discuss Has anyone seen recent decline in low priced .COM sales at Afternic? (clearance, $xx - $xxx range)

[twiki]

During recent years, I used to clear a ton of .COMs for say $75 or $99 through Afternic before renewal time. Like one in 5 names used to go - and pretty fast.

In the last 12 months though, through the same method, I've sold... none. And the names are far better than those I cleared before. Yet... no sales, no offers.

What's going on? Quite baffling.

Theories:

1) I can only think that Afternic is no longer wasting precious eyeball resources on low-valued domains so they are either no longer showing these names, or, perhaps, putting them down the list. From a business perspective, it seems quite logical - so I'd understand that. But I really do not know.

2) Or, perhaps, there are no domainers buying any stuff via GD or Afternic anymore; just end users who might take time to meet and match with your domain.

3) Edit: Another theory is that perhaps they are marking up these names a lot so they are no longer appealing. But I haven't tested that.

What I have so far are just theories as above. And the situation isn't helping.

What is your experience in this matter?

Edit #2: Might be a coincidence or not, but ever since Dan upped their min price to $100 I've also sold none. (might be just a timing coincidence though...)

I also used to get a lot of $100 offers via Dan for xxx price ranged .COMs. Again in months or perhaps an year I haven't seen about any of that anymore. And I'm pretty sure my names aren't getting any worse; but the contrary.

Yet another baffling thing that happens. I'd expect a price hike to kill xx sales but not $100 offers. I used to have a flood of those.

Edit #3: Another curious thing, I used to sell a ton of .CO and .COMs for $199. Now this price seems a deserted place to be in. This year, they really don't sell anymore at this price level.

Having a low make offer like $100 also doesn't help - at all. It almost seems like price have increased overall and a $199 price now indicates a low quality name to the buyer. So I might up everything to $299 min next; perhaps then they might start selling, as per my recent experience.

Everyone just hits the bin and has to be at least $299 or more. What on earth is going on here.

 

[garptrader]

Many of the domains I sold in 2010-2012 for low $xxx I would not even bother renewing today. When there were a limited number of extensions, investors and end users were more willing to pay low $xxx for a mediocre domain. Even though many end users and newbies often choose poor keyword combinations, there are so many extensions now there is no longer a need to pay a premium price for a domain. And of course as an industry we are still plagued by the fact that many businesses place little value on domain selection. It is a mere afterthought - comparable to selecting the garbage can for the break room.

 

[twiki]

Many of the domains I sold in 2010-2012 for low $xxx I would not even bother renewing today. When there were a limited number of extensions, investors and end users were more willing to pay low $xxx for a mediocre domain. Even though many end users and newbies often choose poor keyword combinations, there are so many extensions now there is no longer a need to pay a premium price for a domain. And of course as an industry we are still plagued by the fact that many businesses place little value on domain selection. It is a mere afterthought - comparable to selecting the garbage can for the break room.

That makes sense but is not what I am discussing here. This is a sudden shift of some kind. Must be pandemic related somehow I think, due to timing. It's not domain quality effect, nor people flocking to ngTLDs.

Edit: might be due to quality increase? That would be an interesting angle. Domains I have now now sell easily for 4-fig but perhaps no longer on the taste of less domain educated end-users. Hmm.

Still there is something brewing in that price zone too.