It`s his first event. I`d like to see anyone here on DNF pull it off better.
I have never been to a domain auction. I do read about them though and I do go to tangible goods auctions. This seems to me to be about as bad as it gets. Back in 2000 I went to a live/internet video feed tangible goods auction and it went off without a hitch. This isn't new technology. It is also difficult to understand the, in many cases, truly absurd reserves and a few names that would better be seen in the TDNAM $9 bargain list (Atlanta.
MX?). I don't know Rick Latona. I am sure that he knows domains and that alone should have made for a better auction inventory and reasonable reserves. If someone wants to open
ANYTHING for $5M, you likely don't want it in your auction if you like selling stuff. Auctions are built on the logic that you want to pay $X for an item. Another person that you think knows his stuff bids $XX. Suddenly you decide,
IT MUST BE GOOD, and bid $XXX and then someone who thinks you know something bids $X,XXX, etc. till its sold. No psychology gets going with high reserves. Even if something is actually worth a lot, it is rare to get a response to a really high opening bid. I have actually seen cases where there was no bid and the owner of an item just says 'drop the reserve; let's sell it!' The bid price then often goes way over what the reserve was if you have a good, responsive crowd and a very good item.
I am not a conference goer. I can't afford that. I am, like most in reality, a small player. It is also a problem that there are so many shows. The much, much bigger broadcast business has one big one, the NAB spring convention in Vegas. If you are interested in broadcasting, that is the show to go to. If there were 6 or 10 shows, they would all probably be flops and that may eventually happen here as there are only so many that can afford what in the end is probably a $2-5K investment per show before buying anything. One big show would be much better than the fragmented mess that seems to exist now.
