Yesterday was the Godaddy NamesCon Auction and right off the bat I’ll say it was so so. It was so so because Godaddy does things the way Godaddy always does it. In house. No money spent for publicity. No consulting with the people that buy every day. Or at least it felt like it. I know the people behind it worked hard on it but it just wasn’t special.
First. They deliberated with how the auction would end. They decided they should all end at once. I know why they did it. They wanted to get home. They didn’t want the auction to drag on forever. Except this was an online auction. It can last all day. Instead they figured they would get it all done with one big ending. A few names get extended and a half hour later we’re all done and go home. They left tens of thousands on the board IMO because people could only bid one name. Most people don’t have the budget to bid on all the names they want at once. They bid, if they don’t win they go for the next name. If that’s an option. And that could have been an option. Drew Rosener said it himself. It was the first auction EVER that he didn’t buy a name. Most of it was because of the big slam ending.
The other problem was the simple fact the names weren’t very good. Another domain investor texted me while I was on the review panel. If you think this is a bad auction blink twice. If you rewatch it you’ll see me give the double blink. There were a few good names. Therapy.org was very nice. But most days between all the auction houses I have equal or better names to choose from. I’ll also add they didn’t camel case, capitalize their names in the auction. I realize in the millions of expiry name its tough. But for the big auction, putting carrent.com instead of CarRent.com is lazy and costly. I say all this not to criticize but to make Godaddy better. They are an amazing company. I absolutely love their product. It’s so good I look past any problems. Their staff is one of the best in the world. Enough ass kissing. Back to the opportunities.
Now for publicity. If you want better names. Pay the big voices in industry to gather names. I guarantee that Godaddy could have spent $500 a month here and asked us to get them names from our readers we could have gotten them better domains to sell. Names that needed to net $10K in price to pay the commission to pay us for 2 months. That’s break even. We would need to do even better than that. And I bet we could. We would have asked every day. Elliot, Andrew, any of us could have really helped promote. But everyone in this industry wants you to do things for trade or publicity. Even if we deliver profits. Our time and our audience is valuable. Its taken a while to get my 11 readers and we at DSAD want to be paid to reach them. Because those 11 spend billions of dollar a week on domains. You get the point.
Using influencers and people that use your products regularly as part of your team is better than keeping it in house. Its how you learn. Its how you reach audiences an inflexible company can’t reach. It’s like proof reading a paper. After you look at it so many times in a row you think its right. It takes another person to find the errors
Quote of the Day: “I don’t work well under pressure, but without pressure, I don’t work at all”
Domain Of The Day: HiddenCamera.com The highest number of bids on the Godaddy board today. Could be some spicy things on that site
Park.io Names at Auction or Available for Pickup
EasyBet.io I’m long all betting names in dot com, dot io, and dot ag
Luck.vc A venture capitalist that admits its better to be lucky than good
Bogey.io Great golf name. Just a little over par
Viggy.io I don’t normally
Hike.ly Dot ly has fallen quite a bit but good keywords like this are still worth a flyer IMO
Namejet and Sedo & More Domains at Action
UnitedMetals.com and SmithMining.com Here’s your precious metals package
SuccessNames.com Domain Investor company name
Magical.tv No reserve name. Good name for a video site with magic tricks and tips
MiddleSeat.com LOVE this one. It exudes a feeling and that’s perfect for a brand
TheStingray.com A fish or the car
PDCA.com Great great letters. Reserve is a big range though
EasyBot.com The auction process is working here. The seller sent it to auction and it got a higher bid
DMedicine.com Not a bad name for $40
FindMyDentalPlan.com All that traffic suggests it has some pretty good links
Godaddy Domains With Bids
Charged.org Don’t buy this because Braden is going to buy it
CCake.com 20 years old and taken in 18 extensions
39839.com 5N holding on like a guy on the Titanic
Dangerously.com An odd form of the word but bidders love it anyway
BeeAPI.com Believe it or not this is an upgrade name for a few companies
TheRitual.com To me it exudes consistence and effort more than religion
DataGrip.com Data analyzation is one of the fastest growing segments in business. So much data out there.
CatchDeals.com Everyone loves a deal
PPYPP.com I way overspent on buying patterns like this so its nice to see they have some value still
EpicDog.com Steamie’s new email address
NameBoom.com Good name for someone in our industry
RyanDrew.com Two first names, one good brand
GrowthFast.com Slow growth is generally better. Unless you have investors
Godaddy Names With One or NO Bids
The Rest of the Godaddy Names With Bids
17799Central.com
24Fresh.com
64328.com
800Health.com
86550.com
92958.com
AffiliateMarketingTips.com
AirportRevenueNews.com
BedroomRetailers.com
BenderRacing.com
Bet773.com
BroadwaySpace.com
CharmIs.com
FastingSystem.com
FFDShow.info
FlexVault.com
FormatDynamics.com
ForumInc.com
FreshwaterJellyfish.org
GlobalCase.com
GlobalSeries.com
GossipItaliano.net
GraffitiDiplomacy.com
GrowthAgents.com
HamsterBox.com
HealthReviewUs.com
HomeStarts.com
HooveRip2.org
HotelVoucherShop.com
HotKenyanJobs.com
Ikendolo.com
IndustrialSolution.com
korkedbaseball.com
KVTH.com
Layanjer.com
LondonNocturne.com
ManBing.com
MetalEvolution.com
mppkvvcl.org
MYPBS.com
NakedCityBrewing.com
NanoChina.com
NeuronalTraining.net
nlgla.org
OpenClip.org
OurFallenSoldier.com
PokerAccess.com
PrinterMaster.com
RDVG.com
SEQRight.com
ServerLove.com
ShaleTest.org
Sivacracy.net
SnoopCode.com
Suarakicau.net
suite36nyc.com
Top4WebHosting.com
TourDiary.com
UncleBettysDiner.com
UnderlineCoffee.com
VaperIt.com
Wessexbus.com
WindowsCage.com
ZQGA.com
Have a name at auction and need more exposure? Send me an email. We Charge $10 per name per day. We may be able to help. If you have an auction you want to promote, email us for details.*All names chosen by us, Shane and Josh . (ie you click through and purchase a name you like) or an occasional paid listing. Everything we say is based on our own research or is opinion. Do your own due diligence. That means look it up yourself if you don’t think the stats or our opinion is correct. We hand choose the names but we are paid to make this list by both the auction houses, individuals that are auctioning names, and Godaddy affiliate links. Keep that in mind and only buy names that YOU think are good.
I agree 100%
I understand your deception, and it is really bad because such behavior finish killing motivation of the most enthusiasts voices of the industry.
A chance domaining is now secondary for me…
Well said Shane, the auction really did end in a whimper!