort. But, it resulted in the outstanding list at competitive prices the community demand. The full catalog list is available for convenience.

The pricing for the domains selected includes a private ‘reserve price’ and a public ‘opening / starting price.’ The catalog and each lots’ individual fly-out lists the starting price, not the reserve. Bidding must reach the reserve price in order for the domain to be sold. The Aftermarket.com auction interface adapted to this format and is creating a visible excitement of the bidding. An icon is placed next to names that have hit its private reserve: Reserve Met

The auction has started with active bids in place – some already at Reserve Met status! Get in on the action. Place proxy bids now to not miss your opportunity. Set your proxy with the maximum willing to pay. The system will place bids for you as competitive bids come in, up to your maximum. Once a domain is active with the auctioneer during the hosted live auction, though, the only way to win the domain is to accept the asking price set by the auctioneer (Bid Now button). That means you must be present in the room or online to participate.

Don’t miss out on this innovating auction!

• Get registered to bid – Eligibility form
• Get Alerted on auction start – SMS Alerts
• Get online and bid – Domain Madness Auction
• Get in the room and bid – RSVP Admin @ domainconsultant.com

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.

Thought Convergence is proud to announce that Aftermarket.com has been selected as the premier auction house for the upcoming T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under conference, scheduled to take place November 18-20, 2008 in Queensland, Australia. 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). Those unable to join us Down Under may access and participate in the auction online at this time.

The domain submission period for this auction kicked off on Monday, October 6^th. In addition to new domain submissions, all domains previously submitted but not sold at the New York Aftermarket.com auction will be considered for the upcoming Down Under auction. The submission interface is accessible now at www.Aftermarket.com.

The final auction list will feature at least 25 .AU domains in addition to a minimum of 75 competitively-priced, top quality lots. As the Aftermarket.com auction in New York confirmed, competitively-priced domains get action and move! Our critical and rigorous selection process has proven highly effective – in New York, over 50% of our inventory sold, and of those sales, more than 75% sold above the reserve price. Based on that success, we will maintain the same criteria for the upcoming auction Down Under. This time around, however, we plan to list up to 50% of the inventory at No Reserve. This formula will ensure that we have a competitively-priced, exciting and successful auction for both buyers and sellers.

Domain submissions will be accepted through November 1^st, 2008, at which time we will begin to formulate the preliminary list of domain names for auction. The initial list of at-auction domains will be available for public viewing on November 6^th. The final catalog will be available online by November 14^th in order to provide buyers with ample time to research auction inventory. Active online bidding will be enabled shortly thereafter.

We will periodically provide additional ’sneak peeks’ of the auction inventory, so please check back frequently for the latest information and updates. We will also continue to provide answers to questions generated from these posts.

Thought Convergence is extremely excited about taking Aftermarket.com Down Under, and building upon our momentum from T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York! We look forward to featuring a significant number of top quality domains at exceptional prices!

In the mean time, if anybody has any comments, questions or suggestions, please feel free to email us at support [ at ] aftermarket.com.

Are YOU Ready for Aftermarket.com Auction??

September 24, 2008 – 5:00pm EST

We’re busy making final preparations for Aftermarket.com Live Auction at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference in New York – September 24, 2008, 5:00pm EST. There are a thousand little details, and we’re trying to handle them all to make your experience better, more worthwhile and profitable.

That in mind, we’ve got a couple important auction-related items to help you get ready: we want to tell you about bidder eligibility and introduce you to the new bid interface.

First Things First! You probably want to know where to start bidding! Right here. But, We don’t want to see anybody left out in the cold tomorrow, so you’ve got to read and understand just one thing:

To place a bid, you must be eligible to bid.

You’ve got to be eligible to bid. Becoming eligible is easy as pie, and you may already be eligible- but you’ve got to check, and now’s the best time: check your bidder eligibility now.

The New and Incredibly Improved Auction Bidding Interface-a Primer

Talk about changes! We’ve taken our old auction system and totally gutted it. Then we put in new guts. Better guts. Now we’re back with new features and a new interface that makes informed buying easy. You may even think we are giving you too many options!

We’ll let you discover the details for yourself, but here’s a look at how to use the essential functions:

The Auctioneer Pane -Keep Your Eye on the Main Action

The lot displayed in the Auctioneer Pane at the top of the page is the “active lot.” Lots are only active with the Auctioneer for a very limited time. Be ready to take action quickly because the lot is in front of in-house bidders and things will be moving fast!

Placing a Bid on the Active Lot: To bid on the active lot, just enter your bid amount in the Your Proxy Bid field and click the Place Bid button. (Note that the hint text under the bid entry field calculates the minimum bid by adding the bidding increment to the current high bid-any bid lower than this minimum bid will be rejected.)

The Watch List Pane -Keep Your Eye on Absolutely Anything

Your personal Watch List lets you keep tabs on any items in the Auction Catalog, -or EVERY item. Find out key information, watch the bids roll in and place your own bids before items ever make it to the Auctioneer Pane. Now this is control!

Placing a Bid from Your Watch List Pane ? Select the lot you want to bid on from the Select a lot name dropdown menu, enter your bid in the Your Proxy Bid field and click the blue Place Bid button.? (Note that the hint text under the bid entry field calculates the minimum bid by adding the bidding increment to the current high bid-any bid lower than this minimum bid will be rejected.)

The Auction Catalog Pane -A Quick Summary to Let You See What’s Coming Down the Road

The Auction Catalog lets you view the entire list of domains at auction and know when they’ll be with the Auctioneer. But you can get detail, too! Click on any of the linked Catalog items and find out about pricing, bid history and more.

To Bid on any Lot from the Auction Catalog Pane: Find the lot you’re interested in bidding on and roll over the linked Lot Title. Select the lot you want to bid on from the Select a lot name dropdown menu, enter your bid in the Your Proxy Bid field and click the blue Place Bid button.
(Note that the hint text under the bid entry field calculates the minimum bid by adding the bidding increment to the current high bid-any bid lower than this minimum bid will be rejected.)

What is a proxy bid?
All Aftermarket.com auctions use a proxy bidding system to make bidding easy, automatic, and safe – letting you enter the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for a lot and then put it on cruise control. Once you’ve entered your maximum price, we’ll raise your actual bid automatically by the lot’s set bid increment each time another bidder outbids you. We’ll continue to maintain your status as high bidder until the bidding exceeds your maximum.

Once bidding does exceed your maximum, we’ll message you through the bidding interface to let you know that another bidder has taken the lead and to give you the opportunity to raise your maximum. Don’t worry, your maximum bid will never be visible to sellers or other bidders.

Example:
—Auction Lot Title: Domain1.com
—Starting Reserve Price: $100
—Bidding Increment: $25
—You open bidding with a proxy bid of $500.
1. If there are no other bidders, you win this lot and pay a price of $100.
2. User B counters your bid with a bid of $200. The bid system will automatically raise your actual bid to $225 (last high bid + bidding increment). This counter bidding will continue automatically until you either win the bidding, or bidding exceeds your proxy bid (at which point you would be notified and given the opportunity to raise your proxy bid).

Can I cancel a bid?
No, you cannot cancel a bid. Per the Auction Terms & Conditions Agreement, all bids are final and binding.

Lot Status
One of the following five conditions represents the lot status:

How do I win the bidding for a lot?
The bidder with the highest bid on a lot at that lot’s closing will be named as the winning bidder for that lot.

No Names Over $100,000

DomainConsultant Explains its Auction Selections

There is little question in our mind that if you are looking for super premiums over $100,000, you are well covered by the other auctions. They always do it well, kudos to them.

If you are looking for domains with multiple venues of value in lower price ranges, we hope you’ll take a few moments to review and, hopefully, understand our selection process and purchase recommendations.

All about ‘Value’

Very early on in the process we decided against ‘window dressing’ – knowing full well our list would be viewed as being sub-par upon first glance. But as we publicly stated before, we concluded that, as consultants, our job is to pinpoint “value” for our clients.

Potential ‘value’ is defined and categorized as Short-Term (traffic/revenue), Long-Term (end-user sale/development), SEO value (growing importance), Price value (below/at market), Perceived value (first impression/credibility), Generic value, Industry value (size, scope and scale of applicable industries).

The following fifty or so domains were chosen because we identified a minimum of THREE of these specified values in our research and selection procedures.

For instance, a domain like ‘Dabbler.com’ has price, long-term, perceived and generic value. It could be a game or movie or book, software program or design company. A fun single word name like this, at this price, has a profitable end-user sale in its future – the buyer pool is potentially anyone.

A name like ‘OfficeComplex.com’ has long-term value, generic, industry, SEO and price value. We would also deem this name a ‘generic-Geo‘ meaning that ads are LOCAL, exponentially increasing the number of potential advertisers regionally.

For instance, search for ’seafood restaurants’ and the results will likely be tailored to your geography. Same is true of officecomplex.com and banquethall.com, businessgrant.com or even porch.net.

Pricing

Obviously pricing played a big factor in determining selections – in our case, it was based on the concept that we insure each offering retain ‘resale value’ in some form. Far too often, live auction domains are priced for the ‘end-user’ – giving the domainer little long term value out of their purchases. And ‘resale value’ is the closest thing to ’security’ domains can offer.

To that end, these domains were chosen because they retain the VITAL and undefined value of that knock or phone call we all wait for – from the end-user with deep pockets.

A Note on Our Notes

We added notes not to attempt to convince you to buy – we’ll leave that to the salesmen in the industry. No, these are reasons, internal reasons, for why we believe they deserve to be on the list which is based, in large part, on the ‘collective wisdom’ of many people who were subjected to a series of votes and negotiation until consensus was reached.

Truth is we’d bid on all of these given the money, time and opportunity. You can disagree with us and that’s fair but this is how we make our decisions, how we make our money. And surely we understand no auction could ever satisfy all but we hope you find real value somewhere on the list, as we did, and join us Live on Wednesday at 5pm EST to bid and buy and enjoy the extravaganza. Cheers.

The following ‘notes’ were culled and combined from multiple DomainConsultant analyst comments.

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We are now reviewing all domains submitted for the Aftermarket.com September 24th Live Auction at the Targeted TRAFFIC Conference. There are so many great domains — thanks to everyone for your submissions, AND for your feedback on our new Auction Manager interface!

We’ve got some tough work to do. With only 90 minutes allotted for the auction, we have got to maintain a rigorous selection process in order to trim the list of submissions down to the 50-or-so lots we have as our goal for the final auction catalog. To that end, Aftermarket.com has elected to work with the team at Domain Consultant.

Domain Consultant is a neutral third party comprised of leaders in the domain community, and has been contracted to review submissions and advise on the final list of lots going to auction. This is a team of professionals who actively participate as buyers, sellers, advisers and brokers, collectively contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the domain economy. We are excited about the knowledge and experience Domain Consultant brings to the auction and its participants.

To maintain fairness and objectivity in the selection process, sellers and Domain Consultant will remain anonymous to each other, and Aftermarket.com will serve as the interface between the two.

The Aftermarket team (TrafficZ and DomainTools) is also reviewing submissions. Together as a team with Domain Consultants, we will decide on the final active list of lots going to auction -this final list will be available on September 17, 2008.

Items listed in “Published” status are currently being reviewed. If the review team wants to negotiate a reserve change, the item status will change to “Pending Changes” and customer is notified via email. Items determined to be put into auction will be updated to “In Auction” status and published on the final list September 17.

The auction will be simulcast live and online, starting at 5:00pm Eastern Time on September 24, 2008. The bidding interface will be web-based, no special download required. A DomainTools account and a quick eligibility verification are required for online participation. For in-house participation, please go to the TrafficZ booth at the conference to register and get your bid paddle. More details will follow on the bidding system and new features!

Stay tuned for additional announcements about the Aftermarket.com Auction.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the first phase of Aftermarket.com. This first phase is a dual online & offline auction system using the new platform of DomainTools created specifically for the Aftermarket.com. Many people may be familiar with DomainTools auction platform rolled out last year – we have redesigned most of that system from the ground up. The interface has been improved, not only visually, but technically as well, with simple-to-follow, intuitive wizards implemented to guide users throughout the submission and auction management processes.

The Aftermarket is the first service launched that combines the power, innovation and intelligence of Thought Convergence (TrafficZ, DomainTools, and the Domain Roundtable). In future phases, we will be launching more tools that unlock the value of domains and increase liquidity in the domain aftermarket.

Aftermarket.com’s live auction platform will debut its first live auction on September 24, 2008, at the upcoming T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference in Brooklyn, New York. The Aftermarket.com auction is scheduled for 90 minutes, and we are aiming for approximately 50 to 60 carefully-chosen, well-priced domains. The final lots will be selected by an industry-leading team of experts analyzing each entry to ensure it meets our criteria of a quality domain (or lot), set at a fair and reasonable reserve price. Aftermarket.com will adhere to the DomainTools methodology of publishing in advance the starting reserve, ensuring there is no guessing at what the minimum price will be. We believe competitive pricing will encourage participation from a maximum number of bidders.

Submit your domains now for consideration!

• August 29, 2008 — Last day to submit domains for review
• September 17, 2008 — FINAL LIST PUBLIC
• September 24, 2008 — Aftermarket.com Debut Live Auction!

Go to www.Aftermarket.com to submit your domains now.

UPDATE:

Thanks for the feedback given on the blog, forum and support tickets to the auction submission system. A new version is rolled out. Any data previously input will remain. Below is the list of items:

Verification status issue: Fixed. Verification status maintains.
* updated: in email verification picker, new status messages:
– Pending – select domain and choose email to send for verification
– Contact Support – either domain does not have valid email or verification was denied by user. Support ticket is required to resolve.
– Confirmed – verification complete
* added: If a user denies email verification request, the lot status remains ‘Pending Item Verification.’ The specific domain(s) with corresponding email will have a status to ‘Contact Support’ in the verification picker. This is a security measure to ensure proper ownership of the domain.
* added: If any 1 domain in a lot is set to ‘Pending Item Verification,’ the full lot is set to pending status. This will change the status of the domains in the LOT from ‘Published’ (confirmed verification status) to pending. Each specific domain record does not change. Once the other domain(s) are confirmed verified, all revert back ‘Published’ status.

Sorting: Fixed. Able to sort on Domain, Lot and Lot Status.

Status definitions: Updated. Lot Status and Verification column combined into one status definition under ‘Lot Status.’

Lot Manager: Updated. Easier interface to manage lots – adding and removing domains, changing lot description and title and reserve price.

Please submit a support ticket if you have any troubles.

Looks like the domains with zero dollar reserves have little mini bidding wars going on several days before the auction closes. It is sort of fun to watch. One example is the combined two domain lot of SecretCode.com & SecretCodes.com. We let this Lot into the auction with a zero dollar reserve and people are aggressively bidding on it. Typically everyone waits for the last 15 minutes of the auction and then they try to snipe it with all the other like-minded snipper people. But once you see one bidder it is safe to say there will be a battle. The DomainTools auction system allows people to bid ahead of time because unlike other live events we broadcast to the Internet and let remote bidders participate just like they are in the room. Thanks to AJAX (and not some windows download) we are able to open up the bidding up to everyone that has a modern web browser.

For the pre-bidders, the current winner can set a proxy bid and defend their position while not even attending the auction. No one can see the proxy bid price including the Auctioneer. This means a leader of an auction can successfully defend against auction snippers while sitting on a beach without Internet access.

Testing the bidding system
If anyone wants to test the bidding system, we have setup a test spot on lot 1. The domain is called “Xx–Practice-Domain.com“. Anyone is free to bid on this domain, the current price is $1,500,000. This is the only domain in the auction that is for testing the interface and getting used to our controls. The domain is currently not registered, so hopefully no one goes out and registers it and tries to claim $1,500,000.00 from us. Once again, the domain is xx–practice-domain.com, please do not register it.

Are you eligible to bid?
Don’t wait for the last minute to figure out if you can bid. Visit the bidding page and look in the second yellow box. If the auctioneer is telling you that you are not eligable go threw the wizard and become eligible. If you have ever purchased ANYTHING on domaintools then you are eligible, just sign the contract. If you have never shared your credit card with us and we don’t know who you are, we ask that you purchase a $1 verification item prior to the auction so that we can verify your identity and make sure you are a real person.

Domain Roundtable
The conference begins today and I am extremely excited, I get on the plane this morning and hope to see everyone soon. I am looking forward to hearing all the speakers and moderators. I want to personally thank, Susan Prosser, she has done a fabulous job selecting speakers and coordinating the whole event. The Domain Roundtable would not be possible without her and the rest of the wonderful team. As the founder of the conference people look to me, however she is the one that truly deserves the respect for putting on such a great show. When you see us, be sure to thank her, I am more of just an observer.

Secret Announcements
We have so many cool things to share with everyone. We have not officially announced this one yet, but I will let you readers in on a small secret. We quietly launched Thumbnail History this week (The service is still in beta, don’t try it in IE8!). It allows people to see what domains looked like years ago. Sort of like Archive.org except we take thumbnail images and not just HTML copies. The thumbnails have been taking by us with Internet Explorer over the years, so they have Flash and the other things that archive.org doesn’t seem to capture. We have hundreds of millions of these thumbnails, several Terabytes actually. More on the thumbnail system later… There are a lot of details I can tell you about it but I will use a dedicated blog post after the conference to really tell you the ins and outs of the service.

Super premium domain the Illusionist.com is for sale at the Domain Roundtable Live auction event on April 21st. The Illusionist.com is for a company that wants amuse an audience. The brand is perfect because it is used by some many people around the world. Everything from TV shows to Movies have used the generic description, there is really no way around talking about an Illusionist without using the proper name.

The Reserve on Illusionist.com is $280,000.

Bidding is available online at the DomainTools.com or live in person at the Domain Roundtable in San Francisco. Bidding is now open and will close Monday at 11am PST.

The live auction event will be broadcast on DomainTools and the Bidding page.

Here is a complete list of what is available during the auction.

This is an excellent reserve price, the domain has been owned by the same person for 11 years.