Life after NameJet and Bido
By Alan on Feb 24, 2009 in Domain Auctions
I’m away on a personal matter at the moment but using the 15 minutes I have to spare this morning .. or tonight wherever you are .. I really want to say that day after day I see crap getting bought and crap getting sold more and more.
First, I do not claim to be an expert for all things domain related and, quite frankly, care even less about any kind of fame or title in this industry but when people are flogging and selling garbage with infomercial hypes of how good the name is we (the industry) take ten steps back for building street credit to people outside the industry.
Look, almost every freaking domain – no matter if its Johnnysgotahotdog.com or dressmydogorganic.com has a story about how it COULD be successful.
Problem is if you’re a domainer with very little or no good development skills then you’re only hope to make a real buck is to find an end user. Let’s face it, many of you can’t develop for shit and some of you have no other plan but to wait for the big buyer one day. I’m really not trying to cut anyone down – today’s bad developers may just be tomorrow’s best and the lazy domainer may very well find the big fish one day – but until you have your story to tell then please stop buying crap only to try and resell the crap to the same community.
Think about Life after NameJet and BIDO?
How many of you actually have a real success story like BobbleHeads.com or AmericanFlags.com or a great confirmed sale like iReport.com or hell, any sale that was over $10,000 or more from a name you bought at auction?
When buying a domain you have to really think about how the domain will add value to your portfolio and be liquid at the same time. Try to sell a name on a forum or try to sell a name before it expires to another domainer and you will rarely get much – let it expire and whoopee – $5,000 … oh…. wait …. NameJet got the check, not you.
It’s an entirely different mentality to bid in domain auctions and those with deep pockets are either addicts 
or have a master plan. Institutional buyers, corporate bulk buyers – once you have these in’s then dropping many bucks daily is no big deal but it’s the 95% of you who see a name with 50 bidders and say – shit, this has to be worth something.
WAIT – if you didn’t think the name was worth anything when it had ZERO bidders then it’s probably not worth anything more with 50 or 100 bidders.
When you secure that final bid and win the name is your idea of liquidity how much you paid for the name?
Surely, a few of the other bidders would pay close to my end price if I got stuck one day – WRONG. Real portfolio values have nothing to do with auction prices – they are based on many elements outside of what you paid and more how much the name is worth to the end user. In fact, end users don’t care what you paid – they will determine a value.
Kudos to Sahar and the staff at BIDO for getting back up and running but guys – you need better names. Lets put it this way – take away my 100% non-interest in the FixedLoans.com domain – I am slowly losing interest in BIDO and you are only open a week. Its true, a few days ago I commented on a couple domain auctions but basically gave up when I saw the 7 day list since my comments were heading towards … another bad name.
Unlike NameJet and SnapNames, BIDO has a responsibility to provide higher quality names than any of the auction houses in order to enjoy successful and continuous growth.
I’m past the point in my career where you love a company because of who is running it – the system needs to add value to my day, my money and my business. In the case of BIDO – quality, quality, quality is all that counts. Shitty names sell every day on ALL the auction houses for $200, $400, $600 – price points where investors gamble, not so good investors invest and what seems to be not a great deal to lose. However, to get real action (where real press and further industry street credit) is to have high quality domains.
As of this moment I will take a glance at what BIDO is auctioning but believe me its pretty low on my list of things to look at unless I see some quality names going to auction – not ones where I can register better ones as I type. The pre-launch was great news, the launch was well – dull. Again, I’m not criticizing Sahar or anyone at BIDO – I truly respect what they are doing but we all pat each other on the back way too much when in fact many of us are thinking – who the hell is picking out these names. 1,000’s submitted and the best you can get is some domain where you can register the .net or plural for reg fee?? I’m confused….
Moniker has faults also but the reason I’m picking out BIDO is the “One Auction One Day” theme. Choosing 5,000 names for silent auction is surely much tougher than picking one domain a day to auction.
We all know selling a domain purchased on a drop “Life after NameJet as I will call it” can be tough but “Life after BIDO” could be great!
Think about it – 300 names auctioned a year – let’s say 20 great success stories – a wealth of good vibes …. if we were given the names to tell that story.
Bido has everything working for it – the personal touch, the industry connection with Sahar, the support of the blogging community – its all there to make a BIDO an incredible success – so I ask, I plead…
Give us the quality names and we will build the stories to tell.
Otherwise … it’s the same old story … just one domain at a time.
———————————————
P.S. I owe a few people phone calls .. called away on a personal matter .. be in touch soon…
Jetz.Dom | Feb 24, 2009 | Reply
According to Sahar Bido is now in Pre Phase 1, whatever that’s supposed to mean.
Usually the big personalities behind great websites are discovered after a website itself has become great. Rarely, do things happen the other way around. Bido is about big domainer personalities trying to create a great site and so far they suck. I think Ron Jackson discovered this fairly quick and made a courteous exit. The unfortunate thing about being told all the time that your a good guy is that you start to believe that but that alone does not make a good business person. A lot of the big name domainers rarely if ever make a success of website development. For all the talk that Swhartz goes on about I cant think of a single site or project that he has successfully developed. He has just been a lucky domainer. On the other hand someone like Monte Cahn worked his butt off from the ground up from the early days of Hitdomains to Moniker today. The difference is his fame came after the hard wok.
wannadevelop.com | Feb 24, 2009 | Reply
Anybody who tries… Props to them.
I give credit where due.
Bido.com has a long ways to go and I am sure sooner than later they will switch up the biz model and get more aggressive with auctions and sales as well.
Live and learn.
Mike
Alan | Feb 24, 2009 | Reply
Robbie,
good timing – catching up on emails again.
Don’t get me wrong – I give props to all the guys at BIDO for trying but quality of the names they are auctioning is the ONLY reason for anyone to visit the site in its present form.
Put it this way – I spend time most days visiting the New York Times, BBC and a few other sites because I know that somewhere someplace there is probably a valuable article which will provoke some interest.
BIDO has basically ONE product and its not like an entire inventory of the same product.
Its simply ONE domain per day.
Thee names have to be good in order to provide value for asking for someones time.
As you said they have a long way to go and sooner or later will switch up the biz model but based on the selection of domains they need much more help in the selection process.
First, you have to believe in your own product and I’m sure they all do very much however it seems someone is lacking the “would we pay $1,000 for this name” concept.
Ultimately BIDO should be auctioning of names they would pay a certain price for – from what I see many of the names no good investor would register let alone bid – so there is a disconnect somewhere in the selection process.
I hope they succeed but one must also measure the value of their own time. For me, visiting BIDO when names suck is another 10-15 minutes wasted every day and to ask people for that time – any company, especially one offering ONE product a day must put time and effort into providing an inventory much like ones they would buy – since they are the “expert” auction house.
Again, I like Sahar, respect his opinions very much and love the idea of BIDO however NO name should ever sell for $55 – as dressorganic.com did today – when you have one auction a day hand-picked by experts. Sure you wil get a dud every now and then but “hand-picked” domains by “experts” should always end up selling for 500,1000,2000 or more each and every day.
Kudos to the guys for trying but there is a long way to go – truly hope it becomes something great.
Jetz.Dom – no one has ever claimed Schwartz to be a developer. Hell, I’ve commented how he seems to never have anything more than sites that look like spam but maybe that’s not who he is – some develop, some buy, some hold. Rick is far from lucky – he had the foresight to see the industry before you, me and pretty much anyone else. Anyone with a vision can be viewed as lucky 10 years down the road but its more than luck – hard work, late nights, many people calling you nuts – Rick deserves all our credit. Don’t have to agree with him or like the way he does stuff at times but … hell, I very often disagree with him – but its far from luck, all the credit he deserves .. and more.
Kristoff | Feb 25, 2009 | Reply
Nice write-up and thoughts Alan.
I applaud Sahar et al for doing “something” to garner more exposure for this industry and truly hope the platform succeeds, but, alas, I’m afraid it’s going to require a Herculean effort driven by the current inventory.
Unfortunately, the cream-of-the-crop Tier 1 premiums this type of format would need to truly reach its potential will NEVER end up in a $1 NR auction.
As you suggest, some Tier 2 mid-grade domains in the sub-$5K range would at least bring a modicum of respectability and consistent interest.
Again, I just don’t envision any professionals submitting that level of quality under the present format.
If Sahar was deeply committed to seeing Bido succeed and passionate about its future, I would suggest he dip into his own portfolio and offer a few “hand-picked” gems to up the ante (under full disclosure of course) to attract some mainstream attention.
RE Rick:
While I find Rick’s recent blitz of commentary a bit too despondent at times, don’t tell me you wouldn’t swap portfolios with the guy in a heartbeat.
Luck had nothing to do with it.
Alan | Feb 25, 2009 | Reply
Kristoff,
“”I would suggest he dip into his own portfolio and offer a few “hand-picked” gems to up the ante”
That’s exactly one of the things I was alluding to but forgot to specifically say (awkward sentence – need coffee)
I’m not really sure who is involved with BIDO so although the public face is Sahar it really should be something anyone involved with BIDO should do (not just Sahar).
You can spend $5,000, $50,000 or $50 million on technology, prep, manpower – all the elements of building a company but the biggest thing in BIDO’s case are the domains itself. Forget the wallpaper on the forums, ads across the websites – all that money is wasted if the inventory itself does not command attention.
Drop a name that you think is worth 10,000 at a $1 reserve. You may get 20 or you may get 2 but any money lost from what you “perceived” as the value (remember, its only value is really what it sells for – anything else is an asking price) will be offset by the growth and popularity of the site. You need premium or mid-grade premium domains to do this. Anything else … like the $55 and $28 sales the past couple days simply eats away at destroying something you built. Plus over the course of time, you will have enough winners to get your dollar average per name where you want – just a game of win some, lose some but you have to play with quality.
The first motto is “1 premium hand picked domain per day”
Again, I respect Sahar and commend has efforts but at this point they really need to think about switching hands to showcase better domains.
Sahar Sarid | Feb 26, 2009 | Reply
Guys, relax !
First, thanks all for your thoughts and nice words, it’s highly appreciated.
Let me try to explain why a 55$ sale, while may look weak in term of dollars, is something I’m ecstatic about.
For DressOrganic.com. tere were many other similar comments from other members on the site, the sound of this isn’t worth registering. What I want to do here is try and convey this point: Not all domains must be worth millions of dollars, hundred of thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars, thousands of dollars, or even hundreds of dollars, to return the investor well over 100% on registration fee. The domain above is such an example.
Trying to move/sell such a domain on the various message boards and auction houses may be difficult to do as many domains that are listed are truly not worth registration fee and many other are extremely overpriced. Such dynamics is a turn off for active investors who value their time and energy. Selling it on Bido makes perfect sense as our audience is ready, willing, and able, if you present the right opportunity. Our audience is tuned into searching for deals. For the seller in the example above, while 55$ isn’t a lot of money, looking closer at the numbers, after the 8% sale commission the seller pays (4.4$), and after deducting costs (registration fee + renewals), and hopefully recoup his investment and some.
At Bido, we want to be there for you when you need us. The question is can this be scalable into multiple listings a day? As we’ve stated before, Bido will open up in the near future and we’re all going to just wait and see and find out.
As for better inventory, we’re only picking what is the best submissions. Can you imagine what we don’t choose? Don’t you all think we want better domains to hit the homepage? And as picking from our personal inventory, we tried that in the beginning if you remember, it was when we indicated domains were “House Listings” and everyone was against it, complaining we try to sell our own stuff instead of taking from others. The only reason we listed our own stuff was to try and list some that had better value than current. In the future we may still list one here and there to bring some better quality (there is one 3 letter .com domain name scheduled), but the general idea, list from the community.
At the end, we’re not concerned about quality as much as we are about building the site, introducing new models, and LISTENING to what you are saying. I posted further thoughts on why we do what we do on my blog, for those interested, check them out (www.conceptualist.com)
Thanks all for the feedback again !!
Cheers
Sahar
Sahar Sarid | Feb 26, 2009 | Reply
Kristoff:
“Again, I just don’t envision any professionals submitting that level of quality under the present format.”
You are right, why new models will be introduced soon. The first one, and don’t tell anyone please, around March 20th/April.
Than later we expect to introduce yet again another model, this one much broader, around June/July.
We’re here for the long run as you can see. Don’t forget there are many full time Bido employees working on this. Do you really believe we will continue as we are for a long time? Things must change, for the sake of profitability as well as innovation. We’re well aware of it and are working on it.
Cheers
Sahar
Sahar Sarid | Feb 26, 2009 | Reply
Alan,
“I hope they succeed but one must also measure the value of their own time. For me, visiting BIDO when names suck is another 10-15 minutes wasted every day and to ask people for that time – any company, especially one offering ONE product a day must put time and effort into providing an inventory much like ones they would buy – since they are the “expert” auction house.”
At 1$ and no reserve we would buy anything we list, no doubt about that. For all domains we list we believe they are worth more than registration fee. We proved it every single day so far. I’m sure one day will come that we may be wrong, and that’s OK. The market decides, we’re here to learn.
Cheers
Sahar
Alan | Feb 26, 2009 | Reply
Sahar,
Thanks for being a sport – I personally hope and am confident BIDO will get better and better as time goes on.
Most of this was constructive criticism (ouch, words I despise lol) – glad you took it as nothing personal.
It’s hard to want to be part of something (especially something with a social networking element) when the entire reason you visit is really not there yet – quality of domains – but the great thing about BIDO is we can criticize all we want, the power is the moment you either (a) introduce something wonderful or (b) start adding better quality names then bingo – game on again.
Its a challenge to say the least I’m sure … good luck man … I’m on your side.
Kristoff Barnes | Feb 26, 2009 | Reply
Sahar,
I’ll echo Alan’s sentiment…
I respect your willingness to accept and work on addressing some of the current platform’s shortcomings – it speaks volumes about you personally and professionally.
Getting a glimpse into Bido’s bigger picture is appreciated, and I’m encouraged to hear future models will be making their way thru the pipeline.
My point regarding “house auctions” I believe is still something I think could be very beneficial if presented properly.
I’m not suggesting you reserve a slot every other day. That would surely turn people away.
Instead, perhaps once or twice a month. This would allow you to build a steady stream of momentum, excitement and anticipation for the next “Showcase” auction. Additionally, as more investors see your willingness to participate, they might be more apt to join in. Maybe you have something like this already planned for future models.
Also, much of the criticism being flung around in the domainersphere about the Bido relaunch is really uncalled for and does absolutely nothing but send discouraging vibes to the mainstream…so kudos for identifying the truly constructive remarks and ignoring the noise.
Believe me, I’ve been part of quite a few projects involving the size and scope of what you’re attempting. It’s no picnic.
Bido represents a positive opportunity to advance this industry, so it’s in all of our best interests to see that happen.
Stay true to your vision, keep innovating, and don’t be satisfied with the status quo.
We’re in your corner.
George | Mar 5, 2009 | Reply
I think what Bido is doing is great – it is extremely helpful to the wider domaining community and we should all be grateful. It’s unfortunate that people like Alan can’t seem to step back and view the big picture – that not all domains are worth thousands. It’s just not realistic. It seems more to me that people like him are just pissed off that their portfolios haven’t brought in the kind of sales they were hoping for..and it’s an ego thing as they did all the ‘right’ research on the names they acquired.
The fact is the names Bido has picked are mostly of quality -not big money quality – but names that are totally legit and certainly worth what they sold for. This IS good for the domaining community even if it isn’t good for people like Alan’s wallets.
Alan | Mar 5, 2009 | Reply
George,
I’m glad you decided not to give your email since it would be unfortunate to realize exactly who was this stupid.
You response does not even make sense – I never said they were all worth thoushands, never complained about sales and only wished BIDO the best.
Whatever man – a dumb comment like this is really not even worth a reply.
George | Mar 6, 2009 | Reply
First, I should clarify that you are right – you didn’t say all domains are worth thousands. I didn’t mean to insinuate that. I should have been more clear in saying that I disagreed with your analysis of Bido picking names that WEREN’T all worth thousands.
Perhaps, it was unfair of me to lump you in with all of the pissed off blog posts I’ve been seeing lately…but it seems that a lot of frustration stems from the fact that ‘quality’ domains aren’t selling…and here is Bido, a platform run by established domainers…giving an insane amount of exposure to names that go against all the ‘rules’ and ‘logic’ of domaining.
To be more specific, I’ll use an example. You expressed frustration over the fact that Bido is auctioning names that still had the .net available. Well…so what? The .net for one particular name I think you were referring to…was already picked up when I tried to register it…as I thought the .com was a solid generic that obviously slipped through the cracks of ‘domainer tools’.
Anyway, whether or not the .net is registered isn’t necessarily a good reason to decide a domain isn’t worth even reg fee or unworthy of a Bido auction. I think that is shortsighted thinking…(the reasons will take up too much space here).
Lastly, you are right again – you didn’t complain about sales, you did wish Bido the best – BUT you did complain about the domains they have been choosing.
I was merely responding to that as you are willingly & widely publicizing your rather strong opinion. You leave the comments open on your blog – therefore, I mistakenly assumed you were open to comments – whether or not they agreed with your own. But by calling me ’stupid’, I realize this is not the case. Regardless, I wanted to at least point out where you were right and clarify my statements.
Alan | Mar 6, 2009 | Reply
George,
When you personally attack people and accuse them of having large ego’s or invalidate any constructive criticsm by saying the only reason for it is that it doesn’t put money in my wallet – yes, its stupid.
Your second post was more intelligent so you’re not stupid but your first post was.
Leaving comments open is NEVER an invitation for personal attacks but for intelligent discussion.
As for the .net comparision – you are taking my words too literal. Premium domains usually have other extensions gone and if they do not it DOES affect the value of the domain. After all, if the .com is a “premium domain” then any .net of the same is worth more more than $6. I never said good names were not available if the .net wasn’t registered – just said the premium value is lessened becuse of an alternative choice.
As for widely publicizing – dude, I wrote one post on a blog, certainly did not take out a front page ad in the New York times.
Now, my right to complain about the domains they picked. Why not??? If I started BIDO and choose bad names I am sure I would hear it – hell, I would expect to hear it since I would be wondering why many names we hand-picked are selling for below $100. After all, they are supposed to be premium domains.
I like Sahar very much and enjoy his professionalism, his experience and his dedication the industry but I’ve also been in the busines just as long as him and longer than Kevin, Frank and most people.
In any business, domains, real estate, stocks – anything – you do not hold back and just stay silent on issues because they were started by someone. Far too often people are disillusioned with the face behind the product. Sahar is a great domainer and a great invester but is he a great auctioner? I hope so and certainly hope we will be with BIDO but you don’t just carry over a blanket “hush policy” because he is Sahar. Sure, some people go too far and attack personally but my article was about provoking thought about getting better quality names while at the same hoping and wishing them the best in the future.
I’m 100% on Sahar’s side believe it or not.
Also, if you want any further comments approved then use a real email. You are hiding behind the email of someone else and there is nothing to hide. We are all adults here with one goal in mind – to further the domain industry.