MONTE CAHN: IDNs planned for Moniker Auction

[bwhhisc]

from e-mail on Saturday, February 24th...reiterating same thing he said yesterday.

QUOTE: "it is my plan to have them (IDNs) in the silent auction. We found out there is a display issue with the silent auction system so we will have to show the puny code and put the language and other info in the description field. They system will not display the native language of the domain.

So I have a high degree of confidence that we will have them included…it will be interesting to see how many of you are going to be buyers of them.

Best Regards,

Monte Cahn
Founder / CEO
Monte@corp.moniker.com

[domainguru]

Originally Posted by bwhhisc

from e-mail on Saturday, February 24th...reiterating same thing he said yesterday.

QUOTE: "it is my plan to have them (IDNs) in the silent auction. We found out there is a display issue with the silent auction system so we will have to show the puny code and put the language and other info in the description field. They system will not display the native language of the domain.

So I have a high degree of confidence that we will have them included…it will be interesting to see how many of you are going to be buyers of them.

Best Regards,

Monte Cahn
Founder / CEO
Monte@corp.moniker.com

That's an eerie quote "how many of you are going to be buyers of them" - like he isn't expecting any other buyers .... could be a washout ...

[bwhhisc]

Originally Posted by domainguru

That's an eerie quote "how many of you are going to be buyers of them" - like he isn't expecting any other buyers .... could be a washout ...

Lee- I think he was just responding to my earlier e-mail where I mentioned that there had been a substantial number of IDN sales this year, some up into the xx,xxx range. I guess he is wondering if those people will (know about) or pay attention to this auction, particularly since this is a first to have IDN the mix.

Also, when asking Monte if I could quote his email here, he further responded:

QUOTE FROM MONTE:
"I am not trying to leave anyone out…just dealing with a display challenge with the silent system that was not contemplated earlier.
As you know, we totally support the IDN community".

Best Regards,

Monte Cahn
Founder / CEO
Monte@corp.moniker.com

[touchring]

Originally Posted by domainguru

That's an eerie quote "how many of you are going to be buyers of them" - like he isn't expecting any other buyers .... could be a washout ...

I can think of one buyer - johnny, he likes e-auction, doesn't he?

[Giant]

Originally Posted by touchring

I can think of one buyer - johnny, he likes e-auction, doesn't he?

Don't forget Miss Domain, she may have a deeper pocket :-)

Buy the way, her name is Tom.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by domainguru

That's an eerie quote "how many of you are going to be buyers of them" - like he isn't expecting any other buyers .... could be a washout ...

Yes, at the moment it sounds as though he is trying to 15% commission for encouraging us to find buyers for our own domains.

A certain John MacEnroe quote comes to mind!

[IDNCowboy]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

Yes, at the moment it sounds as though he is trying to 15% commission for encouraging us to find buyers for our own domains.

A certain John MacEnroe quote comes to mind!

kinda rare but I'm agreeing with you RD ;-)


He wants to make commission from IDNF members on deals we could do ourselves on the forums.

[touchring]

Originally Posted by IDNCowboy

kinda rare but I'm agreeing with you RD ;-)


He wants to make commission from IDNF members on deals we could do ourselves on the forums.

It would seemt o me that some buyers do not like to buy from forums. But it remains to be seen if they would buy at traffics.

[Giant]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

Yes, at the moment it sounds as though he is trying to 15% commission for encouraging us to find buyers for our own domains.

A certain John MacEnroe quote comes to mind!

Yes, but no surprise. As a businessman, he knows how to use people to help get him bidders. And as a businessman, he will not just rely on us for the auction, he will do his best to attract more buyers because it will benefit he himself most.

We need more positive thinking, and reply him with good attitude of a fine businessman:

"…it will be interesting to see how many of you are going to be buyers of them."

REply: "Base on the sales at Snap this week, we are confident there will be quite a lot of bidders, but it's crucial that T.R.A.F.F.I.C do enough advertisement to let people know about the IDN auction". (or something like this)

This way, we kinda pass the ball back to him and force him to prepare better for the auction.

[sarcle]

Originally Posted by Giant

Yes, but no surprise. As a businessman, he knows how to use people to help get him bidders. And as a businessman, he will not just rely on us for the auction, he will do his best to attract more buyers because it will benefit he himself most.

We need more positive thinking, and reply him with good attitude of a fine businessman:

"…it will be interesting to see how many of you are going to be buyers of them."

REply: "Base on the sales at Snap this week, we are confident there will be quite a lot of bidders, but it's crucial that T.R.A.F.F.I.C do enough advertisement to let people know about the IDN auction". (or something like this)

This way, we kinda pass the ball back to him and force him to prepare better for the auction.

This is fine but as a businessman he should already see the angles that a company like his could spin this auction and turn it into the biggest yet.

Moniker could see a huge advantage to bring international players to his auction. Specifically Asian companies. It's fine and dandy listing IDNs as xn--whatever at the auction, but to fully capitalize on this auction Moniker would send out a press release to Japan, China, Russia, Europe with the domains in full Unicode along with the link to the auction. Considering you can bid online.

[blastfromthepast]

Originally Posted by sarcle

Moniker could see a huge advantage to bring international players to his auction. Specifically Asian companies.

Inviting competition from Asia does not benefit the existing set of domain buyers.

[sarcle]

Originally Posted by blastfromthepast

Inviting competition from Asia does not benefit the existing set of domain buyers.

Moniker is not a domain buyer. They are a domain reseller. They would benefit immensely. Competition is always a good thing. Especially for them making 15%.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by blastfromthepast

Inviting competition from Asia does not benefit the existing set of domain buyers.

TRAFFICS has never really been about getting good low cost value for a club of existing buyers. Where is the evidence for that? If anything one has to fear that the opposite is true.

[blastfromthepast]

Originally Posted by sarcle

Moniker is not a domain buyer. They are a domain reseller. They would benefit immensely. Competition is always a good thing. Especially for them making 15%.

The event is an event first and foremost. The auction is the bait, Moniker is the fishing line.

[sarcle]

Originally Posted by blastfromthepast

The event is an event first and foremost. The auction is the bait, Moniker is the fishing line.

Well it's funny then that one of TRAFFICS first promoting lines is the amount they sell at their auctions. They tout this number, loud and large.

[blastfromthepast]

Why were you expecting the TRAFFIC people to be marketing domains to Asian investors if they can't even get the Unicode into their system.

Different culture. Different priorities. Different skillset.

[sarcle]

Originally Posted by blastfromthepast

Why were you expecting the TRAFFIC to be marketing domains to Asian investors if they can't even get the Unicode into their system.

Different culture. Different priorities. Different skillset.

The auction is held by Moniker not Traffic. It's on Moniker's website, not TRAFFICS. Last time I knew of Press Releases can be wrote in any language.
Full unicode, punycode, price, auction times and prices. I don't see what's so difficult for Moniker to do something like this. Feels like you are arguing just for the sake of having an argument. But I still don't see how it would have a negative impact on Monikers sales.

If you can prove that a negative impact on their sales would result by issuing a few press releases about their auctions in foreign languages would result then I will stand corrected.

[blastfromthepast]

Originally Posted by sarcle

Last time I knew of Press Releases can be wrote in any language.

Do not underestimate this. This is a fundamental shift in focus, to use an American sports metaphor, as big as inviting real foreign teams to an American "World Championship".

[sarcle]

Originally Posted by blastfromthepast

Do not underestimate this. This is a fundamental shift in focus, to use an American sports metaphor, as big as inviting real foreign teams to an American "World Championship".

I never underestimate the power of denial.

The thing is this is Moniker's auction not T.R.A.F.F.I.C. It may be held live there but Moniker holds many live auctions at many conventions. Moniker themselves are in this to make money. The more people they have bidding, the more money they make. The conference itself won't even know these people are bidding as it will all be done proxy via Moniker's website. Last time I checked America is a capitalistic country and the failure to capitalize on something so potentially huge is to me the opposite of why we go into business in the first place. To make money. I really doubt Moniker cares which country the money comes through their hands from as long as it comes.

[bwhhisc]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

Yes, at the moment it sounds as though he is trying to 15% commission for encouraging us to find buyers for our own domains.
A certain John MacEnroe quote comes to mind!

I think Monte truly wants IDN to be a success at the auction.
His comment was right on from the marketing side. There really is a short lead time left between now and when the auction will occur which may not be sufficient to attract a larger pool of interested parties for idn.

Hopefully there will be some idn sales and some good PR in DNJournal. That will spur interest in future auctions and hopefully the market will grow in tandem along with the rampup of IE7, traffic and revenues. This is a small first step.