In the email announcement, the company listed some of the domain names that are now under exclusive contract, including the following:

• BankruptcyLaw.com
• CopyrightLaw.com
• PatentsLaw.com
• TrademarkLaw.com
• RentCars.com
• SexualDiscriminationLawyer.com
• UrgentCare.com
• Proposition.com
• WorldTradeCenter.com
• Accomplish.com

If you aren’t already aware, Aftermarket.com is owned and operated by Thought Convergence.

The company has changed its membership tier features since its inception. They have three levels of membership: Basic, Verified and Premium. You can now make an offer on a domain name with the Basic membership level, which wasn’t possible before. You do have to upgrade to a Verified account in order to close the transaction, but for the purpose of negotiations, it’s possible to do them at the Basic level.

In case you’re wondering, the cost of Verified and Premium memberships is just $1.00 and is likely just a way to ensure that you are legit and won’t flake out on an offer.

Carron also let me know that “the listing pages have also been revamped and now have a sleeker look and feel.” Listings now include social media buttons (Facebook, Twitter, Share This) on each page, allowing the seller or other person to let others know about a domain name for sale.

It’s not unusual to see transactions reported in DNJournal 2, 3, and 4 months after the auction closed. I know it’s not always the fault of the auction house, but it can be annoying. especially on large sales when cashflow is important.

This does not appear to be the case with Aftermarket.com, the company that just concluded its Domain Rountable conference auction, grossing roughly $200,000.

In the DRT live auction, my company sold HorseStable.com and HorseCorrals.com. Although I didn’t get as much as I hoped, the pair of domain names did sell. I was hoping for $4,000+ but I realize these are not necessarily names for domain investors, so likely my bad for not finding end user buyers.

Within a day after the conclusion of the auction, I had an email from Aftermarket.com. The email had all the information I needed to push my domain name to the Aftermarket.com escrow account at Moniker, and it also informed me that a transfer had been initiated at Network Solutions for the other domain name. In under 12 hours, Aftermarket.com took possession of the two domain names.

The Aftermarket.com auction was captained by Omar Kubba, brother of Ammar Kubba, whose company operates Aftermarket.com. If it wasn’t for Omar’s unsolicited email a few weeks ago, I probably wouldn’t have even submitted these two names for the auction. From the opinion of an outsider, Omar has managed the auction quite well, and I want to him praise for his efforts.

Assuming the buyer makes a timely payment, the auction should be squared away very quickly.

I don’t generally auction my names because of the significant exclusivity periods and long waiting time between auction and payment, but Aftermarket.com’s auction (from an operation point of view) has been one of the best run in quite some time.

- I hear that somewhere in the ballpark of 300-400 people will be in attendance. This is a great turnout compared to some recent Traffic shows. It will be a good chance to meet with people I don’t see very often. The last big conference I attended was DomainFest in January. Rick and Howard have put a lot into making this a big conference.

- I think the auction is going to see some good results. There are quite a few good names that seem to have reasonable reserves. With some recent underwhelming auctions, I think Rick Latona and his team have been working harder than ever to ensure a successful auction.

- One of my favorite domain names at Rick’s auction is FruitBaskets.com, and it’s not because I received a fruit basket advertising the name. Aside from a company like Harry and David’s and Baskets.com, I don’t know many brands of fruit basket companies. Without a  dominant leader, a company that operates on the generic domain name can become the perceived leading brand. I think 1800-Baskets, which operates Baskets.com (owned by 1800-Flowers) would be a good candidate to buy this name. They should probably make a business case to buy it, so at the very least, they don’t give another company a chance to compete immediately.

- There are quite a few premium .CO domain names like Pizza.co up for auction. This will be a big test for .CO since their closed auctions have been doing great, but there haven’t been many big sales happening outside of these (from my perspective). It will also be interesting to see what companies bid.

- Aftermarket.com has been preparing for a re-launch for a while and has been collecting email addresses on its website. Perhaps some new details about the relaunch will be released during the course of the conference. Thought Convergence is a dynamic company, and it will be exciting to see what the brand will offer its customers and clients.  

In no particular order, here are some of the reasons I believe domain auctions haven’t been successful recently.

• Lower PPC payouts and poor economy affecting domain investors’ spending ability

For a few years, live domain auctions were dominated by some of the wealthiest domain investors. Many of these people and companies were spending money that they earned from PPC revenue. With payouts down across the board, there is less money to reinvest.

Likewise, with the economy in the tank, there is less financing available for domain buyers. People can’t refinance their homes or other property as easily, and ultimately it means less money to spend on domain names. In addition, people are more reluctant to spend money on domain investments, favoring a stronger liquid position to stay protected.

• The same domain names continue to be offered for sale.

There are a limited amount of top quality domain names that are openly available for sale. Many domain investors don’t wish to list their names for sale in a public venue and/or don’t want to set a price for their prized assets. Domain names are on the market longer, and consequently, even good domain names are allowed to be placed in different live auctions with the hopes that someone bids. Oftentimes, these domain names don’t have lower reserves, and they just sit on the shelf like day old milk. At one time their inclusion made a splash. Now it’s just embarrassing to see the same names at the same prices being auctioned in different venues.

• People have ridiculous sales expectations.

Let’s face it. Everyone thinks their names are hot shit. No matter how many times Monte or Rick will hammer their sellers asking for reserve price reductions, many people are reluctant to do so. Gone are the days when a bidding war will ensure a domain name sells for what it’s worth or more. People don’t want to lower their price to a point where one bid will lead to a very bad sale.

Domain owners have lost faith that buyers will show up, and they are unwilling to drop their reserve prices. Auction houses are either desperate to keep certain names in auction with the hopes of drawing some interest (while locking down exclusivity) or they are praying that the needy end user just happens to show up, with all senses lost after being hit in the head with a bag of money.

• Long exclusivity periods.

People like myself like to sell domain names quickly. I buy as low as possible and sell as high as possible, as quickly as possible. If I have a $20,000 domain name, I can’t/won’t take a chance and lock it up for 60 days because I need to move my inventory to generate much of my income. If the name doesn’t sell, I can sell it on my own, but I am obligated to pay a 10-20% commission. Some people may opt to not honor an agreement, but that’s certainly a reputation killer if not a legal problem. With lower sales rates, it’s not a guarantee that a domain name will sell at auction and it’s more difficult to justify a long period of exclusivity.

On the other side of the business, auction houses need to lock down these domain names. They can’t afford to spend time and effort selling a domain name if the name isn’t committed to them. I know for a fact that the auction houses work hard to sell domain names before and after auctions, so it’s not fair to not commit.

• Too many auctions and lists not revealed until just before the auction.
  

There are so many auctions these days that people wait until the last minute to decide where to submit their domain names. This causes domain auction houses to scramble at the last minute to find buyers. Domain buyers have very little time to review their lists. I know the first live auction happened when people simply put names up on a white board, but times have changed and more money goes into buying a domain name.

• End user buyers aren’t showing up.
  

Perhaps this is due to the above issue where lists aren’t finalized until the last minute, but it doesn’t appear that end users are showing up as much as they should (has always been an issue). I know that the domain auctioneers spend time contacting potential buyers, especially when it comes to high ticket names, but as any domain investor knows, it’s tough to get end users to buy. They have to want a specific domain name at the offered price at the time that it’s auctioned.

In addition, end users may not trust domain auctioneers as much as they would trust other auction companies who are more well-known. This industry is still young, and end users may not be  familiar or comfortable bidding at a domain auction held by a company whom they’ve never heard about. The registration process (and maybe previously a fee at Traffic I think) could also be a deterrent. Further, Snapnames still doesn’t allow remote bidding from a Mac (unless it has Windows).

• Cronyism and friendships can impact auctions
  

In the domain industry, there aren’t thousands of active investors. There might not even be several hundred – I really don’t know. Compared to other industries, this one is pretty small and there are a lot of people who are well acquainted with each other. Many auction participants are both buyers and sellers. Auction companies want to accommodate their best clients, and sometimes that means accepting domain names that shouldn’t be in auction – or should be priced lower.

• Too many domain names in auctions.
  

There are far too many domain names accepted in the live auction, and even more in the silent auction. I know a 4 hour auction isn’t unusual in the car world, but with sales down, it seems to drag on forever. Likewise, it’s difficult for buyers to wade through thousands of silent/extended auction domain names. People don’t want to put low reserves on domain names that might get a couple of looks and maybe one bid.

• Automatic entrance into silent/extended auction.
  

It seems that most domain names that are submitted to the live auction but don’t make it are relegated to the silent/extended auction. IMO, these auctions are stuffed with bad domain names, and it makes it difficult to find good ones at good prices. Truthfully, I barely even look at the extended/silent auctions, and I am sure others feel the same way. As a result, domain owners are reluctant to put low prices on domain names that might end up seen by just a few people.

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Ultimately, I think people really lack confidence in live domain auctions right now. As a result, there are lower quality domain names with higher than acceptable reserve prices. In an effort to stem the bleeding, more (lower quality) domain names are being auctioned in the hopes of a sale, and buyers and sellers are frustrated. I don’t think most of these issues are new, but they are exacerbated by other factors.

Tomorrow, I will post some of my suggestions for how to improve domain auctions, but I would like to hear what you think about the current problems with domain auctions.