GoDaddy executives found a new, creative way to add more revenue to the year’s books, by rolling out a series of weekly domain auctions.
Pulled from the million-plus strong domain portfolio of Namefind, the repository of GoDaddy-owned domains, these auctions are taking place on GoDaddy (beta) Auctions.
A few dozen domains each week add up, with roughly 170 domains in a week’s rolling window. Already some auctions closed while more close in the coming days but no worries: more domains are being added.
We took a look at what is currently, more or less, the active collection of domains, for a critical view at the quality of domains.
So are the GoDaddy + Namefind auctions “wow” or “meh” – that is the question.
GoDaddy provides additional metrics about the domains such as backlinks and traffic. These auctions are aimed at domain investors, however, as cross-promotion of the Namefind selection takes place on Dan.com, a GoDaddy company used by domain investors to sell their domains at. In that sense, such metrics aren’t really necessary; what domain investors (or end-user buyers, even) are looking for are quality and price.
There are no reserve prices per se, but each auction starts at a fixed price point, varying from $499 to a few thousand dollars. Depending on the TLD and the keyword, the length of the domain, and other more esoteric metrics (hello, Majestic!) that price can be in the five figures USD. As always, the GoDaddy Estimated Value attempts to seed the auction with a price point that may be off but it remains below the $25,000 dollar threshold.
Let’s cut to the chase: At the time of our research, 173 domains were actively listed, with 47 having received bids. Of these, 22 had more than just one bid, indicating active interest from investors:
| indexed.com | 29 | 6600 |
| cliche.com | 19 | 11250 |
| recovering.com | 11 | 5105 |
| jxs.com | 11 | 14999 |
| visitvegas.com | 10 | 13550 |
| pelo.com | 8 | 11850 |
| metatag.com | 7 | 4550 |
| scapegoat.com | 6 | 3149 |
| fems.com | 6 | 2124 |
| ipgo.com | 6 | 1059 |
| repaired.com | 6 | 3551 |
| micro.co | 6 | 3050 |
| vl.org | 6 | 2600 |
| mday.com | 5 | 2049 |
| yehi.com | 5 | 2247 |
| emee.com | 5 | 1186 |
| oblige.com | 4 | 5655 |
| feely.com | 4 | 2049 |
| inroads.com | 4 | 3383 |
| faq.net | 4 | 524 |
| freeliving.com | 3 | 2025 |
| caregroup.com | 3 | 4099 |
The table above shows the domain, the number of bidders, and the current high bid in US dollars.
The list is mixed nuts: Short domains, dictionary word .COMs in mostly past participles and gerunds, and two-worders. There are also some .co that we assume carry premium pricing but don’t quote us on that.
From the list we liked the following domains, that may or may not justify the attention they received from bidders and the current pricing:
- indexed.com
- cliche.com
- jxs.com
- scapegoat.com
- repaired.com
- FAQ.net
- caregroup.com
So to recap: About 25% of the Namefind portfolio listings in auction pull in bids, with just under 50% of those attracting more than one bidder. There is activity in just 5 domains with 10 bidders or more fighting for the domain.
Wow or meh? Vote below.
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