Rick Latona throws in the towel when it comes to domain auctions

**Adam Dicker** · 03-30-2011, 12:22 PM

"After many attempts we’ve officially decided not to do any more domain auctions on Latona’s. sedo dominates the online domain auction space and they do it well."

http://www.ricklatona.com/2011/03/29...ion-there-now/

**mjnels** · 03-30-2011, 04:28 PM

its like trying to compete with ebay but in a much more niche market.. from a sellers perspective it doesnt make sense to risk trying out a new venue for the greater good..

**tonyfloyd** · 03-30-2011, 08:42 PM

First mass development with aeiou.com.......then the TRAFFIC shows.....and now domain auctions.....

**urlurl** · 03-30-2011, 09:14 PM

Originally Posted by mjnels

its like trying to compete with ebay but in a much more niche market.. from a sellers perspective it doesnt make sense to risk trying out a new venue for the greater good..

i agree - it is very risky especially for sellers with high value names - on the other hand, it was possible for buyers to grab a deal (assuming there was no or low reserve)

**Acro** · 03-30-2011, 09:25 PM

As far as I can tell, Latona's auction platform is far superior. The problem is exposure of domains to the general public, same issue with attendance of domainer conferences.

**Wot** · 03-31-2011, 04:53 AM

Sad but not unexpected.

We are in definite need of real competition for sedo as they rule the roost at the moment.

**bdss** · 03-31-2011, 05:58 AM

Originally Posted by Wot

Sad but not unexpected.

We are in definite need of real competition for sedo as they rule the roost at the moment.

True we need more competition.

**Nathan King** · 03-31-2011, 06:21 AM

Originally Posted by bdss

True we need more competition.

This would be a great need for a domaining forum to fill. It's already got a large number of buyers and sellers, along with a large amount of buyer/seller feedback. It's just lacking in a proper platform for conducting auctions. I know it's being tried elsewhere, but I don't know how well that implementation will work.

Perhaps a spin-off site like Flippa?

**NamePursuit** · 03-31-2011, 07:00 AM

stop hating Tony, he tried and admits defeat.

**bwhhisc** · 03-31-2011, 08:07 AM

Originally Posted by tonyfloyd

First mass development with aeiou.com.......then the TRAFFIC shows.....and now domain auctions.....

For some the glass is half full, for others half empty.

I say kudos to Rick for all his pioneering efforts.

**Adam Dicker** · 03-31-2011, 08:12 AM

I think Rick is one of the smart ones, he took a shot at a few things and was smart enough to get out before he lost his shirt.

That's the sign of a smart businessman.

If we don't try we will never succeed.

-=DCG=-

**David G** · 03-31-2011, 10:56 AM

What with the huge PPC declines, downturns in sales, domainers exiting the business, and so many domainers heavily trimming portfolios (instead of adding domains) there will likely be other well known industry firms going out of business, including some parking firms (I predict one of the largest), and trade shows too. There is far too much market saturation and industry firms for this type of poor environment.

**ksinclair** · 03-31-2011, 01:30 PM

I have long believed that the auction format is the wrong format for domaining. It seems artificial to me.
Once you have multiple auction houses in existence, they have to keep running auctions just to keep their
business going. But how often are there really premium sales? The true premium sales are infrequent and
are to end users. We are all better off to trim our portfolios to a manageable size; do some interesting
development on our better domains, have a pretty lander for the rest, and get some good end user sales.

One big end user sale can do so much more than laboriously selling domain after domain at minimal prices.

sedo is all we need really, and then one big auction per year. 99% of non-.com domains are not going to do much
at any auction anyway so why have them. Once big TRAFFIC auction per year would be awesome, IMO. Do a lot
of marketing ahead of time, build up excitement, and then have the show.

It would have more legitimacy, IMO, if it was about more than domains - we need a lot more emphasis on developed sites,
selling sites with some traction. There are plenty of domains with good ideas and funding, so they arent more developing?

**katherine** · 03-31-2011, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by David G

What with the huge PPC declines, downturns in sales, domainers exiting the business, and so many domainers heavily trimming portfolios (instead of adding domains) there will likely be other well known industry firms going out of business, including some parking firms (I predict one of the largest), and trade shows too. There is far too much market saturation and industry firms for this type of poor environment.

I agree, domaining is a niche industry and there is no room for a dozen players like sedo.

**radioz** · 03-31-2011, 10:45 PM

The problem with domain auctions though is that they almost exclusively involve domainers buying from other domainers. This works fine for a while until there is no one to up the ante. That problem exists with collectibles too which, in a sense domain names sort of are, in part. As to even sedo, only the somewhat savvy end user has a clue who they are. In addition to having questions like 'are you a real, live cyber squatter' (really, and they thought that was awesome!) when you tell someone that you 'buy and sell domain names', I get questions like 'am I allowed to own a domain name?' or 'how do I buy one?'. Even Go Daddy's reach is limited. I have also offered decent generic two word .com niche, hyphenless names to truly large commercial companies using things like 'My-Name.net', MyNameInc.com', or even 'MyName.org' for just $250-500 and gotten back a note that they are very happy with their name or, 'we view the 'Inc' as an important part of our name'. People either get this or don't and most who should don't. On the other hand, these guys are often running successful businesses which is more than I can say for the 'real' website that I've built using a fairly expensive (X,XXX), well search for generic term. The problem? Someone else has a vastly inferior site on a somewhat lesser name. They started it in 1996 though so that is where the people go. I get traffic but mostly it's people looking to see if anyone has posted something or listed something for sale. More and more, the internet is sort of like ebay. There is a sole source and it is very hard to penetrate their reach even if they are only just adequate. Changing habits is nearly impossible!

**Acro** · 03-31-2011, 10:50 PM

Well-said, Jon.

**David G** · 03-31-2011, 11:03 PM

Originally Posted by radioz

...questions like 'are you a real, live cyber squatter' (really, and they thought that was awesome!) when you tell someone that you 'buy and sell domain names', I get questions like 'am I allowed to own a domain name?'

It's still hard to believe how poorly educated the public is on domains. Several years ago I had a friend who quickly became a non-friend the instant she heard I owned a fully generic geo real estate name (CityStateRealEstate.com) in another state. She said she thinks it's highly unethical to do that and that name should only be used by Realtors in that city and state. Trying to explain it fell on deaf ears and we never talked again.

**Mark Talbot** · 03-31-2011, 11:34 PM

The thing about sedo is, that is where the buyers are looking.
Kudos to Rick, and smart for getting out imho.

It isnt about what venues are available to sell, but as stated, who is buying in the end.

I know I am no big seller, lol, seller at all, I sit on my domain names waiting patiently,...waiting.
It doesnt cost me much to just sit on mine, and I use them as I see fit. I can wait forever for some of them.

But for those that buy to sell. They need an outlet with visibility.

And sedo has that right now to end users as well as investors.

But just like Baseball cards, the market is fragile.
And all the market needs to fail on, is lack of liquidity.

There are only so many end users ya know.

**radioz** · 04-01-2011, 02:37 AM

sedo is very stogy and very set in their ways. It is not impossible to think that someone could best them but as I mentioned in my last post, habits are hard to break. From what I saw of Rick Latona's auction (and I don't mean to be cruel) I don't think that he had anywhere near the formula to do that.

Another problem is the shear amount of crap that is listed. I was just enticed (momentarily) to click on the 'Be Green...Recycle' banner here. It leads to a site called CAX.com which doesn't seem to stand for anything and which has a banner that doesn't match anything either. It is owned by Domaining.com and has won awards from them (I'm sure they were hard fought for!). The real point though is the mostly mediocre to horrid domains listed. One had an appraised value of $20 and a minimum price of $800! Happily, it does have lots of attached data that mostly supports my supposition! As one would expect, almost none had bids or offers. By no means is sedo devoid of these names nor is Go Daddy or almost anyone else. This makes searching for even half baked names very difficult. You can't get but so selective but most of us can look and see the difference between a legitimately 'cute' name or a niche name and what is patently junk. If you can't, you really need to quit. As it is, making money isn't easy as many of us know.

The bottom line is that if anyone is going to best Sedo, it will have to be by eliminating the 'junk'. This will offend the seller who is convinced that the next great social network will absolutely have to have his name 'Grurple.com' (after all, don't forget 'Coupon' with a 'Gr' is 'Groupon'...this is 'Purple' with a 'Gr'...Pay Dirt!...$100K min. bid!). Prices would need to start at about $100 and be worth it. Oh, and, by the way, a few Million for promotion would help too.

**Stian** · 04-01-2011, 04:47 AM

Originally Posted by David G

It's still hard to believe how poorly educated the public is on domains. Several years ago I had a friend who quickly became a non-friend the instant she heard I owned a fully generic geo real estate name (CityStateRealEstate.com) in another state. She said she thinks it's highly unethical to do that and that name should only be used by Realtors in that city and state. Trying to explain it fell on deaf ears and we never talked again.

Wow. Your (ex) friend must have some serious issues in her head.