Moniker's Money-Losing Auction

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#1

Moniker's Money-Losing Auction
July 14th, 2008
Nobody won during Saturday's live auction.

If you're bummed about the results of Saturday's live GeoDomain auction, which took in about $280,000, think about how Moniker feels. This live auction was a money loser for the company.

Moniker's gross cut from the live auction will be about $42,000. Then they have to pay a cut to Associated Cities (assumption), pay the auctioneer, pay for all of its staff's travel to Chicago, the time it took organizing the auction, and the escrow and settlement process. Ouch.

But why did the auction bring in so little money? Once the list of names was announced, it shouldn't have come as a shock to anyone that the results would be poor. My straw poll at the conference had guesses between $100,000 and $300,000 of sales. My personal guess was up to $300,000. So by that standpoint, I look at the auction results as a success.

When the auction started, there was quiet in the room as the first two domains listed were not premium at all. MarinaDelReyCaliforniaRealEstate.com came in at a whopping 32 characters. WoodlandHillsCaliforniaRealEstate.com was next, and not any better.

For whatever reason, the team at Moniker was unable to get good quality domains in the auction at reasonable prices. About 1 in 5 domains sold, and for as little as $25. Perhaps it's because GeoDomain owners are really proud of their domains right now.

Moniker's placard at the show promoting the auction listed a number of "featured domains". VisitZimbabwe.com was among the 10 or so on the list. It was later scratched. Perhaps someone realized that no one is visiting Zimbabwe these days.

The one bright spot for the auction was the auctioneer and spotter that Moniker hired. They were sharp. If it weren't for them, I bet the results would have been lower.

Looking forward, what will the live auction scene look like? Will more domain auctions inject new ideas, or will it just cause auction overload?
Click to expand...

http://domainnamewire.com/2008/07/14/monikers-money-losing-auction

IDN, Jul 14, 2008 IP

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#2

As an industry leader, Moniker has to take risks to constantly push the envelope. Sure, the results weren't as good as they hoped for, but as long as they continue to hold the auctions, more domains will be listed in the future.

I think another issue may have been the lack of understanding of how to monetize the domains. A 32 character domain will almost have to be "seo'd" in order to make ROI, but it wouldn't be all that difficult to achieve top rankings in Google quickly.

RankSurge, Jul 14, 2008 IP

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#3

I believe - this is not the first time that Moniker losing money on the domain name auction...

IDN, Jul 14, 2008 IP

Essociate Peon

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#4

yet for those who got a nice sale, it was a good day. Moniker can always call it branding.

Essociate, Jul 14, 2008 IP

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Moniker's Money-Losing Auction

IDN Active Member

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IDN Active Member

Essociate Peon

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