If you are not aware of what Bido.com is, they are a newer domain name auction service with a social feel. The service launched with a tag line The Power Of 1 and auctioned 1 domain name per day for 1 hour. It was good for sellers because the domain name would get the spotlight. This brought in many nice domains, which sold for pretty good prices on both sides. Some domains sold at what would be considered fair deals for the buyers, some sold for what may be considered higher prices for the seller.
The problem with the 1 domain a day format, it is hard for the "house" (bido) to turn a profit. Sales commissions were less than 10%. Development takes money, promoting and continuing to improve takes money. Bido has big plans of being a great service in the domain industry and they continue to add new things to it’s service.
Bido has moved away from the 1 domain a day auction format and moved into selling a lot of domain names per day. Submitting a domain name is free.
Since domain names hold value for some and not to others, one specific domain name may be considered "good" to one and not another. So Bido put in a voting system to help out buyers so they are presented with the "good" domains at auction. Well, that is how it lays out on paper, but not all the domain names heading to auction are very good or saving time for buyers.
So why doesn’t the voting work very well currently IMO? In order to vote, you have to be a signed up member and have a valid Paypal account or Credit Card on file. Nothing is required to suggest you are educated on the "value" of a domain name and earned the right to vote. Since there is money involved with the voting system, the voters get paid if they voted and the domain name sells. It’s almost like an affiliate program. Now there is a limit to how many times a member can vote, but they can also buy more credits to vote. It’s basic math! The more you vote, the greater chances that one of the domains you vote on will sell and you get paid.
There are currently 4 ways to get a domain name into live auction.
- Voted in (VoteForProfits)
- Acceleration (paid Bido Credit by seller)
- Prebidding (bid placed during voting process)
- Bido Guarantee (new)
I think the voting is good, but voters need to think more about the value of the domain names and not the profit they would make if the domain sells! I suggested a little bit different way that I think would help. It is similar to how you get a domain to auction on Sedo. My biggest dislike about the current auction system on Bido, is that the majority of domains that are in live auction each day are not very good domains. Even priced at the BidoPrice (reserve) of $28 do not sell.
This is My Suggestion on how the system could be improved: "In order for a domain name to make it to Live Auction, two things must happen. A.) a submitted domain name must get at least 4 bids (as it is now) by members. Domains with at least 4 bids would be placed in a separate section on Bido than domains that do not have at least 4 bids… like “active” or something like that. In order for an “active” domain to reach Live Auction, B.) it must receive at least 1 bid. Based on this bid, the domain would be sent to auction at the sellers selected time. The bid must at least meet the Bido Price for the domain to go to auction. This would mean that any domain At Auction, Will Sell. This will also keep out domains that somebody is not likely to pay real money for! This would make for the sellers to price domains correctly to get at least the 1 bid or it will never go to auction."
Numbers do not lie. This is why I think Bido needs to change the way a domain even get’s to live auction! Yesterday for an example, 166 domain names went to live auction. Each auction starts 1 minute apart and lasts for 1 hour total. That means an auction is ending every minute. Of the 166 domain names that were in live auction yesterday, 13 domains sold. Of the 13 sold, which all started at $28, SBLL.com was the highest sold at $125. The second highest domain sold was InkJetPhotoPrinter.com for $101 that had a $100 reserve. The remaining 11 domain names, 4 sold for $31 and 7 for $28. Grand total of $546 if my math is correct. This resulted in a "profit" for bido of $54.60 . Not Good for Bido, not that great of prices for the sellers on the domains that did sell.
SBLL.com and InkJetPhotoPrinter.com are decent domain names. Ones I consider that should be on live auction at Bido since the opening bids were only $28! 153 other domains basically wasted people’s "votes" and wasted the time for those that looked through the list for the day.
When Bido launched, they had a chat feature that I thought was unique. People could chat about the domain name at auction, bid and watch the auction all at the same time. It brought people to the service. It was interesting. Now, the chat feature is only around from time to time. I think that needs to come back all the time. Bido is currently exploring the chat feature and considering it’s options with it.
In place where the Chat feature was, is now what Bido calls the Ticker. It shows which domains are ending at auction (if logged in) with 5 minutes left, if a domain get’s a pre-bid, domains that just ended and what they sold for or did not meet reserve. I wasn’t a fan of this Ticker, because it didn’t really help me out. I thought the Ticker section should at least show the current domain that is up for auction. Since the domain auctions are 1 minute apart, each auction would get it’s 1 minute in the spotlight. One thing I wasn’t aware of, there are settings that you can adjust for the Ticker! They are just below the ticker to the right. The default settings check everything except one feature and that is "vote placed on domain messages".
Even though there are settings to adjust, I think the ticker section could improve and should at least include the current domain name at auction. (It’s bidding window)
I had the impression that every domain name submitted made it to auction. Either voted in, with the acceleration option or just if "time" had passed since it was submitted. This is not the case. Some domain names submitted do fall out of the process if they do not meet one of the 4 ways stated above.
Overall, the function of the site is GREAT! Submitting a domain name was very easy and everything worked as it should of. I submitted SBLL.com and it received 10 votes in less then 20 minutes. As a seller, I then had the option to decide which day and time I wanted the domain to go to auction. That part is Great! I selected the date and time and it went to auction and ran. The auction got 4 bids but all were pre-bids. No bids during the 1 hour live auction part.
The buyer paid later that day and I pushed the domain first thing in the morning. (be sure to always log into your account and go by what it states in your account on what to do) Pay out from Bido is very fast!
I think once Bido reduces the "clutter" of the domains that are in the live auction each day, it will be a great service for both buyers and sellers. Right now, it’s a Gold Mine for buyers that weed through the garbage and look for the goodies. I ran a test and was the reason I risked SBLL.com with no reserve. I would of never sold the domain for $125 any other time, but it was a test for me (and my readers).
Knowing what I learned from my test, I wouldn’t list any domain name on Bido currently without a reserve price (Bido price). There is a system in place (Bido Credits) and it costs at least 1 credit to 0 credits to set a reserve (see comments). Until the auction lists are cleaned up (which should allow more spotlight on your domain and bring in more buyers because of the inventory being better), I would not run the risk of running a $28 no reserve auction. Bido does offer a Buy It Now feature, so you can also consider that but be sure you have a Bido Price set as well, because that is your reserve.
Sahar and Jarred are doing a good job with the service and making changes. They listen when there members talk. Sometimes the changes made do not work, but it is nice they are listening and trying things. I can only hope they listen about the inventory issues the service is having and it get’s improves sooner then later. Right now, if you are a buyer, search for the hidden deals at Bido. Sellers, use caution if listing with no reserve.
