opinion Let’s not bid against each other, and later we’ll divvy up the profits

[offthehandle]

That is what I read today here on this forum. Confirmed at this website below. This is crazy. However, it's nothing new to me, and I know it occurs among groups of domainers. I have seen this occur for 27 years in various auction venues, sealed bids, etc. This domain industry has a problem- see Rick Schwartz' comments below he posted today on twitter.

https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2010/05/14/what-is-collusion-at-an-auction/

So if you list your names for sale on an outside platform, be aware of the bots, api's, the team bidding, the shill bidders, etc. Set a reserve.

"If two bidders actually say, aloud, “Let’s not bid against each other, and later we’ll divvy up the profits …” then an auctioneer may be able to bar those two bidders from participating in the auction, and take other action against them. However, it is rarely so blatant, or easy to prove."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction

"Whenever bidders at an auction are aware of the identity of the other bidders there is a risk that they will form a "ring" or "pool" and thus manipulate the auction result, a practice known as collusion. By agreeing to bid only against outsiders, never against members of the "ring", competition becomes weaker, which may dramatically affect the final price level."

 

[wwwweb]

I agree people are overpaying way to high in auctions, a single newbie chasing a hoop dream often makes a mess of the whole system. Some end users won't pay nearly what domainers are overpaying in auctions.

You make a great discussion point, but only takes 1 person to go off track, and bring the whole house down.

I almost think a domain fund of smart people who know what they are doing would yield great returns, and take out a lot of outbids.

 

[offthehandle]

I agree people are overpaying way to high in auctions, a single newbie chasing a hoop dream often makes a mess of the whole system. Some end users won't pay nearly what domainers are overpaying in auctions.

You make a great discussion point, but only takes 1 person to go off track, and bring the whole house down.

I almost think a domain fund of smart people who know what they are doing would yield great returns, and take out a lot of outbids.

Thats funny. I was quoting the website verbatim as a sarcastic joke, that wasn’t my idea at all to form a group. Complete opposite. Why are there insiders partnerships and groups? To not beat each other up... It is the corruption and underhanded B.S. Rick started tweeting today. I moved this to it’s own thread as I was being slammed and accused of accusing about questioning the “Partnership” concept, (you must have seen the thread) which reduces competition from the sellers perspective, not the buyers. The underbelly exists in all industries, I have seen so much in my years... I am being critical of that.

However, a mutual fund is interesting idea. Sure there is a lot of hot air from certain people about end user prices and values. Then new people watch the entertaining videos and hype and believe all these bits and pieces of rare sales and bid too much. Names are being quoted like you pointed out $10 million down to $750k, its so much bullshit.

I keep ranting about a combined domainer secondary marketplace that end users would find, to compete with the large entities. Say 100 domainers with max 25 names each, with SEO or paid Adwords to rank first page.