Sedo.com - Official Thread

[Sedo]

Hi All! :hi:

By request, we've decided to start a thread dedicated to Sedo. We're looking for invaluable insight into what domainers want and need out of our parking program (and marketplace, of course).

Questions, comments, suggestions, tips are welcome! We're hoping this will be a great discussion about what works at Sedo and what might not (please be constructive and respectful to others in your feedback) so that everyone involved can benefit and learn from it.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas! Happy Holidays!

Always,
Keith
(on behalf of Sedo)

 

[abcproductions]

hi Keith,
first, let me say thank you for starting this thread and welcome.
i have more than 1500 names parked with SedoPro and 150 each at two other parking companies. i earn substantially more at the other parking companies which i cannot understand. the names at the other companies are not hand-picked and receive no more traffic than my Sedo names (although the traffic is increasing at the other parking companies while my traffic is decreasing at Sedo). i think one of the reasons that my domains parked at Sedo are not doing as well is because the names seem to never get indexed in any search engines. it would be very beneficial if members could customize our page titles rather than have the simple domain name as the page title. this is a very easy option to provide but Sedo does not. i have let the SedoPro staff optimize my account but this has done very little, if anything, to increase my earnings. Also, without getting indexed in searches, the traffic is continuing to decrease. i have been patient for the past few months to give your platform and the optimization a chance to work but i am very unhappy with the results. my intention was to move away my domains after the beginning of the year if the earnings and traffic did not improve. please let me know what you recommend and what can be done about giving members the ability to customize page titles.

 

[Sleepys]

Keith,

A few questions to help me put this mess to rest:

1- What specific rights does a seller of a domain have to declare a Sedo auction void?

2- What specifically has Sedo done to avoid this nightmare in the future? This has cost people an extraordinary amount of time and money dealing with the aftermath of this botched auction and I think it is reasonable as your customers to be told specifically how you have rectified the problem with the servers and sending out erroneous automated winner notifications.

Thanks.

I will answer this to the best of my ability. If I am wrong please correct me, Sedo.

1) The seller does not have specific rights to declare an auction void. Once you agree to list it on auction, you are agreeing to specific terms beforehand, which include not being able to cancel an auction once it has begun and has a bid. If there is a serious error, it may be possible to relist the name, but the auction time cannot be extended, and I think that it would only be possible to cancel and relist something in he most extreme errors.
2) I don't know what they have planned in the future, but currently the only thing I know of that they do to punish people is to close your account down if you don't pay for a domain you won. I don't know about the .mobi auction. I have no specific insight into that situation, and can't give an answer for what they have planned. Also, please get more servers for the next auction.

My suggestions to Sedo, other than canceling people's accounts who don't pay, is to have either a more strict buyer approval process or require a deposit on large bids, or both. It is nice knowing that a non-payer will get banned from Sedo, but if they don't park much there, it is sort of an empty threat. If they do park a lot, than I am sure it won't be an issue with them

When does SedoPro pay? How Often?

SedoPro pays the same as regular Sedo. That is net 45, meaning you don't get paid until after 45 days. Normally Sedo sends you an email on either the 10th or 11th from [email protected]. The email is titled Sedo Domain Parking [Report December 2007] or whatever month. In this email they tell you your total earnings for the month, and the date you will be paid by. Mine always says "The total amount will be transferred to you via
direct deposit or wire transfer by the 15th of this month."
If you take another form of Payment, such as check, it takes a little bit longer.

 

[Varon]

Sleepys you are doing a great job answering questions. Very nice of you. Reps Added.

Edited: I cannot add any more reps as I had done it earlier in another thread. But you certainly are doing an excellent job together with Keith.

 

[Sleepys]

1. Parking: Let me know which domains you seem to be having a multiple-click issues with, and I would be happy to look into it for you and help you get to the bottom of it.
Always,
Keith

I think that you are misunderstanding his question here Keith. There is a long running argument that some parking companies are better than others, because some companies pay us for every click, whereas some companies are only supposed to pay us for the first click. I don't know how you guys calculate clicks, but it is said that you only give us the first click, and that is why we never see a CTR over 100%. With some companies we may get 1 unique visitor and 10 clicks, for a CTR of 1000%.

Let me give my take on CTR and if I am completely off base, someone please correct me. I have heard that Google, Yahoo, Ask, and whoever don't actually tell the parking companies how many clicks a domain got, but rather they just tell them how much money that domain made. It is then up to the parking company to tell us how many visitors and clicks we had. Is this true?? If it is true, then Sedo or Namedrive could pay us $.20 for 1 click from 1 visitor, with a CTR of 100%. Trafficz and Parked could pay us $.10 for 2 clicks from 1 visitor. They would have a CTR of 200% and an RPM that is twice as high. Now I am not saying that these parking companies intentionally would mislead us, but it could just be in the different ways that they track stats. I also do have some domains that get $.50-$1.00 per click at Sedo, but only like $.05 at other companies. These domains do usually get more clicks other places, but it takes a lot more clicks to make more money at that rate. Now before any of you think that I am in love with Sedo or anything, I do have many names that do much better at other companies, and I just moved a bunch away.

Here is something else to think about. We all know that Sedo shows the most traffic. This is obviously to their benefit, because domains with traffic that are for sale, seem to have more traffic, and probably sell for more. At the same time, this does decrease your RPM to a much lower level than other places. I do have domains that have gotten thousands of daily visitors at Sedo and less than 10 at Parked (Damn RSS traffc). Anyway, those domains make more at Sedo, 1000 visitors a day at $.50 RPM is $.50 a day. At Parked 10 visitors a day with an RPM of $8.00 is only $.08 a day. Even though the RPM is 16 times as high at Parked, I make 6 times as much at Sedo. I do have a low RPM at Sedo and yes as I said above I have many domains that outperform elsewhere. I am just giving some examples of what is performing for me there. Also, Sedo pays a minimum of $.02. I know that we don't like to think about it, but Namedrive and Trafficz sometimes pay me $0.00 or $0.01. Anything that consistently gets those clicks should do at least 2-4 times as well at Sedo if it stays at the minimum (Hopefully Sedo doesn't get pissed that I am driving low quality clicks to them :hehe: A click is a click, right?)

Anyway, if anyone has more insight into the multiple click thing, perhaps a rep from the companies, I would rather know the truth and be way off, than not know at all.

P.S. (to this long post) We should remember that Sedo is not open at night or on weekends, so we should probably not expect them to be on here during those times. They are not all robots like Donny :hehe:

 

[BizBot]

Welcome Keith,

I think it is great you are here to answer Sedo questions. There are a lot of Sedo users at this forum.

I do not park my names at Sedo anymore because others are paying more. But my experiences with Sedo have always been favorable.

When I did park my names at Sedo I sold a lot of domain names from your parking landing pages. The auction choice is a great way to get higher prices on some names and to know that you are getting a fair price.

I also had buyers use Sedo to broker sales and received very generous offers – (which were accepted).

The Sedo parking program is good for some people but for those trying to earn a monthly income from parking there are better paying options. The standards for Sedo Pro seem higher then a lot of people can qualify or I think more people would try it.

Thanks for being here!

 

[Sleepys]

Sleepys you are doing a great job answering questions. Very nice of you. Reps Added.

Edited: I cannot add any more reps as I had done it earlier in another thread. But you certainly are doing an excellent job together with Keith.

Wow, thanks for the Rep. Maybe soon I will have as many green bars as you. What do the little stars represent? I think that people on this message board (myself included) tend to not give rep points for good posts enough, but for easier more superficial things like a million appraisals (not that there is anything wrong with appraisals ) I am going to start repping more for posts I like.

I have never actually spoken with Keith, but have seen him posting on "the other board", since before I was domaining. I have spoken to Monica and I believe she is going to be helping here too. I know that they both do a great job, I just don't want them to get overwhelmed, especially at the beginning. The Parked thread is a huge success, there is at least as much to discuss with Sedo, if we can keep the thread reasonable.

 

[Mobi Cheap]

Wow, thanks for the Rep. Maybe soon I will have as many green bars as you. What do the little stars represent? I think that people on this message board (myself included) tend to not give rep points for good posts enough, but for easier more superficial things like a million appraisals (not that there is anything wrong with appraisals ) I am going to start repping more for posts I like.

I have never actually spoken with Keith, but have seen him posting on "the other board", since before I was domaining. I have spoken to Monica and I believe she is going to be helping here too. I know that they both do a great job, I just don't want them to get overwhelmed, especially at the beginning. The Parked thread is a huge success, there is at least as much to discuss with Sedo, if we can keep the thread reasonable.

Have some more rep Sleepys, you deserve it.

Stars correspond to length of membership at NP - each star equals one year.

And I fully agree regarding the need to focus on rep for good posts.

I have previously urged people to give rep for tremendously insightful posts by Varon and NetMeg for instance, both of whom still have a much lower number of green squares than they deserve.
:imho:

 

[Pound]

Hi All! :hi:

By request, we've decided to start a thread dedicated to Sedo. We're looking for invaluable insight into what domainers want and need out of our parking program (and marketplace, of course).

Questions, comments, suggestions, tips are welcome! We're hoping this will be a great discussion about what works at Sedo and what might not (please be constructive and respectful to others in your feedback) so that everyone involved can benefit and learn from it.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas! Happy Holidays!

Always,
Keith
(on behalf of Sedo)

It is common knowledge that Sedo has the poorest CPC in the industry; maybe an increase in revenue share to attract larger traffic portfolio holders? If I knew that the amount per click was not so low I would move my entire portfolio over due to the added bonus of having more views of the sales pages.

 

[Sleepys]

And I fully agree regarding the need to focus on rep for good posts.

I have previously urged people to give rep for tremendously insightful posts by Varon and NetMeg for instance, both of whom still have a much lower number of green squares than they deserve.
:imho:

I admit I have appreciated posts by them and not repped for whatever reason. I will start though.

It is common knowledge that Sedo has the poorest CPC in the industry; maybe an increase in revenue share to attract larger traffic portfolio holders?

I agree that regular Sedo does have some of the poorest CPC. Who knows what the revenue share is?? I do think that anyone that is serious about domaining will eventually make the cut for SedoPro, which I think is very competitive in the EPC department. Not for all of my names though, definately for a lot of my adult names.

 

[Varon]

Wow, thanks for the Rep. Maybe soon I will have as many green bars as you. What do the little stars represent? I think that people on this message board (myself included) tend to not give rep points for good posts enough, but for easier more superficial things like a million appraisals (not that there is anything wrong with appraisals ) I am going to start repping more for posts I like.

I have never actually spoken with Keith, but have seen him posting on "the other board", since before I was domaining. I have spoken to Monica and I believe she is going to be helping here too. I know that they both do a great job, I just don't want them to get overwhelmed, especially at the beginning. The Parked thread is a huge success, there is at least as much to discuss with Sedo, if we can keep the thread reasonable.

Ah... the green bars don't mean much... You will definitely be able to see more green bars soon. My 5 bars are 5 members whom I was able to help this year. They are doing well with their portfolios now. that is reward in itself.

Thanks for the kind words mobi. Appreciate it.

Keith...reps added for coming forward to answer questions on behalf of Sedo.

 

[netmeg]

Welcome to the forum -

I had consistent traffic/clicks with SEDO (albeit at a very low cpc), which was the first place I landed after trying GoDaddy. And I sold a domain at a tremendous profit the first month out. So I was pretty happy with SEDO. But I think where you kind of lack an edge is with the inability to set the page title and meta description, and you need some more (and more professional looking) lander pages. IMHO.

 

[scandiman]

Keith,

A few questions to help me put this mess to rest:

1- What specific rights does a seller of a domain have to declare a Sedo auction void?

2- What specifically has Sedo done to avoid this nightmare in the future? This has cost people an extraordinary amount of time and money dealing with the aftermath of this botched auction and I think it is reasonable as your customers to be told specifically how you have rectified the problem with the servers and sending out erroneous automated winner notifications.

Thanks.

I will answer this to the best of my ability. If I am wrong please correct me, Sedo.

1) The seller does not have specific rights to declare an auction void. Once you agree to list it on auction, you are agreeing to specific terms beforehand, which include not being able to cancel an auction once it has begun and has a bid. If there is a serious error, it may be possible to relist the name, but the auction time cannot be extended, and I think that it would only be possible to cancel and relist something in he most extreme errors.
2) I don't know what they have planned in the future, but currently the only thing I know of that they do to punish people is to close your account down if you don't pay for a domain you won. I don't know about the .mobi auction. I have no specific insight into that situation, and can't give an answer for what they have planned. Also, please get more servers for the next auction.

Sleepys, I'm specifically addressing the .mobi Premium auction, I'm not talking about deadbeat buyers. In the case of the bumbled .mobi auction, the Sedo release says that "...DotMobi has exercised its right to declare the auction results void and will conduct a new auction...". As a seller at Sedo myself, I want to understand the circumstances that I or anyone here can exercise this same right. Kieth, please don't duck the question, it is too important to everyone here.

 

[Sleepys]

Yeah, I don't really have an answer for that, exept that I had an error on one of my auctions, and when I asked for an extended period, they said that auctions can not be extended for a few days due to the nature of their auction system, but can only be cancelled and restarted (not nesessarily that I could). So, my guess is that if there is an extreme error that you can prove to them somehow greatly decreased your selling price, then the auction can be cancelled and restarted. The .mobi auction had extreme errors I guess and so, is not being withdrawn, but relisted.

I do hope that they handle the next one better.

 

[vbigdeli]

Keith,make a dedicated thread for SEDO Pro members

 

[Sedo]

Okay, here goes!

I'm not a lawyer, so there's not much more information I can give out about mTLD, the decision to re-run the auction, or other things closely related. I can say again, though, that this decision was not made lightly, and all possibilities were considered in making it. As far as I'm concerned, the decision is final and is not bound to change. If I can disclose any more information to any of you, I most certainly will. I hope you can understand the limitations of discussing this one.

Moving forward from that, Sedo has pinpointed the cause of the problem that occurred on the last day of the .MOBI auction. Our tech staff has been working non-stop to make all the necessary changes to our database and systems to ensure that this doesn't happen again. I don't work closely enough with our tech staff to know all the details, but I'm hoping to have some more information on that soon. We're confident, however, that future auctions should be more than fine. More information will be forthcoming once I get my hands on it.

@ arnie: I've spoken with a few people here, and there is a good chance that there will be a vote on what charity the money will go to. It's not certain, but it's been received as a great idea. Thanks for that!

re: revenue shares: Sedo pays out at least 50% of what is issued by the ad provider. In many cases, the percentage is more than that. It's on a case-by-case basis, but is always at least that 50%. If any of you have issues specific to a given domain, a specific payment, or anything else that doesn't seem to be a widespread phenomenon, feel free to write to us directly through our site.

re: double clicks: Checking on that now. I will get back with the info as soon as I have it.

LASTLY: Thanks especially to Sleepys for helping out, and to everyone else for the encouragement and the feedback. I'm really hoping that this will become a problem-solving thread above all else.

Take care!

Always,
Keith

PS -- Sorry if I miss anybody's questions. Feel free to PM too, as it's easier to keep track of the more pressing (time-sensitive) issues that way.

 

[Sleepys]

First, no problem on helping. I will do what I can and I am sure other more experienced members on here will be able to help too.

re: revenue shares: Sedo pays out at least 50% of what is issued by the ad provider. In many cases, the percentage is more than that. It's on a case-by-case basis, but is always at least that 50%. If any of you have issues specific to a given domain, a specific payment, or anything else that doesn't seem to be a widespread phenomenon, feel free to write to us directly through our site.

I had never heard an actual number quoted. Is the 50% minimum revenue share the minimum for regular Sedo, or SedoPro as well? It seemed like my revenue share more than doubled when I switched, even though I guess that is not possible. I assume that there is a different revenue share minimum for both Sedo and SedoPro?

Thanks

 

[Sedo]

Hi Sleepys,

The revenue share is across the board as being Sedo's starting point. However, SedoPro members get increases in revenue shares as well as other bonuses, based on the traffic to their domains and the quality of the names overall. The revenue share for a given SedoPro member is determined by the account manager and those specific amounts cannot be disclosed to the public.


Always,
Keith

 

[creature]

Keith. Would you consider changing auction bidder numbers to handles? It's nice to see who you're up against as on Snapnames.

 

[Sedo]

Hi creature,

There's been talk of how to make the auction platform on Sedo work better for all people involved. However, there's a bit of a conflict between fully protecting the indentities of our users (yes, even their usernames) and making the marketplace more immediate. For the time being, the auctions will stay as-is, but there may be changes on the way. I'll pass this feedback along.

The idea of setting up a rating system has been mentioned as well, but I haven't heard anything on that front for some time now.

Always,
Keith

 

[spinoza]

Thank you Mobi,
What bothers me, is that after closing the extended auction, Sedo gave mTLD the option to void the results. If Sedo felt the extended auction was not fair they should have canceled it right away.

Spinoza, I'm sure Keith will address the question I highlighted above as and when practicable, but in the meantime do feel free to have a look at this thread:

http://www.namepros.com/dot-mobi/403517-what-happened-on-sedo.html

It documents events in the critical hours of Dec 5 as domainers saw them.

This is the shortest thread that does that, and it's not mine - I have a much longer version if you need more detail.

Happy Holidays!