tips Tips and tricks for Auctions on NamePros?

[Keith DeBoer]

There are many decisions an auctioneer has to make when creating a listing:

1. What day of the week and what time of day is best to launch an auction?
2. What payment options should they offer?
   
3. How many (1 minimum) domains should they list in the title?
4. Is it better to create an auction with multiple domains or offer them one at a time?
5. Does a low start like $1 create more traffic? Is it worth the risk of a low ball sale?
6. Do colors and graphics stimulate sales?
7. Do comparative Namebio sales, suggested usages, Estibot valuations, traffic stats etc ramp up bidding?

What are your tips and tricks for creating a successful NamePros auction?

 

[Keith DeBoer]

The folks at Flippa suggest a $1 start for their auctions. The reasoning is that it draws in a lot of people hoping to get a steal of deal and there are lots of early bids. People who bid are more invested in the listing and will often come back and continue bidding. It creates a buzz. Also the more bidders you have the more you're sale appears on the most active auction lists etc. So your auction gets visibility and begins to snowball. Do these principles translate also to NamePros? What do you think?

 

[Axc]

I would be interested to hear when people think is the optimal time to bump an auction thread?
Is it a certain time of day? or is it better when people are discussing similar domains?or when similar auctions get bumped?
I think a good timed bump can definately increase the sale price

 

[mhdoc]

As a frequent buyer in these auctions here are a few things I have noticed.

1. NP has the most global readership of any forum I visit. An listing time you select will be optimal for some and not for others.

2. I always check to see how long the seller has been a NP member. I will risk $10-15 on a new seller but want to see more history if it is more money. I only felt "taken" one time which seems very good.

3. I will not bid if the domain is registered at 1 & 1.

4. I like $1 starts because it makes an easy way to track auctions for domains I find interesting, even if I am unlikely to bid high enough to buy.

5. Ending the auction more than 72 hours after the last bid makes me reluctant to bid. For sure I won't remember that I bid and the seller will have to PM me if they want to get paid.

6. I am usually buying for my own use, so active sellers/flippers may see things differently.

 

[Eric Lyon]

A few tips that might be helpful:

• Thursday is often the day with the most traffic on NamePros.
  
  
• A lot of traffic is drawn to NamePros when we publish a new blog post.
  Subscribe to NamePros Blog to receive an email alert when a new blog post is published. That might be a good time to bump your auctions.
  
  
• On Fridays, you can post your domains for sale in NamePros Chat for more exposure.
  
  
• Promote your domain auctions across the entire site for free: Learn more.
  
  
• @Omar Negron and @Willox Perez wrote a great article with some tips:
  Why NamePros Auctions Are Freaking Awesome!

 

[Keith DeBoer]

As a frequent buyer in these auctions here are a few things I have noticed.

1. NP has the most global readership of any forum I visit. An listing time you select will be optimal for some and not for others.

2. I always check to see how long the seller has been a NP member. I will risk $10-15 on a new seller but want to see more history if it is more money. I only felt "taken" one time which seems very good.

3. I will not bid if the domain is registered at 1 & 1.

4. I like $1 starts because it makes an easy way to track auctions for domains I find interesting, even if I am unlikely to bid high enough to buy.

5. Ending the auction more than 72 hours after the last bid makes me reluctant to bid. For sure I won't remember that I bid and the seller will have to PM me if they want to get paid.

6. I am usually buying for my own use, so active sellers/flippers may see things differently.

Excellent comments!! I especially like that you've brought up the 'highest bid after X number of hours'. That's something I've wondered about. What's the optimal amt of time to get max # of bids without turning off the bidders.

 

[Keith DeBoer]

A few tips that might be helpful:

• Thursday is often the day with the most traffic on NamePros.
  
  
• A lot of traffic is drawn to NamePros when we publish a new blog post.
  Subscribe to NamePros Blog to receive an email alert when a new blog post is published. That might be a good time to bump your auctions.
  
  
• On Fridays, you can post your domains for sale in NamePros Chat for more exposure.
  
  
• Promote your domain auctions across the entire site for free: Learn more.
  
  
• @Omar Negron and @Willox Perez wrote a great article with some tips:
  Why NamePros Auctions Are Freaking Awesome!

Excellent stuff, Eric!! :P

 

[starizec]

• Always put @mention so bidder get notification
• You can edit post to put @mention. Because of this you can bump thread and after couple hours edit it and put @mention. With that, bidders have two notifications in couple hours.(not sure if this works.?)
• When auction is ending send private msg to bidders, to get their atention.
• When auction is ending put BIN very close to current price.
• Put your auctions in signature and be very active on forum for more exosure.
• Don't put mambo jumbo in auction title. (e.g. no one cares if auction starts at $1)
• Change auction titles frequently to get another look from users.
• Use robots to bulid view count. (To get attention)
• In auction body. Bold everything that you think is selling point, use smaller font and grey color if you want something to hide
• In auction body. Put domain name on top!
• Follow trends
• If your auction after couple bumps didn't get any bids. Edit title and body for another domain name.
• ALWAYS ask for positive review!
• ALWAYS leave a review!

 

[Keith DeBoer]

• Always put @mention so bidder get notification
• You can edit post to put @mention. Because of this you can bump thread and after couple hours edit it and put @mention. With that, bidders have two notifications in couple hours.(not sure if this works.?)
• When auction is ending send private msg to bidders, to get their atention.
• When auction is ending put BIN very close to current price.
• Put your auctions in signature and be very active on forum for more exosure.
• Don't put mambo jumbo in auction title. (e.g. no one cares if auction starts at $1)
• Change auction titles frequently to get another look from users.
• Use robots to bulid view count. (To get attention)
• In auction body. Bold everything that you think is selling point, use smaller font and grey color if you want something to hide
• In auction body. Put domain name on top!
• Follow trends
• If your auction after couple bumps didn't get any bids. Edit title and body for another domain name.
• ALWAYS ask for positive review!
• ALWAYS leave a review!

Excellent points! Thanks!

 

[Michelle]

• When auction is ending send private msg to bidders, to get their atention.

Please only send pms to members who you know welcome these

 

[Michelle]

3. I will not bid if the domain is registered at 1 & 1.

.

Same here

 

[starizec]

I agree that 1and1 is terrible.
But why not to bid? You just transfer domain to another registrar.

 

[starizec]

Please only send pms to members who you know welcome these

Of course. But if user bids, I think it's ok to PM.?

 

[Michelle]

I agree that 1and1 is terrible.
But why not to bid? You just transfer domain to another registrar.

Have you ever tried to transfer from them

 

[Michelle]

Of course. But if user bids, I think it's ok to PM.?

Most would be absolutely fine but I ask you Just be mindful that just because a member bids in a sales threads that does not always mean they wanted PMs

 

[mhdoc]

I agree that 1and1 is terrible.
But why not to bid? You just transfer domain to another registrar.

They sent me to a collection agency when I failed to renew two domains! The memory is ugly enough I refuse to deal with them.

 

[80-20]

Use robots to bulid view count. (To get attention)

Why would you increase the number of views?
Curious members, seeing the large number of views and no action/bids would (correctly?) think that the deal is of little value, if none or very few people bid...

Ideally: the number of views and number of bids need to be similar.

 

[Keith DeBoer]

Why would you increase the number of views?
Curious members, seeing the large number of views and no action/bids would (correctly?) think that the deal is of little value, if none or very few people bid...

Ideally: the number of views and number of bids need to be similar.

That's my take on it too. Are we missing something?

 

[mhdoc]

I look at a lot of auctions I never bid on.

 

[Keith DeBoer]

Here are a few blogs with general tips on how to sell domains in the aftermarket:

http://flippa.com/blog/domain-name-sales-tips/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-tips-to-get-a-great-deal-selling-your-unused-domain-name/
http://www.whoishostingthis.com/blog/2014/02/25/a-beginners-guide-to-domain-auctions/

Some of the points are universal and can be applied to auctions/sales at NamePros

 

[Omar Negron]

@Omar Negron and @Willox Perez wrote a great article with some tips:
Why NamePros Auctions Are Freaking Awesome!

Thanks for the kind words Eric!