Comments on: DomainFest Live Auction Nets Only $665K

By: MHB

MHB — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:18:10 +0000

DCP

This domain boiled.com was bought at the no/low reserve auction on Tuesday night and was reported on the post for that auction.

http://www.thedomains.com/2009/01/28/domainfest-lowno-reserve-auction-nets-128k/

This post is for the live auction held on Thursday.

By: DCP

DCP — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 03:32:57 +0000

Your list is NOT complete. We purchased Boiled.com for $2500 and it shows up on the moniker list of purchased domains. We plan to develop a boiled crawfish, crabs, shrimp site for seafood wholesalers in Louisiana…which is were we are from.

DCP

By: Tim Davids

Tim Davids — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:18:12 +0000

peeps won’t put up their best names in a down economy and buyers are holding cash until they feel comfortable…nothing unexpected happened with the auction

By: AJ

AJ — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:56:06 +0000

I have to admit I was surprised to see europe.travel go for only $5,000. If the purpose of a domain name is to be short, sweet, and to the point; this domain does it.

By: M. Menius

M. Menius — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:11:34 +0000

@Domainer – We have to remember, the Domainfest auction is still just “domainer to domainer” sales. The smart money is buying quietly.

Very well summed up.

By: MHB

MHB — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:00:17 +0000

Guys

Sorry about not responding sooner, but right after the auction ended we had to change and get on the bus to the playboy mansion and now its 9:30am PST and I got some sleep and actually feel pretty good considering all I drank last night.

Now to answer your questions rodeodrive.com did sell for $60K.

I confirmed my list with the moniker folk before I published it. The owner agreed at the auction to reduce his price and grab the money.

I know who bought golfbag.com is someone you all know and love (not me) who also has a domain blog.

I will leave it to him to announce his acquisition.

I have some thoughts on the auction is general and I’m working on a post right now.

By: Rick London

Rick London — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:18:53 +0000

Thanks for your post.
We had no interest in that domain so the auction meant nothing to us. I cannot see spending thousands of dollars and countless hours promoting and working on a domain when someone else will get a good share of the traffic that you build up. The is especially true when you own the less popular of the two domains.
People will enter golfbags far more than golfbag.

I agree that the auction was for domainers. That is the major problem with all the auctions, There is little to no nationawide exposure.

If the auction companies were willing to spend a few hundred thousand dollars promoting their auctions to advertisimg agencies, direct mail to relevant busienss for specfic domains etc they would do much better.

The free ride and large commission days are over.

By: Domainer

Domainer — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:03:48 +0000

Rick L,
You sound like a buyer presenting objections during the negotiation process.

Someone could easily develop GolfBag.com (just as an example) without owning the plural. You just have to realize you will lose some traffic.

Or, you do what most of us do including yourself.
By your time til you have most of the bases covered.

Maybe Garry Chernoff who owns the plural bought it?
Or, maybe his buddy Frank bought it?

I believe a lot of the domains went too cheap. But, it is not because the value is not there. It is because everyone is being cautious with expenditures.
That also includes stocks, bonds and real estate.

We have to remember, the Domainfest auction is still just “domainer to domainer” sales.

I would not read a lot into domain valuations based on this and other recent auctions.

The smart money is buying quietly.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:57:53 +0000

The economy has people scared, and it takes a lot more guts to spend 5 figures on a name than it did a year ago. There are some great deals here – payperlead.com is an incredible name that describes an entire industry. HeatingEquipment.com for $1500 – i like that a lot. 2.8 million google results for the term. Maybe not a commonplace term, but worth a lot more than $1500.

Still, there are a lot of junk names that were passed on – and names that i’m surprised made it to the live auction.

By: Rick London

Rick London — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:19:25 +0000

Most of the domains in the latest auctions are either not too good or highly over priced. The hey day is over and buyers want value and will no longer buy anything.

If domain owners want to sell they need to be reasonable and stop expecting high prices for marginal domains that have little to know interest.

Look at some of the top domains that sell and say to yourself what is the buyer going to do with this? There are still so many that are sold that seem to have no good purpose.

These days it is not easy and it is very expensive to develop a good site and get substantial traffic to it.

What is a use for wife.com or detour.com? Why would someone want golfbag.com and not own golfbags.com?

As time goes on the auction will generate less revenue unless the price fall or they attract better domains are reasonable prices.