I think a big blocker for people is the hassle of performing a COR currently.
Totally agree, I think it scares away both buyers and sellers.
which we are addressing and very, very soon will be launching our own automated COR. The domain will be in your name minutes after a sale is agreed.
That's GREAT news!
I think this really will add more liquidity to the market. I wouldn't be surprised if twice or three times as many domains sell via the AMA if there was a fully automated system.
Plus this sort of system would really encourage someone like me who values their time to list more domains.
Lastly, there are lots of both buyers and sellers who quite like the AMA in its current form - 779 completed sales to date is evidence of this, but I strongly agree that we need a lot more out of the platform yet.
Wow 779 sales, I didn't realise it was that many, that has got to be seen as success in my opinion.
And I think we all need to remember Rome wasn't built in a day and NetFleet always seem to be pretty proactive and moving in the right direction.
There are two reasons the AMA doesn't seem to get as many sales as the Snapper
1) the starting prices are $100
If you look at today's Snapper auction (or any day), 3/4 of the names go for less than $100 so it would stand to reason if these names were in the AMA they wouldn't get a bid.
2) the hassle
Even if you do value the name at $200, it's (IMO) hardly worth buying for that as you have to allow for X hours of hassle in co,mpleting the COR. Unknown seller, time to transfer to registrars, forms etc. Compare this with Snapper where one click and it's yours.
Totally agree.
But it sounds like NF are sorting issue #2 and as for point #1 well I think this is something that you can't really do much about given that it's not worth anyone's time to sell a domain if you are not going to be making $100 for your efforts.
That said, if you are an AU domain optimist you'd have to think that with an automated system more domainers will come to the market and just through naturally increasing demand over time of more retail buyers coming to the market looking for domains the prices should move higher over time.
At this stage selling all but truly category killing AU domains don't sell well at auction because there aren't enough retailer buyers actively looking to invest. So I can't help but feel that negotiations (or potentially the tenders idea I suggested in another thread) will still be the best way to sell AU domains for the next 12 months or so, but I'm hoping times will change and a more liquid market is created where fairer valuations can be achieved and improving results within the AMA will naturally draw more listings so that this fact does change over time.
That's true, but as Neddy and FPR pointed out, all the crap is actually discouraging people from listing decent domains.
I actually think it's more the issue that the domains are being sold via auction, which isn't a great way to sell AU domains at the moment coupled with the fact that if you put a reserve on the domain it's very likely to pass in, and be quite expensive.
I agree, but just because loads of domains go through there every day doesn't make it a liquid market. They need to actually sell!
I'm not saying it's a "liquid market" - I think domains are incredibly illiquid actually.
I've had domains get offers of low-mid $XXXX which I've knocked back, then when I got looking for buyers 3 - 6 months later, because that 1 buyer has left the market I'll get low ball offers from other domainers in the low-mid $XXX - and that's if you can get any offers at all - this isn't what I'd call "liquid".
That said, the AMA is the best place to liquidate a domain in the market at this stage - it's definitely not ideal but it's the best we've got and I hope NF continue to try and develop the platform because I think it's the AU domain market's best hope for the future and i really an see it becoming the natural market place for AU domains.
My suggestion was to charge $5 per listing - but make it refundable if your domain gets a bid. So if you put a half-decent name up, you won't be charged anything.
I've put domains up on the AMA that have passed in but have sold via negotiation for high $XXX a couple of months later, whether a domain is "half decent" has much more to do with who, if anyone shows up the AMA on a given day.
I remember I trailed the AMA with a bunch of "semi decent" domains when it first started - ie domains that would probably sell for mid $XXX to a retail buyer in a negotiated sale and of the 30 or so I listed I sold about 3, the 3 I sold were no better than any of the others, if anything I thought they were worse, but I assume they sold because the right buyer rocked up on the day who was willing to pony up the $100 minimum bid.
It would have sucked to have sold 3 domains at $100 a pop, but then have to pay $135 in registration fees because the other 27 didn't sell because domainers didn't see value at $100 and no retail buyers rocked up.
But Don, you put domains up that are half-decent! And so they do sell -albeit at the lower price levels.
I think that is a big deal actually. Seller placing domains on the AMA have to know that they are often going to be selling at "firesale" rates, because lots of potential buyers don't get involved with the AMA because of the COR process, and if buyers aren't going to turn up then sellers aren't going to invest their time listing and advertising their listings.
I really think the system needs to be designed to make it just as lucrative for sellers to sell as it is convenient for buyers to buy, because when sellers can make money cost effectively they will bring more stock to the market which will mean that serious buyers can get what they want easily and liquid markets will naturally be formed and everyone will be better off, but it has to work for both buyers, sellers and NF, as business is never done unless it is a win win for all parties.
From a seller perspective I don't like AMA. Free or otherwise. You don't get enough value for your domain because you don't get enough viewers. You don't get enough viewers because there is no urgency and you get to sift through the same list every day.
Someone said earlier its not too much trouble to sift through the 1000 daily domains - which is true, but you don't want to sift through the same list every day
That's probably a fair point, I know I don't like looking/loading all the listings of all the domains that are coming up because I'm only ever interested in domains that are for sale today or in the next day or two.
I don't need to know what's for sale in 3 weeks time, because I can deal with it then and I'm never going to bid until within the last hour of the auction.
