Rick Unleashed on Auctions....Part 1

Rick unleashed on the auctions.

 

Part 1 of 3 so far

 

Ok, fasten your seat belts, I have seen enough and now it is time to speak out. I gave you a preview yesterday. Today I will include the rest of the first part. I will be covering quite a bit in this series. So what I have not mentioned here will be mentioned on the other parts. I did this as one post and realized it was just too long for people to sit and read. Each of these posts are a bit lengthy. So bare with me as I try and tackle this.

 

"When you have a $20,000 reserve and the opening bid is $20,000 that is no auction, That is a PRICE TAG!! It's nonsense! It's a waste of time and likely did not return the seller the best return if any at all nor did it create any bids other than perhaps one. But you don't need an auction or an auctioneer for that one bid, you need a cash register! Auctions are about momentum, defining value and sales. Now it is time to do the auctions the right way and I feel pretty qualified to speak out on this."

Times are way too dire to worry about ruffling feathers of some auctioneer who knows nothing about domains and tells a qualified audience just how great each one is regardless of the quality. EVERY auctioneer is guilty of this so I am not singling out anyone. So get ready for a post that will change the game and shine a light on the deficiencies.

 

So since it was Howard's idea to have the domain auctions and my idea on how to make them meaningful and Monte's execution, I think it is time to speak out. We don't have the luxury of screwing up this year.

 

Let me start with saying this will be hard for me to define in words even tho the vision I have is crystal clear. It may also take me several posts to clarify things. I look at the live auctions first as a bidder and attendee sitting in the audience and then as someone involved behind the scenes. But sitting in the audience has the trump card because I, like you, are the customer. I don't like falling asleep at auctions. I don't even like being in the room for the entire auction. So that is where I am at as a bidder. They are long and boring. So I believe that the auctions need to understand this and keep it exciting. I mean imagine a car auction with beautiful show cars one after another. It is exciting. Now throw in a rusted 53 chevy that is all ripped apart followed by 6 other junkers like that and that is what a domain auction REALLY looks like. Ya think the excitement level is going to remain high? Ya think people will bid. Ya think people will pay attention? Ya think people will believe how pretty that chevy is? WAKE UP!!

 

This series of posts will run all over the place because the mistakes that are being made are numerous and they are compounding and the results speak for themselves. Sell the sizzle not the steak. The first lesson of business. Create excitement. You do that by having quality domains. You do that with having domains that are sought after by a number of people. You do that by NOT INSULTING YOUR AUDIENCE with crap and telling them how it is the best thing since ice cream followed by 199 more that are even better. Give it a rest.

 

I want a great auction and that can only happen with great domain names and MAJOR modifications. There have never been so many quality domains out there for such bargains and that list is growing every day. People want income domains and people that own income domains want to cash some of them out. So timing is about to be perfect. That is what happens in an economic downturn. Auctions heat up. But you can't have an auction the way they continue to be run and expect them to be successful. Times have changed, the audience has matured and it is time to adapt to those changes or we will continue down the current path of decline. I will post Part 2 soon.

 

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz