Aftermarket.com auction ends with $150k in sales.
The Aftermarket.com auction at TRAFFIC just concluded with $148,700 in sales according to my unofficial tally.
Overall the online auction system worked fairly well with no latency. There are a few kinks to work out, though. For example, the bid increments used by the auctioneer didn’t match bidding increments requested online. Sometimes they were higher and sometimes lower. The auctioneer would ask the house audience to bid $6,000 and then a bid of $5,200 would come in online. Also, you couldn’t see details of domains before the auctioneer got to them. Once an auction concluded you couldn’t click on it to see what it sold for (making my job of tracking sale more difficult). Finally, the right column that included the domain names kept refreshing to the top of the screen so I lost my place.
The auctioneer also slipped up on a handful of names. She said Illinois.com instead of .org and said NewYorkApartmentS.com instead of the singular version.
A lot of lower priced domains sold. There were few takers for domains over $10,000. Also, it seems that .net domains were priced too high as they got few takers. Eat.net, Drive.net, Drama.net, etc. didn’t elicit any bids.
One thing that bidders liked is that the bids started at reserve prices. This means bidders don’t waste time bidding on domains that have reserves higher than they’re willing to pay, but it can also keep down the bidding frenzy. Often times I see domains start at $10,000 with no bids, the auctioneer lowers the opening bid to $5,000, and then the domain sells for over $10,000 once bidders get involved.
Ending on a positive note, the auctioneer did a good job moving the auction along. Despite starting 20 minutes late, it ended basically on time.
Unofficial results are below:
Illinois.org $31,000
MadisonAve.com $17,000
StayatHome.com $15,000
Regiment.com $11,000
EnergyTips.com $9,000
SeafoodRestaurants.com $8,000
Vulnerable.com $6,500
Chambermaid.com $6,000
BrokerageAccount.com $5,500
ScienceBooks.com $5,000
Headcase.com $4,000
Footspray.com $3,600
Dabbler.com $3,600
StudentCheck.com $3,500
Beneath.com $3,000
PianoTuners.com $2,550
FluPrevention.com $2,500
EquipmentBrokers.com $2,000
KidFlicks.com $2,000
HeatingFuel.com $1,900
Porch.net $1,400
Hospitalclothes.com $1,400
TwinSizeBed.com $1,150
Formula.info $750
FloodDamages.com $700
SpywareTracker.com $650
dcmike77 says
Excellent recap.
I think Illinois.org was way to high though. I don’t think state names make good sites nor do I think they get much traffic – city name are much more valuable IMO
John Bomhardt says
Andrew,
Congrats on your Headcase.com and Brokerageaccount.com sales!
John
http://unplain.com
Andrew says
dcmike77- I think there’s more to this particular domain. Some sort of traffic specific to the state and .org. Not sure though. Oregon.net and Massachusetts.net sold for much less recently too. But I believe the buyer was Reflex Publishing, which knows what it’s doing.
John- thanks. I hoped for more but it’s not like I lost money on these 🙂
Curtis says
On average (if you take out the no reserve domains) the ones that did sell sold for 55% more than the reserve prices. Seems like a reasonable sign that there was some bidding excitement? I’m not sure what is normal for an auction like this?
jp says
I thought the online software was slow. I tried 2 computers, both of which I had to close the browser window after every 5 or 6 domains went by because it just got slower, and slower, to the point where I couldn’t click on anything. Nobody else had this problem? I was using an older computer i suppose, P4 3.0 w/ 2gb Ram, IE7, fairly fresh install. I didn’t really have any problems as long as I didn’t open the live video feed, but where is the fun in that.
Andrew says
Curtis – true, it’s the ones that didn’t sell that would have had better odds had bidding started below the reserve.
JP – I didn’t have problems like this.
jp says
Did you have the video feed going at the same time?
I had absolutely no problems with Rick’s auction.
Steve M says
Yes; congrats on the 2 sales, Andrew.
As for Illinois.org; with easy SEO, “obviously click on them” paid ads, and very strong direct sales potential, 31k is actually a steal of a deal.
Developed correctly, it’d be a great full-time biz, or a super flipper site/company.