Moniker GeoDomain Live Auction

[airwav]

Anyone know what time this starts?

Here is the link:
http://marketplacepro.moniker.com/auction/detail.html?auction_id=182

To all that have names in the auction, good luck! %%-

 

[abcproductions]

i would like to hear from those who have posted in this thread (airwav, namegame, creature, creekway, domainer50, paxton, canbrit, fka200, jaugustino, npcomplete, nullmind and thebaldone) as well as anyone else involved in these auction events. How do you feel about this?

 

[Carlton]

... they have, in my opinion, a bunch of lower quality GEO names (indianapoliscommunities.com, vancouverpodiatrist.com, knoxvillehospice.com, birminghamgolflessons.com, torontoautomobiles.com, newhampshiredermatology.com, etc.) yet they have hundreds that made the cut.

abc - Some of those are decent geo-targeted names. Sellers/buyers (Moniker staff included) have their own unique viewpoint on which domains are valuable/marketable.

Obviously, we all have a right to our opinion, though I don't know that Moniker owe any of us an explanation on their auction selection process. It is their auction and they incur the cost of running it ... so if they choose to include more domains from one particular customer I'll accept that.

I will agree that some names seem to have high reserves, but again that's between Moniker and the seller, not me. I've found them pretty reasonable to work with on setting reserves.

 

[gramma]

I 'thought' the submission deadline was Sept 17 am I wrong? - if this person/company didn't register until Sept 20 - then ......

 

[italiandragon]

I don`t like what I`m seeing.

 

[wot]

abc - Some of those are decent geo-targeted names. Sellers/buyers (Moniker staff included) have their own unique viewpoint on which domains are valuable/marketable.

Obviously, we all have a right to our opinion, though I don't know that Moniker owe any of us an explanation on their auction selection process. It is their auction and they incur the cost of running it ... so if they choose to include more domains from one particular customer I'll accept that.

I will agree that some names seem to have high reserves, but again that's between Moniker and the seller, not me. I've found them pretty reasonable to work with on setting reserves.

I disagree, I do think they should be more transparent in their selection process. A few hundred very recently Moniker regged names against those that did not get in - hmmm!

My own opinion , but I had much better names that did not make it. :hi:

Anyway, Moniker have two choices , respond or not - no obligation either way- se la vie!

 

[domainsource]

Hello,

I have to say this on monikers behalf " AND no i do not work for them "
A: everyone has the same option to submit thier domains to any auction moniker provides
B: Before Every Auction Moniker Specifically States We work on behalf of the Seller
C: Moniker was working on that sellers behalf no matter how many domains where submitted.
E: Geo domains are seperated by a certian class how many domainers actually buy them?
F: I submitted around 20 domains out of 8000 becuase that is all that I had. 12 domains where chosen to be in the auction One made Live. the rest are in silent auction.

I really think that moniker has alway done a great job at any event they have ever run regardless of how many and what domains are submitted. The main point is thay know who the power buyers are. And they always bring them to the events. I will continue to use moniker as a source to sell some of my domains.

Make it a Great Day...

 

[Rochemontagne]

Well, let's see if Moniker gives us an explanation that makes sense. Personally I smell a skunk...but I do live in the backwoods!! :hehe:

 

[Kenny]

Gilbert and Partners Ventures, LLC. First Name: nathan. Last Name: gilbert.

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt...+and+Partners+Ventures"&fr=yfp-t-501&ei=UTF-8

 

[creekway]

Moniker only makes money if names sell so they obviously feel that these names have a good chance of selling given their reserves. I have not seen all of the names that they are listing, but some of the ones that were pointed out in this thread are not bad. KnoxvilleHospice.com - Knoxville is a large city and hospice care is expensive and growing as an industry. One lead from that site could give a hospice company a customer that is worth thousands to them. It is a highly targeted niche name that is currently undervalued by the reseller market. If you feel that you have better geo targeted domains that were not included, is it because your reserve was too high? Let us see some examples of what you submitted and what your reserve was.

If you think someone from Moniker said "register your names with us and we will put them in the auction" that would not make sense because they make very little from the registration process and could make more from the sale of just one name in the auction (not to mention they would never risk their reputation like that). Also, they are probably flying home now so I would not expect an immediate response.

I do not work for moniker, I have no idea who gilbert partners are, and I was at the geodomain conference but left before the live auction.

 

[Rochemontagne]

OK Creekway...what per cent of the listed domains at this auction do you think will sell?

 

[dmblea]

i noticed that hundreds of names in the silent auction were registered less than two months ago by someone named Gilbert and Partners Ventures through Moniker. i hope this registrant isn't getting any special consideration. they have, in my opinion, a bunch of lower quality GEO names (indianapoliscommunities.com, vancouverpodiatrist.com, knoxvillehospice.com, birminghamgolflessons.com, torontoautomobiles.com, newhampshiredermatology.com, etc.) yet they have hundreds that made the cut. does any know of Gilbert and Partners Ventures or if the owner is a NP member?

VancouverPodiatrist.com is anything but a lower quality geo name. Metro Vancouver has a population of 2 million people, which equates to 4 million feet. It describes exactly what someone would be looking for if that person had a bunion or plantars wart and lived in this neck of the woods. Who cares when Gilbert and Partners registered the name???

 

[creekway]

OK Creekway...what per cent of the listed domains at this auction do you think will sell?

That is a question with many variables and is impossible to predict. There are some great names in the auction and some not so great ones that will likely get no bids. That being said, there are some accusations in this thread that I do not feel are warranted, and as I said, if anyone feels that their names were unfairly excluded from the auction, please post them and your reserves so we can see what you are referring to.

 

[namegame]

i would like to hear from those who have posted in this thread (airwav, namegame, creature, creekway, domainer50, paxton, canbrit, fka200, jaugustino, npcomplete, nullmind and thebaldone) as well as anyone else involved in these auction events. How do you feel about this?

My only conerns would be that:
1. If Moniker had the names in their own inventory and went to the buyer and said "If you buy all these names we'll put them in the auction". That would be a slap-in-the-face to all of us who went through the searching and registration process and then had to sit on the names for quite awhile before getting the opportunity to sell them in an auction.
2. It might have shut out having better names with reasonable minimums being selected.
3. Having all those extra names muddies the water for other names to stand out in the silent auction. Having almost half the number of names in the Macau auction seems much more manageable and productive to me.

However, if #1 isn't what happened then #'s 2 and 3 are just business. Even though we all may have names not chosen for the auction that we thought were better than some of those that were, Moniker wants names that will sell so I have to presume they are acting in their own best interests first and usually know what they're doing.

A problem I do see is that sometimes the name selection committee doesn't understand the value of names that refer to terms they may not recognize as being very saleable just because it isn't familiar with them and how they apply to the subject matter being auctioned.

 

[abcproductions]

we can argue all day about whether some of the names are high-quality or low-quality but that is not the main issue. the main issue is someone submitting 500 - 800 -1000 names (i don't know the exact number because there are too many listings to go through) that were just registered and most all of them getting accepted. how many of you believe you could have submitted this same huge list, even with no reserves, and still had all of them accepted?

several NPers submit to these auctions and i have never read any post where some says i have 900 names that got in. i understand that most people don't submit 1000 names to each auction but for those of us who do submit a lot of names (with reasonably low reserves), we know that getting 90% of our names accepted is unrealistic.

i don't think that Moniker said "if you register hundreds of names with us we'll get them in the auction" but there is something not right here. there is some relationship here. it is unbelievable that someone simply took a chance by registering hundreds of Geo domains late in September with the hopes of getting them included in the Geo auction...and then luckily all of them get included. this registrant is the either the most brilliant domainer out there or has some relationship with Moniker.

i have not had any negative experiences with Moniker and enjoy these events but the fact is a very high percentage of this auction's inventory is coming from one registrant.

there are some accusations in this thread that I do not feel are warranted

and creekway, i am not making accusations, i am stating facts. there is a big difference. i have never said that more of my names should have made it in instead of this particular registrant who has hundreds of names in. i said that i think it is unfair and unusual that one person owns such a large percentage of the names included in this one event.

 

[Rochemontagne]

I agree with you ABC.

 

[npcomplete]

(flame guards up)

Let me defend Moniker, and then offer a complaint. There were some excellent posts above. I tend to agree with the posts that acknowledge that this is a free marketplace. That means it is also free for a business to run itself in the best way in can, subject to rules/laws. If they even want to market domains to street people that is their business. It may be a stupid business model, but the decision is theirs. The market they have chosen is high end domains, and they try to bring in high end buyers. Not end users, not street people, etc. As a business, if they make stupid decisions then the market will adjust to that.

I would personally have NO problem if they held an auction and 100% of the domains were held by one person. This even happens in some other high markets that may have auctions of a person's private collection of art, etc. As a business, they are trying to offer the best collection of names they can for auction. By "best" I mean the best for their business. Not a statistical sample of all names submitted from all individuals, but the names that will bring overall the greatest sales. If Sex.com came up for sale with a reserve of one billion dollars then it would be rejected, even though it is an excellent name in this business. If the target market (high end buyers) do not bid then they make no money. My guess is that the person with hundreds of names had low reserves that in the committee's opinion had a good chance of selling.

IMHO, most of the reserves were simply delusional. If most of the domains were delusional, then Moniker needs to try to find the least delusional among them, or just reject them. If there was a problem in the auction, I would tend to think it was a marketing problem, combined with market saturation (lots of auctions back-to-back).

Marketing is my main complaint. The CEO, Monte, showed up a couple days before the auction looking for bidders. First of all, it is nice to see the CEO in here, but I question whether it is the CEO's job to promote in the forums. I think it was a nice touch and good PR for Monte to show up. The question is: Why do the people that work for Monte not show up??? It would seem to me that part of the job description for sales reps is to sell.

Maybe I am old-school (I am old), but I think the market has an excellent track record of correcting errors in pricing and marketing.

Marc

 

[scandiman]

As a participant in the geodomain auction, the most troublesome aspect for me was what I call phantom bids. This was termed 'bidding on behalf of the seller' by the auctioneer and was disclosed before the start of the auction. Basically, imagine a domain has a reserve price of $500k, the auctioneer calls out I have $100k going $200k, looks to the right, nods and says $200k going $300k, looks left, nods and says $300k going $400k and so on. My numbers are arbitrary but the scenario played out often during the event. As I could tell, never was this done above the reserve or in response to an actual bid but was a way to drum up interest in the domains and try and get real bidders to engage. This was my 1st live domain auction, perhaps it is standard practice in other settings but I have never seen this practice at work in estate auctions I have attended.

The end result of this is that I have zero confidence in any quotation of a pass price from this auction since there is no official distinction between the real bids that didn't make reserve and those "seller bids" offered by the auctioneer. According to my eyes and the lack of the spotters audible calls, most of the pass prices at the geodomain auction were the phantom "seller bids".

It is good this was disclosed prior to the auction but I think in an effort to continue to elevate the credibility of this live auction venue, this practice should be done away with. To me it feels deceptive and casts a cloud that would be entirely unacceptable in another venue like Sedo, where the outrage would be severe if it was discovered that either Sedo or the seller were able to place bids to drive up the price just short of the reserve.

 

[abcproductions]

this is a free marketplace. That means it is also free for a business to run itself in the best way in can, subject to rules/laws. ... I would personally have NO problem if they held an auction and 100% of the domains were held by one person. ... My guess is that the person with hundreds of names had low reserves that in the committee's opinion had a good chance of selling. ... IMHO, most of the reserves were simply delusional.

i always appreciate your comments and perspective Marc. i agree that it is a free marketplace and it is Moniker's auction so they can certainly conduct it anyway they want. still, i don't believe if you or i would have registered these same names in September and immediately submitted them for auction consideration with no reserve that we would have had hundreds accepted in the auction. that is my issue with this.

termed 'bidding on behalf of the seller' by the auctioneer and was disclosed before the start of the auction. ... a way to drum up interest in the domains and try and get real bidders to engage.

i sure didn't know this was standard practice and think it should be done away with immediately.

 

[npcomplete]

...snip... the most troublesome aspect for me was what I call phantom bids. This was termed 'bidding on behalf of the seller' by the auctioneer and was disclosed before the start of the auction.
...snip...

For some reason I had a really hard time connecting at the start of the auction, so I missed this. (as mentioned before, Moniker needs to upgrade the uplink)

In most auctions this would be called "shilling". Yes, I realize that the shilling took place below reserves, but it is still shilling IMHO, and very tacky.

Marc

 

[Rochemontagne]

I totally agree that it's a free market and a business has the right to run its business the way it sees fit, but I also believe that a business will not survive if it begins to alienate its vendors (in this case, those who submit domain names to be considered for the auction) and/or its customers.

And Marc, you are right, it is shilling.