Domain name auction - Thoughts?

[cjcjcj]

My colleague is launching a domain name auction service within 2 days from now to allow domainers to list their names for anything from 1 day to 2 whole months.

Pricing is low and there is zero commission charged on sucessful sales. It essentially works like ebay - offering an active platform for people to list their names and for people to pick up some bargains when buying! Standard listing will be free for all names for every day in February.

The difference to sites like Sedo is that whilst domains can be listed for long periods, they can not be left indefinitely fishing for offers. This is a targetted site where names are up for sale! And of course there's no commission charged.

What I'd like to find out for him is what features people find are lacking in the domain market and how much people would pay to list a domain name on an active site focussed on domain buyers and sellers?


(URL withheld to avoid this being just an advert!)

 

[pimpdaddy]

to tell you the truth, i wouldnt be interested in listing my domains at a new site.. just doesnt make sense when there are so many other high traffic sites where you can have a better chance at a sale.. talk to him about free listings, that can be the only advantage to use your site

 

[snoop]

Every second domainer seems to try a site like this, I think you'll find that not will people be unwilling to pay any kind of listing fee but it will be extremely difficult to attract any kind of volume of people willing to list or people looking to buy. Sorry for the negativity but its been done so many times before, the key is to think up something new or an idea with not alot of competition yet.

 

[RogueWriter]

Free might work, with the owner picking up income from affiliate banners/adsense.........

 

[cjcjcj]

What would you use to auction a name with the set-up of ebay but without the feeling like your name is lost in a load of cr*p and entirely unrealistic asking prices?

 

[superprogrammer]

There is something called www.dnbidder.com with same service

 

[RogueWriter]

Auctions are free if reserve price is less than $30 or so might encourage sellers to price low. If there is some bonus based on quantity of domains sold each month, might be another way.........

 

[cjcjcj]

The plan was to charge zero commission and i think this is quite rare. Certainly for the first month (maybe more) standard listings are completely free and extra payment would be made for extra features like $0.50 for highlighted domain name or $2.00 for category featured domain name.

This means that with a standard listing it would be entirely free from listing to the completion of sale. The emphasis we want is to be on an active sale where sales have a definable end and which people can monitor the names they like and get in with decent bids. Personally I find that sites where listings last for ever and ever encourage a little apathy - although have their own merits too.

I don't think there would be a way to encourage people to list hundreds of names with rewards - however it will have a full reputation system for feedback so people could become very well respoected pretty quickly.

 

[Mark]

Afraid I agree with most above , Probably half the members in here have had a similar site at least in planning at one point in time ..... Using some of the Ideas above may help you in longevity. If this is really what your friend wants - Make sure he sticks with it for the long run .... as too many usually fall by the wayside within months -

Good Luck ~

 

[RogueWriter]

I like the idea of a reverse auction.........

 

[cjcjcj]

Oh yeah - it's planned for the long term and is being tested now. We really think there is a market for this kind of site if someone can make it work. We need to make sure that it is:

a) Easy to use
b) Has great features - like auction watching, bulk upload etc
c) Is affordable / free in some ways
d) Is busy

Being busy is hard to predict - but I think that I would add my names for free and keep them low in order to get sales. I don't want a site where the focus in on end-user sales like ebay ($35million sales?!) but a platform for domainers to resell and trade amongst themselves. That's not to say that end users will not be attracted however.

One suggestion is to have free listing but to set a small charge $0.50 for a reserve price in the hope that this would encourage sales to be made on a what you see is what you get basis. So you know that if you bid - you may well win.

Above all - it is a service to aid domain trading so people's input will decide what happens.

 

[EbookLover]

Here is another auction site for domains I came accross...

domainauctionhouse.com

I agree with others. Differentiation is key as well as bringing benefits to both buyers and sellers that they perceive as valuable and needed.

 

[andyy15]

Charging a fee and new site = a domain name auction that will not be used. Think of a different marketing stategy.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Without known traffic from buyers to see the names, you'll have a hard time finding anyone willing to pay for listings. A better model would be free 30-60 day listings with a small sales fee if and when sold. The short listing time of two months or less keeps the names fresh. If the owner succeeds in getting buyers to the site, they will succeed in getting sales commissions.

The reason ebay gets people to pay for listings is because they have millions of people searching here every day. The reason others haven't succeeded is because they don't.