I don’t believe the sky is falling. I am not a panic seller. I have owned PrivateResort.com for a long time. I was perfectly comfortable offering it at NR and I am perfectly comfortable with the sale. The market dictates prices, not me and not you. I could have waited but if we all sit back and hope that someday we’ll hit “The Big One” most of us will have a long wait, the auction business would die, and we would set ourselves back in time in the industry.

I don’t recall your offer coming to me for PrivateResort.com

I am happy so you should be also. We all have domains we can put into the auctions at NR. We, each with his/her own knowledge of our holdings, earnings and potential make the best choice for ourselves.

I have been in this business for 10 years and feel I made a good decision and had a good outcome.

I do have a question…if $1700 was so underpriced, why didn’t you bid $1800?

I can 100% assure you that the seller of PrivateResort.com is happy and no one pushed her to put it at NR. Would it have gotten bids if priced at $2500 ? No real way to tell but I genuinely doubt it. Could the name have sold for $100,000 to some posh destination ? Possibly, but when? Maybe that’s up to the new owner to do and the past owner didn’t see the potential ever materializing in ones lifetime.

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#1. Time of year. Late in calendar year + during the huge international upheaval in the markets/ economies.

#2. Physical location far from most buyers. Now I know that Internet bidding was available, but many buyers prefer/ will only bid in person.

All the cos involved in putting the conference on; including the various auction cos; are doing a great job in tough times, and deserve full credit for doing so … but; Australia is not New York … or Vegas … or Miami … or anywhere in the US; where most of the domain buying money is; or is close to.

#3. No & dirt-low minimums. O.K.; I’m going to share something here that should seem pretty obvious (to all who hadn’t already realized it once I say it) (and that will make many angry and/or disappointed to hear):

Except in very rare cases (i.e. cleaning.com); due to the very high subjectivity in domain valuations; we as human beings instinctively give higher values to those domains with minimum bids … because they’ve already received “trusted source” price support & validation from the auction/ listing company that is offering the domains for sale.

When a Moniker, Aftermarket, a Rick Latona, and the other respected auction houses have a name like, say, PrivateResort.com; but the minimum bid is zero … what is the domain “worth?” $5000? $2500? $1000? Even as little as $500?

Now; if it was listed by one of the auction houses for what most of us would agree would have been a modest minimum, say, $2500 (though were it mine, I’d have wanted at least 5k) … now what is it worth? $2500? Maybe $5000? Perhaps even $7500-10,000?

But only $1700? Precious few would agree that it was.

This is the terrible risk sellers take when they agree to no or giveaway minimum bids.

#4. Over anxious sellers. For those that have nice 1-2 word names; golden .coms in particular; too many are letting the general economic conditions color their appreciation for what they own.

True value cannot be realized when one side of the “arms length” transaction–the seller–has mentally constricted themselves by believing the ski’s falling when it comes to their domain values.

Meant to say – sellers.

Many of the domains sold too cheap.
I agree with Steve M.

I wonder if Parked was the buyer of Packed.com?

But, at this point its history.
What about the next auction?
Will the buyers list their domains with no or low reserves?
Do they really need to take the gamble with the possibility of giving their domains away?

Will Rick Latona list some domains with “no reserve” in the future?
Probably.

I believe Aftermarket (Domain Roundtable) is hosting a conference next year in Washington, DC.
I wonder if they will work out the bugs by then?

I also wonder if Domain Roundtable will have 2 auctions? Aftermarket and (Rick Latona or Snapnames).
I doubt it.

SteveM
“sellers willing to sell their assets for 10-25 cents on the dollar.” . . . how you figuring 10-25 cents on the dollar. If they’re worth more than the sale price why weren’t they flying off the shelves ?

It’s a damn shame that the tech problems occured. This auction had a ton of steam going and then the train went off the tracks . Major bummer for all involved. Hopefully they can remedy this but really what is the solution ??