An auction for ThreePieceSuits.com shows the value of Afternic’s “Closing Soon” section.
Have you received an offer on a domain listed at Afternic that isn’t quite as much as you’d like? One option is to lower the reserve for your domain to the offer price and it will automatically be added to the “closing soon” section of Afternic. This provides great exposure for your domain. Not only does it show up on the home page of the site, but visitors frequently check this section because it shows domains for which people have already expressed an interest.
I’ve been preaching this for a while, but now I have a case study. Yesterday I bought ThreePieceSuits.com on Afternic. The domain received its first bid about a week ago and it was only $75. The seller of the domain set his reserve at $75 and the domain entered the closing soon category. It instantly caught my attention — and a handful of other bidders’ attention! By the time the auction ended it received 40 bids, pushing the price up hundreds of dollars. I would have never discovered this domain had it not been displayed in the closing soon section.
It helped that the reserve was low on this domain. The low price got people interested, and once people enter a competitive auction they don’t like to lose.
To see other domains closing soon, visit Afternic.
Charley says
That is a really cool DEAL.
rob sequin says
What was the final high bid?
Editor says
$815
nodomain says
I’ve been holding a few domains for a long time and others I’ve bought and let go, but I wanted to focus on some of my sites, so I decided to drop the price (and reserve) on ALL of my domains to $75 to see if any would sell. I honestly expected more for this one, but I was also fully prepared to let someone take it for $75, too.
Just to clarify, though, a domain doesn’t enter the “Closing Soon” area until it has a bid that meets the reserve. Lowering the reserve only made it more enticing, but I still had to get that first bid, which happened by way of posting about my “fire sale” on http://www.discussnames.com, Afternic’s domainer forum.
I also should point out that I still have several more names at that $75 mark in my portfolio. Admittedly, there’s some junk, but there’s a few gems, too, at that price.
http://www.afternic.com/names.php?best=1&u=18182
Joe
Editor says
Joe, thanks for commenting. I generally lower the reserve after receiving a bid that is acceptable. But if you lower your reserve to the minimum offer price, your listing will include the “R” graphic to the right, indicating that the next bid will trigger the reserve. This has a great sales value, as I tend to bid on names more often if I know my bid will at least trigger a live auction.
nodomain says
I agree and I think a lot of people feel the same way. I should have done the same with CheesePizza.com. Instead, I threw it on ebay and wound up regretting that sale.