Ah yes, the past. Most company's run into problems and make mistakes. The reason BB has gone unresponsive here is because one can't live anything down here. I'm not concerned that you mentioned a regretful, publicly apologized mistake from years ago but it is with similar reason that BB chooses not to partake in discussion here. I have also distanced myself from Namepros for this reason. I'll poke in every now and then but it's almost always futile.
I would also just like to ask, is there a domainer out there who would start a domain name marketplace without listing their own domains? Isn't that how they all start and grow? Should BB pull their entire inventory and Krell's because they are successful? Or because Krell is now working for BrandBucket? Would Krell still want to work for BrandBucket if his entire inventory was removed?
When you provide a service, your customer must always be of the highest importance. There is an inherent sense of distrust when people realize that an insider is enriching themselves using the same system they pay a premium for.
No matter how you look at it, there is a clear conflict of interest. That may not be important to companies like BB right now but down the road it could be an important factor in deciding whether or not they survive the next few years.
This kind of behavior leaves a bad impression on people and with over a million members on NP I don't think it would be advisable for them to just brush this off. As a business the lack of communication they have exhibited is shocking to me. There is nothing to live down. If they're not addressing people's concerns publicly and in a timely fashion that says a lot about how much they care about their own reputation and that has a negative effect on people's perception of them.
I think businesses like BB would be far more focused and value driven if they did not have their own portfolios being marketed and brokered using the same platforms they charge as a service to others. When they are not pushing their own domains they'll be able to direct their attention to their customers and provide better service.
They'll have more sales if they focus on working exclusively with their available client pool. The incentive should be providing constant justification of the fees they charge by getting their clients domains sold. Having their own domains being listed...IMHO tells me that they are not fully dedicated to their customers and that leads to distrust, disdain, suspicion and hostile protest...all of which can be easily avoided by separating the service they provide from their own individual self interests.
If I started my own brandable domain market like BB I would never list my own names on it. Not only is that unethical...I just don't think that doing so would be a viable plan of action especially when trying to build long term trust and the current state of affairs between BB and their customers is a clear example of that. The money I would earn as a founder or c-suite exec from fees and kickbacks would be enough for me to save for better names(not brandables) during the early stages and enable me to buy
more premium names at a higher clip when the business is more established. My focus would be helping domainers first and not myself. How much I make would be directly correlated to the amount of time and effort I put towards my clients and their domains because those sales would result in fees for my business and that would eventually trickle down into improvements in my own portfolio and also my livelihood. Therefore, sales made from my own portfolio would be passive and unrelated to my marketplace.
You don't bite the hand that feeds you. Trust is the most important factor of any sucessful business. In the case of BB, I don't think they've got any left.
Cheers