Posts Tagged ‘Auctions’

I had done a poll asking How Would You Spend $100? in the past week. The results really did not surprise me at all. It went along with what i have heard in the past of what most people do and what i had actually done when i started and still do today.

Not to anyone’s surprise Hand Registrations topped the list. I can totally understand this consider you get the most bang for your buck in this situation. Though in today’s day and age its more like trading pennies. For instance if you can hand reg 14 .nets and then turn around and sell those at at double the price you are looking at $100 profit. Not bad considering you made a profit and it allows you to either buy better quality domain names or invest in better domain names.

Now look at it this way. To be able to sell 14 domains at such a low price, not to mention .nets. You would be looking at a great deal of time to sell these domains unless you have a specific method of liquidating domain names. Lets assume that is not the case since you would only have $100 to spend to get in the industry. Now the time and effort put in to that $100 would generally not be worth your time.

Lets say that you take that $100 do some research on some expiring domains through the big drop houses. You find a decent name that you could easily resell for a $100 or sell to an end user as the first option. Lets say its a .com and you manage to pick the name up for $69. You have $31 left over at this point that we will not even use at all.

As soon as you get that domain in your account you start pitching the domain to end users. Chances are that if it is truly a decent name you will get a bite or two and most likely make a sale. Seeing as you want to make a sale fast and the end user offers you $170 and you accept right away. You have just made the exact same amount of money off of one domain that took your 14 low quality domains to make.

Quality is always better than quantity when it comes to domain names. Not saying that hand registering is bad at all, just giving a bit of in site on what is possible out there. I think one of the most underrated things for most domainers is the domain aftermarket market places such as NameJet.com and Pool.com. They always offer quality domain names and most of the time you can get this super cheap compared to the profits you can make with them. I highly suggest that you do research and learn how the drop houses work and what types of names to pick up to flip for a profit. I know this method works because i have been doing it for a long time.

Also do not forget to check out GoDaddy.com Auctions. They have some decent domains that you can litterally pick up for $13 that are just as high quality as the large drop houses out there. Check out this post for more info. You can also see that not every domain will sell for a lot of money and sometimes you take a loss or a small profit. Just do your research.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I know this is all hypothetical but all i am doing is giving another point of view and stating that quality research can pay off better than rushing in and buying a bunch of domain names that either make no sense or are low in quality.

As of late i have been picking up more and more .org and .net domain names. Not only have i been picking them up i have been able to flip some as well for great prices. You may be saying what the hell do you want a .net or .org for? Well there are two reasons why i have been taking them: 1) Hardly any domainers like them so they are super cheap and i can usually get them with little to no competition 2) Since they are super generic they are easy to optimize and rise to the top of search engines.

Just those two factors alone are enough to make me spit out reg fee or even $100 at a drop house for a great domain name. Most of the time the extension of a domain will not matter for the most part in SEO. I could use a .info and make it to the first page if i did it right.

You would also be amazed at how many websites or companies use a crappy .com or the .net/.org versions of a domain name. Even if they own a crappy .com name quite a few will be more than happy to give up a couple hundred bucks to have a generic .net or .org that relates directly to what they are selling.

At this point you may be asking where i find the domain names to pick up. Well its pretty simple and it is an amazing website, its called FreshDrop.net. This site is so extensive and filled with stats that it is as easy as applying the filters and looking the domain names.

They have lists from godaddy all the way to ebay and everything in between. I usually scan most of the lists based on the criteria i put in and i get back some great domain names. The reason i say you can get great .net or .orgs for $13 a piece is because that’s how much they costs when you get them from TDNAM.

FreshDrop.net

So if you want to find some great domain names with out all the extra work go ahead and check out FreshDrop.net, it is totally worth it. Just as a disclaimer this is not how i find all of my names but is something that i check and scan just about everyday, a very useful tool that i think everyone should at least try.

I just read over at Sahar Sarid’s blog that the Auction Acceleration Program over at bido.com has become very popular and some changes will be made. For those of you that do not know what the Auction Acceleration Program is at Bido.com it is exactly what its name means. You can pay a fee to have your domain name at Bido.com be listed for auction immediately without waiting for votes or the required 30 days to go to auction.

auction acceleration program

Basically Sahar has stated the response to the program have been positive. From that they have even had inquiries about large amounts of domains being listed this way. Going as far to say that there will be better rates than the current cart can hold, which is 10 domains.

Now i like what the guys over at Bido.com have done with bido.com in the past couple of months. I have seen it grow from a baby to the auction house that it is today. It was extremely unique and still is but i really think allowing bulk domains being listed right away will take away from the site as a whole. If you really think about it its already getting cluttered with the amount of domains being listed as of this current day. Now wait until they open the flood gates and you start seeing 100s of auctions per day.

IMO, this action will bring down the overall quality of domains and the prices for the domains will be far fetched compared to previous versions of Bido.com. If they keep going down this road you can only see this becoming a glorified Sedo.com.

A solution to this problem maybe featured auctions or even a revamp to the voting section. Maybe have the voting section entail to which auction floats to the top of the table and get the most exposure. In return this would weed out some of the crap that is floating on there right now.

On top of that they could weigh heavier on staff picks or even implement expert picks. Make this mean much more than just the star to the left of the domain name. This could be a great thing and add another dimension to the Bido.com platform for which they are famous for doing.

Please leave your comments below and let me know if i am totally off my rocker or add your own opinions on the matter. Also please Bido shed some light on the matter and let us know that we are not left in the dark.

Bido.com this past week has rolled out quite a few interesting features to the site. Seems like the auctions are running smooth even with the new features on top of whats going on with the sites. From the looks of the new things going it is definitely running in to a more automated sites.

Guarantee Program has been announced to the public. This is a pretty amazing deal that they are offering up. Basically you can submit names to the program and if accepted they will put your names in a private auction with big time buyers. If the auction does not get the money you want you can simply walk away. Also you have the choice to submit the name to a No Reserve auction on Bido.com. Pretty cool program if you ask me.

I think the biggest thing that has come out is the Auction Acceleration option. For a fee you can surpass the votes or 30 days you have to wait for at Bido.com when you submit your names. Not sure if this was a great move by the team at Bido.com but it is definitely a step to take a bit of priority off of the project itself. In other words, automate the site.

Auctions no longer start at $1. They will now fetch a minimum of $28 if elected to auction. This in my opinion is a good move because it will allow people to submit higher quality names knowing they will get some type of money out of them. Not extremely awesome but a good move by Bido.com.

They have also implemented an auction ticker, chatroom enhancements, pre-bids are absolute, among other changes that have taken place over the week.

DesigningTips.com – I really do not have to say much about this domain. You can take it any way you want as far as designing goes, anything from graphics design to interior design. Expect to run a successful blog with this domain if you pick it up. Also there is some resell value here, possibly to a professional blogger.

VegasFights.com – This one can easily become a great local site. Businesses in vegas understand business and i do not doubt that someone can talk them in to making a great sale on this domain name. Not only that you can easily turn this in to a fight destination for people and make a decent amount of money on adverts. Give this one a try if its going for cheap.

ReinvestMoney.com – Take this name to the next level with a financial advice blog. Same as DesigningTips.com find a blogger out there that understands domain and you could find a bit of cash in your pocket. Along with that this would be super easy to get passionate about if you can get a following with a blog.

As you all may have noticed SnapNames.com has been running monthly showcase auctions. I have not really checked them out until as of late. I must say they have done a great job with the name quality and target of the specific auctions. For instance the theme this month is “Summer Stimulus Low & No Reserve”, and they have done an amazing job by keeping quality names with in this theme.

I have a couple of picks that i think everyone should take a peek at and maybe keep an eye on.

DebtCollections.net: Reserve $1,001 – $2,500 – You might be thinking to yourself why this name really means anything to a developer or a domainer. Well this name has amazing potential not only for development but for resell as well. You can easily turn this domain in to great debt counseling or consulting website. Dominate the search rankings with an optimized squeeze page or make a great website with a list of services. If you want to go the resell route look at debt companies that use brandable names or just simply have the lack or a great domain name. I am sure you can make a profit with this name either way.

PetGrooming.net: Reserve NO RESERVE (Start $300) – Talk about a category killer. This name has endless possibilities in the realm of pets. There are many many people out there that are looking for tips on pet grooming or just simply looking for a pet groomer. Might even be able to resell this one for a decent profit to a large pet grooming place.

FinancialCounseling.com: Reserve $5,001 – $10,000 – This goes hand in hand with debtcollections.net. The potential here is pretty amazing considering the state of the economy. I do not expect someone to flip this name for its asking price but you can sure as hell make a profit off of this one if you have a background in the financial sector and some backing money. Expect to make a profit if you do the site correctly and treat it as a business.

Jamie from over at DotWeekly.com made a post earlier this week about some names he has for sale. One of the names he is selling happens to be in the auction. The domain name is 4N.net, which so happens to be at NO RESERVE with only 1 bid at $300 at the posting of this post.

So if you have not checked out the auction list by now get on over and check it out. If you have a name listed for auction feel free to list it here in the comments section.