DomainFest Auction – Fail? Updated
Let’s be brutally honest, shall we? If you disagree, say so. If you agree, please comment so I know I’m not alone in my thinking and totally whacked. First let me state that I certainly do NOT mean to imply here that the Moniker team failed. As always, they did a great job running the auction. Moniker is reporting a total of $1.8 million in sales from the DomainFest Auction. BUT, let’s remove the Tshirts.com package from that number. (Special props to the new guy there Chef Patrick & Howard Koop with the brokering of Tshirts.com package for over $1.2 million.) Tshirts.com did not sell because of the auction but because a two hard-working Moniker guys hustled and connected a willing seller with a smart and willing buyer.
I just believe that we, as an industry, failed a bit yesterday. We see in the morning a PC World report that “The New Way to Make Fast Money Is To Invest in Domain Names”. And we read/hear of an excellent talk from Jeff Kupietzky of Oversee.net (both on CNBC in the middle of the business day and yesterday during the event). The marketing was in place for much of the outside world to see the value, the possibilities of investing in this space. And then the auction occured and only $537k sold?
I think most of us agree that the list of names on auction yesterday was quite possibly the best assembled list to date. While I had none at auction (I’m not at that playing level yet) I was disappointed to see so many great names – correction, possible businesses – not get interest at even less than reserve in most cases. It will be interesting to read today the various articles, if any, that appear about the auction. And it will be interesting to see how the Latona’s TRAFFIC auction goes – it’s a pretty amazing list itself. And don’t forget the Epik/Moniker event in September with a focus on developed websites. The results there – good or bad – will give us additional insight from a different view.
I believe in this business. I believe in the power of domain names as the cornerstones of businesses. I believe in Moniker and DomainFest. Just think we didn’t quite take full advantage of a stage/opportunity yesterday. Let me know your thoughts. And please, if I’m wrong then tell me.
i agree the auction was a failure, the reserve was just to high, like 50% overvalue, domain should follow the sp500, down 50% from peak.
I am sure that not everything is auction. In many meetings like this, private deals are made which are not public. At our meeting Domaining III in Valencia Spain, we are not going to hold an auction, but be sure that many private arrangements are made at this event.
Even whole portfolio’s can change hands with Castello Brothers or Tim Schumacher attending.
Come over to Valencia-Spain !
Thanks guys for the comments.
Dietmar, I’m sure many, many sales occur outside of the auction platform itself during the shows. (One of the main reasons to attend the shows.) And I’m sure Domaining III will be a success – in this aspect and all others.
If we don’t publicize those – when possible – then the ‘world’ doesn’t necessarily see the value as we do. Or it takes them longer to see it.
We need something similar to MLS (at some point, maybe not yet) to help ‘track’ the values of these ‘properties’.