Sedo Auction Moan

[retired_member34]

<moan>

This has been touched upon before, but as a buyer it can be very frustrating to make an offer for a domain on Sedo, that is not accepted as a purchase price, but is accepted as an opening bid on an auction.

Why is there no option to withdraw a bid? Or perhaps to make an offer than cannot be used as an opening bid?

I cannot think of any other sales system where this applies. Imagine walking into a used car showroom, making an offer for a car and the seller then using it as a legally binding opening bid for an auction?? Come back in 7 days to see if you have bought it...yeah right, bye.

The reason for the moan? I make an offer for a crappy two word geo-modifier, that is available in all extensions apart from .co.uk. However, it fits another domain I have quite well, and I would like it in the .co.uk, so it's worth something to me, the seller will make a few quid and we are all happy.

I initially offer the minimum, £45. The seller wants 10 times this, and changes the minimum offer to £150. It's not worth it as I could just register the .com, but sod it, I would still like it so I offer this amount. Does he accept it or reject it? No, it is now in a 7 day auction...

What I want to do is walk away because I am just annoyed now, but I cannot as Sedo does not allow it. Was it really worth naffing off the buyer in this way, just for a possible extra few quid? Sedo really should change this...

</moan>

I feel better now :-D

 

[Brassneck]

<moan>

This has been touched upon before, but as a buyer it can be very frustrating to make an offer for a domain on Sedo, that is not accepted as a purchase price, but is accepted as an opening bid on an auction.

Why is there no option to withdraw a bid? Or perhaps to make an offer than cannot be used as an opening bid?

I cannot think of any other sales system where this applies. Imagine walking into a used car showroom, making an offer for a car and the seller then using it as a legally binding opening bid for an auction?? Come back in 7 days to see if you have bought it...yeah right, bye.

The reason for the moan? I make an offer for a crappy two word geo-modifier, that is available in all extensions apart from .co.uk. However, it fits another domain I have quite well, and I would like it in the .co.uk, so it's worth something to me, the seller will make a few quid and we are all happy.

I initially offer the minimum, £45. The seller wants 10 times this, and changes the minimum offer to £150. It's not worth it as I could just register the .com, but sod it, I would still like it so I offer this amount. Does he accept it or reject it? No, it is now in a 7 day auction...

What I want to do is walk away because I am just annoyed now, but I cannot as Sedo does not allow it. Was it really worth naffing off the buyer in this way, just for a possible extra few quid? Sedo really should change this...

</moan>

I feel better now :-D

Well - the domain in question is probably mine. Problem is a bid of £45 means I give Sedo £35. Hence the minimum offer setting. As a seller quite a few of auctions started in this way have resulted in getting a higher price, something serveal hundred pounds above the starting price. Sorry if it annoys you but I (and others) are only taking advantage of the feature that Sedo supplies - and in any case who says if I didn't have this option that I wouldn't have said no to the offer.

Stephen.

 

[bluerock]

I can see your point but also the sellers!

He would have seen:
Sales Price: 45 GBP
Less Sedo Fees: -35 GBP
Amount to be paid: 15 GBP

Which is not very tempting.

The system does give other domainers an idea of whats up for sale .

 

[Brassneck]

I can see your point but also the sellers!

He would have seen:
Sales Price: 45 GBP
Less Sedo Fees: -35 GBP
Amount to be paid: 15 GBP

Which is not very tempting.

The system does give other domainers an idea of whats up for sale .

Acually £10 which is even less tempting!

 

[rob]

Acually £10 which is even less tempting!

Who pays the transfer fees

 

[bluerock]

Acually £10 which is even less tempting!

Sorry Stephen... I'm not very good with sums!

 

[retired_member12]

I think one of the points GeoMal was making was to have the ability to withdraw his offer if the seller uses it to start an auction. I dont see any problem with Sedo giving buyers that option, it just chooses not to.

 

[Brassneck]

I think one of the points GeoMal was making was to have the ability to withdraw his offer if the seller uses it to start an auction. I dont see any problem with Sedo giving buyers that option, it just chooses not to.

I actually agree with that. I've never bought a name via Sedo so presumably they warn that going to auction is a possibility. Wonder what percentage of low value sales end up in auction?

Problem is once somebody bids a very low amount, it sort of sets the tone for the negotiation. Substracting the original nominet registration fees I would have got £4 something profit from accepting the original bid which doesn't put you in the best of frames of mind.

Stephen.

 

[retired_member12]

I have bought through Sedo, and the seller did indeed pass it to auction. As it happened, no one else bid on it anyway, but it still annoyed me to hell at the time, I had to keep checking to see if I'd been outbid, and to be honest it left a bitter taste in the mouth simply because I had no say in the matter.

I've never bought through Sedo since!

 

[retired_member34]

Well - the domain in question is probably mine. Problem is a bid of £45 means I give Sedo £35. Hence the minimum offer setting. As a seller quite a few of auctions started in this way have resulted in getting a higher price, something serveal hundred pounds above the starting price. Sorry if it annoys you but I (and others) are only taking advantage of the feature that Sedo supplies - and in any case who says if I didn't have this option that I wouldn't have said no to the offer.

Stephen.

Stephen,

I didn't realise it at the time of my first post, but doing a little digging it looks like we are talking about the same domain (had I known it was yours I wouldn't have bothered with Sedo but approached you directly). My moan wasn't aimed at you though, but at Sedo. Sedo's system is biased towards the seller here, IMHO. It is small beer in this particular example, but I have been caught out on this before.

The amount that I would offer on an auction start and the amount I would offer for an instant sale is very often different. Just the same as the amount I might pay on a BIN on a domain on this forum, or on eBay, may be higher to guarantee the capture of a domain. In an auction, I would normally start lower - as I think most would.

Sedo don't make this distinction though.

 

[Edwin]

I've totally given up buying through Sedo precisely because of this add-to-auction feature.

 

[mojoco]

I bid on a name that was then sent to auction. It annoyed me at the time. Rather than looking out for the end of the auction I added the name to my Sedo watchlist, requesting that they advise me when a higher bid comes in.
The notification of a higher bid arrived in my inbox after the auction had ended! I missed the name, the seller missed out on a higher price.

 

[redbird]

I have to admit I sell a few via auction from an offer and have never really thought about it from the buyers perspective.

Never having made an offer that went to auction, I have no idea what the potential buy gets told regarding the possibility of going to auction, perhaps someone can enlighten me.

For me probably about half sell for the reserve opening bid, but then the other half sell for more and in some cases substantially more. Recently I had one sell for 4 times the opening bid/reserve price. I have also had one or two that didn't complete, possibly because the buyer was p***d off with the auction.

I send domains to auction typically where the offer is lower than I would be prepared to accept as an outright sale, but not too much lower so I take my chances it goes higher in an auction. Overall the the auction option works for me, however some buyers will get domains at the reserve price that I would not have accepted otherwise.

I would have no objection though if Sedo gave the buyer the option to withdraw the offer if the domain is sent to auction. At the end of the day if the buyer objects they just don't pay and Sedo will not do anything to enforce the agreement other than send a couple of reminder emails.


There have also been several occasions when I've negotiated with a potential buyer having contacted me direct, without Sedo. If we haven't managed to reach agreement on price but not too far off, I have on several occasions given the buyer the option of making the offer via Sedo and telling them I will auction it and "take my chances it goes higher". In virtually all cases this option has been accepted. If it sells for reserve then I lose out as have to pay Sedo, but that's the gamble. Overall I win

Dave

 

[retired_member12]

Here's how I was notified:

Your recent offer of 100 USD for ****.*** has met the seller's reserve and the seller has decided to hold a public auction for the domain. Your offer of 100 USD will be used as the starting bid and reserve price. If the seller does not receive a higher offer during the auction period your offer of 100 USD, which remains binding for seven days from your initial offer, will be accepted for sale.

...Since the reserve price has already been met per your recent bid, the domain will definitely sell to the highest bidder!

 

[redbird]

Yes, I can see why some buyer's may be p****d off, however I see that as Sedo's responsibilty to improve communication as the seller only has the option to

1. accept
2. reject
3. auction.

For domains I send to auction....
1. is a definate no as the offer is too low.
2. pointless for both parties
3. only option that will result in a sale

I will continue to use the auction option and await Sedo's improvements

 

[Nigel]

You can always use the 'send an open comment' feature to open dialogue. I have used this when I haven't wanted my maximum bid to be used as starting bid of an auction. So if you're prepared to pay £500 for the domain but don't want the seller to use this as the start for an auction you instead bid £300 and say in the 'open comment' box that you would be prepared to pay £500 if he would counterbid that amount. If the seller goes to auction with your bid of £300 he risks losing £200 if no other buyer comes in. Of course the seller might get the hump with your approach, and cancel the negotiations, or refuse to counterbid £500, but that's all part of domain negotiation. You'll win some and lose some.

 

[retired_member12]

Nigel, it would be much simpler dont you think, to give the buyer the option of not allowing his bid to be part of an auction if he wishes. It's a 'tick box' matter, simple!

 

[Nigel]

Nigel, it would be much simpler dont you think, to give the buyer the option of not allowing his bid to be part of an auction if he wishes. It's a 'tick box' matter, simple!

Yes I agree with you - if Sedo were to allow that option - but I think it's extremely unlikely that they'll agree to it. I get the feeling there are a lot of domain owners that like pressing the auction button. I've always felt decent sales have been harder to achieve since the auction option was introduced.