Mystery Domain Auction Launched

That's a very neat and creative site you made there John. Has a nice design to go along with it - well done and best of luck! :tu:

geronimo said:

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year 2009.

I am pleased to announce that I have launched the long awaited Mystery Domain Auction project:
http://www.mysterydomainauction.com

Would love to hear your comments, suggestions, praises and criticisms.

John

Click to expand...

Fantastic idea and well-designed site. The mechanism is a bit ambiguous (mysterious :D ) though. It will take some long time to win the confidence of bidders. Wish you good luck.

John is a hardworking clever guy. I think the idea's great and hope it makes a million.

Brilliant system! I placed my bid earlier for 25 cents...

Great idea!

Good luck with it.

Nice idea,

Placed my bid,

Good luck.

Doing quite well, was outbid within seconds,

hope it continues like that for you.

Pretty Innovative :tu:

Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

John

Great idea, would generate even more interest if the product was known imho

Pretty cool idea. Already generating quite a buzz. Good luck .

Yes I agree although we will know on Day 50 and John is giving the alternative of $10,000 cash which is mighty tempting in these tough economic times.

Wire said:

Great idea, would generate even more interest if the product was known imho

Click to expand...

Very creative and funny, excellent use of the "buzz" technique - I have no doubt the word will spread fast (I learnt about it from the Domaining newletter). I placed three bids already, with three different domains.

Of course, I wonder how far people will continue to bid, and at which rate, once the bids go up? I am curious to see that. In itself, a quite interesting experiment. I wish you full success and good luck!

-REECE- said:

John is giving the alternative of $10,000 cash

Click to expand...

Didn't see that clearly stated, so John you might want to highlight that to better effect

I felt it was stated clearly, but one needed to read carefully. The new highlighting in the left bar - presumably following Wire's suggestion - is much better, much more visible. Good idea, Wire!

I like this idea; but is it set up to have two bids at the same price from two different bidders.

I just briefly read the thread and did a bid....sorry if i missed something.

-Thanks
-Aaron

Edit: i see you info based on time stamp but would that really allow two bids at the same price.......but the way i will keep bidding, just asking.

Just done a blog post to help generate some more buzz. Keep up the good work John and good luck!

Ingenious!

All I can say without being too negative on the forum is don't buy into this!!!

Effin' Brilliant John!!!

Good Luck Man!

....i just got outbid!!...

It is a great idea . The only question i have is wont google ban you if you use a paid link to drive traffic to your site that has google adsense on it. good luck

I have taken the affiliate program out of beta:
http://www.mysterydomainauction.com/affiliates.php

John

I have a few questions...

1) In your blog post, you said "we have launched the long anticipated domaining event that will revolutionize the domain industry!" How is this going to revolutionize the domain industry? I think I am missing something here.

2) How will the winner be able to guarantee that you will pay the $10,000 assuming they don't want the domain name? If you are doing this to be able to buy a ticket to TRAFFIC, what happens if you don't generate the 14,000 or so bids to break even (and that doesn't include affiliate payments)?

3) Do you have insurance for this in case you don't get close to the # needed to pay out the $10k + affiliates?

4) What technology do you have in place to ensure bidding at the end is fair? Does it extend for a certain amount of time as bids come in?

Sorry to be a downer with all these questions, but while it may be the first domain to be auctioned like this, it's not a unique concept and it certainly is a controversial type of auction:

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/09/24/swoopo-entertainment-shopping-or-scam
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/an-all-pay-auction/

*************

Hi EJX, I am happy to answer your questions - as any discussion is a healthy discussion.

Why is it a revolution?

My aim is to revolutionize the way general folks look at domain names. What is the biggest problem domainers have with their portfolio? They love their portfolios yet they hardly sell any domain names? A lot of people will agree. Try convincing an end user that they should fork out $500,000 for a premium name - it's not easy.

Bringing attention of the general public to domaining and domain names can only be a good thing - it builds awareness. Sure, there will be skeptics like yourself who will jump at the chance to worry, and criticize, which is fine - but a lot of people will get only one message from this venture - "Some guy earned a million dollars within 100 days from selling a domain name. Why don't I stop investing money in real estate and start looking at domain names as an investment option?" Others will ask: "what the heck are domain names, I better investigate."

If you think outside the box you will realize that there are various ways to "revolutionize" something. Some involve software and programs, tactics and techniques while others involve hype and media attention. In all cases, all it takes is one idea.

How will the winner know that I will pay the $10,000. What happens if I don't generate enough bids?

I have already answered this on DNKitchen's blog, so I thought I'd just bring the answer here too:

Firstly, I have put away $10,000 of my own money to cover the costs of paying out the value of the domain name if the highest bidder opts for the cash no matter what happens in the auction. I don’t have to disclose my online income sources but I will - I can point you to my blog DNXpert.com (advertising and premium forum memberships add up to over $1000 a month in profit). Then there are past Domaining Manifesto sales, and present affiliate product sales etc.

I would not risk losing credibility that I have built with DNXpert and other ventures over this - not to mention the continuous income my ventures bring in. My aim is to bring positive attention to this project, bidders and the domaining industry as a whole.

As for the technology - I have invested in my server to make sure that the site does not go down - if it does go down as a result of hacking attacks or server load - I will compensate the time by extending the auction by the time lost.

Excluding the weird circumstances mentioned above, the auction will end at midnight Pacific Time on April 10 2009 server time. The last bidder to place their bid will win the mystery domain name. Following midnight that day, you simply will not be able to bid any further.

WTF??? Why was my posted edited by Mark? I didn't curse or use abusive language, and I only gave my opinion. If you are going to censure my post, at least take it down so it's not distorted.