An Idea for Auctions - Auction Remix

[equity78]

Now this is just an idea, it is nothing official from Namepros or in the works, it is my idea for a different kind of auction product, and looking for comments yay or nay. Eric would have to approve.

The nature of auctions on forums provides no opportunity to set a reserve. So sometimes someone starts an auction at $1 and thinks it will run for a bit, sometimes that doesn't happen.

So I was thinking about an Auction Remix. An auction ends say at $16, the seller does not like the price, so instead of selling the name they pay the high bidder their high bid, so in this case the high bidder would get $16. The seller keeps the domain.

The seller has to state that it is this kind of auction at the start so anyone bidding knows it could happen. A second version would involve the high bidder having to give their ok to accept the cash over the name.

Like I said it is just an idea, give opinions on the concept.

 

[DANEYAL]

Now this is just an idea, it is nothing official from Namepros or in the works, it is my idea for a different kind of auction product, and looking for comments yay or nay. Eric would have to approve.

The nature of auctions on forums provides no opportunity to set a reserve. So sometimes someone starts an auction at $1 and thinks it will run for a bit, sometimes that doesn't happen.

So I was thinking about an Auction Remix. An auction ends say at $16, the seller does not like the price, so instead of selling the name they pay the high bidder their high bid, so in this case the high bidder would get $16. The seller keeps the domain.

The seller has to state that it is this kind of auction at the start so anyone bidding knows it could happen. A second version would involve the high bidder having to give their ok to accept the cash over the name.

Like I said it is just an idea, give opinions on the concept.

I dont like the idea frankly on workable grounds. It will give an heart attack to some sellers. However it was indeed a creative idea. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[yogiDomain]

Ahh nice idea if the amount of bid is less.
What if there is some domain worth 300$ in current market and it only reaches 100$. that 100$ will be a bummer to the seller.

 

[equity78]

I dont like the idea frankly on workable grounds. It will give an heart attack to some sellers. However it was indeed a creative idea. Thanks for sharing with us.

The seller would not have to ever do this, every auction they run they could accept the price and push the domain. They have the option to invoke the buyout clause.

 

[forge]

I have a hard time believing this would ever work. There are too many buyers here who would never accept a trade-off for the domain they rightfully won. It could even have legal implications, or at the very least be a PITA setting terms and conditions, including for NamePros. It's just asking for trouble IMHO.

I see you added a "clause" but I still think it is a recipe for disaster.

 

[equity78]

Ahh nice idea if the amount of bid is less.
What if there is some domain worth 300$ in current market and it only reaches 100$. that 100$ will be a bummer to the seller.

True, good point, but the seller is in complete control, they can take the $100. The seller has control for that they have to pay a price if they invoke the option to keep the domain.

 

[yogiDomain]

It will be better to set a reserve and communicate it to the admin of something. so once the reserve is met it can be displayed.
Or better a plugin in the auction where it hides the reserve.

 

[equity78]

I have a hard time believing this would ever work. There are too many buyers here who would never accept a trade-off for the domain they rightfully won. It could even have legal implications, or at the very least be a PITA setting terms and conditions, including for NamePros. It's just asking for trouble IMHO.

Good points, that's why this is just throwing something out there, but to be clear, the buyer would know when the auction starts that the seller has a buyout clause, so they know it could happen. I agree if someone won a name at $1 they think is cheap. Of course many times the seller just doesn't push and says go ahead and ban me I don't care.

 

[equity78]

It will be better to set a reserve and communicate it to the admin of something. so once the reserve is met it can be displayed.
Or better a plugin in the auction where it hides the reserve.

Hahaha That was my second Idea, I was going to ask Eric if we could set it up that someone pms us and that way the reserve is recorded and not made up. Go Daddy charges $4.99 for a reserve auction, I would think Namepros would charge something for the extra hassle.

 

[yogiDomain]

Hahaha That was my second Idea, I was going to ask Eric if we could set it up that someone pms us and that way the reserve is recorded and not made up. Go Daddy charges $4.99 for a reserve auction, I would think Namepros would charge something for the extra hassle.

Godaddy charge for everything. Freaking godaddy. I sometimes really hate them. they eat up all my profits.

I wouldn't mind paying 2-3$ extra to set reserve in NP as they wont charge any commission later.

 

[domainerfella]

Appreciate the idea, but too complicated and looks a bit unprofessional. The present system is good. Please continue the same. Could you include a poll too @equity78, should we or shouldn't we?, please?

 

[equity78]

Appreciate the idea, but too complicated and looks a bit unprofessional. The present system is good. Please continue the same. Could you include a poll too @equity78, should we or shouldn't we?, please?

Yeah it might be too complicated Back in the day we used to run chatroom auctions for the Dot TV subforum and one time we had buyouts, now this was a small sub set of the community. But I would do live auction, StLouisMo.tv for example end at $15, high bidder got $15, and seller kept the domain.

The reserve idea may be the better option.

 

[D Haynes]

If I had a reserve price in mind I'd just set that as my opening bid in a NP auction. I think a seller should realise that they are trading with resellers here and that they may not get a price anything near what they wanted. When you start charging for reserves etc your slowly becoming any one of the domain sales sites. I think it all works as it is personally.

 

[domainerfella]

When you start charging for reserves etc your slowly becoming any one of the domain sales sites

Could not agree more. Thanks for making that point.

 

[Joseph Green]

I like this idea better than reserves. Reserves are abused too often by scammers. Minimum prices are good enough. This "remix" idea is very creative and it would serve a similar purpose: protection.

too complicated

Why do you think it's complicated? The seller decides whether they want to sell the domain or pay the winning bid themselves to the winner. Simple.

Imagine, you can earn money simply by bidding on auctions.

 

[aditya agrawal]

Now this is just an idea, it is nothing official from Namepros or in the works, it is my idea for a different kind of auction product, and looking for comments yay or nay. Eric would have to approve.

The nature of auctions on forums provides no opportunity to set a reserve. So sometimes someone starts an auction at $1 and thinks it will run for a bit, sometimes that doesn't happen.

So I was thinking about an Auction Remix. An auction ends say at $16, the seller does not like the price, so instead of selling the name they pay the high bidder their high bid, so in this case the high bidder would get $16. The seller keeps the domain.

The seller has to state that it is this kind of auction at the start so anyone bidding knows it could happen. A second version would involve the high bidder having to give their ok to accept the cash over the name.

Like I said it is just an idea, give opinions on the concept.

IMHO I like the idea but I feel it is unnecessary.

Reserve price is a selling trick on other platforms as a user may reject a domain right away if the starting price is $4000. But if I start with $1 and if 10 others show interest in the domain, bidding may also reach $20,000, as the user may get caught in the spur of the moment or would realize that the domain is really important. So a no sale becomes a $2000 commission for them with a simple reserve price.

Namepros anyway do not make a money from the auctions.

On namepros, a buyer could easily start the auction with the reserve price and this would eliminate all the hassle and save other domainers' time of bidding on an auction with no result.

 

[Cal2]

Like I said it is just an idea, give opinions on the concept.

Instead of an opinion on the concept - maybe it could be shaped forward to being an excellent concept, with great ideas based on the concept - I'll try to design another option. One that may or may not be out there already, since I don't know much about domain auctions: What if the seller sets a reserve bid, but that bid is only known to the seller. Those that bid things up to the reserve bid would be the only ones allowed to bid after that. And maybe there could be an either/or attachment to that - eg. if it goes over the reserve bid with the 1st bidder, then only the 1st 1-3 bidders after that could bid. That way if someone is interested they know they'll have to get on the bid list and to maybe not wait so long before throwing in a bid. If it doesn't go up to the reserve but has bids, then the seller can decide if they want to let it go for that.

 

[Name Trader]

Why not just have a reserved price auction section where the reserve price is shown? IMHO, it will be mostly a failure because of sellers setting retail reserve prices. So there will hardly ever be any sales. So what is the point?

 

[DomainGist]

No point in a reserve price when the seller can just set the starting price at the lowest price they'd be willing to accept?

 

[John Baron]

Cool and creative suggestion but I'm not a fan in general.

If we do going to implement some kind of idea of reserve auction I think it should only be implemented on the Top Domains section - and then since there are very few domains who get listed there - the seller can simply PM the Moderator who is in charge of that section the reserve he wants to set.

 

[ramkumaritrvs]

+1 for @stub point. Namepros is reseller market and reserve will pull down the sales. already we have lot of platform to run reserve aution. why do we need it here? No matter it is visible or secret.

If $1 auction didn't attract bidders here, then the domain name is not worth for resale but some enduser may buy it. IMO.

@equity78, Idea is very good. It might be little tough in beginning stages but it's WIN - WIN for both parties.

BTW: To begin this kind of auctions, Sellers should meet minimum rules something like 50+ posts or 10 auctions should complete or 1 year np member etc., so we could prevent auctions from new account runaway seller's.

 

[Ms Domainer]

As a buyer, I just wouldn't bother to bid on such an auction.

 

[DNVantage]

@equity78, Nice idea, very workable. Just an additional condition to every day auction. People just have to get used to it.

Think of this way, just add a line to auction details:

Seller reserves right to cancel the auction at anytime by paying the highest bidder their bid at the time of cancellation.

There are no losers here, even if the current high bidder does not win the auction, their time is not wasted.

Though, very few auctions above $x will result in seller paying out the cancellation bid.

This type of special auction gets activated only if it the auction details actually mention it. else it is just the regular auction. So mention it, highlight it in bold red at top of auction.

A variation also could be used. for example, a fixed minimum amount or 1/10 of the bid amount will be paid to the highest bidder at time of cancellation.

I am for it. No harm in introducing it and trying it out.

 

[iowadawg]

Bottom line?
If this happens, a lot of bidders will not bid!
But hey, if some want some crap system like this, go for it.
And watch people leave NP for other venues real quick.

 

[Ms Domainer]

Bottom line?
If this happens, a lot of bidders will not bid!
But hey, if some want some crap system like this, go for it.
And watch people leave NP for other venues real quick.

Iowadawg, I don't think anyone is advocating that every Namepros auction should follow this model.

One could still bid on other auctions and ignore this option.

I just think that such a model would be difficult to moderate and could cause all kinds of headaches for the mods.

If I were a mod, I would run like the wind...

But that's just me.