Do your research, hey, maybe even get to know an Inuk – but whatever you do – please Stop Perpetuating Ignorance and Mis-Use of such incorrect terms.

In the context of European ignorance the term is apt, but in the form you use to describe the inhabitants of the Arctic, is it not – they are Inuit: “Selling Ice to the Inuit”

How’s this for a lark – “Selling Knowledge to the Ignorant” ~A Growth Industry.

PS: Interesting speculation as always Theo! Keep-up the information and entertainment (-:

The familiar names at the geo auction and TRAFFIC are a relatively small group of end-users, but a tiny representation of future buyers and developers. Many buyers are not domainer types. They do not attend these auctions.

nice post.

I have a friend of mine in possession of a really nice GeoDomain, but he can’t see the value in selling. If you have any tips for me (or would like to help me get him to sell it), I’m sure a $uitable compen$sation could be arranged. You *know* where to PM me…LOL…

I have been working on the “If you build it, he will come” mentality, when I should have been taking the “step right up, lookee lookee lookee, don’t crowd, there’s enough for everybody” stance.

Time to get busy reinventing myself.

Thanks!

Would ucla.tel qualify as a GeoDomain? LOL.

One don’t allways want to make the most of his domains, sometimes one need/want some quick cash.
When one have acceptable names and he is willing to be reasonable then auctions for example are very usefull to generate this liquidity one is searching.

Now I share with you that if you want to maximize profit you need to work to reach the right end-users that may have interest in your names.
But this involves:
- Spend money.
- Spend time.
- Not be lazy.
- Be active.
- Be clever.
…

My feeling is most domainers simply are holding their names and waiting a buyer come alone and offer them a big amount for their name that is sleeping into their portfolio without doing anything.

I have made a lot of sales over $100k these past years and I can tell you most have been done after contact myself the potential best buyers and explaining them why they should purchase the name, and it has nothing to do about the usual domainer speech we use to have to sell a name to our peers.

Auctions by nature are targeted to domain investors and I don’t see this change a lot in the future.

Today, each conference auction has a different challenge. The Geo auction must have major US city.com names to pull in a high gross. However, the great thing about the Geo Expo is that it is the ONLY conference where the endusers are already in the audience. The problem here is that no great Geodomains are available (and it’s not the auctioneer’s fault). Yes, my SanDiego.com example was wishful thinking, but I was trying to prove a point that if it had been for sale it would have sold for seven figures.

DomainFest, TRAFFIC and Domain Roundtable have a bigger problem. They are still trying to target and attract high-ticket endusers. As a Geodomainer, I would consider buying any major US city.com name. However, DomainFest, TRAFFIC and Domain Roundtable must target individual endusers to match their names. Very difficult.

As I explained, my very own largest sale was that of a geodomain. But what I am referring to is the paltry sales of domains at auctions and particularly, conference auctions.

I did not witness much passion and excitement at the *auction* itself – the results are listed at DNN.

I’m sure the juice is elsewhere, however when the auction itself barely generates 6 figures there is a lot of concern among those that choose auctions – and sometimes are told to submit their domains without a reserve price – as their platform to sell domains.

Also, no matter what people say, when it comes to putting your money where your mouth is dotCom is King. I wouldn’t spend $500 on StAugustine.org or Mineapolis.net, but I would spend a million on SanDiego.com (and most Geodomainers I know feel the same way). By the way, the person who spent 6K on Minneapolis.net was Dan Pulcrano – just so he could point it to his Minneapolis.com.

How am I jumping to conclusions, when I’m simply quoting the results of the GeoDomains auction with further analysis on the auction trends?

And a statement of the sort “if something like SanDiego.com went on sale”, sounds like wishful thinking. It wasn’t, so why create a speculative statement?

The best domain name to sell, IMO, was SierraMadre.com and for a major geographical element, it went below value.

StAugustine.org went for $1,750 – that was another bargain – and the auctioneer struggled to sell Minneapolis.net for $6k.

So, in an nutshell: The auction results were disappointing, not just because of the failure to reach the expected dollar totals, but because it is evident now that there is an increased hype that surrounds conference auctions.

The real challenge – not just for Geo domains but for domains in general – is to sell to end-users. Recycling domains at conference auctions does not generate the intended ROI; that’s proven by the numbers and the ratio of sold vs. unsold domains.