UK domains reverse auction site

timter51

timter51

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Hi folks,

Would there be any interest at all in a reverse aution ("dutch auction") site for UK domains? So, set your start price, floor price (hidden), how much you want the domain to drop in price by and at what interval. Domain can be bought at any time at the current price, transaction handled off-site (a la domainlore). If floor price is hit and there's no takers, domain then gets unlisted, life moves on.

It's always something I've thought would be a nice addition to the online auction space, in particular for folks just wanting to raise some cash, clear out some of their portfolio etc. Or, at the top end, creating FOMO on a premium domain that is dropping in price every day with lots of keen eyes on it.

If there was any interest at all I'd be happy to get it up and running, I just didn't want to plow hours into something like this and find it's just little old me sticking my domains on there!

Thoughts and feedback welcome,
Tim
 
I built one last year on that.uk, only had one test sale and was ok. I'm selling off a load of my names through this method starting next week. The biggest reason I stopped was the platform was restrictive, so this one I built from scratch. I have a friend who is an insolvency practitioner who is going to sell some off too, part of a new jv with closing.uk - unfortunately I think it maybe a busy site with the way things are going.

Its on stopbid.uk and I also got stopbid.com to sell off some of my 20-30 .coms.

I think the method does work, but if you have a fair few buyers interested I think the standard auction model has its benefits.

The main thing is the traffic, can you get eyeballs to the site. That's the biggest issue. I'm only selling my names so it's not a massive issue for me, but a wider auction site needs advertising.

50k a table at some of these events, what's not to gain 😥
 
GreyWing said:
I built one last year on that.uk, only had one test sale and was ok. I'm selling off a load of my names through this method starting next week. The biggest reason I stopped was the platform was restrictive, so this one I built from scratch. I have a friend who is an insolvency practitioner who is going to sell some off too, part of a new jv with closing.uk - unfortunately I think it maybe a busy site with the way things are going.

Its on stopbid.uk and I also got stopbid.com to sell off some of my 20-30 .coms.

I think the method does work, but if you have a fair few buyers interested I think the standard auction model has its benefits.

The main thing is the traffic, can you get eyeballs to the site. That's the biggest issue. I'm only selling my names so it's not a massive issue for me, but a wider auction site needs advertising.

50k a table at some of these events, what's not to gain 😥
Click to expand...
Oh excellent, that's exactly the kind of UK only platform I was envisaging! So you're going to start selling your domains through that.uk / stopbid.uk properly soon? Will you be open to others registering to sell?

Regarding traffic, I imagine it's the same with the current normal auction sites - sellers are free to post their sale links up to forums, social / linkedin etc. You could bring in mailing list signups and automate weekly "new listings" type emails to buyers. You could even start getting a following on socials / linkedin if you automated that kind of posting to those channels, I imagine there are still enough serious domain investors who would follow that kind of thing, not wanting to miss out on potential bargains.
 
timter51 said:
Oh excellent, that's exactly the kind of UK only platform I was envisaging! So you're going to start selling your domains through that.uk / stopbid.uk properly soon? Will you be open to others registering to sell?

Regarding traffic, I imagine it's the same with the current normal auction sites - sellers are free to post their sale links up to forums, social / linkedin etc. You could bring in mailing list signups and automate weekly "new listings" type emails to buyers. You could even start getting a following on socials / linkedin if you automated that kind of posting to those channels, I imagine there are still enough serious domain investors who would follow that kind of thing, not wanting to miss out on potential bargains.
Click to expand...
Are you looking for a .uk specific standard/reverse auction site/system?
 
Nobody wants a reverse auction with the casino buyers about. You're wasting your time.
 
How much would you have started this domain with as a reverse auction?

DomainLore: .uk Domain Sales and Auctions

DomainLore: .uk Domain Sales and Auctions, Domain Names Aftermarket, Backorder Expiring Domains, UK Droplist
domainlore.uk domainlore.uk

Reverse auctions are 100% dead while some random domains are turning into a lottery ticket. He couldn't have gave that domain away for £2k not too long ago and theres 80 grand for it now.
 
Marek said:
How much would you have started this domain with as a reverse auction?

DomainLore: .uk Domain Sales and Auctions

DomainLore: .uk Domain Sales and Auctions, Domain Names Aftermarket, Backorder Expiring Domains, UK Droplist
domainlore.uk domainlore.uk

Reverse auctions are 100% dead while some random domains are turning into a lottery ticket. He couldn't have gave that domain away for £2k not too long ago and theres 80 grand for it now.
Click to expand...
You obviously wouldn't sell a freshly caught extremely strong SEO domain at reverse auction... completely different (and very bonkers) market, reverse auctions are for portfolio domains.
 
paullas said:
Are you looking for a .uk specific standard/reverse auction site/system?
Click to expand...
Yes just a clean, simple UK online reverse auction site. Basically what @GreyWing has already setup. Your services looks excellent but you're going bigger with normal auctions, parking, sites etc.
 
Marek said:
How much would you have started this domain with as a reverse auction?

DomainLore: .uk Domain Sales and Auctions

DomainLore: .uk Domain Sales and Auctions, Domain Names Aftermarket, Backorder Expiring Domains, UK Droplist
domainlore.uk domainlore.uk

Reverse auctions are 100% dead while some random domains are turning into a lottery ticket. He couldn't have gave that domain away for £2k not too long ago and theres 80 grand for it now.
Click to expand...
Not random domains, and that domain you specified would still have cost a few thousand two years ago.

But yes, SEO domains are the market
 
My feeling is such a site would need to be well curated so it's sellable domains at realistic prices otherwise buyers would quickly write it off as a waste of time; I assume this is the same reason DL makes you deposit 10% if you want to set a reserve
 
Murray said:
My feeling is such a site would need to be well curated so it's sellable domains at realistic prices otherwise buyers would quickly write it off as a waste of time; I assume this is the same reason DL makes you deposit 10% if you want to set a reserve
Click to expand...
Hi Murray!! A blast from the past :D

Indeed... it's those rules Denys applies (correctly for his platform, imho) that stop a lot of people listing domains, in particular the £50 start price + 10% listing fee which you lose if there are no bids (unless he's scrapped that). I think there is a middle ground of domains, that I reckon loads of people have plenty of if they have a decent size portfolio, where you're not sure if it will get any bids at £50. You might want to start clearing out some of these domains, but you could be losing £5 for nothing for a lot of them if you listed them at auction.

This is where I think a reverse auction site works fits in and is need in our space. To stop proper junk overload, just limit sellers to 10x domains max listed at once or whatever. Site admin might need to have some kind of oversight on what they allow listed.
 
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