Here is a little Saturday domain name micro post. I wanted to provide a little information on what I use my Saturday’s for related to domaining and a couple other little things.

~ First, I stumbled across eRealEstate.com which appears to be making some changes. The domain is owned by the domain king Rick Schwartz. From whois, the "look" of the site has changed since 7-3-2009 and hosting DNS has changed since yesterday. (This is how I noticed the change) The site appears to be using WordpressMU as a CMS and will be interesting to see what Rick has up his sleeve with eRealEstate.com .

~ Secondly, if you were thinking about submitting a domain name or two for the 2nd Showcase Auction at SnapNames.com, your deadline is running out! July 28th appears to be the final date for open submission. The home page of SnapNames shows July 29 as the deadline, but the submission page states July 28. To be safe, I would submit by the 28th if you are going to. Aug 4th the catalog will be available with the online auction taking place Aug 11-13th at SnapNames.com .

The first SnapNames showcase auction had some pretty impressive numbers. TheDomains.com covered the sales results which were reported at $108,300 with 38 domains selling. The first showcase auction had 80 domains total in auction with a nice mix of no reserve and reserve auctions, so approx 47% that were listed sold.

~ What do I do with my Saturdays?

I use my Saturday mornings to "back order" domain names and create a watch list at all the popular drop catching services and domain auction services like SnapNames, NameJet and Godaddy for the upcoming week.

I use my DRT software and run scans on the domains for the week to obtain metrics on these specific domains. I use Estibot.com and it’s "Fast Bulk Appraisal" as it allows me to enter in 5K domains at a time. I mainly use the Estibot tool as a "back up" so I do not miss anything. In no way do I let the "valuation" number effect what I am or will bid. I simply watch for high overtures and high appraisal values, which make some of the better domains stick out more. I often find domains that I would of missed if I did not use this tool or method!

I also grab (highlight) copy / paste the whole Sedo.com current auctions and use the Domain Extractor from Estibot, then the Keyword Parser. I then take that list and run a bulk appraisal which is the most accurate as the keywords are then capitalized. Keep in mind that the Bulk Appraisal tool is different then the Fast Bulk Appraisal tool and the numbers provided are simply a Guide from an automated tool.

I use Freshdrop.net to help me with picking domain names to watch or bid on at Godaddy, but I also have access to the "whole list" of domain names that are at Godaddy Auction via FTP. I check out both the Closeout Auction and the Expired Auctions. I never check out "member listed" domains.

~ TIP….. Did you know that Name.com offers expired domain names right on it’s site? Since not a lot of people know about it, it’s worth checking out from time to time. They run a reverse auction system. The domains all start at one price and lower as they get closer to "ending". Domains start at $29.95 and go down to $9.95. No auctions take place as the domains are listed as buy it nows. Currently, Name.com has over 7,000 domains in this system.