Moniker’s Live Auction Flops

I spent the afternoon (I’m on the East Coast) watching the video feed of Moniker’s Live Auction at the Geo Domain conference. Unfortunately, the auction was a big flop. While there may be last minute adjustments, at the close of the video feed, the total value of the domains sold was $435,000. $200,000 of that came from just one sale – Perth.com. None of the most publicized domains, like Wallstreet.com sold.

The auctioneer, who did a great job under the obviously difficult circumstances, was practically begging people to bid at some points. It was clear that he was very uncomfortable with the whole situation. The auction was scheduled to last 5 hours and barely went over 2 hours.

It’s hard to say exactly why things failed. IMHO the reserves of a lot of the auctions seemed unreasonably high – I do think that the bids for many of the domains that did not sell went up to what they would at a regular Sedo or Afternic auction. Of course, if you were so inclined I guess you could spin this that the domain holders were so confident about the value and the future of their domains that they refused to let them go even for the generous amounts of money offered. The silent auction over the next few days will likely add some more insights into what is really happening.

The auction seemed sparsely attended. At least from the camera’s angle, the room appeared to be almost empty. Not a problem if people are bidding through the phone, but there did not seem to be too many telephone bidders. From what I could see, most of the major deep pockets in the domaining business were not at the auction.

The auction got off to a late start – it was over half an hour late. I’m not sure how common this is, but given that the auction was expected to last for 5 hours, this seemed not only unprofessional but also unreasonable. Of course, with the conference going on there may have been a good reason for the delay.

If you are interested, you can watch the video. You can also find a listing of the domains that were successfully sold.

I kept a record of many of the domains that were not sold. Here are my notes from the auction (some with comments). I’ve tried to be accurate, but I’m sure there are some errors and they are incomplete. I’ve also tried to group the domains in an order that makes some logical sense.

Country .com’s
Iran.com – pass $500,000
TheDominicanRepublic.com – pass $1,500,000
Kuwait.com – pass $500,000
Iraq.com – pass $1,500,000
Guatemala.com – pass $1,000,000
Gambia.com – pass $200,000
Somalia.com – pass $100,000
(Looks like a million bucks won’t even buy you a decent country these days…)

Country .net’s
Kazkstan.net – sold $15,000 to paddle #194 (good deal!)
Holland.net – pass $20,000
Philippine.net – pass $4,500 (the difference that an s can make…)
Afghanistan.net – pass $40,000

Country .org’s
Congo.org – sold $7,000 to paddle #194

Country .biz’s
Honduras.biz – sold $300 (if this doesn’t prove just how bad .biz is…)

Country .us’s
SolomonIslands.us – pass $11,000 (I guess it’s better than America.sb)

Country .mobi’s
GreatBritain.mobi – pass $24,000 (yes, I know it’s not a country, but it seemed to fit here best)
NorthKorea.mobi – pass $2,500

State .com’s
SicilyItaly.com – pass $125,000 (seems like a generous offer to me)

State .net’s
Nebraska.net – pass $30,000
NorthDakota.net – pass $25,000

State .org’s
Minnesota.org – pass $30,000
Guanajuato.org – pass $1,500

State .info’s
Michigan.info – pass $9,500
Nebraska.info – pass $10,000

City .com’s
Perth.com – sold $200,000 (good for both buyer and seller)
Murietta.com – pass $10,000
OklahomaCity.com – pass $800,000 (reserve seems awfully high)
Hackensack.com – pass $25,000
SanSalvador.com – pass $200,000 (is this really worth more than Perth.com?)
TheHamptons.com – pass $1,000,000 (this is a really great place to go, but is this domain really worth more than a country .com?)
Auckland.com – pass $500,000
Menifee.com – pass $10,000
FountainHills.com – sold $15,000 to paddle #191
Arroyogrande.com – pass $20,000
SantaMargarita.com – sold $1,250 to paddle #198 (great deal!)
Sunnyvale – pass $85,000

City .net’s
Brussels.net – pass $20,000
Stockholm.net – pass $20,000
Djakarta.net – pass $1,000 (does anyone still use this spelling?)
FortWaltonBeach.net – pass $1,500
SouthPark.net – pass $45,000
Baltimore.net – pass $20,000
Lisbon.net – pass $17,500
Burbank.net – pass $22,500
LosAngeles.net – pass $65,000

City .org’s
Cancun.org – pass $42,500 (reserve seems high for a .org)
Sacramento.org – sold $24,500 (telephone bidder #239)
NorthHempstead.org – pass $1,500

City .info’s
Oakland.info – sold $5,000
Edmonton.info – pass $4,000
Barcelona.info – pass $22,500
Cheyenne.info – pass $850
Palermo.info – pass $2,200
Belfast.info – pass $4,000
Caracas.info – pass $10,000
SaoPaulo.info – pass $15,000
GrandRapids.info – pass $3,000
Huntsville.info – pass $1,500
Tampa.info – pass $20,000

City .biz’s
Seattle.biz – pass $9,000 (nice city name, but .biz really hurts it)

City .us’s
Fresno.us – pass $3,000
KansasCity.us – pass $7,000
SanFrancisco.us – pass $25,000

City .mobi’s
Pittsburgh.mobi – pass $10,000
Belfast.mobi – pass $9,000
Cabo.mobi – pass $9,000

City ccTLD’s
Tijuana.com.mx – pass $25,000

Geographic Areas
Antilles.com – pass $125,000
DoradoBeach.com – pass $2,000
WestAuburn.com – pass $300
FrenchAntilles.com – pass $50,000
Europe.info – pass $125,000
ChristmasIsland.com – pass $50,000
Africa.info – pass $125,000
CapeVerdeIslands.com – pass $50,000
NetherlandAntilles.com – pass $50,000
TheCaribbean.com – pass $50,000
NorthAmerica.mobi – pass $5,000
NorthWestTexas.com – pass $5,000
CentralFlorida.org – pass $3,400

IDN Domains
xn--hchminh-9ya7999d.com (Ho Chi Minh in Vietnamese) – pass $6,000
xn--i1bj3fqcyde.com (India in Hindi) – pass $3,000,000
xn--per-boa.com (Peru in Spanish) – pass $200,000
xn--7rv214h.com (Japanese) – pass $15,000
xn--xhq326a.com (Chinese for Shandong) – pass $20,000

Miscellaneous
UKCondos.com – pass -no interest
CharlotteEstates.com – pass $8,000
Union.com – pass $125,000
Tourist.com – pass $500,000
UKTourguide.com – pass $500
WallStreet.com – pass
USResorts.com – pass $15,000
PalestinianTerritory.com – pass $4,000 (I’d think the name would be likely to change in the near future making this a somewhat risky investment).
RiverSprings.com – pass $9,000
Asian.info – pass $3,500
Reichstag.org – pass $400
213.com – sold $33,000
408.com – sold $33,000 (auction obviously influenced by 213.com auction)
WestPalm.com – pass $80,000

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