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Rick Schwartz, co-founder and organizer of the popular T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain conferences, has recently made an announcement that there will be multiple live domain name auctions held at the upcoming TRAFFIC conference in New York City in September.

In the past, it has only been Moniker providing its auction services, but for the first time there will be some other auction houses selling domains in New York, too.

This is indeed, as Rick calls it, a “game changer”. Many domain sellers have complained about Moniker having unfavorable broker agreements, exclusivity periods that were too long (often longer than 100 days) and commissions that were too high. All this might be about to change, as other auction houses getting access to the exclusive TRAFFIC events will cause competition to go up, which in turn should be an incentive for Moniker to reconsider the terms of its aftermarket services.

From Rick’s blog:

As is stands now we believe there will be up to 5 different auction companies holding live domain auctions in New York City in September. Moniker will continue to be the “Premiere” auction at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. as they have been. As you might imagine, this was not an easy decision. Monte and his crew have done a great service to us all over the years. Just sometimes what is good for one company may not be in the best interest of an entire industry. So kudos to Moniker for doing what others would not do when none of us knew the outcome.

Last year the New York TRAFFIC show produced a record breaking $15M in auction sales. I believe that is more than all other live domain auctions at other shows combined for both 2007 and 2008!! We have the right location at the right time with the best domain audience. Including other auction houses will be effective, good for the growth of the industry, make things very exciting and open things up that will create lots of energy. Like I said, this is a game changer and we are all big winners. More info will be released soon.

Most of the domain auctions held this year haven’t been as much of a success as the auctions of 2007. I think that is in part because of the slowdown in the overall economy and because of the increase in energy prices and living expenses. Buyers have become more careful about spending their money in the right places.

The decision to feature more than one domain auction could keep buyers excited at the conference by offering higher diversity and more domains to choose from. Although this doesn’t guarantee successful domain auctions, innovation is always good and I hope this change will ultimately help the TRAFFIC conferences and the domain aftermarket to grow.