BrandBucket Experience

[xtremex]

hello

I am new to BrandBucket. Before getting my hands on this

I wish to experience about brandbucket from my fellow members


Thanks

 

[campout]

Be careful - based on just a 3-week window and only two sales I'd imagine the error rate in your calculation would probably be higher than the percentage you mention.

The fact that we are talking about a 600-name portfolio makes the data better even over a shorter period of time. It is the same as looking at what a 200-name portfolio does over 9 weeks.

 

[Brandworthy]

The fact that we are talking about a 600-name portfolio makes the data better even over a shorter period of time. It is the same as looking at what a 200-name portfolio does over 9 weeks.

It would be very nice if we could extrapolate in that way, but the bad news is that sampling data doesn't work like that. My advice is just to be careful in drawing many/any conclusion from the sales figures mentioned above. I know there are a couple of strong data guys on tis thread, so I'm sure thaty could probably explain sampling and confidence intervals better than I can.

 

[campout]

It would be very nice if we could extrapolate in that way, but the bad news is that sampling data doesn't work like that. My advice is just to be careful in drawing many/any conclusion from the sales figures mentioned above. I know there are a couple of strong data guys on tis thread, so I'm sure thaty could probably explain sampling and confidence intervals better than I can.

Not sure you have a handle on what I pointed out.

 

[Doron Vermaat]

Dude, I said I didn't have a clue in my post and that I was just theorizing. Everybody here has different knowledge bases about different things. There's no need for a pompous and arrogant reply like yours. Why don't you be constructive and explain why my theory couldn't be true?

Fair enough. I din't meant to be snappy.

There's no correlation between a website's page views it's SERP rankings. Also, the voting is done behind the account login which isn't accessible for search engine crawlers. It is also fairly easy to see that BB is not creating unique pages for each voting combo and if they would do so this would create very low quality or thin content ages which would most likely have a negative effect on their search engine rankings.

It doesn't seem that BB is doing anything at all so far with the data generated by votes. It's most likely used as a way to compete with Brandroot where sellers still have to pay the $10 listing fee per name. For quite a few sellers this $10 makes all the difference.

 

[hookbox]

Fair enough. I din't meant to be snappy.

There's no correlation between a website's page views it's SERP rankings. Also, the voting is done behind the account login which isn't accessible for search engine crawlers. It is also fairly easy to see that BB is not creating unique pages for each voting combo and if they would do so this would create very low quality or thin content ages which would most likely have a negative effect on their search engine rankings.

It doesn't seem that BB is doing anything at all so far with the data generated by votes. It's most likely used as a way to compete with Brandroot where sellers still have to pay the $10 listing fee per name. For quite a few sellers this $10 makes all the difference.

Those that vote only to get a free listing don't even look at what there voting for. That voting thing is the dumbest thing I have seen because BrandBucket's members blow through it as fast as they can just to accumulate votes to get the free credits. The stats accumulated from this system are worthless. How BB doesn't understand that is beyond me.

 

[ApeXX]

Those that vote only to get a free listing don't even look at what there voting for. That voting thing is the dumbest thing I have seen because BrandBucket's members blow through it as fast as they can just to accumulate votes to get the free credits. The stats accumulated from this system are worthless. How BB doesn't understand that is beyond me.

Actually, I disagree here. And this is to my point that there is a reason why BB includes names that have already been approved. Those who often choose the BB rejected names, particularly in scenarios as I've noticed where there is a strong BB approved name and a very weak obviously rejected name, will likely have their votes discounted on the backend. That way BB can identify those who share similar domain preferences to their own, and use those select people to help vet it. It may not be at that stage yet, but I guarantee that's the plan behind it. Quite an easy way to weed out those who use it legitimately and those that just click through it.

IE:

Option 1: eatify.com
Option 2: countingdowndays.com

If you choose countingdowndays, the system notes this on the backend. Too many of those bad choices indicates you either have poor taste in domains, or you are just randomly clicking. If I were BB, I would invalidate those individual's votes behind the scenes. Once the system matures I would actually remove accounts from the voting program who consistently chose what BB considers unacceptable names.

 

[hookbox]

Actually, I disagree here. And this is to my point that there is a reason why BB includes names that have already been approved. Those who often choose the BB rejected names, particularly in scenarios as I've noticed where there is a strong BB approved name and a very weak obviously rejected name, will likely have their votes discounted on the backend. That way BB can identify those who share similar domain preferences to their own, and use those select people to help vet it. It may not be at that stage yet, but I guarantee that's the plan behind it. Quite an easy way to weed out those who use it legitimately and those that just click through it.

IE:

Option 1: eatify.com
Option 2: countingdowndays.com

If you choose countingdowndays, the system notes this on the backend. Too many of those bad choices indicates you either have poor taste in domains, or you are just randomly clicking. If I were BB, I would invalidate those individual's votes behind the scenes. Once the system matures I would actually remove accounts from the voting program who consistently chose what BB considers unacceptable names.

Many months ago was the last time I used their voting system and they did not include published names. Since you're saying they include the published names now then it's obvious that people are voting just to get the credits and they are trying to weed those people out of the system especially if their using names like your example where there is an obvious better name.

 

[timestamp]

How I vote:

For names that end in sy, ly, zy or .ly or any bs suffix or 4L I vote for the other one. If I get 2 of those, I vote for the one on the right.
2word vs 1word, I vote for 1word.
If I already voted on same name, I vote for the other one.

 

[campout]

I vote for the one I think is best, but I do it quick.

 

[Dominic Belley]

BB being more popular than ever, Im wondering how many thousands of approved names are in the publishing queue. 5000? 10000? More?

 

[Brandworthy]

BB being more popular than ever, Im wondering how many thousands of approved names are in the publishing queue. 5000? 10000? More?

I'd guess somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000. People are going hell for leather right now expanding their portfolios. I'm now leaving names in my ToDo list rather than pushing them to design queue. Will wait for some more sales to justify more listings.

The bad news I've discovered is that sales rates are exceptionally lumpy across portfolios. I know of multiple users with 150+ names listed and zero sales to date.

Again, I suspect the site architecture and search feature may be killing sales of pure brandables, whereas keyword domains might be relatively easier to find via the site. Just a suspicion, but many things are pointing to this.

There#s very little other than guesswork to back this up, and I hope BB might share some aggregate stats to help us understand what's going on.

I've also sent some ideas for improving the Name My Company app which, based on a cursory review today, is doing exactly what I thought it would - lots of submissions, very little voting, and no incentive for BB sellers to find the best name for any competition. I hope they can improve this as it could be a great feature for both buyers and sellers if well implemented.

 

[Doron Vermaat]

I'd guess somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000. People are going hell for leather right now expanding their portfolios. I'm now leaving names in my ToDo list rather than pushing them to design queue. Will wait for some more sales to justify more listings.

The bad news I've discovered is that sales rates are exceptionally lumpy across portfolios. I know of multiple users with 150+ names listed and zero sales to date.

Again, I suspect the site architecture and search feature may be killing sales of pure brandables, whereas keyword domains might be relatively easier to find via the site. Just a suspicion, but many things are pointing to this.

There#s very little other than guesswork to back this up, and I hope BB might share some aggregate stats to help us understand what's going on.

I've also sent some ideas for improving the Name My Company app which, based on a cursory review today, is doing exactly what I thought it would - lots of submissions, very little voting, and no incentive for BB sellers to find the best name for any competition. I hope they can improve this as it could be a great feature for both buyers and sellers if well implemented.

BB gave some interesting insights back in 2013: https://www.brandbucket.com/blog/state-of-brandable-domain-names-june-2013 - i'm wondering what is holding them back to publish an update on this.

Personally I would never list too names with BB (or any other marketplace that requires exclusivity) - it simply isn't good business sense to put all your eggs in one basket. I have around 15% of my portfolio listed with BB, another 15% with Brandroot) and the rest with the usual suspects such as Afternic/GD and Sedo.

 

[Nazz]

Had one of my names purchased a couple of weeks ago by the likes of a software company.

 

[thekiller]

Had one of my names purchased a couple of weeks ago by the likes of a software company.

Can you share name that was sold?

 

[trelgor]

I'll share my numbers in hope that others might do the same, and we can build some stats.

Member: 28 weeks

Listed: 39

Sold: 1 (5 listed at time of sale)

Queue: 48

Unreviewed: About 30

Last 50 reviewed submissions acceptance rate: 50%

 

[Brandzilla]

Member: 31 weeks
Listed: 263
Sold: ZERO
Queue: 205

I have been building inventory pretty consistently for 31 weeks. In this time I have had zero sales. I too based my assumptions off the 5% annual sales principal. However, unfortunately, I can tell you that this has by no means been by experience.

This is not to discourage anyone, but I thought this may a helpful post for some to grasp the fact that sales are by no means certain on BB.

When I read posts like the one above from trelgor I can tell you that to have a sale with only 5 names listed is absolutely incredible and extremely rare IMO. Congrats!

P.S. I really appreciate stats, so I thought I would pay it forward.

 

[Doron Vermaat]

@brandpluck You must have spend a crazy amount of time (and money depending on the type of names) building a BB portfolio that large. What made you decide to go all in with BB without having any sales with them first?

My stats: 77 listed and 8 sold since I signed up in April 2013. It's probably useful to say that the majority of the names that sold were bought at auction and/or drops and not hand registrations.

 

[Brandzilla]

@brandpluck You must have spend a crazy amount of time (and money depending on the type of names) building a BB portfolio that large. What made you decide to go all in with BB without having any sales with them first?

My stats: 77 listed and 8 sold since I signed up in April 2013. It's probably useful to say that the majority of the names that sold were bought at auction and/or drops and not hand registrations.

Amazing sales figures, congrats!

No particular reason. Faith I guess.

I can tell you that I have kept my costs lower than you may expect, by using coupons, voting, and the like. But time is the real killer.

However, I do also see this as a positive. Having spent so much time searching drop lists, auctions, voting, etc., I think I have gained a world class "brandables" education.

The key concern is renewal costs. But I will cross that bridge when I get to it. As you correctly pointed out earlier, there are alternatives to BB.

I can tell you though that I have now stopped purchasing names until I see some sales.

 

[Brandworthy]

Here are my stats:

Member: 89 weeks
Listed: 284
Sold: 13
Design Queue: 76
ToDo Queue: 31
Pending Review: ~80

What made you decide to go all in with BB without having any sales with them first?

FWIW I imagine the phenominal success of @michaeljkrell acts as an incredible draw for new brandable domainers, with others hoping to emaulate his success in both acquiring and selling brandable names. He's a very tough act to follow, so tread carefully.

 

[Doron Vermaat]

Amazing sales figures, congrats!

No particular reason. Faith I guess.

I can tell you that I have kept my costs lower than you may expect, by using coupons, voting, and the like. But time is the real killer.

However, I do also see this as a positive. Having spent so much time searching drop lists, auctions, voting, etc., I think I have gained a world class "brandables" education.

The key concern is renewal costs. But I will cross that bridge when I get to it. As you correctly pointed out earlier, there are alternatives to BB.

I can tell you though that I have now stopped purchasing names until I see some sales.

The sales ratio is pretty much on par with my complete portfolio: 590 names in portfolio and 65 sold. You have to keep in mind that BB is exclusive. If your names don't sell with them then they wont sell anywhere else, ever. So for me, to justify listing names on a exclusive marketplace I need a sales ratio way higher than 5%.