TBR- Oct 12th, 2011

**DOTCA** · 10-10-2011, 06:06 PM

Looked to me like another weak week, but if one wants to enter the d-a-s-h market, there are quite a few to choose from...

**stewie** · 10-10-2011, 09:10 PM

it's a d-a-s-h f-e-s-t... for sure

**Maxwell** · 10-10-2011, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by stewie

it's a d-a-s-h f-e-s-t... for sure

Yeah, I was wondering about those.

I'm interested in 7 names this week. There doesn't seem to be a white whale, which is a bit disappointing.

**DOTCA** · 10-11-2011, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by Maxwell

There doesn't seem to be a white whale, which is a bit disappointing.

May be a w-h-i-t-e-w-h-a-l-e somewhere in there...

---------- Post added at 01:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:56 PM ----------

Originally Posted by stewie

it's a d-a-s-h f-e-s-t... for sure

**hugegrowth** · 10-11-2011, 01:34 PM

Going to have a look at the list today.

**jaydub** · 10-12-2011, 09:49 AM

If you like hyphens...you will be in Hyphen-Heaven.

**hugegrowth** · 10-12-2011, 10:00 AM

searched the list with my favorite keywords and didn't see much. will check the results at the end of the day.

**Adam Dicker** · 10-12-2011, 10:12 AM

I am skipping today, not much there at all worth it.

Adam

**DOTCA** · 10-12-2011, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by DotComGod

I am skipping today, not much there at all worth it.

Adam

I think that was the reason why I manged to get the one I liked.. thanks.

**Spex** · 10-13-2011, 02:34 PM

So two names that I offered up here numerous times got picked up in the TBR yesterday, one of which was in the top 50.

You have to wonder who these TBR buyers are sometimes

**jaydub** · 10-13-2011, 06:45 PM

I see quite a few names that are offered here show up in the TBR....

**msn** · 10-13-2011, 08:21 PM

Considering we bought 35 of the TBRs, you might be saying something in our direction.

Just the same, this was only about half of the prior week.

I will make two observations:

One - many end-users do not cruise here to find the domain they want, which means the space needs a better marketplace which is oriented to end-users; and,

Two - many sellers here expect $100 for a domain they do not intend to renew, and which then gets picked up for $14 including one year of registration.

**Spex** · 10-14-2011, 08:13 AM

No idea if you got them or not (I don't keep track of registrar/registrants and I don't know everyone's real names, so I don't know who is who) so I'm not directing this at anyone here

But to your points...

1) I get that end-users don't cruise DNF for names, but on the flip-side do they really cruise the TBRs? On both names, but especially the one that went in the top 50, I contacted almost all possible end-users. So if one of them ended up getting it, they knew where to get it 6 months ago too...and I didn't quote a price and didn't get a reply

2) I'd love to get Xxx for all my names, but I've learned to opt for "make an offer" instead to gauge interest. Going back though the archives, I listed these names 4 or 5 times but only once with a price in the mid Xx and didn't get one offer. So it's not like I was holding out for something better.

I hope I'm not coming off as a complainer, because believe me I am not. I wasn't making money with these names and am glad I'm not paying another $10-$20 in renewals...but I've always been curious as to who the TBR participants are.

@MSN...If you did get my names, good luck. I hope you're able to do something with them

**msn** · 10-14-2011, 08:41 AM

I do not know if we got anything you had: most of our orders this week were low value keywords from customer lists, but I could check for you.

Most likely these domain names were not from your list, because if you had listed interesting names here, I would have made some sort of offer.

From experience, seeing domains that we drop come up and sell on a TBR run, sometimes at far higher bids over the registration cost, it often surprises, but many times we then see those same domains go into TBR once again.

It seems that for many people, a TBR domain is a $12 lottery ticket.

Contacting end users - especially by e-mail - is really a difficult game to play and one really has to invest quite a bit of time and money into making it work.

**Maxwell** · 10-14-2011, 09:41 AM

Originally Posted by msn

It seems that for many people, a TBR domain is a $12 lottery ticket.

Contacting end users - especially by e-mail - is really a difficult game to play and one really has to invest quite a bit of time and money into making it work.

But when it does work, it pays off. A buyer just agreed yesterday to an Escrow.com transaction for $500 for a name I picked up for $12 in TBR not even three months ago. It didn't even take ten aggregate emails between us.

**msn** · 10-14-2011, 09:58 AM

One question: who initiated your deal, and perhaps one more: why use escrow.com for a $500 deal?

**Maxwell** · 10-14-2011, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by msn

One question: who initiated your deal, and perhaps one more: why use escrow.com for a $500 deal?

I initiated. I sent out emails to end users on Monday during some downtime before a family get-together for thanksgiving. They were one of two to respond, the others giving the all-too-common "not interested at this time". The domain has received some traffic and a bit of sales page views on sedo, but I certainly wouldn't expect to receive any inbound offers on it under normal circumstances, especially since Burmac puts .ca's whois on private by default.

As for why I would use Escrow.com, certainty. Never mind the fact that I do not generally trust anybody, I wanted to make it look like I was willing to go about this in a secure manner, as opposed to saying "just paypal me the money".

We split the fee, but in any case, what I paid in fees was actually about what I paid for the domain.

**msn** · 10-14-2011, 05:36 PM

It sounds like there is a market niche for lower-value transactions to be 'enabled' through a simple escrow site in Canada which end-users can trust.

**Maxwell** · 10-15-2011, 01:57 AM

Originally Posted by msn

It sounds like there is a market niche for lower-value transactions to be 'enabled' through a simple escrow site in Canada which end-users can trust.

The key thing is trust. Escrow.com has been around since 1999 and makes a point of it for legitimacy. "Established 2011" makes it more difficult to inspire confidence.

In addition, their $25 minimum is there for a reason. It's simply not worth it, both risk-wise and effort-wise to do the transactions for any less.

**hugegrowth** · 10-15-2011, 02:54 AM

I think a good way to reach end users would be to have names show up where they buy them, at the bigger .ca registrars.

Like the GoDaddy Premium program, you could opt to have your domains show up as a premium listing (or whatever) at your registrar, when someone searches for the exact term. List a buy it now price, the registrar gets a commission, and the buyer instantly gets the name. Even better if the registrars get together and list 'premium' listings across each of their sites.