Yesterday another Targeted Traffic (does anyone know what the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is meant to stand for?!) auction was held, the headline figures are $10.9 million of name sales and a pile more ($63 million) of unaccepted bids.
We have decided to break down the pre-auction ‘reserve category’ and the top offers on the top of the ‘passed’ domains:
$5M+
auction.com pass $4,500,000 (We expect this to close at 5mil shortly.)
dermatology.com pass $4,500,000
HorseRacing.com pass $4,500,000
Slots.com pass $4,500,000
$1M-$5M
artist.com pass $750,000
cats.com pass $2,000,000
commodities.com pass $1,750,000
Dollars.com pass $700,000
DSL.com pass $1,500,000
menopause.com pass $1,500,000
obgyn.com pass $1,000,000
PRESSRELEASES.COM pass $2,500,000
PuertoRico.com pass $3,500,000
Scotland.com pass $3,000,000
six.com pass $1,000,000
Student.com pass $3,000,000
Tourist.com pass $750,000
It could be viewed that the $5M+ names have had ’safe’ bids placed at a level where sales are not likely. Generally we are taking the view that any bids at less than reserve are meaningless however we are sure supporters of certain TLD’s and genres will use it as proof of a booming market and demand.
The rumour mill was hard at work with Scores.mobi reportedly having a reserve of $120,000 yet only reaching $115,000 with no active bidding. Sadly the auctioneer did not point out another $5k would secure the name, with many reading this as a sign that the $115k was a prebid and no active bidders to take it past the reserve. Perhaps with the auction taking over three hours to complete fatigue has kicked in (with people reportedly leaving early) so bidding lacks the frenzied approach that drives prices upwards.
There has been alot of comment on blogs and forums that the high reserve prices are indicative of ‘greedy’ domainers, who are not interested in gaining sales unless it is at top dollar. Others are reporting "The big story today was also the bubble bursting for .mobi domains" due to the lack of sales.
The top twenty names that sold (subject to payment and transfer) are:
$3,000,000 CreditCheck.com
$1,800,000 Seniors.com
$550,000 Cardiology.com
$400,000 CarSales.com
$400,000 Bald.com
$300,000 Text.com
$250,000 Locals.com
$220,000 Spices.com
$175,000 Clock.com
$160,000 Psychologists.com
$150,000 MegaYachts.com
$140,000 Charters.com
$135,000 Lips.com
$135,000 Blogging.com
$115,000 Note.com
$100,000 Bulk.com
$95,000 ZN.com
$95,000 Fountain.com
$82,500 Pimple.com
$80,000 DiscountPerfumes.com
(Fuller sales lists are here and here)
The stand out buy in our opinion is Text.com for $300k / £150k , and the buyer of CreditCheck.com came and went specifically for that domain as right after the auction he ran out the door. Hopefully he is located again to complete the transaction 