That is a new low and, though I expected a low number, let's just say the lowness exceeded my expectations.
What went wrong? Ill advised reserve pricing? Poor domain selection? Inadequate pre-event promotion of the auction inventory? The market just gone straight to hell? Or, do people attending SES just not see the opportunity?
On the tail of the somewhat pathetic auction results, big time domain seller/broker Rick Latona, one of the many "interesting characters" (that's a compliment, Rick) is reporting [ricklatona.com] that he just signed an extended term contract with Internet Retailer magazine for a 2 page centerfold spread in their magazine. To quote Rick:
Many of us have talked about proactively putting something in place to go after end-users. Is this the golden ticket? Probably not. However, I do think that with this ad, and more to come in the future, I’ll have an even greater chance of reaching them.
So, what explains "the failure" of the SES live auction? Poor pre-event promotion? Poor selection? Ridiculous reserves? What?
Is Rick Latona putting his money in the right place?
[edited by: Webwork at 10:08 pm (utc) on Aug. 21, 2008]
What went wrong? Ill advised reserve pricing? Poor domain selection? Inadequate pre-event promotion of the auction inventory? The market just gone straight to hell? Or, do people attending SES just not see the opportunity?
Ouch!
f) All of the above. I think much the reserve pricing was too high for that market. Auction performance at past affiliate and search oriented events hasn't been that great, as I recall (though this auction sets a new low).
Is he wasting his money? I can't say - haven't seen the ad yet.
19.500 didn't come close to covering their expenses man someone took a huge hit on that one....
[domainnamenews.com...]
Just got the list of domains there were quite a number with really no reserve that were passed on.
[domainnamenews.com...]
Nothing personal either but that list of domains doesn't do a whole lot for me.
Do they give you any history for the domains?
That was an auction? Looks like more of a garage sale to meI will agree with u on that for sure I took a look at the domain names myself and thought what aa joke....
pre-event promotion
I saw no promotion worth noting :¦
Stupid idea to hold in the middle of holiday season and do no promotion anyway.
The next Live Auction is in New York in late Sept looks a completely different kettle of fish quality-wise already...
Here's hoping there's some serious promotion to get some big guns in there with some proper money - the online auction format should be a winner but needs to attract global interest to make it a viable proposition IMO!
TRAFFIC New York [marketplacepro.moniker.com]
[edited by: TinkyWinky at 6:31 pm (utc) on Aug. 22, 2008]
Some site developers who I know and respect would be just as happy putting sites up on IP addresses rather than domain names. Lots of SEM/SEO companies have little or no awareness of the importance of branding and domain names. They would rather shovel money at paid search every day than invest in good domains that attract traffic over the long term.
The SEM companies are like shoemakers whose children go barefoot.
All I can say is that isn't how you market a domain.
The catalogue listed them all so I browsed through it at the event but all it really was was names...no info on age, rankings, content, search volumes, backlinks, earnings or anything like that. I have spent thousands on individual domain names before now but in the end I decided it was just too risky to bid on anything but strong 1/2 word keyword domains, of which there was a grand total of 2. With totally unrealistic 7 figure reserves. I sat for a bit, then went to the pub instead :)
I guess my point is: what may appear a low quality domain might actually have hidden value, but if they don't tell the audience chances are it's not going to get much interest.
[edited by: Simsi at 3:58 pm (utc) on Oct. 29, 2008]
