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There are some high-value domains for sale in auctions right now that should result in great sales next week.
For example, Sedo/GreatDomains is currently running an auction for Bond.com. Bidding is currently at $66,666 with more than 4 days left; the reserve has not yet been met. Not only might this domain get type-ins every time a new James Bond movie comes out (it would be foolish to feature James Bond content or ads under this domain, though), but this domain is extremely valuable due to its meaning in finance.
Another interesting Sedo auction is XP.com. Bidding on this two-letter domain with content is at $499,000 and the reserve on this one has not been met, either. According to Sedo it is in the $500,000 to $1,000,000 range, so it’s possible the next bid will push it above the minimum.
If you like red wine you might also like Chianti.com. This domain can be bought at Sedo, too, with a current bid of $5,100. Then Sedo/GreatDomains has a bunch of other domains where bidding is still below the name’s value, in my opinion: ProGolfers.com ($70), Pizzerias.com ($1,050), Sold.co.uk (£2,500), Postal.com ($20,000), Whiskey.net ($6,000), OMA.com (€11,000; not only a three-letter domain, but “Oma” is also German for Grandma), Directories.com ($800) and many more.
Over at TDNAM, another top-notch domain is waiting for willing buyers: Villas.com. Bidding is currently at $28,000, needless to say that the reserve has not yet been exceeded. This domain has been on the market for some time now. It was previously marketed together with other top domains such as Villas.eu, Villas.info, Villas.mobi and Villas.es as well as variations of the name, potential magazine titles and related intellectual property. I was one of the brokers who promoted this high-value portfolio at that time, but no buyer was found (back then, the owner was looking for offers in the neighborhood of $5 million). Now that Villas.com is for sale as-is (the Villas.com trademark is included in the sale, though), it will be interesting to observe the auction to see how high bidding will go and whether it will reach the minimum price. Although I don’t know any details about the TDNAM auction, I guess the reserve should be somewhere in the $500K-$1M range. The domain is definitely worth much more than that.
And for those looking for German domains, Sedo has some for sale with low bids at the moment: neidlos.de (€100), InternetFlatRate.de (€300), Knackarsch.de (€1,200), Sachgebiet.de (€65) and Routenplaner.com (€99).
DomainTools also has some auctions raring to go: The DomainTools Live Auction held at the Domain Roundtable Conference in San Francisco will begin tomorrow. Online bidding is open already. Domains for sale include SanFranciscoBayArea.com, Invites.com, FG.com, ProductLawyer.com, Smash.com, DomainNameTransfer.com, Renewals.com, Motorsports.com, Retire.net, Keyword.net, ParkStreet.com, RetirementInvestments.com and several others. Most domains do not have bids, yet.
Dominik, I love your blog. Good stuff.
Just wanted to say that I would take xu.com, a pronounceable two letter that’s free from trademarks, over xp.com any day of the week. Just my two cents. Take care.
Thanks.
Nice domain name Bond.com
Hi
ProGolfers.com looks like it should be proFgolfers.com
John: You’re right. Thank you for finding that mistake.
Different area: thought provocing posting in http://www.conceptualist.com/
Empedocles
Apr 21st, 2008 at 3:55 am
Would a TM have made a difference in this situation
I note that the Word Mark / DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS CHOCOLATE.COM was abandoned. Interestingly the mark was Published for Opposition back in November 12, 2002 with a filing date of March 30, 2000 !!
Very interestingly (IMO generic)I also note that Law.com is going through the USPTO US Serial No: 78728331
Basic Search Trademarks http://www.uspto.gov/main/search.html
5 Empedocles
Apr 21st, 2008 at 4:25 am
Furthermore
If the .com / . whatever is a brand (IMO it is) and all brands can be bought /sold / leased with the protection of a TM. How much would domain registrants potentially bring into government coffers ? TM agencies could (potentially) also effectively deal with domain name abuse superseding the CADNA / The ICA and quasi officialdom
Seems like it’s a recent trend to set extremely high reserve on all auctions, hopefully the current demand justify that.
Michael, that is exactly what I think. I do not think that demand justifies these high reserve prices. In fact, I have the feeling that market prices have been down recently, making this a good time to invest in domain names, as I wrote in my guest post on DotSauce.com.
Link: http://www.dotsauce.com/2008/03/26/buy-domain-names-now/
The high reserves are one reason why some of the last domain auctions haven’t gone that well, in my opinion.
High reserves set the bar at a level that buyers must meet to take ownership of a domain. Somehow everybody thinks reserves are being set to high. Or is it the other way around. Are buyers expectations of future values to low ?
Jeff, when I say reserve prices were too high, I mean that they’re too high with respect to the current demand in the market for domain names. So, in some cases it might just be the domains that are too expensive while in other cases it might very well be the buyers who are not willing to pay enough.
However, hyped live auctions which fail to generate sales are clearly bad for the industry. Therefore, I think domain auction houses should either sell low- to mid-quality domains which are not as valuable as high-end generics but still attract buyers, or they should auction off top quality domains with lower reserves. Because as it is now most domains don’t sell in the auctions anymore.
Dominik,with all due respect, we are of the opinion that most keyword .com names remain rediculously undervalued. Todays market place contains way too many sellers and not enough buyers.
We as domainers have a choice,we can pander to the needs of buyers by lowering our reserves or we can say NEXT. The secondary marketplace for domain names is maturing to the level that end users are seeking out their own private deals with domainers. For us all to lower our reserves to accomodate buyers being able to buy on the cheap and then flip to end users undermines our investments. Domainers are getting wise to buyers at auctions flipping names for 10 to 100 multiples. It is a good sign in my opinion that people are raising their reserves, that is unless you are a buyer.
Jeff, thanks for your comment. Actually, what you and I are saying is not contradictory. I do, in fact, agree with you. But my point is that the auction houses should stop accepting domains with reserve prices that are obviously too high for today’s market, because this will only result in auctions with fewer sales. I think that it would be better if we had successful auctions with a high percentage of domains sold. Otherwise it just doesn’t look good to those outside the domain industry, because they get the impression that domains are difficult to sell, which in turn might induce them to invest less money in this business.
If the auction houses did a better job marketing the high-value domains to end users the situation might be different and we might see more high-value deals. But the vast majority of buyers at domain auctions have been other domain investors so far. It is only logical that most of these domainers are not willing to pay fair end user market prices, because they want to resell the names for a profit. (The big auction houses have not done enough to justify their high commissions, in my opinion, but that’s a different story.)
I’m not saying that every domain owner should lower the asking prices of his or her domains. After all, nobody is forced to sell. What I am saying, is that if you want to sell domains at auctions, which are publicly watched by outside investors, you should set realistic reserves. If you want to get end user prices for your top quality domains, offer them to potential end users or wait until demand has gone up to the point where the current high reserves are justified or easier to achieve in live domain name auctions.
Dominik, I could not agree more with your comments above. The auction houses inability to attract end users is depressing overall market values. I am no fan of buyers and have always suopported domainers recieving top prices for their payed lease names. My strategy has been to have my own showcase site to attract end users.
The few times I attempted to use auction houses, I decided to opt out after experiencing practices that are inherent in auctions that favor the buyer over the seller. I still have yet to find a better way than having patience and eventually attracting end users. Thanks to you for being an excellent host. Jeff Schneider