Sedo Auction online

[HcDomains]

Just find that Sedo Auction is online already.

Looks sellers get some very good bid.

You Domain must got an offer before list for Bidding. Sad that I don't have any name has offer at this moment

 

[cache]

the auction is interesting. Now I have to make sure that I get an offer first.

 

[ezimedia]

HI

I think sedo should allow certified sedo account holders to place domains up for auction for a listing fee... and then a % of the final sales price if this was possible I would list a lot of my domains on the sedo auction.

Instead of puting them on ebay.

I still think the lowest a domain should be sold on sedo auction for it $60 and let sedo take 10% of the 60$ if it sells.

That would be cool..

How about it sedo...

Thanks
Tom Dahne

 

[TheBaldOne]

Ezimedia,

One problem that Sedo has (or rather we domainers have) is that Sedo charges a flat $150 fee for most ccTLD's, this means the lowest bid that they allow is $160. Oh and by the way, the fee is not based on the amount of work involved, its just their way to make more!

 

[NP41215]

My other two domains, both adult .St prime domains I had turned down several offers for, all in $x,xxx, but none would go to auction format! I lowered the minimum offer and wham-bam both got offers on Sedo! Now one has been bid up from £350 to £500 (about$950) and the other has a single bid of £350 (about $633), nail biting time now as only 4 and 5 days to go respectively.

Did you notify the parties who offered you $x,xxx amounts that the domains they want are now on auction? You should, unless for some reason you cannot reach them. They probably would appreciate the opportunity to bid.

 

[equity78]

Good sale Info, I think that is the way most will go people will wait til the end of the auction I know on EBay I never bid until the last 5 minutes. The auctions are cool but very biased toward seller why would anyone ever accept an offer on SEDO they get a price they like put it to auction guaranteed to get the price they like at a minimum and a chance to get more. Now I have read on other forums people saying if they make an offer and seller puts to auction they will not pay if they win, SEDO should ban those people right away.

 

[cache]

I see your domain have only 1 bid, I think it is still a good price.

Just got offers myself on retirementplan.info and retirementplans.info. I made counter offers, but buyer made only slight increases in their offer. I decided to let the market decide if their prices are fair, which I guess is the purpose of the auction. We'll soon see what happens. If there are no other bidders, they original offeror gets a bargain. If other bidders appear, then the market decides what's a fair price.

As a seller, I think this may actually get sedo sale prices up in line with snapnames and pool auctions on drop catches. I like the idea.

 

[TheBaldOne]

Yes NP41215, all have been notified, one has said he will definately not join an auction (ah well) but others are watching and the general feeling is they 'will wait and see'!

But this is what an auction is about, risk for the seller (does he achieve the price s/he really hopes for) and risk for the buyer (s/he has to pay the going rate dictated by the market which could be higher than he might otherwise been able to buy at - but still within the budget set by the buyer).

Now my nails have grown back a little the next few days will be hell, definately not a time to try and stop smoking I think!

 

[TheBaldOne]

Equity78, I really hope you are right, I really, really hope you are right!
(At the moment it would seem I have the cheapest prime adult domains in the history of the net on the Sedo auction! )

The difference between the Sedo auctions and the eBay auctions is that if an offer is made in the last 5 minutes of the auction on Sedo the auction is extended by 10 minutes. If in this 10 minutes another bid is made then the auction is extended again, and so-on and so-on.

This time extension should stop the 'sniping' that happens on some auctions on eBay (mind you it can be fun as the buyer seeing your sale price doubleor treble in the last 5 seconds :D ).

 

[Carlton]

To clarify, if you send your domain to Sedo auction based on an offer, then you are obligated to sell that domain, correct?

It says the initial offers acts as a "reserve price", so theoretically you must sell the domain since the reserve has been met?

 

[Damion]

That is correct Carlton and that's what makes the current auction set up flawed.

Because if you want your domains to arrive in the auction a very low reserve will be mandatory. If there is not enough interest from other potential buyers then you are basically put in a position for underselling your domain.

Since if nobody else is bidding you would have to let it go at a much lower price you had in mind.

 

[TheBaldOne]

Well my first domain sold on the auction less than an hour ago.

Zen.St sold for $350. Unfortunately only the single bid.

I am happy with the price (though unhappy with the inflated Sedo costs just because it is a ccTLD).

Now 2 days to go for the next one, S*x.St, at the moment 15 bids on it and one of the most viewed auction listings. We will have to wait and see how things proceed, I will update as soon as the auction is over, will it reach the estimated $10k plus or sink like a discarded jem discharged in a fit of anger into muddy waters.

Let's give the auction a chance, I think many domains are selling that would otherwise still be on the shelf.

Anyway back to the nail-biting for me!

 

[AdoptableDomains]

That is correct Carlton and that's what makes the current auction set up flawed.

Because if you want your domains to arrive in the auction a very low reserve will be mandatory. If there is not enough interest from other potential buyers then you are basically put in a position for underselling your domain.

Since if nobody else is bidding you would have to let it go at a much lower price you had in mind.

If the bid is below what you would set as a reserve, the would be no reason to send it to auction. Just keep negotiating. I had one case where the first bid was too low, below what I would accept. I negotiated until they came up to what I considered a minimum I would accept. Then since it still wasn't what I really wanted, turned it into an auction. I may ge more if another buyer sees it. If not, I at least still get the sale at my minimum (reserve). If an offer doesn't come up to my reserve, I'll just stop the negotiations.

One advantage of the auction is that ifyou negotiate too hard, you may loose a buyer altogether. If you get to a reasonable price, you can send it to auction to let the market decide if it's worth more.

Just sent another one to auction yesterday, 619.biz @ $120 bid. First offer was $100, I then asked $225 and was offered $120. Rather than risk losing the sale with more negotiation, I sent to auction. I think it's worth more, because 619 is the area code for San Diego. I guess we'll see in a few days.

 

[TheBaldOne]

Adoptable Domains, Your point is well taken, I have listed 3 'prime' ccTLD domains, all are failing to get even what my 'minimum offer' was before I lowered the minimum. Obviously this is solely my misjudgement and somebodyelse's good fortune.

I would seriously advise people not to do as I did and lower the 'minimum offer' in the belief that the auction will take-off. The damdest thing is that I turned down offers far way in excess to what the current bids are! Ah well I will give a blow-by-blow account when the auction for Sex.St is over. Unfortunately it looks as if it will now be from my work desk and not from the bar!

This is one mistake I would not want other domainers to make.

 

[Damion]

The thing is Mark, with your strategy you have to set your domains to "Make Offer" to follow the steps you described.
If you want your domain into auction you have to make it attractive to bid on.

We all know that domains listed with "Make Offer" get's lesser interest then domains with minimum asking prices or fixed prices.

Thus still making it difficult to even get the domain into auction.

The majority of my domains have prices attached to increase my chances to attract buyers. Sedo even recommends this which i agree with since it does help in my view as well to increase chances finding a buyer.

But now if i want to increase my chances to get my domain into auction i need to make the pricing even lower.
Thus risking underselling my domain.

Make Offer listings is something i want to avoid but now i am forced actually with this set up if i would like to increase my chances to make use of the auction feature under terms that are in my favor and not against me.

The whole set up could be much better if the minimum asking price is not at the same time the reserve making it a potential fixed price.

The feature to be able to set minimum asking prices is to attract serious buyers and give a point of reference to start negotiations, this negotiation could continue further in a possible auction by letting the buyer raise his bids to reach the reserve and at the same time creating an oportunity to attract other potential buyers and increase chances to raise the overall end sale.

The seller always had control but with current auction set up control is being undermined in favor of the buyer...if you want to increase your chances getting your domain into auction.

2cents

 

[Domain123]

My visa.pro is list for auction at sedo now and only about 2 hours left. Sit at low price. (Regged in early 2005--more than one year old)
http://www.sedo.com/auction/auction_detail.php?language=e&auction_id=705&tracked=&partnerid=

Last chance to own it for low price.

Thanks for looking!

Bill

 

[equity78]

Damion I think you make some good points and I agree with not wanting to be a make an offer and set a price. But you are the first one I have heard think SEDO auctions is in favor of the buyer. Everyone I have spoken too thinks it is way in favor of the seller and have said one of three things: 1) They will never bid on SEDO 2) They will lowball only or 3) They will not pay if they offer and the seller sends to auction. Personally I don't know why anyone would accept an offer on SEDO even if you like the price. According to SEDO the first bidder or offer is bound to pay and you have a chance to get more in the auction.

 

[VURG]

Problems Relating to Sedo Auctions

These are the big issues that I see with the current set up for auctions.

Confidentiality of Offers
Many potential buyers for a domain don't want their sale price for their domain name to be made public. Auctions are public and Sedo has given the bseller the choice to make an offer public buy sending a domain to an auction. If Sedo does not give the buyer an option to have a confidential bid (a bid that will not result in an auction) the buyers who want to keep their offers confidential will not bid for domains on Sedo. These customers represent a significant percentage of the higher paying customers for Sedo and will start looking for alternative marketplaces to make confidential bids. Sellers will also have to start listing their domains to appeal to these buyers.

A Domain With A Good Offer isn't Premium?
Currently Sedo gives domains that they consider premium to have the option of listing the domain for auction with a reserve price. The only way that your domain is considered premium is for Sedo to look at your domain and assess it as being premium. However, if your domain name receives an offer of $400 and you refuse to sell the name for less than $2000 you don't have the option to list your domain for auction with a reserve unless you first get Sedo to agree that your domain is Premium. It's my opinion that there should be a monetary value as an offer that you receive that is enough evidence that your domain is immediately considered premium. Once you receive this minimum value, you should have the option to list the domain for auction with a reserve price.

No Auctions For A Fee?
Some people just want to sell their domain names quickly. They don't have time to wait for a serious bidder to start an auction and they don't have any evidence that they have a premium domain. They don't have an option to list their domains on Sedo immediately. Obviously, if there was the option to list their names for free without restrictions then you would get a flood of bad names filling up the auction making it more difficult paying bidders to find the names they like. Maybe it is worth considering for a listing fee for people willing to pay for the exposure of having their names on the auction that don't pass Sedo's premium status.

Overall, I think Sedo is doing a good job with their auctions. Where else do you get over 30 auctions finishing in the next 7 days with current bids over $1000? It's still early days now and I think that there is a good chance that they will learn how to improve their services to cater better for buyers and sellers.

 

[TheBaldOne]

Less than 12 hours to go on the Sedo auction and all hope fading!

Gave up biting my nails, chewed the desk top (yuck, must change the furniture polish, the one we've been using tastes awlful), now my laptop is literally my lap top!

Sex.St has now crept slowly up to £650 ($1,240), and I do mean slowly! Over 800 views of the sale and this is all there is! What happened, everyone was so cofident of a low-mid $xx,xxx sale, but it's not there.

Seriously though, this is a ridiculously low price for this domain, it just goes to show that you should never lower the 'minimum offer' as I did in this case, it really doesn't pay to do so.

This has proved to be a very expensive mistake for me, please learn from it so that you do not suffer the same fate. Remember there is only one of every domain name and if you under price it people will only bid low.

To the current bidder, who seems he will get it now, my congratulations, you have done nothing wrong, nothing personal is meant by my statements, you have got a bargain.

 

[Damion]

Damion I think you make some good points and I agree with not wanting to be a make an offer and set a price. But you are the first one I have heard think SEDO auctions is in favor of the buyer. Everyone I have spoken too thinks it is way in favor of the seller and have said one of three things: 1) They will never bid on SEDO 2) They will lowball only or 3) They will not pay if they offer and the seller sends to auction. Personally I don't know why anyone would accept an offer on SEDO even if you like the price. According to SEDO the first bidder or offer is bound to pay and you have a chance to get more in the auction.

Hi Equity,

In regards with the points you mentioned i agree with point number 3 since this is a relevant point in the interaction between seller and buyer.
It is imaginable that it can be frustating for buyers to see a domain being pushed into auction when they expect a negotiation process between buyer and seller.

It's kind of unfair which i also mentioned earlier on or perhaps in another thread.

Conditions need to be clear when a potential buyer is interested in ones domain and not being taken advantage of by the current implementation.
With that being said the possibility of the buyer being in the advantage is also a strong possibility if the seller wishes to increase the chances of getting a domain into auction.

So unless the seller is not interested in increasing chances to get a domain into auction the seller has a bigger advantage i agree, but who wants to decrease their chances of getting a domain into auction?.....

Therefor i say the buyer is being favored over the seller and the seller is being undermined because of this current auction implementation.
That is if there is not enough interest for a domain in that time frame when a domain is being pushed into auction...

What Sedo needs is a total seperate platform for various auction implentations in regards with the type of domains to be auctioned.

In regards with point number 1 and 2 i don't think these are relevant points in my opinion because if

A. They will never bid on Sedo

Then there isn't a interaction between buyer and seller to begin with making the argument pointless and baseless.

B. They will lowball only

I don't see how this is of any relevance in advantage or disadvantage for the Buyer or the Seller since if the domain is listed with a Make Offer notice any offer will result in a domain being potentially pushed into auction.

The fact that does matter is that:

It is imaginable that it can be frustating for buyers to see a domain being pushed into auction when they expect a negotiation process between buyer and seller.

Plus i don't see Lowballing as a problem personally if one has a domain listed with a Make Offer notice.
A seller don't want to make a over enthusiastic bid right from the get go but want to get a feel of the sellers expectations.

Personally i feel that sellers that receive $60 offers when their domain is listed with a Make Offer notice should not be complaining about being lowballed but take each lowball bid as a starting point for negotiations.

Make a counter offer and then one can partly determine if a bidder is a true low baller or not.

So IF i would list my domain with a Make Offer notice i wouldn't mind receiving lowball offers since this is only logical.

If my domain is listed with a Minimum bid then there isn't even a possibility to be lowballed since your minimum asking price is being met proving a serious buyer is on the other end.

So lowballing isn't really an issue here.

Buyers can lowball only if a domain is listed with a domain that is listed with Make Offer. Which is only understandable!
If you don't want to be lowballed then don't list your domain with Make Offer.

Some people fail to understand that it is a starting point and instead treat a lowball offer as a ending point of negotiations.

So point A and B has no relevance for the Auction implementation nor the regular marketplace in my opinion.


Sedo has missed the nail on the head big time with when it comes to the the auction hammer they are currently swinging with.

 

[estibot.com]

Damion I think you make some good points and I agree with not wanting to be a make an offer and set a price. But you are the first one I have heard think SEDO auctions is in favor of the buyer.

Many posters have made good points here. I feel that the auction can favor the buyer if the buyer is smart. Domainers are often keen on closing a deal, and the buyer just has to make a low-ball offer and say "this is my final offer", and then it's tough times for the seller, if he hasn't received any offers in a long time-- he is facing at worst another year without an offer for the name-- so he'll be extremely tempted to start an auction with the low-ball price, hoping that the extra exposure will bring in bigger offers...

By the way, I made my first-ever name sale today, at SEDO auctions, nudance *com went for $300. No additional bids in the auction. Still, a sale!