Should I start proactive auction on Sedo or Ebay?

[sky]

Let's say I have a domain name I am ready to promote big time,
and I think there is a big audience of interest, and I want to
start a bidding thing ASAP by sending out e-mail and contacting
a lot of parties...

Would it tend to be better to point them to an Ebay
auction, a sedo/afternic/moniker type auction, and why?

 

[gwkg]

I've been thinking about this and I think that Sedo is better for professional domainers.

I think it will be easier to get bids on eBay because there is a great chance that the people you are contacting will at least know someone with an eBay account to bid. Plus eBay is a well known brand, so even if they do have to sign up for an account, they will probably be more comfortable there.

Getting someone who isn't internet savy to signup for a Sedo account in order to bid will no doubt cost you a few bidders.

Mo' Bidders, Mo' Money!

 

[sky]

Thanks! Good point

But what about the anonymity?
Don't they find out who I am when they get to Pay Pal?

What if a lot of money is involved? I don't necessarily
want to reveal my real information.

Do you know of any way on Ebay to prevent that?

 

[sashas]

if a lot of money is involved, use escrow for payments on eBay. I know some domainers who sell their LLL.coms there and get a pretty decent price.

 

[sky]

if a lot of money is involved, use escrow for payments on eBay. I know some domainers who sell their LLL.coms there and get a pretty decent price.

Does this pertain to the question of anonymity?

 

[nikki o]

From what I have read I would use Sedo

 

[sky]

From what I have read I would use Sedo

After thinking about it, I decided to leave it with Sedo.
They know the business. They've brokered a lot of names.
I don't have to keep paying them money. I can leave the domain
'in one place' until I get bids high enough to react to. And the whole
thing is anymous by default.

If someone is going to pay n hundreds of $ for a domain, they're not
going to have a big problem making a Sedo account for brokerage
services and full two-way accountability. Maybe the rare person won't,
but in the long run, I feel it's the way to go, for me anyway.

 

[kemjika11]

ALso too, Ebay's traffic volume can't be underestimated.......

 

[sky]

ALso too, Ebay's traffic volume can't be underestimated.......

But by the same token it isn't optimized for domain names,
so how is one of my domain names going to stand out in a crowd?
Not that sedo or afternic solve that problem ideally, but it seems like it would be even harder to have my auction noticed by EBay, so what they do with the size of the viewing audience, one would think they'd lose through the less-than-ideal presentation format.

For an auction I am promoting, I'm not just sitting around waiting for it to get noticed anyway, so the fact that a lot of people use EBay doesn't seem to imply a fast sale, except on that rare lucky coincidence.

 

[mhdoc]

Another factor about Ebay not mentioned is the need to have been there a while with a significant positive feedback rating. I think it would be a mistake to try and sell a valuable domain there if you haven't been registered for a while and have at least 25 positive feedbacks.

For anyone thinking of selling there I would suggest registering at least six months before you want to start selling and start buying small items to build feedback.

 

[sky]

Another factor about Ebay not mentioned is the need to have been there a while with a significant positive feedback rating. I think it would be a mistake to try and sell a valuable domain there if you haven't been registered for a while and have at least 25 positive feedbacks.

For anyone thinking of selling there I would suggest registering at least six months before you want to start selling and start buying small items to build feedback.

And it's a two way thing. I've got over 50, at least 35 sales, 100% positive feedback, and domains are so speculative. Hard to quantify. Maybe even buyers remorse if someone gets bid up in the heat of the moment and pays more for such an intangible. I'd rather stick to using my well-earned EBay account to things that I can package, sell as advertised and ship.

 

[mhdoc]

I'd rather stick to using my well-earned EBay account to things that I can package, sell as advertised and ship.

It's worth having more than one so you can keep different parts of your life in separate boxes

 

[sky]

It's worth having more than one so you can keep different parts of your life in separate boxes

Yes, actually do. But unfortunately one of mine doesn't have a record of sales. I've done speculative things and marketing, but never sold anything serious with it. However, I've had it for over a year in good standing.

I have a 100% non-negative feedback at zero sales with that one.

:notme:

 

[sashas]

I personally don't recommend eBay...your name won't be among 'good company'. Too many scammers and con artists on ebay selling bad names for huge prices. Sedo is much more professional (if slow)

 

[WeBuyThe.Com]

Did you consider contacting people that BUY directly to avoid the 10 percent selling fee?

 

[sky]

Did you consider contacting people that BUY directly to avoid the 10 percent selling fee?

Who are people that "BUY"? I contact people and let them know. But I have no idea who the buyers are that will pay what I'd like for the name. Even if I can guess the company, how am I going to figure out how to get to someone who can put some cash into it, especially if they know little about domain names?

 

[gwkg]

After reading this thread I would go with Sedo with a serious domain. eBay is for $5-$50 domains.