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View Full Version : Moniker asks for a new chance on IDN.


sarcle
10th March 2007, 02:55 PM
I just got my new submission email and form for for the next auction and I immediately responded. To which; I received an immediate response from Moniker. Here are the emails.


This is expected to be the biggest and best show and auction of the year. For the current auction we had over 50,000 domains submitted for the auction. Only 3,300 were chosen. We are expecting even more domains to be submitted for the upcoming New York City Conference.

What the auction committee is looking for is quality of domains and low reserves. If your domains are at Moniker and you have a strong working relationship with us - even better.


My response:


Don, no disrespect, I submitted top quality single keywords at the last auction for IDN. Much better than the ones you chose to run with; and in the same price range. I won't be subjected to that again. In my opinion the IDN you chose were picked to fail. I am very dissatisfied with how IDN were managed at this last auction. Unless you can tell me it will be different this time I see no reason to submit.

Adam


Don's immediate reply


Hi Adam,

You do have a valid point and will not have an argument with me on that. This upcoming auction will be better if:


We have been able to increase the awareness of IDN’s in general. (http://www.moniker.com/idn-test.jsp (http://www.moniker.com/idn-test.jsp) )
Have more submitted of which to choose from
Learn from our errors, as reflected in the new submission sheet which addresses IDN’s.
By the way Adam, what is your account number here at Moniker.com?

Thanks!

With best regards,

Don

Don Lyons
Senior Account Executive




So, taking opinions. Anyone?

Rubber Duck
10th March 2007, 03:06 PM
I think that results from Traffics this time out show that whilst Auctions need to be Events rather than dripping tap phenomenon like Sedo, an Online Auction platform can be just as valid as a Live Auction if not more so. If that is the case then they do not need to be link to Conference events. I think Moniker should move towards running regular online Auctions. Say once a month.

It is important to gain the focus of all the big buyers and have them looking the same stuff at the same time. It is not necessary to cram them into the same room and keep them hanging around for hours on end.

On the "has that fixed things" front, are we prepared to give them another chance? The answer has to be YES, but provided they can convince us things are going to be different. Words are cheap.

seamo
10th March 2007, 03:09 PM
This upcoming auction will be better if:

We have been able to increase the awareness of IDN’s in general. (http://www.moniker.com/idn-test.jsp )
Have more submitted of which to choose from
Learn from our errors, as reflected in the new submission sheet which addresses IDN’s.

Well - what was the last auction about then?...who switched on the light that illuminated the situation for them? Are Moniker saying they didn't understand IDN's a few days ago - but that's all changed now? Not enough IDN's submitted - lol!

Piss weak...

IDNCowboy
10th March 2007, 03:43 PM
Well - what was the last auction about then?...who switched on the light that illuminated the situation for them? Are Moniker saying they didn't understand IDN's a few days ago - but that's all changed now? Not enough IDN's submitted - lol!

Piss weak...
sure not many idns were submitted - they didn't really advertise to other idners not on the forum they were looking for some.


also better names were submitted - they just didn't pick them

Giant
10th March 2007, 06:44 PM
I will submit some best names this time. It helps the recognition of IDNs if we let them be mentioned in all auctions and events.

Wot
10th March 2007, 11:17 PM
If as it seems it is an olive branch then we would be foolish not to take it! :eek:

Rubber Duck
10th March 2007, 11:44 PM
If as it seems it is an olive branch then we would be foolish not to take it! :eek:

I have to say that is precisely what I felt was being offerred last time. :mad:

mdw
11th March 2007, 03:11 AM
I think RD is right about online auctions, especially for IDNs - no need to tie these to conferences. I think the reasoning is simple: the fact that IDNs will, by definition, draw international interest. We don't want a group sitting in some room together doing the bidding.

Wot
11th March 2007, 06:26 AM
I think RD is right about online auctions, especially for IDNs - no need to tie these to conferences. I think the reasoning is simple: the fact that IDNs will, by definition, draw international interest. We don't want a group sitting in some room together doing the bidding.

I do if they are interested parties and have the money!

mdw
11th March 2007, 07:08 AM
I do if they are interested parties and have the money!

I think more money is gonna be attracted if the auctions are NOT tied to conferences which are of course LOCAL. IDNs have people all over the globe as potential buyers. A TRAFFIC conference, for example, is a regional event. Not many [insert your language of choice here] buyers there compared to the potential for an online auction.

RD is right - once a month online auction. Who can honestly say they won't be interested to check out the domains, maybe offer a few, maybe bid on a few??

Drewbert
11th March 2007, 07:12 AM
Auctions in the USA draw big money out for mainly english ASCII domains.

No doubt the same thing will occur in China, Japan, Korea etc.

You guys just have to wait a bit longer, that's all.

Olney
11th March 2007, 07:40 AM
I totally agree with this....

Auctions in the USA draw big money out for mainly english ASCII domains.

No doubt the same thing will occur in China, Japan, Korea etc.

You guys just have to wait a bit longer, that's all.

Wot
11th March 2007, 08:09 AM
I think more money is gonna be attracted if the auctions are NOT tied to conferences which are of course LOCAL. IDNs have people all over the globe as potential buyers. A TRAFFIC conference, for example, is a regional event. Not many [insert your language of choice here] buyers there compared to the potential for an online auction.

RD is right - once a month online auction. Who can honestly say they won't be interested to check out the domains, maybe offer a few, maybe bid on a few??


But are we not doing it here and failing to get even low $xxx offers on names that even I know are worth a lot more.

Time seems to be the major factor as far as I can see.

touchring
11th March 2007, 08:38 AM
I'm thinking that Don did a right thing by pulling off IDNs - a half F show is going to be bad for everyone. :)

burnsinternet
11th March 2007, 09:46 AM
But are we not doing it here and failing to get even low $xxx offers on names that even I know are worth a lot more.

Time seems to be the major factor as far as I can see.

This is a bad time to sell, I think. It is renewal season. I have seen far too many good domains sell for peanuts recently. Didn't ユーロ sell for $84 on Snap when we ignored it? Timing.

Also, I know I repeat this more than anyone wants to hear, but.... At what point does the secondary market take off? When fresh registration is difficult/impossible? Saturation (and certainly maturation) will take time.

There are good domain names out there unregistered. For example, I picked up four .jp domains tonight (Fresh Registrations) with good Ovt bids:

(36 bids start at ¥501 then ¥500)
(34 bids start at ¥317 then ¥317 & ¥316)
(23 bids start at ¥501 then ¥500)
(29 bids start at ¥350 then ¥242)

These were not from some crazy niche. These were from a sector that I assumed was picked clean. The dot coms were registered well over a year ago, but I think no one bothered to go back and pick up the rest of the extensions.

Just my 2¥.

blastfromthepast
11th March 2007, 09:46 AM
I do if they are interested parties and have the money!

They aren't interested parties.

touchring
11th March 2007, 10:00 AM
This is a bad time to sell, I think. It is renewal season. I have seen far too many good domains sell for peanuts recently. Didn't ユーロ sell for $84 on Snap when we ignored it? Timing.

Also, I know I repeat this more than anyone wants to hear, but.... At what point does the secondary market take off? When fresh registration is difficult/impossible? Saturation (and certainly maturation) will take time.



The domain market in general has become more discerning over the more 1 year. Prime .coms are worth much more than what they were worth last year. In contrary, .nets and secondary names plunged.

Porn.com and naked.com are good examples. The current bids far exceeds what sex.com sold for, on a comparative basis.

Rick once said that many people might not understand the concept in which 99% of names are not investment grade, but the top 1% are worth investing. This is true if you consider all domains, all tlds and ctlds.

The same concept applies to IDNs. You can spend $100k to buy 10 top .coms in various languages (by top, i mean the likes of "TV.com, Movie.com, Loans.com, Cars.com, Software.com, Phones.com, House.com, and a dozen others), and you can spend another $100k to buy 1000 secondary names and .net.

5 years later, your 10 top names maybe worth $1M, while the 1000 secondary names might only be reg worth.

Applying to our case - if your portfolio is mediocre in relations to cost of acquisition - definitely so if you built most of your portfolio recently using Snaps - exorbitant prices and only average names AT BEST - you might need to consider your strategy again - either buy or con or bluff out a few really top names, or wait till WWIII to happen, or just give up the whole idea to not waste more time (let alone money)!

burnsinternet
11th March 2007, 10:09 AM
I agree that good dot coms will be a good investment. Same with .jp I think.

However, the best one-word keyword IDN.com/jp/whatever are gone and I don't see anyone selling those right now. There is money to be made on what is leftover, I think. Decent one-word and good two-word domains are also moneymakers.

One problem is that no one is buying at the right price. Most of us are sitting and waiting. I cannot afford to buy out Edwin right now, so I'll reg some decent domains and wait it out. Maybe I'll buy Edwin's portfolio next month. Not sure yet.