Push to Auction, or not?

[Name Trader]

I don't know. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. I've pushed about 5 domains to auction at Sedo over the last year. Not once has the original buyer paid for the domain when they won the auction with no other bids.

What are other peoples experiences and advice?

 

[SlimPickins]

I don't think that YOU are doing anything wrong.... but they sure are. In my opinion either they would 1) most likely have NOT seen the deal through/paid even if you had just accepted their offer and not gone the auction route or 2) just another domain investor that "thought" they were making an offer that would allow for some ROI if they got it but the auction and no other bids gave them cold feet (doesn't remove their responsibility to see their offer through) or 3) a LONG shot but they could theoretically only be doing it HOPING that you send to auction, someone else wins, and then they can contact the winner with their OWN similar domain for sale.... dunno, a long shot but seems like a way to find possible buyers of similar domains and a built in "appraisal" too. Of course it sucks either way to have sales not go through but at least you also had the chance to run an auction at a reserve you were ok with and , despite the poor result, had exposure for your domains. I myself have only had that happen once, and sedo gave me the persons details. I did some research and found out that the guy had in that time frame lost his job and moved etc, so fits him not paying up.... but in my situation I wound up selling the domain for more about a year later anyways so all worked out in the end.

Hope you have better luck next time!

 

[GravityEleven]

no surprise.. most probably were domain investors, and after seeing nobody else bid on these domains got the impression that the domain was not really worth that much as initially thought and offered (value feedback whether "correct" or not).. thats's the risk with pushing to auction if you are not sure to get other bids and why i don't do that..

 

[iAchilles]

I've had terrible results on GD and Sedo pushing to auction. Never again.

 

[Cdomains]

no surprise.. most probably were domain investors, and after seeing nobody else bid on these domains got the impression that the domain was not really worth that much as initially thought and offered

Agree!

 

[Name Trader]

My thought process when pushing to auction has been, well the offer was reasonable, but felt the domain was worth more, and pushed to auction in the hope that others would see the same. The last one, which prompted the initial post, I felt was maybe worth up to 3 times more than the original offer. Often when I push to auction, the original bidder has sent me a message that they would not go any higher. Not always, but often. Well. My thinking has been that even with other bids, the original bidder doesn't need to bid higher if they don't want to, and they could still buy the domain at their last price if no other bidders after only 1 week. Win, win. I hadn't really though about @GravityEleven's scenario, which makes sense also.

I would add that Sedo is my least successful sales platform each year. And the only place I've tried a push to auction.

So are the any success stories out there for pushing to auction.

 

[johname]

I never get why people push to auctions. It only has a chance of working if the offer is below reseller (and an appealing domain to domainers). I mean its not like there endusers waiting to hop on these auctions.

Now I have heard of domain owners emailing endusers and alerting them to the auction. I get that! But not just push and hope.

I just creates a situation where everyone is upset. The buyer upset to have to go through it, worrys about getting shilled, getting the feeling the name not worth it because no bidders. The sellers upset because the bid wasnt increased or the domain not paid for because the process changed the buyer's mind.

Absent working auction links to endusers, Just negotiate a price and sell..

 

[alcy]

i hope those who never pay when pushed, do not get to do this again to others and are banned.

 

[SpareDomains]

Auctions only end well if you have 2+ interested parties on the line. The odds of a domain being on auction at Sedo and end user #2 finding it before a limited time auction ends not hopeful as mostly domainer views. Only way I can see Sedo auction ending well is if was a "domainer" type domain or if you hit google and email all the top end users with the auction link and cross your fingers that someone else joins the fun.

Personally I don't do this as not a fan of anonymous leads/anonymous auctions but if I had a Sedo auction going I would probably contact the top end users with the link as the sale is going down regardless and the auction link would create a sense of urgency for them to bid if interested.

Only downside could be if they respond slow and then buy it from whoever you sold it to for 10x what they paid you for it.

 

[Name Trader]

as the sale is going down regardless

I don't think this is true for my auctions (for reasons others have explained). But the sales definitely went DDOOWWNN (as in bust).

 

[brindle123]

I've lost sales pushing to auction. If I was a buyer and put an offer on a domain and the seller pushed it into an auction, I would be mad too, but I would at least honor my original offer if no one else bid on the domain.

They should lose their accounts and be banned for backing out. I try to set prices at the low that I think the domain is worth. I don't get the offers like I used to, but I don't have to worry about selling to low or having to lose a sale for pushing to auction.

I have had some wins pushing to auction but have had more buyers back out than wins.

 

[SpareDomains]

I don't think this is true for my auctions (for reasons others have explained). But the sales definitely went DDOOWWNN (as in bust).

Good luck for the future then.

Another angle you could try is using their auction as leverage for people to avoid it by mentioning "Public" in the comments. Something like...

Buy It Now Price $5000
Public Auction Price $4000

try to scare them away from having other eyeballs on the domain.

So I'd use the auction if I knew I had 2 interested parties or if my reserve price was already met but I'd never use it with the expectations to bring a domain up to my desired reserve price as that's a coin toss.

 

[Name Trader]

So I'd use the auction if I knew I had 2 interested parties or if my reserve price was already met but I'd never use it with the expectations to bring a domain up to my desired reserve price as that's a coin toss.

That's a little bit like what I've been doing. And I think it was a mistake. In hindsight. The next time I get a "This is my final offer" on Sedo, I'll more than likely reject it if I'm not 100% satisfied with the price. KISS

 

[AEProgram]

It can also have to do with the fact that many times when someone reaches out to buy a domain they have an idea that moment. As time goes on they share their exciting idea with friends and family or they simply had a good nights sleep, and they are over the idea.

 

[deflee79]

The KISS method. I'm a firm believer!

 

[Name Trader]

It can also have to do with the fact that many times when someone reaches out to buy a domain they have an idea that moment. As time goes on they share their exciting idea with friends and family or they simply had a good nights sleep, and they are over the idea.

Yeah. That happens too.

 

[drsheraz]

Just wanted to know that do you still have to pay for regular auction fee in push to auction or is it free?

 

[Name Trader]

The push is free. And you pay no different a commission percentage, than you would if you had accepted their offer. At least at Sedo.

 

[Asfas1000]

Buyers get mad. Makes sense. I lost one sedo sale like this.