I know Sedo will contact the highest bidder (when reserve isn't met) for the seller, but the seller has to ask them to do this. My point is that it would serve Sedo's monetary interests better
if they had this as a policy, ie that when reserve is not met the seller is contacted asking him if he'd consider the highest bid he got. But they do not have this policy. They overlook the fact that if they took the initiative and did that they'd have a better chance of making commission which they don't make in an auction where reserve is not met
I agree w/JDaly that sellers should be allowed to communicate w/that highest bidder directly when reserve wasn't reached. Sedo has a better chance to make commission that way, and communicating between parties is more productive if done directly. Sedo doesn't go for that. If it's an MLS you can't write a note to the other party ever. For non-MLS you can communicate while O/C-O's are taking place back & forth. But paranoid Sedo has to review what was said BEFORE the other side can read it. Sedo lives in fear that a seller will tell the buyer in a message how to contact him using the WHOIS which may result in a direct sale and Sedo makes no commission. They also fear the buyer will tell the seller how to reach him so they can close a deal outside Sedo (But..... if a buyer was smart and qualified enough to open a Sedo acct and to be trading on their platforms, isn't that buyer smart enough
to know about the WHOIS and how to use it ? and yet he chose to make the offer thru Sedo which results in a higher selling price for him since the seller has to pay commission) That paranoia is not well founded and I can give you examples where the comments I've sent buyers or sellers for str8 Sedo deals were banned, and I had not written anything "inappropriate"
Sedo can learn from GD and others that allow free exchange of mesages, I don't think GD supervises what's said between parties. They may lose a deal now and then if the parties close the deal outside GD but this keeps GD Auctions members more satisfied w/their services
Sedo could make a commission if they allowed us to communicate with the bidder even if they didn't reach reserve. I know I've done it before on Flippa.com where the highest bidder and I came to an agreement and Flippa took their commission, they were readily willing to work with us, not sure if they have the same volume as Sedo though..
Richface, you made an excellent point here ! I've always scratched my head as to why Sedo allows bidding below reserve, ie Sedo tells you the reserve is in a certain range, like between $1,000 and $2,500, and yet if you want to bid $100 the system lets you. What's the point ? It makes no sense. The only thing that occurs to me is that Sedo wants to show the seller what type of bids he is actually gettin for his domain, and somewhat pressure him to maybe lower reserve
.... Sedo might as well start the auction from the seller's reserve as all lower Bids are pointless I guess...