Bido.com closing

[hawkeye]

Just saw a tweet on Twitter that BIDO is closing on May 5th. Sorry to hear. Best of luck to Sahar et al.

 

[JamesDavid]

The problem was basically the 1 domain a day model was not sustainable, and then when the floodgates opened for lower quality domains many users could not be bothered using it. If I wanted to weed through that much crap I would use eBay.

Brad

I second Brad.

When Bido.com was doing QUALITY domains I was there daily with there guest speaker in chat. I found myself bringing my lunch to work just so i could catch the chat/auction. I spent $XXXX there over that course and sold a name for high XXX.

Once the floodgates opened and crap started to stream in I lost all interest.

One thing for sure though is that the Bido.com staff has been nothing but professional and helpful in every way. I think the business model and the poor domain economy were the killers of the business. The staff could and hopefully will transplant themselves into a new project as they are solid businessmen with a great name in the industry.

 

[turnhardtoeasy]

Dam... Just sold a domain yesterday
and bought a couple too

even tough there were some problems... i somehow liked your services

sorry for the loss
and is it being sold or something or u just closing temporary

 

[Blake]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It's true, we are closing. Everyone will be taken care of as far as items still in limbo.

Regards,
Jarred

Hello Jarred,

First off I really enjoyed the service......things went smooth and sales were plentiful. Now I must ask you can you elaborate on this harsh decision ...I mean what happen to be so immediate?

Well I hope you reconsider your decision but If not I wish you all the best with your next venture. Top notch you guys are and have handled everything with pride and professionalism.

+1 vote for changing your mind hehe

 

[mitok]

+3 votes for changing your mind :D

Bido was place where you can get frustrated when you see low ball offers for premium domains, but also the only place where you are able to sell domains which you would never sale anywhere else.
I really like Bido and would like that it stay alive.

 

[Michelle]

Ok my vote here is for it to remain open :tu:

 

[Jaco]

Told ya so.

 

[deleted984054565403]

Can't say I didn't see it coming.

 

[Jaco]

Look on the bright side. They got a pretty intense Beta out of some interesting auction software they could probably lease (presuming it was home grown in the first place- I have no idea)

 

[shane mac]

Any new business will run into financial difficulties in its infancy, but this service had a really good chance to grow in the longterm into a hugely profitable business. I can only assume a major Cash flow crisis forced their hands. Its a damn shame as like I said, the business stood a good chance to be a juggernaut $$$$ making machine.

 

[Pherix]

Not only am I adding a +1 vote to change your mind and remain open... I am typing this on my knees... We seriously NEED Bido to stay open! Thank you!

 

[mitok]

Now i see that my auction for tomorrow, which had a few PreBids has been deleted.
I like Bido, but this is not nice, i would be happy that Bido stay alive, but if not, at least they should allow that auctions with PreBids be finished

 

[fm1234]

Well there goes "make decision RE: Bido" off of my to do list.


Frank

---------- Post added at 11:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:32 AM ----------

Oh hell, guess I should edit my signature lol

 

[Vito]

It is a sad day for any type of domaining service to shut down, much less it being Bido!

The Customer service was by far the best in the industry. That in itself can translate into money, and I know there were lots of people on both sides of the fence regarding quality over quantity but Shit...Of course you are gonna get tons of crap, when it is a FREE Service! Uh, craigslist ring a bell???

I am a die-hard Bido fan, and have had the good fortune to have the first sale there in their trial auction a loooong time ago.

Since then I have seen positive changes on a weekly basis.

The Business model can change, and I cant believe they there is such an abrupt ending to this incredible tool that we all are very fortunate to have used.

My random quick thoughts without putting more than a minute into thinking about this but, what if...

1) They charge a membership fee? - I'm in!

2) They charge a listing fee based on your reserve? - I'm in. (creates quality rather than a free service)

3) They have a tiered membership fee? (Quality Domain Membership, all the way down to crap domain membership fee) - I'm in!

4) You dont want another Craigslist right so create reg fee auctions, or $1.00 auctions but with a percentage paid upfront...or maybe at the end of the sale - Point is, IF 60, 70, 80% of the domains are not worth $28.00 then have 99 cent start auctions, but make us pay for them somehow...

listen I dont have all of the answers at all, and I am sure some of my thoughts here could be shredded apart but my point is this. They provided an incredible service and it will be a HUGE loss when Bido is gone. I would be more than happy to pay for those same Services, rather then see Bido close down.

Sorry to hear this.
Vito.

 

[gazzip]

I third Brad.

I thought their model was interesting but not very practical from day one, it's a pitty really as they did try to push the boundaries and try something different, unfortunately not to be...this time.



.

 

[shane mac]

Paid membership? I'm in
Paid listing service? 50 cents a domain or something I am in!
Start bids? Nominated by the seller!! $28 is too much for crap.
If a domain of yours sells, you get 1 free listing of another domain!

Don't simply abandon the project, but what can you do if, as I supect, its a cash flow problem.

 

[Vito]

This really sucks.

I JUST had an auction close at Bido.

$109. sale and It took me literally ONLY 1 minute of my time to create the auction based on the tools Bido gives us...

Where else can you get that service???
No Friggen-where!

 

[cmason]

Congrats on the sale!

I just moved all the buying/selling spreadsheets to Google Docs and noticed that since August 2009, I purchased 62 domains for a total of mid $x,xxx and sold 90 domains for a total of high $x,xxx. It's a shame that one of my primary ways of selling domains is about to disappear.

For shame.

 

[Vito]

Congrats on the sale!

I just moved all the buying/selling spreadsheets to Google Docs and noticed that since August 2009, I purchased 62 domains for a total of mid $x,xxx and sold 90 domains for a total of high $x,xxx. It's a shame that one of my primary ways of selling domains is about to disappear.

For shame.

Thx CMason,

Yeah, I look at all of my activity over there and I really have to say, we are all losing a VERY valuable resource in the closure of Bido.

Was the system abused? - Absolutely! It was FREE.

Once in a while I wanted to spend some time and play their "vote for profits" game. I would look thru listings and try to test myself on voting on the domains I thought would do well...then as I was perusing their list - BAM! 100 crappy .info's were just listed...so I just moved on.

Anyone who does anything positive for our domain Community, I am a huge fan of. There are sure a lot of great additions that we all need and want but the bottom line is money.

Not sure of my point, just rambling here but I'm a little bummed.

 

[TargetNames]

I sold $xxxx on Bido. My second best source for sales. Thanks guys!

Customer Service was top-notch. I didn't think the business model was sustainable (and told them so) at the $28 starting price, but they certainly developed a good auction model and a lot of data for someone to pick it up.

There are some good ideas here for paid membership, listing fees, etc. Hopefully someone will continue to evolve what Bido started.

Oh well, back to getting low-balled on forums, lol.

 

[Erdy]

This is sad news. Bido wasn't one of the big domain auction sites but it was one of the few nevertheless.

Lot's of effort, time and money goes into creating these projects and Bido was one of the good sites with user friendly features. I wish they wouldn't just close down. There must be some good reason why they decided to do so.

 

[SpareDomains]

I only sold 1 domain and bought 1 domain there but I gotta say both were complete within hours which is rare when using someone else for sales as I have had deals take 6+ weeks at other markets that let buyers take their time paying. Lot of crap to sort through but wasn't really that hard to do as they sent a daily email with their auctions that just took a quick scan to make sure a gem wasn't hiding. I think my only complaint was seeing obvious trademarks occasionally in the daily email which should have been plucked out to keep it clean. If you look at any days sales Bido.com - Domain Name Auctions and subtract their commission for a day you can see not really enough to pay a staff. Unfortunate as I think with a little pruning and end user marketing it could have developed into a good market as their customer service was flawless. Be nice if they let all auctions already voted in with auction dates complete but doesn't sound like that will happen. Sad day for Bido as some good guys/service behind it.

 

[bmugford]

I think Bido could survive and become profitable if they retooled their business model a bit.

To start with they need a way to weed out the garbage. Quality domains at reasonable prices bring buyers. I knew at one point quad premium LLLL.com were going for under $100 at times on Bido. I would have happily paid that for them but Bido is just too tedious to go through the crap.

Overall BIDO is just too flooded with low quality domains. There is no benefit to BIDO as the vast majority do not sell. It is just a waste of space taking up resources.

If there was some kind of modest fee, either membership or per auction, it would help to improve the quality as well.

Brad

 

[mitok]

I am a big fan of Bido, and their customer service was one of the best in the industry.
But honestly, i am very dissapointed by their move now. They announced closing of Bido less than 24 hours before they plan to close it? Thats not right, and thats not fair for sure.
I had several PreBids for my auction which i set yesterday for tomorrow, and i believe i would achive BidoPrice of almoust $1k.
But that is not the only reason. When some holiday was coming, they announced that Bido will not work on that day few days ago. And now they close their service and publish that info less than 24 hours before end. Really not nice.

Like i wrote, i liked Bido very much, but now i dont know what to think about this kind of behaviour.

 

[Vito]

Brad,
Thats exactly what I said in my post #38.



Most of us would be happy to pay for that service, and sales platform, ok we've established that.

So, they already have the reputation, traffic, brand, etc...

Who wants to join me and buy Bido?

We get rid of all that cool but yet VERY confusing stuff, (Vote for profits, Bido Quotes, Affiliate Program, etc. etc. etc.)

We concentrate on ONLY domain sales, and we kick Sedo's ($50.00 minimum) A$$ ???


.

 

[SpareDomains]

Brad,
Thats exactly what I said in my post #38.



Most of us would be happy to pay for that service, and sales platform, ok we've established that.

So, they already have the reputation, traffic, brand, etc...

Who wants to join me and buy Bido?

We get rid of all that cool but yet VERY confusing stuff, (Vote for profits, Bido Quotes, Affiliate Program, etc. etc. etc.)

We concentrate on ONLY domain sales, and we kick Sedo's ($50.00 minimum) A$$ ???


.

I actually wouldn't mind the job of auction pruner for a month where I can hit delete on any auctions of obvious trademarks and domains with zero end user potential along with a small end user advertising budget. Would be curious to see if a month of pruning for quality helps. Would probably dump the vote for profits and bido quotes as good inventory sells itself without needing to describe it. I think the affiliate program is useful though as sellers linking to their auctions is targeted publicity.