Moniker’s Money-Losing Auction
Monday, July 14th, 2008
Nobody won during Saturday’s live auction.
If you’re bummed about the results of Saturday’s live GeoDomain auction, which took in about $280,000, think about how Moniker feels. This live auction was a money loser for the company.
Moniker’s gross cut from the live auction will be about $42,000. Then they have to pay a cut to Associated Cities (assumption), pay the auctioneer, pay for all of its staff’s travel to Chicago, the time it took organizing the auction, and the escrow and settlement process. Ouch.
But why did the auction bring in so little money? Once the list of names was announced, it shouldn’t have come as a shock to anyone that the results would be poor. My straw poll at the conference had guesses between $100,000 and $300,000 of sales. My personal guess was up to $300,000. So by that standpoint, I look at the auction results as a success.
When the auction started, there was quiet in the room as the first two domains listed were not premium at all. MarinaDelReyCaliforniaRealEstate.com came in at a whopping 32 characters. WoodlandHillsCaliforniaRealEstate.com was next, and not any better.
For whatever reason, the team at Moniker was unable to get good quality domains in the auction at reasonable prices. About 1 in 5 domains sold, and for as little as $25. Perhaps it’s because GeoDomain owners are really proud of their domains right now.
Moniker’s placard at the show promoting the auction listed a number of “featured domains”. VisitZimbabwe.com was among the 10 or so on the list. It was later scratched. Perhaps someone realized that no one is visiting Zimbabwe these days.
The one bright spot for the auction was the auctioneer and spotter that Moniker hired. They were sharp. If it weren’t for them, I bet the results would have been lower.
Looking forward, what will the live auction scene look like? Will more domain auctions inject new ideas, or will it just cause auction overload?
Related posts:
- Moniker Trims Silent Auction List for TRAFFIC Auction
- Moniker Releases Partial Domain Name Auction List
- Overheard at GeoDomain Expo: TrafficZ, Moniker Auction
Tags: domain auction, Moniker
Nobody likes to work for free but Moniker is 100% responsible for the limited sales in this auction.
When I first saw the list posted on another site, I said that I liked SantaClara.com (because of quality and low reserve) and that most of the other domains were crap or overpriced.
Moniker should have weeded out the crap and the high reserve names. They suck the enthusiasm out of auctions.
Auction buyers want good deals but are willing to duke it out for a really good domain. So, as long as you are confident that the audience is qualified and interested (and the GeoExpo certainly offers both) then the auction house should only put up quality domains with no or low reserves.
Also, moniker has that pesky 120 exclusivity which keeps a lot of quality domains from being submitted.
The bottom line is Moniker needs to do a better job of picking domains.
How about a quality list of 50 domains instead of 300 names that are crap or have too high a reserve?
Excellent points Rob. Great seeing you in Chicago.
I would rather see 20 domains in the live auction that WILL sell, then a bunch of domains we all know from the start will not sell and are overpriced! The person(s) selecting and ALLOWING these reserves and domains need some help.
If I had a word in what Moniker or any auction company does, I would hire 5 well known domainers and let them pick the submitted domains! This would raise sales and not make these companies look so dumb.
Jamie
“The first two domains listed were not premium at all”
Name Administration Inc. and Frank Schilling owns chandlerarizonarealestate.com …..
You are right Andrew. Those first two domains are worthless. Not sure how they got into the auction.
Pete, I guess it was even more surprising that these were the first two in the auction. Why start an auction out with these domains?
Excellent points all, Andrew and it was great see you at the Expo.
In fact, the first 5 names presented didn’t receive ONE bid. And the reasons were obvious. Many of these names were so unattractive that I wouldn’t have paid the registration fee on them. The fact that 300K sold is astounding.
Moniker (or any other auctioneer) should consider these suggestions in the future at the GEO Expo:
1) GeoDomainers want names they can develop. Period. Frank Schilling may own ChandlerArizonaRealEstate.com, but not one GeoDomainer I know would spend an hour of their time developing that or MarinaDelReyCaliforniaRealEstate.com.
2) Simply having a city, state or country in a domain name does not make it a bonafide GeoDomain. ChileanSeaBassRecipes.com or DetoritFuneralHomes.com anyone?
3) Putting a reserve on 99% of most non-dotcom Geos is like putting tits on a boar. Almost NO non-dotcom Geos sold (or even recieved bids). I think Asia.org was one of the few that sold. If there had been more dotcom Geo’s at the auction, many more names would have sold. The horrific sales conversion rates for the non-dotcom Geos clogged the auction down to a snail’s pace.
4) KNOW your audience. Geodomainers are some of the most savvy domain developer/investors on the planet. They are not going to park. They are going to develop and start monetizing immediately. 99% want dotcom and they want names that make obvious sense to develop.
I would like to point out that there were people at the auction with money to spend and they would have spent it on good domains. This isn’t an issue of any downturn or not having qualified buyers.
David,
You and Michael are great ambassadors of Geodomains and Associated Cities. I knew that before but after seeing you both in action at the GeoExpo, I was very impressed with your interaction with attendees.
Moniker already knows this so I hope that in the future Moniker consults with you and maybe even gives the AC Board or AC representative final refusal on all domains that will be in the live auction.
After all, it is an AC event, not a Moniker event so you should have a say in what happens at your event.
Looking forward to the next one.
Thank you, Rob!
[...] unknown . Excerpt: Moniker’s gross cut from the live auction will be about $42000. Then they have to pay a cut to Associated Cities (assumption), pay the auctioneer, pay for all of its staff’s travel to Chicago, the time it took organizing the auction, … [...]
[...] Certains vont même jusqu’à dire que Moniker a essuyé une perte sur ce coup. Car il faut payer les courtiers, le commissaire priseur (”auctioneer”), les frais d’entrée… et le reste. Bien sûr, il reste à Monte Cahn la partie silencieuse des enchères “silent auctions” pour faire son retard. Et honnêtement, je ne me fais que peu de souci sur son aptitude à motiver ses troupes et à redresser la barre. [...]
Thanks to all of you that I met at the Geo Expo. It was a great experience. I hope in the future that we can use more “facial branding” in our comments on posts, social networks and even place our facial images on our business cards. After all, this is a visual medium. I may know many of you here on the blogs through our writings but may not have recognize some in person. That moment may have passed in introducing ourselves at the conference. This is not a criticism but something that I think we should promote more in the future. We all have to be our own marketeers.
You think woodlandhillsrealestate.com is long?
Here’s one for the record books. It’s pending deletion at GD.
Thereareonlysomanylettersyoucanusetocreateanewdomainnameyouknow.com
I have submitted 2 Premium Names twice to Internext, 1 appraised at 50K. Twice not in live or silent auction,Would have been top 5 & 10 in live auc. Moniker needs someone new to run things.