The Moniker.com Live TRAFFIC auction just ended in New York with just under $417K in domains sold.
(One domain seem to sell after the auction ended, originals.com which sold for $37,500.)
Multivitamins.com lead the way at $45K.
The scheduled auctioneer ran into a problem and didn’t make it to the auction, leaving Moniker scrambling for a last minute replacement which I think really hu the results.
The floor callers were basically non-existent and the auctioneer was quite annoying making it very hard to tell who was winning the bids.
The auctioneer also closed the first few domain auctions with online bidders still waiting to bid.
Here is the complete list of domains that sold.
| MultiVitamins.com | $45,000 |
| Raspberry.com | $27,500 |
| IStream.com | $25,000 |
| TrademarkLawyers.com | $24,000 |
| Hockey.org | $22,500 |
| CostumeRentals.com | $21,000 |
| DesignerSunglasses.com | $21,000 |
| I.biz | $17,000 |
| NewYorkers.com | $14,500 |
| Tested.com | $12,000 |
| LNN.com | $11,000 |
| Cuffs.com | $9,500 |
| MedicalPractice.com | $9,000 |
| UsTrademarks.com | $9,000 |
| SkiLodge.com | $9,000 |
| TennisCamp.com | $8,000 |
| Organic.info | $8,000 |
| RecipeBooks.com | $7,500 |
| NY.biz | $7,000 |
| CollectibleCoins.com | $7,000 |
| OrganicTea.com | $6,000 |
| HorrorStories.com | $5,500 |
| EuropeanVacation.com | $5,500 |
| LocalGasPrices.com | $5,000 |
| EZ.biz | $4,000 |
| TermLifeRates.com | $3,500 |
| LendMoney.com | $3,500 |
| Pamphlet.com | $3,500 |
| SeattleRestaurant.com | $3,000 |
| PowerSaws.com | $3,000 |
| WiseMen.com | $3,000 |
| Brakes.net | $3,000 |
| Lord.org | $3,000 |
| GolfCaps.com | $2,500 |
| HD.biz | $2,000 |
| SecurityNetwork.com | $1,400 |
| ConciergeDoctor.com | $1,250 |
| EnergyDrinks.org | $1,200 |
| CustomBoots.com | $1,000 |
| H1n1FluVaccines.com | $1,000 |
| FramedPrints.com | $900 |
| HonorRole.com | $700 |
| CollegePrepClasses.com | $600 |
| ContractorsCoverage.com | $400 |
The bad economy really showed in this auction…
Best deals:
1) Pamphlet.com $3500
2) Cuffs.com $9500
3) FramedPrints.com $900
4) PowerSaws.com $3000
I had my laptop on the kitchen table so I can do other work at the table while listening to the auction. I thought I had went to a POW WOW online and expected to see someone wearing a headdress, lo and behold, it WAS the auction. I had to shut off the audio before I start to dance and beat a drum.
Nothing against the auctioneer, but I just couldn’t take it…
Can anyone report how bidders many attended the auction?
Except for a few domains they should just be “Buy It Now” prices. Many of these reserve prices are just unrealistic and should not be part of an AUCTION.
EScripts.com for 10K to 25K, maybe Scripts.com.
NannyCams.com for 10K to 25K, please…
The auction was certainly pathetic. The auctioneer (although I know there were setbacks), was terrible and annoying. The whole time I thought he was saying “to bid, $xxxx” when he was saying “the bid, $xxxx” so I never could figure out the price. The person updating the bid software took about 20 minutes to start updating the CURRENT bid, originally he was only updating the asking bid. The video/audio kept cutting out as well, so with everything combined it was pretty unbearable. The inventory was good, but as usual the reserve prices were pretty absurd considering the audience was investors and not end users, and that the economy is in the toilet. I enjoyed Latona’s auction much, much more, and I’m glad he has the exclusive now.
Michael
In person it was very hard to tell what the bid was and who was winning the bid. Off site it must have been worse.
Certainly the worst auctioneer of all time and he had no crew, just 2 people that stood in the corner and didn’t move, shout, say a word or even point at a bidder.
Horrible
Why didn’t Moniker’s scheduled auctioneer show up? How much notice was given? This is just bad management. This would not have happened if Monte was there…no way!
Why didnt Moniker use Rick Latona’s auctioneer…i’m sure he was still in the area!
I was planning on bidding on some names…but i logged off real early…couldn’t stand the auctioneer’s loud barking voice…almost burst my computer speakers!
Ughhhh. Looks like a picked a bad day to play tennis while this auction was going on with so many people displeased and not participating.
After trying to keep up with the auction today really shows how slack production is on the live auctions I mean you have been planning and advertising for months making sure the parties are cool etc and they drop the ball on the very thing you advertise about (SELLING DOMAINS).End users are looking at us like what a bunch of rookies.Someone really needs to spend some of the registration money on better production and have some back up auctioneers,I mean call an agent get it together.I have worked in films and tv for over 20 years and would love to help.We have to make domain auctions look as big as NASCAR and Barrett-Jackson Car Auctions.Come on guys.Who’s with me!!!I just want to help the cause.I love Domaining!!! Kevin Davis.
Terrible auction results. Too bad Moniker didn’t end on a high note at Traffic. Deals across the board on this one. People with a high reserve were the smart ones on this one.
KD (Ken Davis)
Great point… ( I hope End users were NOT tuned in)
=====================================
MHB…
Congrats on your Hall of Fame award.
Ed – Michigan
Yeah, the auctioneer was bad … but serious buyers would get past that. This auction offered four .com’s with reserves of $1 million+ (FreeSex, Photo, Stuff, Tube) and a ton with six-figure reserves. The fact that the largest sale was only $45K is stunning; I think it was due to a combination of the weak economy & reserve prices that were unrealistic in this climate.
Folks,
I know it looked disappointing and YES we did have some bad luck on the live part of the auction. The good news is that the extended auction goes on for until November 4th and we do expect a strong finish and will likely come out the winner. Remember that we have out performed every other auction at every event every year since we invented the live domain auction concept. When you add up all the events combined and all the other auctions from all other companies both live and online, our results are 5X of all others.
Regardless, we could have done much better in the live event than we did. Our auctioneer, Wayne Wheat had a flight issue and was stuck on a plane in Houston…we did not know he wasn’t going to make it until just 3 hours before the auction started. So being in NY, we did ask Rick Latona, who graciously tried to help us with his auctioneer but he was on his way to Dallas already. So we found someone recommended by two people at the conference. We had no idea how they would do but had no choice. He had only 45 min of prep time. It is hard to plan for a back up strategy like this with such short notice…..but we will have something in our pocket in the future for sure. The Auctioneer and the Spotters were definitely a factor in lower performance in this event as well as some high priced names that we marketed to end users…..who did not bid in the live event.
With all this said, I personally take responsibilty for the under performance in the live auction. My team did great under the circumstances. I would have been there, even with a bum leg if I could….trust me, I even had my tickets knowing I would have to carry around a wound vacuum pump attached to my leg. However, after my emergence surgery on Thursday and again on Tuesday, there was just no way.
We are working hard to have some of the larger names sell in the extended auction which end users have expressed interest in. There are great names at great prices to be had – so those of you that tuned out, you can get all you want in the extended auction http://domainauctions.moniker.com/2009/T.R.A.F.F.I.C.-NY-Auctions. Great names at no reserve as well as other key word generics and ecommerce names. We have always done well in the extended auction after TRAFFIC and we should this time as well.
We also have 3 great monthly showcase auctions coming up and then the Premier Event and Auction at DomainFest in January and the largest live domain auction ever at that event.
Thanks,
The regular Moniker auctioneer got delayed in Houston.
Regular flights were delayed.
I guess he should have flown in the day before.
Maybe, Moniker or the auctioneer didn’t want to pay
for a room???
I bet if Monte was there, more deals would have gotten done.
I guess iReit didn’t want to sell their premium domains at
domainer pricing?
And, congratulations on the awards.
Congrats on the award Michael. I agree with Randomo, a buyer who was interested would have got past the bad auctioneer. Crowd was looking for exceptional bargain. OrganicTea.com was a nice buy IMO.
Everything
I thought organictea.com was a good buy as well.
Domain
I heard may rumors about the auctioneer problem including one that he thought the auction was today and thought he was getting in a day early.
Monte if you ever want to chat about producing the next auction with better production I would love to help.Kevin Davis K@DallasTexasRentals.Com
Monte, hope you are getting better. I know you wanted to be there.
Sorry to post my opinion but the auctioneer was not the problem and I didn’t think he was terrible.
He moved along and passed domains when nobody bid.
If he passed a domain too quickly anyone from the audience or online could have asked to have a domain resold. I left before the end so I don’t know if that happened. I don’t know if anyone complained that they didn’t get a chance to bid, maybe that could be blamed on the auctioneer but that certainly couldn’t be enough to blame the low dollar volume on.
As for his spotters? There was nothing to spot.
Fact is that the reserves were simply too high.
The auction was just a list of domains for sale. An auctioneer can’t get people so excited that they start at a high price all by themselves.
I’ll bet that if ALL domains in the auctions were started at HALF the reserve, you would have done at least AT LEAST twice as much in sales.
Think about it. Why does Moniker have auctions? To sell domains. If your domain suppliers don’t want to have realistic reserves, have fewer domains in the auction.
Now that’s an auction!
speaking as a domain portfolio owner, the domain conference auction environment is the worst possible environment to sell a domain. you have a minimal attendance and the attendees are the worst possible buyers. pricing for most domainers seems driven by the expected adsense revenue on type in traffic. we’ve been recruited by oversee and moniker to list domains at shows, and with recommended reserves well below where we would ever consider surrendering names. we’ve done much better selling directly to endusers in the appropriate vertical markets.
its annoying to have a disconnect between the buyers and sellers, and to have a dead auction. its much worse, i think, to lose a domain for a few grand cause the auctioneer wants to see activity.
buyers should set reserves where they are willing to dump a domain, sellers should buy if they have a reasonable revenue model to be productive at that price point. but letting domains sell at these lousy auction prices kills the comparable sales numbers and valations of everybody’s portfolios.
howard
One other constructive suggestion is to give sellers the option to opt out of the “silent” extended auction if their domain is not selected for the live auction. Moniker have not been willing to allow opt out, and this places sellers in a terrible position to potentially lose a high quality domain at reserve in the silent auction.
Many good domains are not submitted for this reason. Why not let people choose either the live or extended, or both? Such a simple, positive move would give sellers more control over which forum their domain appears in. Sellers could then do a better job of pricing their domains.
I hope all of the auctions are successful for the sellers.
But,I have had some bad experiences when selling some domains thru auction.
A few auctions back, it was suggested to elliminate the reserve price (safety net) so it would get good interest.
It was my decision. So, I don’t blame anyone else.
The one word domain went for a fraction of its wholesale value.
I learned my lesson.
I haven’t offered any since than but if I did, I would only offer them with a fair reserve price.
Hope Monte recovers soon, Bari and her Moniker colleagues nevertheless made the best of an unfortunate situation and kept the auction on track, results notwithstanding.
Unless it was a bandwidth issue there should have been an option to view the live auction full-screen. It was very difficult to watch even on a 15″ laptop and I had a colleague struggling to watch it on his mini laptop. Every site including US Stream lets you a watch an event in full screen. Hope this can be addressed in the future.
A premier auction of this type with high-end buyers in attendance should be concentrated on maybe 50 high-end domains rather than rushing quickly through a list of 200 mostly so-so and low end domains. Moniker Marketplace, Afternic, Sedo and the extended auction would be better for the lesser domains.
Scott,
Yes there were problems with the internet both in the room and to the Hotel that day. Many confirmed that they had very slow or broken connection which was unfortunate in a number of bad luck events for that day.
In regards to selling domains in Auctions, like with anything, Auctions are good when there are multiple bidders bidding. We have had great success in auctions and selling domains higher than posted reserve prices consistently. Our average sale price in auctions is higher than all others in average price paid for domains. this auction was just under $9K per sale and that was without one big name selling. We are usually between $15K – $25K per domain sale compared to $2K for all other companies auctioning online or live. So I would disagree that it is not a good venue to sell names.
I do expect the extended auction to heat up over the next two days to make up the difference of where we missed in the live event. I also expect our Showcase auctions to start to really perform well each month and the live auction at DFG in January to be really good.
It is still an usual time in the market. The economy is still being tested and the domain industry being tested even more. I do know that some large transactions are happening although many cannot be reported due to confidentiality and private sales.
Thanks for everyone’s comments and input.