question Observing Sedo’s Auction Approval Criteria — Has Anyone Noticed a Pattern?

[SamQuino]

I submitted a mixed group of domains to Sedo’s December auction and noticed some interesting approval behavior that I thought might be worth discussing here.

From that set, Sedo approved:

• PerfectTune.com
• BabyGrips.com
• TechBotAI.com
• GeekyCat.com

(Just sharing these as the actual reference point for the discussion, not promoting them.)

What stood out to me was Sedo’s preference for:

• consumer-friendly brandables
• AI-related terms
• clearer functional/use-case names
• accessible reserve levels
• names that already have some type-in traffic

It made me curious whether others who frequently submit to Sedo see similar patterns — or whether approvals are still effectively random depending on timing and category.

For those of you who’ve submitted names recently:

• Have you noticed Sedo favoring specific styles or categories?
• Do reserve levels affect approvals on your end?
• Does traffic seem to matter?

It would be great to hear your observations.

 

[nicenicnicenic is verified member.]

Hi SamQuino

Yeah, names that are intuitive, have a clear use case, or some existing traffic seem easier to position, especially when the reserve feels approachable.

 

[Ricado]

The real question is how many of the approved names actually sell.

Today’s auction results were pretty underwhelming. Only one domain cleared 5,000, very few even crossed 1,000, and the vast majority sold for just a few hundred. I even recall seeing a 99 sale in there.

Under those results, it’s hard to call this a “GreatDomains” auction.

The only real advantage of participating in a GreatDomains Auction is the waived auction fee. The trade-off, however, is that your domain is locked into Sedo’s exclusive sales channel for two months.

 

[BobBob is verified member.]

The real question is how many of the approved names actually sell.

Today’s auction results were pretty underwhelming. Only one domain cleared 5,000, very few even crossed 1,000, and the vast majority sold for just a few hundred. I even recall seeing a 99 sale in there.

Under those results, it’s hard to call this a “GreatDomains” auction.

The only real advantage of participating in a GreatDomains Auction is the waived auction fee. The trade-off, however, is that your domain is locked into Sedo’s exclusive sales channel for two months.

This is a fair question. Domains can be great, but if they are not selling, who cares? I recently submitted three names to Sedo, of which, only one was selected for the auction. It was a very common 6-letter, one-word .net that everybody uses at least once per day in regular conversation. Their requested reserve was $8,000, which was $2,000 less than I wanted. I thought, what the heck, and went for it. In the end, my name did not even get ONE bid, which was a little disheartening.

After the auction, I received NO communication from them - not even a form email saying my domain did not sell.