As we mentioned before, parody is the art of story-telling, the delivery of truth in a caustic and stimulating manner.
So yesterday, we broke the news about the Sedo change of fees without having to violate any “silence” agreement. Those of you that realized that something was going on at Sedo surely noticed the lack of the “100%” image – the sign that an article is entirely accurate without a notion of imaginative twist to it.
The sad news, of course, is that Sedo opted to raise their fees instead of dropping them. At a time when the domain industry is bleeding at its lower levels, it’s disheartening to witness the top domain company in the industry absorb more money from its users, all while PPC has dropped by more than 80% in the past three years.
However, a business decision is a business decision; Sedo is a brick and mortar company with a footprint on both the US and Europe and operates with a substantial number of staff. The 5% increase will most likely go to funding infrastructure expansion and advertising.
Domainers, on the other hand, have several options; they can increase the asking price for their auctioned domains, thus passing the buck onto the buyer, or they can take their business to cheaper auction platforms of lesser magnitude.
While Sedo has proven to be effective in their role as a domain broker, the automated nature of auctions does not fully justify the fee increase.
Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend.
