Sedo sooo needs to start a blog. I've been trying for a couple of weeks to read their latest newsletter (I can't believe it's not available online). Customer Relations Associate Monica Ibrahim writes about the demise of .TRAVEL, Transfer Consultant Gregg Bois summarizes online ad spending stats, legal counsel Sheri Archidiacono discusses pay per click issues in Canada... There's 15 screens (!) worth of interesting and informative content that I'd rather see in my RSS reader than email inbox. It'd be more search-engine-friendly, too, if the 12+ articles were published as individual blog posts rather than one single non-Google-accessible email message.
I first became interested in Sedo via CEO Tim Schumacher's presentation at SWSoft's partner summit. He said the secondary domains market represents a $1.5 billion opportunity. Out of the 100 million+ domains worldwide, at least 50% are available for resale - and 7 million of them are listed on Sedo. Sedo is obviously keen to increase its market share. The company recently acquired GreatDomains (another secondary domains marketplace) from VeriSign, and hosted an extravagant gathering for its 50 largest customers. What I don't understand is, why hasn't Sedo invested more on its technology infrastructure?
1. Last month Sedo got in some trouble for canceling a $40,000+ auction at the last minute because the seller didn't really own the domain. Oops. Based on my own limited experience, it seems Sedo reviews each and every domain submission manually (the process takes a couple of days, and nothing gets approved during weekends). If this is the case, the company can look forward to plenty more embarrassing mistakes down the line. Couldn't ownership verification be automated to expedite service, reduce costs and eliminate human error?
2. Frank Schilling says GoDaddy's retail foot traffic puts TDNAM, its secondary marketplace, in a strong position. But Sedo could leverage its relationship with 1&1 (which owns 40% of Sedo) to achieve similar advantages. For instance, "247bingo.com" is currently being auctioned at Sedo. If I attempt to register the domain through 1&1, shouldn't I be invited to make a bid instead of being told it's unavailable?
3. Speaking of GoDaddy/TDNAM, I think it's awesome how they've made domain listings available via RSS. Sedo could go one step farther and let prospective buyers subscribe to customized feeds. For instance, I might only be interested in auctions involving <5 letter domains, or domains containing certain words. GoDaddy does allow me to save searches; Sedo does not. Neither is as effective as streaming the information I want straight to my desktop.
4. Both TDNAM and Sedo display a handful of recent sales. But wouldn't it help both buyers and sellers - and create a sense of momentum - if they released ALL historic sales stats? They could even follow eBay's example and productize this info! eBay charges $2.99 to $24.99 for access to up to 90 days of historic data.
Andrew from Domain Name Wire writes that as many of 65% of domain resale transactions are between big ticket investors. But with ongoing mainstream media exposure, new buyers will likely enter the market. Sedo, TDNAM and other existing industry leaders have a narrow window of opportunity to capture newcomers' hearts and minds. But at an age where even banks are all about RSS and AJAX, Sedo, in particular, has some catching up to do - or else it'd surely lose its place to more technologically current competition.
I just placed few my domains on sedo. I really impressed of high prices for some domains which doesn't make any sense, and people buy it. It seams to be people know how to make money on domains. I was wondering if there is a point invest money in .mobi extension.
Posted by: web designer | July 09, 2007 at 09:57 PM
Sedo's services are cross-marketed within 1&1's site owner control panels. In the domain management areas there are links to Sedo's marketplace and domain parking services.
I think the limited amount of domain resale data available at Sedo is designed to encourage sales of Sedo's domain appraisal products, which usually include comparative sales for similar names, niches and domain lengths. Also, I think sales data from Sedo or TDNAM would be more valuable than domain sales data from eBay, which I think tends to see lower sale prices than the domain-specific services.
Posted by: Rich Miller | July 09, 2007 at 11:47 PM
I'm not sure "click here to go to Sedo" counts as cross marketing. Instead, why aren't there "park on Sedo" and "sell on Sedo" buttons next to each 1&1 domain?
Likewise, there's a "register domains" link on Sedo, which redirects to 1&1 - but no details on pricing or add-ons (1&1 offers free private registration and email) before you click.
As far as offering sales data vs appraisal services, I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. New investors might want a broad market overview to help determine what types of domains to buy. Sellers might use transaction stats to prioritize which domains to sell or hold. Neither group is likely to order appraisals unless and until they've narrowed down decisions to specific domains. In the meantime, TDNAM/Sedo lose out by not selling them data that might whet their appetite for transactions.
Posted by: Isabel Wang | July 10, 2007 at 01:04 AM
I agree about the sales data and appraisals not being mutually exclusive. There are a lot of domainers who are serious about number-crunching and data analysis, and I think packaging the sales data would be a good way to get these sellers to use a service. The sales data analysts are likely to be the volume buyer/sellers that account for all those sales.
Posted by: Rich Miller | July 10, 2007 at 09:57 AM
Excellent post - looks much nicer on my google homepage than "links for ". :)
Sedo could very easily automate the ownership review. Honestly, I do not think their current manual review procedure has an acceptable degree of accuracy due to "social engineering" their reps.
Also, hopefully Sedo is following Buydomains and Fabulous with their domain marketplace offering in which sales will be handled in real time on 3rd party registrar web sites.
Posted by: john n. | July 10, 2007 at 01:16 PM
Hey John,
At least I've got more than one blog post! :) Just subscribed to your blog. Let's see some more content there!!
Totally agree about Buydomains/Fabulous. Great idea to widen distribution channel through 3rd party registrars.
Posted by: Isabel Wang | July 10, 2007 at 01:34 PM