Auction was high energy despite low sales prices.
If you didn’t attend the domain auction Monday at TRAFFIC, you’ve probably read a bit about:
The domains didn’t sell for much.
Some people lost money selling domains for less than they bought them for.
One of the auctioneers couldn’t read or pronounce most of the domains.
A lot of 100 domains sold for below registration fee.
These are all true. But there’s something else:
This was the most exciting TRAFFIC domain auction in years.
This may seem counter intuitive given the results. But when I walked into that auction room at the start of the auction there was an incredible energy. The (albeit small) room was packed. There was a buzz in the air.
I think this has a lot to do with people knowing that domains would sell. With many domains like Tumors.com at no reserve, there was sure to be action.
Of course, that action resulted in sales prices that were 10% or less of what they would have been at the 2007 auction. In 2007 you had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a domain to get an applause. This week it took nothing more than a five figure bid.
And some of the no reserve domains didn’t sell at even $100.
While the auction certainly wasn’t good for many people, it sure was fun to attend.
Lori says
Linkbait.
Michael says
Sounds like a “look at the good side of things” post. I respect it. However, my ass still hurts from the auction, as a seller.
Bernie says
Wow. Can’t even say the auction was a FAIL.
Hmm, seems like someone doesn’t want to piss off howie and ricki.
There was energy in the air when the Hindenburg exploded too.
There’s too much ass kissing in this business, part of the problem.
Andrew Allemann says
Hey Bernie, ask Rick and Howard how much I suck up to them.
Shane says
On another note. A truck blew over in the highway killing the driver and spewing 500 chickens all over the road. Except for the driver dying it was the funniest, most exciting thing I’ve ever seen. I wish people could have been there.
Andrew Allemann says
It would suck if you were a seller. Otherwise, it was fun.
Troy says
Wow, I have never seen anyone make connections quite like that.
I could be wrong but it sounded like he said the following:
The auction stunk, with some domains selling for less than reg fee and other domains selling for losses for the sellers. Everyone was talking about how crappy this auction was. The auctioneer was obsessed with getting finished and the domains were mostly sub par.
However, it was super exciting because there was a “buzz in the air”.
Yeah, that makes lots of sense=)
Adam says
It’s always the case; high energy has severe costs.
Tom G says
Aftermarket on hold for New gTLDS?
James says
Leave it to you to find some good in what appears to have been an otherwise dismal auction. The supply of bad news is like the supply of bad domain names – there’s too much of it available in the industry, everyone’s already well aware of it, and it’s of little value. Thanks for always being optimistic and polite. It’s your niche, and it’s got my thumbs up.
Donny says
The vag*nas.co still has me laughing. We talked about it for hours.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Donny – that was a classic.
Fred says
Are you kidding me? That was the worst auction of any I have ever seen. The auctioneers were likely drunk and really wanted to get it all over with……and there room was pretty much EMPTY..so not sure what you are talking about.
It was a fail of Epic proportions.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Fred – hard to get a seat at the beginning of the auction. Emptied out a bit as it went on.
Shaun Pilfold says
@Andrew
It was hard to get a seat on the Titanic at the beginning, but it emptied as time went on…
John says
Lori had it right with the first post, pure link bait. You do realize it was streaming live, so people actually could see how bad it was. Energy, buzz in the air? Were you even there? Looked pretty dead to me. Posts like these just diminish this blog.
Andrew Allemann says
@ John – I think I’ll trust my first hand account over your view from some web stream.
Domai Names says
Would have loved to have attended, but workload prevented it.
Sounds like it didnt go to well for sellers, the balloon has burst for the guaranteed sale, unless it’s a name that stand out from the crowd and has some relivance behind it.
Donny says
I was there, I walked in on the first domain and there wasn’t a place to sit. I stood in the back with about 20 people for almost an hour. There really were no seats. After about an hour it did start to thin out some.
But I agree with Andrew, the auction was better than you may think. The question is who was it good for. If you still think your domains are worth millions, then the auction definitely wasn’t good for you. This was a buyers auction and the only buyers were domainers. There were domains that were passed and had no reserve.
Adam says
@shaun lol that reminded me of this post from back in the day
http://www.domainnamenews.com/editorial/keep-playing-the-music-really-the-ships-not-sinking/1446
Fred says
It was a GHOST town! Which I was drinking whatever you had!
Fred says
I would like to know how the organizers made off of this, that’s where the REAL money was.
Is this a for-profit event? If so, that’s shameful. People were taken advantage of.
George Kirikos says
Recall, it was Rick that was overhyping the auction, with statements on his blog before the event like:
“As I have stated before, a domain investor starting off with this list would be in the top 10%-20% of the industry. Those that don’t see it that way don’t have portfolios that are better.”
“If it fails I will take 100% responsibility since I picked each and every name over the past 3 months. 3 months to get 70 entries. There was no motive to tie up thousands of domains as in past auctions. That is not our business. Our business is presenting the single most exciting domain name auction the industry has ever witnessed to our attendees. Period! 3 auctioneers and once the gavel goes down on one sale, the bidding will begin on the next. So this will also be the fastest pace auction EVER in the Domain Industry. A REAL auction with no nonsense and a result that everyone WILL be proud of.”
“Drinks, food, lots of action. Our new format gets everyone involved, and no more Pigeon Droppings littering the domain auction. T.R.A.F.F.I.C. presents a Premium Auction that won’t insult the audience! It won’t have 200 names to bore you and put you asleep.”
“We will sort through the final numbers tonight and I think folks are going to be pleasantly surprised with the outcome on Monday afternoon.”
“What you will continually see and hear is SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! SOLD!
…
Now for those that think there are no gems and bargains there, you will be hugely surprised not only with the sales but the amount of bidders for each domain. When 20 people walk in a room targeting one domain name, THAT is an auction. So we are going to see action like never before and that is before we even talk about the gallery of phone bidders that are assembling. I would not be surprised to see over 100 domainers involved in the phone bidding.
…
Most of all when I thank the sellers I thank them for taking a risk, trusting the market and trusting my vision of what a REAL live domain auction should look like, feel like and result in.
….
Without them this all fails and I get to fall flat on my face in front of all of you and it will be a horrible day for all domainers.
…
We are on the eve of a great success. Everyone is going to be a winner except those sitting on the sidelines and watching opportunity slip away.”
If we can criticize ICANN or VeriSign or UDRP decisions, we can certainly fairly criticize Rick. Simply compare the statements above with reality.
To have talked down to those who properly judged the low quality of the inventory, in advance of the event, suggesting that their own portfolios must be of low quality, speaks volumes about Rick. He could have said “you know, domains are subjective, and you may be right — we’ll have to wait and see.” He didn’t. Instead, re-read the portion first quote above:
“Those that don’t see it that way don’t have portfolios that are better.”
rob sequin says
Domain investors aren’t buying? I’m shocked.
The domains that sold went for MARKET VALUE.
The auction was well advertised to industry professionals who are qualified buyers. If that’s not THE MARKET then I don’t know what is.
You may not like the market but Rick brought the best of the market to the auction. I don’t think anyone can deny that.
Hold out for that end user who most likely will never come, take an offer when you get it, sell to a domain investor at market value or let the domain drop.
Pick one of the above and don’t complain.
Those are your choices for exit strategies.
Joe says
Fred,
It was for-profit. $1,495 per ticket * 300 attendees = $2,990,000, so aprx $3m dollars (I heard there were around 330 attendees).
Rob. The buyers are end-users, not a bunch of domainers selling domains to eachother over and over again. This is not market value, its WHOLESALE value. Market value comes from end-user sales
-Joe
rob sequin says
Thanks but have to disagree.
End users pay full retail +++.
Just because ONE end user buys a domain, it does not mean that there is even one other buyer on the planet for that particular domain.
Market value is what you can sell something for.
Matt says
$1495 * 300 attendes is $448,500 not 3m. Also, I paid $995 for my ticket.
Andrew Allemann says
I didn’t see anywhere close to 300 people there.
But yes, this event is a for profit event.
Drewbert says
Most of the high value domain names have found their permanent homes – with end users.
Non-dropping domain auctions – especially in ASCII – are pretty much a done thing. Stick a fork in it. There will be another peak when the IDN versions of .com finally go live, but that will be short lived too.
Think bell curve. We’re on the downward slope. Peak domain has passed.
John says
“You may not like the market but Rick brought the best of the market to the auction. I don’t think anyone can deny that.”
Just reasonable people. The amount of butt kissing in this industry is a bit ridiculous at times.
Simple question, there was nothing better than vag*nas.co or teeny.tv sumbitted?
Josh says
Seems to me there is no longer a need or desire for this group to even have an auction, I mean who bought a ticket to buy reg fee names for the most part or not at all. The idea of a no reserve auction ment the names lacked greatness, in fact apart from a handful it was embarrassing to see it go down. Now that this idea has been tried and the one’s before have failed showing a downward spiral…NEXT!
petre says
I am wondering how ‘good’ or attractive those domains were at the auction.Everything depends on the quality,not quantity.Are there really “good” domains on every auction?I am afraid Gresham’s law may apply to the domain market nowadays.
JNet says
Extended E-Mail Bidding implemented this morning for the TRAFFIC Auction on some “re-listed” domain lots with lowered reserves …. Well,, at least that’s a lil’ bit closer to online bidding cuz ya hafta use the InterWebs for E-Mail
John says
Just a thought but if TRAFFIC really wanted a lot of people there in order to expand bidding and the domain universe they would have an actual Trade Show in Vegas with a big exhibit hall of companies. Run it like the tons of industry conventions in Vegas do on a daily basis. There isn’t a city on the planet that has as many conventions as Vegas does. People are always in that town for Business. TRAFFIC can still run parts of the conference as a country club and expand out the rest to general public, especially if they pull in $1 million or more in attendance fees to run the event.
Matt says
There’s a lot of trade shows in Vegas because the hotel/venue rates there are cheap, even free if you bring the right crowd.
If TRAFFIC wants to pull in $1 million in fees then their only bet is getting A LOT more advertisers.
John says
“@ John – I think I’ll trust my first hand account over your view from some web stream.”
Because the web stream was streaming a different event. At least you got a link from Rick out of this.
WipoSucks says
I respect Andrew’s opinion a lot, so I don’t think he was sucking up to anyone, BUT I agree with the sentiment that there is a lot of sucking up in these business to those that appear to be the higher ups in the industry, example: The Francois guy, owner of Domaining dot com, posting for a whole week the picture of the guy that tryed to steal the crappy domain saveme dot com from the self proclaimed KING. Have there not been worst cases of attempted domain name highjacking than tht one? and did the “KING” himself not register all those domain names related to the BP oil spill right after the tragedy in the gulf? a clear case of cybersquatting in my opinion of course.
So, to me, the posting of the Mello guy’s picture in domaining dot com is a clear example of the higher ups in the business sucking up to each other.