We have been experimenting with different auction formats over the past few weeks in order to find the best solution format for selling domain names. On 21st October we will trial first price sealed bid auctions. In short, we will not show any prices on our auction platform, with all bids being fixed offers (being the price you enter [plus the buyers premium] will be the price paid – there will not be a proxy bidding system), and at the end of auction the highest offer wins. We will also be setting BIN prices on a selection of domain names. These will be set before that day’s auction starts, similar to eBay’s ‘Buy it Now or Best Offer’ option, giving everyone an equal chance at buying the domain for the BIN price.
If two offers for the same price are made by different clients, the first client to make that offer will be elected the winner. The same goes for whoever hits the BIN price first.
What this means is you will no longer need to monitor the bidding all day – you simply enter the price you are prepared to pay for the domain name, and walk away to get on with your business. When the auction closes at 2pm, you will see if you placed the highest offer, or hit the BIN price first. This also completely negates snipe bidding, which has been a common complaint and frustration for many of our clients.
We will publish that days prices from 2pm-3pm on our usual auction page, however once the new auction starts, we will only publish sales over $1,000. We think that publishing prices less than $1,000 may have a negative effect on the domain market, and as many of our clients have stated hurts potential resale opportunities. Our daily email will go out to all as usual, but include every domain sale for that day, so you will always have a record.
So, again these changes will come in to effect on 21st October when the auction reopens at 3pm (Sydney time), we hope you enjoy our latest trial of format.
Sounds a little biased, more like a money grabbing format than a better service, something ideally suited for those with much more cash to spend. Why not do as DROP do and have an extended auction with current bid prices shown? I believe this update will lose your customers to DROP as some people cant afford to place 1 or 2 thousand dollars down and walk away. Not Good!
Gina, You can still make an offer for as little as $10… you do not need to put down thousands of dollars to be a winner.
Sure we can! Upon domains that are practically useless from a resale perspective, those many that no one really wants. Realistically speaking, $10 bids wont win much at all. And this being the point! When many investors can place and ‘hide’ 1000 dollar bids, $10 or $100 bids will be pointless. Hence the bias from a system designed to help those with more, with more.