Dutch based auction platform, shall I carry on? :)

Following on from a discussion we had on here a month or two ago I have been slowly working on an auction platform in my spare time. Functionality is getting there now but should I carry on? Here's a screenshot:

http://snag.gy/ehmIT.jpg

I feel this has great potential. The fear of a potential buyer losing a domain should in theory increase the overall sales price.

There will also be no penalties for non-sold domains and only commission based on successful sales (£10 max). Also this format means sellers can set the lowest price they're willing to sell for based on the drop rate and interval.

Thanks,
Dave

Edit: P.S I am aware that dummy data is inaccurate lol.

 

My view would be to use this software mate, http://www.phpprobid.com/auction-software-demo/admin/login.php

It has it on there and you can buy it off the peg for £100'ish I think. My thinking for this kind of project is that you need some kind of Ajax software to show it ticking down as the view watches. In my opinion it needs to drop each second and not in big slots.

That's how I would want to see it from a buyers point of view. See what others say and should be able to put together some kind of big picture.

 

Thanks for your input mate. Glad to see you're enthusiastic about it too.

In terms of the software I've already programmed a lot of the functionality already so I'll just carry on as I do love programming.

Yeah perhaps the drop rates I set are too big and small increments every second may prove more engaging, I suppose it's all about finding the perfect balance. What do others think in regards to this?

Also what do you think about my proposed monetisation model?

I also forgot to mention all submitted domains will go into a moderation queue so I won't just let it get flooded with rubbish. I may also switch to a voting system and let's say if a domain gets say 5 votes from other members its immediately put onto the home page, so it also keeps that clutter free too.

Thanks,
Dave

 

If you pick up a sledge hammer like Denys has on scammers publically name and shame too, and you kick TMs out the window, keep it clean and high quality then no reason it can't work.

You may have to send some of your better domains off to slaughter tho, which is what Denys did on domainlore and he still does list many of his own when it gets slow.

 

£30 - out of the box

http://www.premiumpress.com/auctiontheme/

 

I think you're missing the point:

Some people (including myself) love to develop and build our own things.
Even if there is something else out there that might be able to do a job, it doesn't necessarily mean it will do the job we want.

Yeah you could build/improve upon an already existing platform, but where is the fun/satisfaction in that?

I like the look of it Dave. Keep us posted. =)

 

*shudders*

I hate diving into other peoples code, its like pulling a thread out of a jumper, you just never how deep or many things will go wrong.

sometimes its just easier to write your own which does the job, nothing but the job, and you know the code inside out.

 

Exactly. Some people (non-developers?) just don't get that.

 

I like the clean look of it an simplicity and colours
I think there is a market for this, in same way was a market and still is fo domainlore
do yourself a favour and make it .co.uk and .com, maybe a section for each if need be

also make free for first month when starts that will give you a running start and people will use and when people see works wil use after

maybe promote as much as poss before hand
get mentioned on blogs etc
if it's only .co.uk you will just back yourself down a sidestreet

 

I did this in 2011 http://web.archive.org/web/20110726194855/http://www.dncountdown.com/

It was free. Only a few people used it and they filled it up with overpriced worthless domains and, even though it had visitors, people didn't buy anything. There was no route to monetisation so I stopped it. The mistake to avoid I guess would be not to let everyone list any old domain for high prices. But in my experience if people have to pay it dies out.

 

@Pred, @Skinner, @seemly thanks a lot.

Thanks mate. As mentioned all submitted domains will be moderated, and even with this I may also introduce a voting system so other members can vote to get domains in the spotlight (for domains already not in the spot light). There is no subscription, joining or penalty fees either. Only £5 commision if a domain sells for under £100, £10 commission if sold over £10. (Only an example but enough to get started with).

I will also do my best to build a database of end users who agree to receive newsletters and emails matching any keywords they maybe interested in. I'll get cards printed and do some paid advertising too.

Trust me I'll do everything I can to make this modern, fresh, educative, informative and spam-free as possible.

I've always liked this graphic at domain name sales and will do something similar specific to UK buyers:

http://domainnamesales.com/bin/images/DNS-Domains101-v7-01.png?1353422401

I will also make it easy for any viewers to share an auction with contacts via social media and emails, as theres every chance a typical viewer may have a contact who could potentially be interested in said domain.

In the future I will branch off to other tld's but for now just sticking with co.uk.

Thanks again all.

 

I tend to go outside and stuff like that, so I find it easier to get someone else to do the hard work whilst I just enjoy the spoils.

 

Thing is, that it isn't just code that these bigger platforms specialise in. I understand from a coders point of view that you want your own. However their is a logic flow that has taken years for them to develop. I can't see someone being able to catch up or foresee those kind of issues without years of similar experience of developing an auction platform.

To me it's like a mechanic building his own car when it takes him 100,000 man hours and it doesn't work as well as a off the shelf Ford that he could buy for £10k.

Just because things are easier and off the shelf, doesn't mean that they aren't better. That's very general and not specific to your aims on this by the way.

 

Of course you do pudding... most 12 year old's do.

 

lol - I cant put that

 

I think you'll get better quality submissions if you charge when names DON'T sell (like DomainLore).

So the platform is free if the name sells, and the seller pays if it fails to attract attention.

You can also tweak it so that it's free if the name sells for over £100, £5 if it sells for under £100 and £10 if it doesn't sell at all (and have auctions expire at £50 after X hours of holding at that as the minimum price, i.e. count down from the initial price to £50, then stop counting down) That would seem to provide the right level of incentive for people not to dump regfee names, and gently "penalises" people who are using it to pawn sub-£100 names (but if enough sales come along, it may still be worth paying the £5 for low ticket sales).

In summary:
Name sells for >£100: free
Name sells for £50-£100: £5 fee
Name doesn't sell: £10 fee

You could go one step further, and have a "virtual credit" of £10 added to the seller's account if the sale price was over £1,000 and the sale completes. In other words, the cost to the seller is effectively "-£10" (which beats the percentage taken by any other venue, as it's better-than-free) As long as it is super-clear that no refunds can ever be issued, i.e. credits must be used up within the system, it means that people who have a run of solid sales can use those sales to build up a buffer against future listing fees.

The attraction for you of course is that £xxxx sales make your sales platform look more appealing, and help to build credibility and traction in the market.

You would then have the following:
Name sells for >£1,000: £10 credit to seller's account, good against future listings
Name sells for >£100 but <£1,000: free
Name sells for £50-£100: £5 fee
Name doesn't sell: £10 fee

 

Edwin thank you. I've never looked at in that way before but it definitely makes sense and I see where you're coming from, I will strongly consider it. Anything to help gain credibility is key. You're a very smart guy mate.

 

This all sounds like a lot of work to me Dave that isn't going to end with any real payoff for you even if it does get popular.

 

I'm not doing this for the money mate, but just for the love of doing it and wanting to give back to the community. I've contributed to open source projects in the past without expecting anything back in return. I have a full time job that pays me and I earn from domain sales. Hosting is so cheap for sites these days if you know what you're doing. EC2 + SES or Mandrill anyone?.

Saying that sure money is always nice but this time perhaps it could be monetisation through reputation.