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question Steps to take leading up to a domain auction?

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TerriJ

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So, when you decide to auction a domain at Flippa, GoDaddy, or anywhere else... what steps do you take leading up to starting your auction?

Do you gather an email list of people you think would be interested and alert them before the auction starts? (ie. outbound marketing)
Do you just post the auction, sit back, cross your fingers and wait?
Do you pay to be featured on the front page?

What should be done?
 
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Good question I would also like to know since I've never done a paid auction before. What I would like to know is it worth paying the extra cash for the featured front page of sedo?
 
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Paying anything extra for display could theoretically work if you have a high-quality generic domain. The sort that if you post on NP for $500 BIN, it will be bought in hours. If you have such a domain, then plan carefully and consider various options for marketing and brokering. Otherwise, IMO it is not really useful to pay for displays.

Contacting potential buyers does not hurt. If the domain is of the right sort, that could lead to a bidding war, which is great. However, people outside of the domaining world are not usually aware how they can participate in an auction, so they might be reluctant to register and bid. So I would not really expect that contacting them works (althought is just might).
 
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P.S. One exception when you can use paid display for even a mediocre name is "show the name in bold" in GoDaddy. It is very cheap and catches the eye.
 
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Well - First off, If you're willing to list it up for auction you're committing to selling it so make sure that the starting price (or the reserve) meets your minimum expectations.

As for gathering the emails and potential clients, that's something you'd want to do without auctioning the domain - why loose listing and closing fees while you can sell (considering you'd be collecting emails) without even listing it.

Auction houses vary a lot these days based on the type of the names and the facilities provided by the auction house.

For example: Flippa works best when you've built a history of sales previously and have many watchers - or if you go full throttle and pay their biggest listing package's fee! Again, this depends if your domain is a 5 figure name it could be worth it.

You should also consider the closing time of your auction, and that's all based on the audience you're targeting. If you're selling a Chinese Related Domain name - make sure your auction closes when they're mostly active - and the same applies for other markets.

In my experience, NO RESERVE Auctions always yielded a higher closing price, I believe it grabs more attention and more bidders who will eventually meet in a bid war at the closing time, considering the quality of the domain is high enough (which applied in all cases and scenarios).

Outbound is also important (not an email list) , for example, if I list an auction here in NamePros, I'd PM my previous buyers who had interest of "Similar" domains - do NOT spam! Surprisingly, Upselling works even in domaining.

Here's a good one too - I sometimes list auctions in slower market places and gather the highest number of bidders possible (By starting low, keeping low increments etc.) JUST to market my high end auctions. But this only applies in market places in which you can know who are the bidders - it won't work in Sedo for example as you cannot see who's bidding etc. and there is not way of contacting anybody except for the winner after the transfer and only if they decide not to use privacy protection.

In quick look, I hope that helps - and please feel free to ask any question you've got and I'd be glad to help as much as I possibly can - here or by PM.

All the best.
-Rami
 
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Thanks for the write-up @steitieh
Do you start bids really low? Like at $1? I heard someone on a domaining podcast (who's sold 7 figures worth of domains in a short amount of time) that he always starts at $1 and his auctions last for 30 days.
The thing is, he has contacts and is well connected. I'm just starting out.

I just don't want the whole "no reserve" thing to backfire on me and put me in the red.

And I will make sure to post on here about any upcoming auctions to alert potential bidders. (y)
 
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I do start bids really low because statistically and after literally thousands of auctions I found out that a low start and a no reserve auction carries a higher potential of return and interest but you need to weigh the risk here.

It all falls down to the quality of the name - starting low grabs more attention - if the quality is high your auction will go high no matter how well connected you are - and always remember this: you basically need two "REALLY" interested people to bid on your auctions, if your domain attracted at least TWO who are really keen to own your domain, you'll get what your domain's worth in the market as this is the standard of an appraisal and nothing else can define the value of the domain except for what the buyers are willing to pay for it.

The no reserve thing can backfire at you for sure - that's why always calculate your risk and one or even 10 cases never make a standard.

I wish you all the best and please feel free to let me know if you need any further help.

-Rami
 
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Thanks for all your help @steitieh
Great information. :xf.wink:(y)
 
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