Domain auctions are something the great majority of domainers participate in frequently. Many domain names that are expiring can be back ordered and won at subsequent auctions at places like Namejet, Snapnames and others. There are domain name auctions ending almost every minute at auction houses like GoDaddy, Sedo, Bido, Flippa, EBAY and many others. There are exciting domain name auctions that take place live at domain conferences like T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Some people like the thrill of being in an auction, whether it be live or just on-line, constantly refreshing the screen as the auction winds down to determine if they are the winner. Many domainers get involved in auctions, but some really have no intention on winning the name. They just want to participate, perhaps to have some insight into the final result. Lately, there are many great names that appear in domain auctions all of the time, making it a real exciting part of being in the domain name business at this time. However, like anything, there are some good things, some bad things and some down right ugly things associated with domain name auctions, depending on whether your a buyer or seller, and they are discussed here from my point of view.

Domain Auctions – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

GoDaddy recently changed their auction rules by extending the time added to the ending of each auction, anytime there is a bidder in the last 5 minutes of the auction. They have been operating for quite some time with just a two minute time extension and then recently changed it to 10 minutes. Within 24 hours of making that change, due to an outpouring of complaints, they changed it to 5 minutes, where is currently stands now. Many auction houses do this, in hopes of driving up the bidding and perhaps e-mailing those that have been outbid with a warning so that they can revisit and perhaps provide a higher bid. Flippa adds an entire hour each time there is a bid within the last hour. Most buyers hate the time extensions for several reasons. Some domainers like to “snipe” names, providing a last second bid in hopes of winning the name, while not drawing attention to the name. Time extensions really don’t allow for “sniping” in its purest form. Domain buyers are also busy people and time extensions only eat more time that a domainer could be spending on many other things. If they like the name, they need to be active in the auction and if someone else likes it too, you can have a bidding war that can go on for hours. I find it crazy when those that know how the extensions work still wait until the trickling seconds to provide another bid, only wasting valuable time! Like most, as a buyer of domain names, I hate the time extensions for domain name auction bidding. On the other hand, as a seller of domain names, time extensions are awesome, especially when there is a bidding war for your name. Time extensions allow you some time to really hype up the ongoing bidding war by using social media, like Facebook or Twitter. Like I said earlier, many like the thrill of an auction and bidding wars provide the perception of demand, although it’s not really a perception, it’s realty at that point.

Not every auction platform has time extensions. A great example is EBAY. I have sniped many items from EBAY sellers by bidding at the last seconds, but also lost many items to somebody else doing the same thing. The majority of auction houses do have incremental bidding, which means that each bid are provided in certain pre-defined increments, so that someone is not constantly outbid by a penny. If they really want the item, they need to be willing to up the bid to at least next increment, which is always set before the auction begins. My favorite domain name auction feature is proxy bidding, which allows you to place the maximum amount you are willing to bid for a given domain name. The auction platform will then enter a bid on your behalf against other bidders in the smallest required increment and up to your set maximum amount. It is a great feature, especially for a part time domainer like me, because it let’s me do my day job and not have to closely follow the domain auctions as they are happening. I know what I’m willing to pay and I set that amount. If I get the name, I know I got a deal and know I can sell the name for a higher price. While its my favorite feature, I kick myself often, as I’ve lost many domain names by somebody winning the name for one bidding increment above my maximum bid. I always seem to grind my teeth when it happens, but one should always set limits and stick with your guns in the end. I don’t know about you, but I’m in this to make some money. If you watch any of the auction hunter shows out there, they all operate the same way. That’s why they are successful and have their own show! I wonder who will have the first reality domaining show?

A controversial point among domainers with domain name marketplaces like SEDO, 4.cn and others is that once a seller receives an offer on their domain name, they have the option to kick it into public domain auctions, where the bidders offered price is utilized as the reserve price for the domain auctions. After reading several threads on the subject within domain forums, it is apparent that some domainers really despise this practice. On the other hand, there are many sellers who love the idea, as it provides a chance to get the name into a public auction, where there are many more eyes and possibilities for a higher priced sale. A seller does need to be comfortable with the initial offer, however, because the auction results in a sale for at least that initially offered amount.

Another good and bad point about auctions, depending on if you are a buyer or a seller, are the reserves, which we’ve touched upon already. A seller can set a reserve price for their name at most auction houses, thereby insuring that they will get what they want for the domain name (at a minimum), assuming there are bidders for the name. Most auction houses charge an additional fee for setting a reserve and sometimes the fee is dependent on the reserve amount set.

Having participated in many many auctions over the years for a variety of different things, it is very apparent that the most ugly side of auctions is the non-paying high bidder. Nothing is more annoying that a high bidder backing out of the deal and not paying for what they have won, other than a seller not sending the merchandise because they feel the auction did not command enough money from the winning bidder. I’ve experienced both and neither will get you in a good mood. It is a real waste of time for the seller and/or buyer and is always a real loser for the auction house. The domaining industry is a small world and what comes around goes around. As such, think twice before backing out of a deal, whether a buyer or a seller, as your reputation will be tarnished and you’ll have a harder time getting deals done. Many domain forums and blogs have name and Shame posts, whether deadbeat buyers and sellers are called out and identified. You’ll never see me on these lists and I better not see yu either!

Thanks for checking out some of the good, the bad and the ugly associated with domain name auctions!

Domain Auctions – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Domain Auctions – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Domain Auctions | Domain Auctions | domain Auctions | domain Auctions | Domain Auctions | Domain Auctions

Now there is a New “Escrow Integration” tab in “Settings”, which allows BIN buyers self-check out prior to interacting with a broker. As a seller, you can set fees, select who pays fees for BIN names and let buyers initiate transactions including brokers in “accept offer” transactions. This will make closings much faster for your buyers and is yet another improvement in the fastest growing Domain Name parking and sales platform. As an added benefit, With each improvement comes more publicity, which will only increase the exposure of the platform, allowing you and I to sell more names.

I recently wrote a post about the ins and outs of the InternetTraffic.com and DomainsNameSales.com platform, so if you are looking to get your domain names there, it is worth a read and may save you some time. What I really didn’t do in that article was give my opinion of the platform, not that my opinion means much. I mean I’m a newbie with little experience and I really haven’t utilized other similar platforms to their fullest potential, so I have little to compare to. I can say, however, that I have received many more offers and inquiries through the InternetTraffic.com and DomainsNameSales.com platform in the last 4 months, than I have with all of the other large popular platforms from which I have tried selling domain names over the last year.

Regarding the parking side of things, there really is no comparison. In my very first week, I made more parking revenue than I had with another large and popular parking outfit in over 6 months. In fact, I have since had several domain names that have earned more revenue in one day than all my names combined for one quarter at the other parking lot.

The benefits of increased parking revenue, combined with domain name sales management at your fingertips, through use of the Domain Sales app for the I-phone, are some of the best reasons why I like and recommend the platform. Additionally, with this being the second released improvement to the platform in only the first four months, it is obvious that this tool will only be tweaked to perfection. Let’s face it, if you make money from it, Frank’s making more money from it!

Getting Around InternetTraffic.com and DomainNameSales.com is a post of some helpful tips for those not familiar with the platform.

Getting Around InternetTraffic.com and DomainNameSales.com

As most seasoned domainers are aware, after Frank Schilling signed a domain parking contract with Google, he quickly opened up a new domain parking company, Internet Traffic. For folks who have tried the new parking service, it is obvious that Frank is providing his customers with a higher revenue share than most others, which is one of the reasons the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. InternetTraffic.com operates a very lean, no-frills operation, whereas other parking companies attend trade shows, are adding staff and have increasing overhead expenses. The result is that more revenue is passed to the portfolio owner.

This past Fall, Frank opened up his Domain Name Sales platform to those clients who used his parking service and also introduced a new app for managing sales inquiries. The platform allows the clients to choose how and who handles inquiries on their domains and Domain Name Sales will even broker them for you, utilizing seasoned brokers who know how to get a deal done. You have the ability to also broker your own deals or have them handled by industry giants like Adam Dicker, Andrew Rosener, David Clements and a number of other well know brokers.

While the platform has been well received, it may be a little intimidating upon your first visit, as there are a lot of things you can do to tailor the platform to better fit you specific wants and desires. You will need to spend some time at the site in order to figure out how to get the most out of the platform. As everybody likes to save time, I though I’d put together this post with some important things that I have figured out using the platform, as I think you may find these important too.

First of all, you can sign-up through InternetTraffic.com, whose log-in serves as a portal to DomainNameSales.com. Be sure to read the terms and conditions upon signing up, as there are a number of restrictions regarding the domain names that can be uploaded to the DomainNameSales.com platform. Here you will also learn that the minimum payout to you, the Publisher, is $500 USD and rolls over each month until at least $500 USD is accumulated. The T&Cs then go onto to indicate that you are responsible for your own taxes and also includes indemnity, termination and other standard language. There is also discloser that the company is not located in the USA and terms regarding fraudulent traffic.

If you click on the NameSales Platform tab on the Internettraffic.com website, you can see an informative video that describes some basic ins and outs of the platform. The Outlook tab on the website will provide you access to some pearls of wisdom from Frank Schilling. The Client Login tab will provide you access to your account, where you can add, manage and sell your names. The Domain Names for Sale tab serves as a portal to DomainNameSales.com, where your names will be listed for sale, if you so choose.

In order to get your names onto the platform, you will need to change you Domain Name Servers (DNS) to buy.internettraffic.com and sell.internnettraffic.com. How you changing your DNS varies from registrar to registrar, although it is a common practice and there are likely easily directions at your registrar on how to get that done, if you do not already know.

Now that you are signed up, DNS has been changed and you have added names into the system, you will get a confirmation e-mail indicating that your names have been added, assuming you passed an ownership confirmation. Once your names have been added, one of the first things you should do is log into you account and go to the top tab labeled Domains and choose Portfolios from the drop-down. In the center square, next to the number of domains in your portfolio, you should click List. Here you will see a list of your names and the categories that have been automatically associated with your names. Review these and make sure they are in line with your desired settings. There are lots of categories and sub-categories to choose from and the more specific you can be, the better you’ll find someone looking for your name. Here you can also make sure that all of your names are listed for sale, which brings us to the next tip.

In that same center square under the My Portfolios tab, you’ll see a flag icon and Configure For Sale & Banner, through which you can edit the for sale banner language that appears on your domain name’s landing page. The Export icon is a great way to get a full list of your listed domains, categories, subcategories and for-sale or not indications. The icon you’ll like the most under the My Portfolios tab is Stats. It is here where you can access your parking revenue information. Simply choose your desired date range and click the Generate button. Now, when you enter this section of the site, you default to the Portfolio Level tab and you will only see your total revenue on a daily basis for the date range that you choose. If you want to drill down to the domain names, simply click on the Domain Level and generate another report. If this is your first peak and some time has passed, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised, assuming your names are generating some traffic. Now that we covered that, let’s move onto the even better side of this platform, selling domain names!

Before you get started setting up your platform, click onto the More dropdown tab, and click the Broker Directory. Give some thought as to whether you want to broker your own deals or utilize one of the listed seasoned professionals. If it were me, I’d reach out and connect with any potential broker prior to choosing them. Form some relationships and see who you are comfortable with. Also take note that commissions vary from broker to broker and can be determined by simply clicking on their name under the Broker Directory. Now that you’ve done your homework on potential brokers, let’s visit the Settings Tab at the top of the platform. Here you will find many options on how to deal with an incoming inquiries. Don’t get intimidated.

First, you want to double check that all of you information is correct under My Sales Profile, Company Profile and Owner, the top three tabs at the left under Settings. The next tab, Brokers Selling for Me, will provide you a list of active brokers working on your behalf. If you haven’t yet chosen any, the default will be DomainNameSales.com and inquiries would be handles by Frank’s team. The next tab, For Sale Configuration, is an important one. It is here where you can set/change your minimum offer and fixed pricing options, if desired. Next, be sure to set your e-mail notifications up, so that you can keep posted on new inquiries, offers or other messages. The next tab is pretty cool, Negotiation Templates. Here you will find suggested default language or you can create your own for general negotiation (i.e.quoting prices, dealing with offers), Cordiality (i.e. thank you, escrow started, out-of-office) and personal templates. Some real nice flexibility here!

The next Out-of-Office tab will allow you to set those days and times where that is applicable. The Automated E-mail Followup tab allows you to set time-frames of automatic follow-ups to inquires. The tabs under Auto Assignment are all associated with assigning brokers to your portfolio. Keep in mind you can have names in separate portfolios and separate brokers for each portfolio. This way, you can test the water with different names and different brokers to find what suits you best. The Advanced Inquiry Distribution (AID) module is a powerful tool that comes into play when you are a acting as a broker or self-brokering your own names, and you have inbound leads which you want to delegate to others who work under you. Filtering parameters such as the language of the inquiry, the Country of origin or the source (e.g. phone, email, registrar, third party sales platform) of each inquiry, can be used as criteria to allocate leads to different salespeople or sub-brokers.

The Payments tab allows you to set up how you receive payment, Paypal or Wire. Here it states that the minimum payout is $100, which contradicts the T&Cs indication that it is $500. While I have earned over $100, but less than $500, I did not have my payment option yet set, so I’m not sure what the minimum payout really is, but will edit this post once I know for sure. The last tab in the Settings section is where you can change your password.

If you now explore the Inquiries tab on the top of the Platform from any location, you can have access to your inbox, which will house any new inquiries that have come in for your names. In fact, this Inquiries tab is where all of you negotiation correspondence can be found. As inquiries come in and move through the system, they are automatically and/or manually moved along to the other various tabs that you see, including Responded, Flagged, Reminders, Forwarded, Sale Pending, Sold, Archive and Trash. For those of you with the corresponding Domain Sales Phone app, you will see that all inquiries are filed either under Active or History.

Thanks for checking this out and if you found it helpful, please share it from here. Let’s close with a quote from the platform creator.

“Assume that everybody can see what you are doing and then live your life that way – you will find that generally you are treated right.” – Frank Schilling

Getting Around InternetTraffic.com and DomainNameSales.com

Getting Around InternetTraffic.com and DomainNameSales.com

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