Are You in the Market to Sell at Live Auction?
I got an e-mail from Snapnames that Moniker is accepting domain submissions for the next live auction. Personally, I have had some luck getting a few of my domains into the silent portion of a live auction before, and it was an easy way to sell a few names at a decent price. You might find, too, that live auctions can be a way to put a bunch of your best domains into a pool for potential sale within a reasonably short time frame.
There is an art to submitting domains for live auction in order to, first (and importantly), get your domains into the live auctions. Then secondly, to obtain a sales price you’ll be happy with. I’ve been thinking about these things as I consider submitting some domains to the next live auction at TRAFFIC Silicon Valley.
Certainly there’s a lot of debate lately between domain sellers, the auction houses (including a series on pricing by Sahar of Bido.com), and conference producers on the best viewpoint and action to take in pricing a domain(s) for auction. Seems to me, the people with the interest in selling the domain, are very vocal about setting a low (or even no) reserve on domains submitted to these auctions. I asked my sales rep at Moniker for some input on setting a reserve on domains. He was reluctant to make any suggestions, so I was on my own as to the best course of action for pricing a reserve. Do I go for getting the domain into the auction (low reserve) or pricing to get what I think is a fair price, and lose a chance for the domain to get into the auction in the first place?
In my own experience, I submitted some organic keyword.com domain names to a live auction, and decided to put a low reserve on them to see what would happen. My domain OrganicBakeries.com ($1,000 reserve) was accepted into the silent auction alongside some other good organic keyword domains. But I was pretty shocked to see that the other OrganicKeyword.com domains had reserves starting at $25,000 and up! Two or three of those domains did sell at that price level, and mine sold, too, for $1,180.
You know, a $1,000 reserve is low enough to create some interest and bidding at a live auction, but if the domain gets included in the silent auction, someone will pick up that domain at a steal. Maybe the auction houses should consider allowing 2 reserves per domain, one if the domain gets into the live auction and one for the silent auction. Somehow I doubt they’ll go for this idea, because domain sales add up (even small ones), and sales numbers sell auctions.
If you are thinking about getting some domains into a live auction, here is what Snap sent in a recent e-mail as their submission guidelines:
1. Submit up to 250 of your very best domains. They should be the “rock stars” of your portfolio.
Important: No typos, trademarks, hypenated or crude adult names will be accepted for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon Valley Auction.
2. One- and two-word domains are always the most attractive to buyers, especially when they represent the following:
A popular commerce and/or seach engine vertical (e.g. travel, debt relief, jobs, music)Word(s) or phrase that is easy to remember and spell (e.g. meaningful when spoken together, such as GoForIt.com rather than ForItGo.com)
3. Reserve pricing is the ultimate factor in leading to a successful auction.
Consider the following when setting your reserve prices:
Set the reserve price low to attract buyers’ attention and drive market excitement. Buyer participation drives the price up.
Remember the reserve price is not a “Buy It Now” price. In fact, good domains with a reserve under $1,000 are almost guaranteed to make the auction catalogue.
Additionally, good names priced at “No Reserve” perform the best at auctions and drive the most competition and interest.
4. Domains with Traffic and Revenue performance also do well in auctions.
Make sure that the traffic and revenue data you are submitting is accurate and from a reliable and verifiable source (e.g. DomainSponsor).
Just FYI, I have sold FineWhiskies.com, NaturalSnackFood(s).com and OrganicBakeries.com at these auctions in the past, and plan trying this sales avenue again. I haven’t decided the best way to approach reserves, but I know that the market pricing for domains (not Premium one word domains, like the recent Toys.com sale) is down.
Anybody else out there who’ve submitted to Live auctions, and what was your experience? What do you think about pricing and reserves for live and silent auctions?
Problems for Geo Domaining Conference?? | March 16th, 2009 at 2:49 am #
[...] industry or topic in a specific location (for example, by State or City in the US). I wrote about submitting domains for live auctions the other day, and I got an e-mail from a rep at Moniker stating that one of the [...]
Brown | August 5th, 2009 at 7:29 am #
In truth, immediately i didn’t understand the essence. But after re-reading all at once became clear.