Domaining lesson to be learnt - a personal tale

domainseller200 · Jun 20, 2011

We all push our luck a little bit from time to time with regards to both buying and selling domains, so I thought I would share my recent experience with you.

On 9th June I stumbled across correct.co.uk listed for sale on Sedo. I liked the name and submitted a £500 opening bid. They countered back £750 to which I was surprised, as I personally valued it at £1500-2000 to the right person even in the reseller market.

Foolishly I didn't accept the £750 counter offer, and instead decided to try my luck and bid £575. The seller then proceeded to push to Sedo auction and I was gutted.

No other bids were made on the name, until the day before auction ended (which I was fully expecting, and the main reason I was gutted) and it was for £625

On the final day, in the last 20 minutes of the auction I decided to counter bid again, and was winning again at £800. Cue a couple more bids from both of us, and we were now on £1,500 with me being the winning bidder.

Then a bid of £1,550 was placed and I decided to let it go (one of the reasons being, I was convinced I was being shill bidded at the time)

Auction History here

I then watched the whois over the next few days, and it did change to someone not connected to the original seller.

I kicked myself as I could have bought it for £750, if I hadn't have tried to squeeze that extra £175 down, and even more gutted as I knew it was a good price at that price.

The lesson I learnt here, and the reason I am telling others - if you REALLY believe something is worth the asking price, then don't hesitate and just buy it or you will end up regretting it.

BREWSTERS · Jun 20, 2011

That's the thing with sedo - the seller had very little to lose by going to auction in this instance whereas by your own valuation (and admission) you had much more.

accelerator · Jun 20, 2011

Out of interest did you use the custom comment facility on Sedo? I find this can be used to establish rapport and therefore help in finalising the sale rather than going to auction.

Rgds

bensd · Jun 20, 2011

accelerator said:
Out of interest did you use the custom comment facility on Sedo? I find this can be used to establish rapport and therefore help in finalising the sale rather than going to auction.

Rgds

Not really applicable in this situation.

Frank would have paid £750 for it and was in a position where he could have secured it for that price.

foz · Jun 21, 2011

Shows the pushing to auction achieves better results for the seller. I do it if I feel the domain will have a wide appeal.

Admin · Jun 21, 2011

This can go pear-shaped on the selling side too. I had a high £x,xxx domain bid through Sedo and decided to push it to auction. The domain got no higher bids and original bidder never completed the transaction and walked away. I did wonder after if i hadn't pushed it to auction (delaying things by over a week) if they would have coughed up.

Admin

websaway · Jun 21, 2011

admin said:
This can go pear-shaped on the selling side too. I had a high £x,xxx domain bid through Sedo and decided to push it to auction. The domain got no higher bids and original bidder never completed the transaction and walked away. I did wonder after if i hadn't pushed it to auction (delaying things by over a week) if they would have coughed up.

Admin

I suppose it's no use asking for the bidders name

anthony · Jun 21, 2011

websaway said:
I suppose it's no use asking for the bidders name

Unfortunately this is one of the things that can really irritate a buyer on Sedo. I can appreciate Admins choice because Sedo give that to the seller, but I know that as a buyer, seeing your bid effectively converted to an auction can rub you up the wrong way. It's a shame that after all this time Sedo still haven't given the buyer the formal ability to withdraw their bid if the seller throws it over to auction.

accelerator · Jun 21, 2011

anthony said:
Unfortunately this is one of the things that can really irritate a buyer on Sedo. I can appreciate Admins choice because Sedo give that to the seller, but I know that as a buyer, seeing your bid effectively converted to an auction can rub you up the wrong way. It's a shame that after all this time Sedo still haven't given the buyer the formal ability to withdraw their bid if the seller throws it over to auction.

That's why I use the custom comments field. I tell them if they bid x, I will use that as the opening offer in an auction.

Rgds

wb · Jun 21, 2011

accelerator said:
That's why I use the custom comments field. I tell them if they bid x, I will use that as the opening offer in an auction.

Rgds

The bad thing about Sedo comments is they have to get approved first, which as both a buyer and seller is very annoying (in my opinion anyway).

Surely the comments should just be made available instantly but still put in a moderation queue, so anyone abusing it (i.e. posting contact details) has their account banned and cannot list/sell in future.

Skinner · Jun 21, 2011

I have been on the seller pear shaped side as the buyer.

I bid on a health related name at high-xxx, they returned 4x higher so I was like umm they are going to want triple my bid and cancelled out. Well 6 months later they accepted a bid of £500, no auction, no nothing just sold. So holding out can back-fire that way too.