Afternic.com has lost the expiring domain names from the MelbourneIT domain registrar and currently does not have any providers of expired domain names to auction off. Expired MelbourneIT domain names will now be auctioned at SnapNames.com . I had wrote on Nov 6th that Afternic Auction Needs Help and clearly losing the only provider of expired domain names they had doesn’t help!
Tucows had a very brief partnership with Afternic that started in early June of 2008 to sell off there expiring domain names (cherry picked by Tucows of coarse) at Afternic but that deal ended quickly. In early February 2009, Tucows started sending there expired domain names to NameJet.com.
I think one of the main problems with the Afternic auction system was a couple things. Mainly lack of inventory, which results in lack of popularity due to really nothing for buyers to look at. Clearly Afternic is a busy place with a lot of domain buyers visiting and calling in daily, so why the auction system is lacking steam, is a little puzzling really. During a site redesign, the "Closing Soon" auction inventory was removed from the home page. This didn’t help it either… out of sight, out of mind kind of thing IMO. I now see the closing soon section filter in and out with domains on the right side of the home page.
Afternic has more end user focused buyers, where a similar site like Sedo.com which has a popular auction system has a large group of domain investor buyers mixed in with end user buyers. I do think Afternic has the potential to have it’s auction system as busy as Sedo but maybe they wish to stay away from the auction format?
Losing the majority of inventory that was going to the auction system will not currently help it out from what I can see. It would be nice to have more options to sell via an auction system like Sedo and I think Afternic can offer it. Time will tell if changes will be offered to Afternic’s auction service.
I’m thinking, in addition to what you just wrote, that they beat down their sellers on price so those domainers or whoever who hold great domains will not list them there.
I’ve had $100,000 plus value domains there and they always come back with the same ridiculous reply:
“Please lower you price to $20,000 or less. In order to remain a vibrant marketplace Afternic needs to blah, blah, blah………”
Then when I don’t lower the price they delist it from the “Expanded Promotion”. Well…..if they do that then they shoot themselves in the foot b/c now my primo domains, and I suppose others from other sellers, are not featured in the high traffic places anymore…….just the domains which sellers had no problem lowering their asking price on. That then means inferior domais showing on the Expanded Promotion locations they have partnerships with.
They really need to stop beating down the sellers on price….IMHO. After all, the prices are rising quickly now for sellers as are the inquiries.
December 23rd, 2009