Buy Now Option in AMA

[Mark]

Hi Guys

Small tweak rolled out this afternoon in the AMA, a Buy Now option.

As per this:

What is the Buy Now button?

Sellers can elect to add a Buy Now option on their domain names. It is an option for buyers to buy the domain name immedaitely at the price shown on the button, closing the auction for that domain, fast tracking the domain sale. Clicking the Buy Now option is irreversible, and cannot be undone.

If a seller submits a proxy/automatic bid equal to, or above the Buy Now price, the auction will close for that domain domain name, and it will be marked as sold to the bidder for the Buy Now price listed.

Hopefully adds another dynamic to the auction

Cheers
Mark

 

[neddy]

Now that is a great addition Mark! Well done NF.

 

[Chris.C]

...interesting.

I'll be keen to watch how it plays out.

 

[logicstorm]

How about a "SECOND CHANCE OFFER"?

I got this idea from ebay but I think it'll be quite useful for domain auctions as well.

SCO means the seller have option to offer the highest bidder a chance of buying the domain name that didn't reach the reserve price for a successful sale. Of course, the buyers are in control and they can either accept or reject the offer.

It'll be particularly useful when the bid was very close to reserve price but didn't quite reach the reserve but the seller is happy to sell it for that price without listing them again.

So what are your thoughts?

 

[johno69]

So what are your thoughts?

Set the reserve at the lowest you're willing to sell. That's my initial thought.

But the concept sounds good to me, as yes, people seems to set reserves higher than they really want to accept.

 

[Chris.C]

Set the reserve at the lowest you're willing to sell. That's my initial thought.

The problem with that theory is that if you set reserve at $300, because that is the absolute bare minimum you'll take, and only one buyer is interested in your domain but they are VERY interested, and they bid $1000 but they are the only bidder. They end up getting the domain for $300 when they were willing to pay $1000.

It sucks, but the reality is the vast majority of domains for auctions will have VERY few bidders competing for it, and if you have very little competition it's hard to get market prices so inevitably some process of negotiation will be required.

In my experience a domainer can get 2 to 5 times more for their domains negotiating a sale (with developers or retail buyers) than having them up for auction (where only domainers turn up).