27 year old Gradient.com closes at $125,001

Comments

1. OmarVG.com says

   November 20, 2017 at 1:19 pm

   An again the Winner is the registrar not the domain investor… If the previous owner of gradient.com had paid the renewal, NOBODY will bid more than $ 100,000 for that domain if it was on auction. People just want to take “advantage” of the expiring domains only, when you paid the renewals and list the domain for auction you barely get attention and only get low offers/bids. But if you let expire the domain, all people went crazy and start a biding war! WTF!!
   Iam scared when I died and all my domains get sold for millions and somebody will enjoy the money and not me. That’s totally f*cked up! 😀

2. John Humphrey says

   November 20, 2017 at 1:54 pm

   Could you say a little more (or have you elsewhere) about what you mean when you say, “So now the rush for those looking to contact the old owner and tell them how to renew or transfer begins”? Because it implies a variety of incentives and I might be missing something. Thanks!

   • Raymond Hackney says

     November 20, 2017 at 2:06 pm

     Sure John,
     Over the years there have been some high profile, big dollar auctions where people have contacted the old owner, got them to renew or transfer out and sell them the name.

     • John Humphrey says

       November 20, 2017 at 4:02 pm

       Thanks!

       • John Humphrey says

         November 21, 2017 at 2:44 pm

         Thinking about this… GoDaddy could be in the position to ‘do the right thing’ (i.e. as in Omar’s comment above)… reach out to the previous owner – or the previous owner’s recent widow (for example) and notify them of the sale. Should the widow/family/caretaker-of-now-deathly-ill registrant decide to go through with the sale, GoDaddy collects their 20% and everyone is happy, except for perhaps the auction division manager whose quarterly revenues are impacted. But especially happy is the marketing department who can turn the story into a Superbowl ad that leaves everybody misty-eyed and reaching out to GoDaddy for all their internet needs. Because the alternative, and it will happen, is a headline that reads, ‘Widow accidentally loses millions in domains to GoDaddy.’
         I get nervous about Godaddy whenever these misaligned incentives emerge.

         • John Humphrey says

           November 22, 2017 at 2:36 pm

           So I guess this is mute considering the new GoDaddy auction rules. By the time a domain sells at auction, the registrant is no longer in a position to renew.