This thread has been a fascinating read.
A couple of takeaways for me:
:imho:There is a marketplace for brandables because there is a market for brandables.
If Margot's methods, relationships, prices, etc. are not the most effective, the market will adjust.
If one doesn't like her TOS, or how she chooses domains, then don't do business with her.
Just having more cars on the lot, so to speak, doesn't mean you sell more of them. But junky cars can drive away buyers of premium cars.
And she is an expert on what HER buyers want and what they do not. She knows what kind of market place works for her business.
If you don't like it, then go out and contact buyers yourself.
As far as brandable domains versus keyword domains:
Just try googling some premium one word names and see what shows on the first page.
good brandable's will always be good brandable's. the sub-par, marginal and crap brandables will be left at the next train station.
This is an extremely telling and ironic piece of advice. I am sure URLURL meant it that way - correct me if I am wrong.
He didn't say "search" for premium ...
He said "Google".
This, now famous, brandable name, "Google", has become a "keyword".
You have to ask yourself this question: 20 years ago, would you have viewed the domains of the top Internet/Technology companies the same way you do now?
Amazon, Apple, Google, Yahoo, FaceBook, Pandora, eBay, Pinterest, etc. would be considered brandables (even the keywords because of the way they are used), and yet there are people use these brands as verbs.
There will always be junk domains - even keyword ones. But sometimes it takes the artist to see the sculpture waiting in the hunk of rock.
Then plain old ipod turns into iPod.
Companies can have hundreds of brands. So the demand for brandable domains is quite large. Sometimes the brand leads the product, but usually it is the opposite.
Ultimately, I think that brandable domains have a value, but they are harder for wholesalers to deal with because the universe of buyers for any one of them is extremely small compared to keyword domains. Which is why it makes sense to have a specialty marketplace like BrandBucket or Namerific.