2007 TRAFFIC West Moniker Auction - Las Vegas

[David G]

...I believe a name like SocialSecurityBenefit.us has more relevance in this extension than Blow.us.

Strongly agree with that. I would also rank socialsecuritybenefits.us far more valuable than names like blow.us and check.us, really little comparison in the value as I feel those 2 are only $xxx names at best.

Also believe the singular SS name is not as good as the plural but still better than blow and check.

I also feel many if not most domainers fail to realize the value of long keyword targeted domains vs lesser keyword value short names.

 

[sevent]

Hi all,

Beyond some communication issues, I think the frustrations that many domain owners have with the auction process is the result of 3 things:

1. Moniker, at this point, essentially has a monopoly on live domain auctions. This past year Sedo added ongoing auctions, and the drops continue to work like auctions, but so far as a high-profile DN auctions go, there is only one. If (and when) other large live auction venues open up, or if TRAFFIC decides to open the process up to competitive bidding, commissions will go down and probably service will go up as
a result of
competition.

2. Although Moniker's interests are in some ways aligned with those of the sellers, it far from a perfect match. Auction houses are like Real Estate agents in this sense. Sure, the agent gets more money if your house sells for more, but they get NOTHING if there is no sale, so they'd rather you lower your price for a quick sale than risk wasting their time.

3. All non-live auction names go into the silent auction for the exact same reserve, where historically most of the names sell for no higher than the reserve price itself. This means that there is a very strong chance your reserve price will become a BIN price. This is much different than going into the live auction, where most names either sell for much more than reserve or not at all.

 

[OnSpec]

Spoken like a true Canuck-in-training. :usa2:

 

[David G]

...Auction houses are like Real Estate agents in this sense. Sure, the agent gets more money if your house sells for more, but they get NOTHING if there is no sale, so they'd rather you lower your price for a quick sale than risk wasting their time.

Are you a Realtor yourself to know that as few among the public are aware of it being so, but it is true of course. Many Realtors tell the public that they really want you to list at a high price so the seller gets more money and the agent in turn gets more real estate commission but that is all nonsense and actually a marketing technique commonly used to get the seller to like them and do the MLS listing. The agent is thinking that once he gets the listing signed after a while it will not sell due to the high price and the seller gets worried so he lowers the price and then it will be more likely to finally sell and the agent gets paid.

The difference in commission is far less important (even irrelevant and a non-issue) to the agent vs a faster sale or worse yet no sale at all due to a high price. I am sure that is also relevant with auctions and other sales venues too, and is likely the main reason Moniker was pushing so hard for low reserves. They only listed 1 of my small number of 4 names submitted as they said my reserves were too high and the 1 name that made it only went in the silent auction but I assumed wrongly it would go live.

 

[Creature]

For example, I believe names like Travel.us and Hotels.us aren't as valuable as a name like Government.us. In any other extension, I would be far off base, but many investors who buy names in this extension want something related to the US. In the example you used, I believe a name like SocialSecurityBenefit.us has more relevance in this extension than Blow.us.

I know what you mean but not keen on your example. At around $20 for every affiliate sale (via Hotels.com), I would kill to get Hotels.us.

Also, Raider is obviously concerned. I guess an agreement is an agreement but if there is a misunderstanding then it would be kind of nice to see a little flexibility from the top. I follow with interest.

Anyway, best of luck to Moniker at the auction.

 

[Monte]

Scott - your analysis of number of sellers in the live event is totally false. there are 114 different sellers in the 314 names chosen for the live event. and close to 900 in the silent. If that is not fair distribution of domains to customers, sellers, I do not know what is. I guess some have better names THIS time than others in my opinion.

In fact the distribution to domains listed in the live event is also pretty even. one seller was able to get 24 names in the live event due to being aggressive on reserves and having kick ass names. there are several with more than 3 names but they are very well spread

 

[OnSpec]

Monte,

Please re-read the post. I was clear that I was speaking about .US domains. I am right that 2 people hold over 60% of the "live auction" spots accorded to .US domains. I was suggesting that a fairer distribution for that extension would have been prudent.

Cheers,

 

[NAK]

15% to sell your domains at a silent auction? thats quite excessive, live auction i can see.

 

[zouzas]

socialsecuritybennefits.us is in live auction??????/:asleep:

why buy that,,when you can register for the singular
all these or am i spelling it wrong im not a very good speller................

singular even has higher overture numbers:smilewinkgrin:

SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.MOBI $12.95
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.BIZ $9.95
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.US $9.95
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.CO.UK $9.98
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.DE $16.49
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.TV $32.99
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.CC $18.99
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.CN $32.99
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.BZ $32.99
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.ME.UK $9.98
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.ORG.UK $9.98
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT

 

[URLtrader]

All 15 of my domains selected went into Silent auction . That is a bit surprising. I thought CosmeticSurgeon.us , MedicalRepresentative.com
and Ejaculate.in would make it to the Live auction.

However nobody from Moniker asked me to lower prices.

URLtrader

socialsecuritybennefits.us is in live auction??????/:asleep:

why buy that,,when you can register for the singular
all these or am i spelling it wrong im not a very good speller................

singular even has higher overture numbers:smilewinkgrin:

SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.MOBI $12.95
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.BIZ $9.95
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.US $9.95
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.CO.UK $9.98
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.DE $16.49
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.TV $32.99
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.CC $18.99
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.CN $32.99
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.BZ $32.99
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.ME.UK $9.98
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.ORG.UK $9.98
SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT

And you grabbed SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.US today. Good job.

URLtrader

 

[zouzas]

And you grabbed SOCIALSECURITYBENEFIT.US today. Good job.

URLtrader

www.SocialSecurityBenefit.US

well """""after""""" i posted it was available,,,,:yes:




what was reerve for the plural??

maybe the pair can be auctioned monte???????/

 

[David G]

Benefits makes so much more sense vs the singular.

 

[Raider]

All 15 of my domains selected went into Silent auction . That is a bit surprising. I thought CosmeticSurgeon.us , MedicalRepresentative.com and Ejaculate.in would make it to the Live auction.

However nobody from Moniker asked me to lower prices.

URLtrader

I was contacted twice, the first time I agreed to lower most domains on the CSV list, this list I dont have a problem with, whether they they go live or silent. The 2nd time they emailed me again listing 17 of my domains they were considering for the "final cut" as they worded it, they conveniently specified there own reserve price for each domain, I agreed to 13 of there reserves, excluding 4 domains, with modifications to 2 of the 4, this change went completely ignored and they ran with entire list, using ALL of there own reserves!.

Then they throw 15 of those 17 domains to silent, emails to correct the situation have all gone unanswered....absolutely incredible! :upset:

 

[FormerDnForumer]

There seems to be an awful lot of predictable whining in this thread, like kids pressed against glass wondering why they can't be at the big boy's and girl's table, but there's also lots of legitimate frustration that could be easily fixed with a dedicated Moniker employee other than Monte doing outreach here.

That said, the auction should be exciting!

 

[BELLC1]

BELLC1 - regarding your delayed payment, yes there were a handful of late payers from InterNext. Unfortunately that happens to be part of the process....that processing may be delayed if payment to escrow is. the good news is that you did get paid and you sold names.

I find the negative attitudes and spins to our process disturbing given the huge effort we go through to make these events successful. I would say that the overwhelming majority of folks feel that although not perfect, the auction events and process is very good for our entire industry...regardless if you participate or not. Please remember this when you set your expectations.

Monte, I'm glad you found it disturbing. When you finish patting yourself on the back for your hard work and good luck, you should then be able to objectively evaluate what caused the friction.

It wasn't not getting paid for 6 weeks that did it. The total sales were almost chump change to me. The problem and solution is to instill in your staff the same pride you carry to effectively provide a complete service in a timely manner which most certainly includes effective communication with your clients rather than leaving us under the proverbial mushroom.

Your "sales" people did not communicate and you know it. I never received one email that wasn't in direct reply to my repeated requests for an update. And even these were passed off to other members of your staff for a response. That was wrong. The fact is, they will probably never care like you do but it is your business and this is a customer's reaction to an actual event, good or bad, and no one "owned the problem."

I am pleased you sold some names for me. Clearly my reserves were too low and my expectations of silent were WAY, WAY too high. Silent Auction is ... well, sucker me once, shame on me, etc.

Even though I've been selling since 1997, my first experiences with Moniker were not good. I've learned the hard way and passed on my recommendations to others here not to avoid Moniker, but to prepare for the worst. Then you can be their hero when you deliver quickly not only the results but a daily update until the transaction is done.

 

[Chappy]

Hopefully we'll see others enter the live domain auction space before too long - which can only be a good thing.

 

[Josh]

All this talk about making the live auction...

Yall do understand that they will not get through all the Live Auction domains, right? Maybe they will get through 75%, if that...

The moral of the story is don't ever lower your reserve for less than what you really want from a sale. Not even if someone emails you and talks about how low reserves encourage bidding and when more than one person wants your domain, the prices rise. But the flipside is, your domains, however impressive they may be, simply don't strike the fancy of those bidding and you wind up selling for far less than what you wanted. We're not selling used cars here. We're dealing with intelligent bidders. They either want your domain, or they don't, and they know ahead of time what its worth to them.

Common sense is still common sense--for example, I was asked to lower a reserve price on a generic type-in domain to 2 years of PPC revenue. I get offers every month for double what they were wanting me to lower it to to improve chances of making the live auction.

Either people are interested in your domain, or they are not. The real "success" is getting your name included somewhere in the live or silent auction so people know your willing to sell. Success may not be defined so much in making the live auction. I don't think its quite what some of you think it is really.

Josh

 

[Raider]

Very good advice Josh....I most likely will not do this again, for years I let the buyers come to me, and its worked well, but in a attempt to get liquid, I'm giving the Moniker auction a shot.

Don Lyons did contact me and apologized for the mistake, said he corrected it, but was vague about what he corrected....well see.

 

[Monte]

No Bellc1 - your domains were not priced to low, the market determined the value of them.

to all others that are interested in buying at either the live or silent event:

If you are not attending T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West, you can obtain full Remote Auction Access for only $499. This special access includes Absentee Bidding and access to the online Silent Domain Auction running March 6-14, 2007. https://www.moniker.com/absenteebid/index.jsp

 

[Chappy]

No Bellc1 - your domains were not priced to low, the market determined the value of them.

to all others that are interested in buying at either the live or silent event:

If you are not attending T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West, you can obtain full Remote Auction Access for only $499. This special access includes Absentee Bidding and access to the online Silent Domain Auction running March 6-14, 2007. https://www.moniker.com/absenteebid/index.jsp

How come the remote auction access costs so much? I would think the more potential bidders the better?