OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
So long suckers!
Neustar, the .nyc registry, and Sedo, the auction house responsible for the latest “travel” .nyc auction, have canceled the domain auction for broadwaytickets.nyc that was supposed to end on May 10.
Why? Because they can and because they found someone to pay $25,000 for a domain that had no bids (or maybe a $500 bid at most) 2 days before the auction end.
They even announced shamelessly that the domain was sold:
This happens when you have the registry and the auction house doing whatever they want.
The buyer of the domain is The Broadway League Inc. that has its main website at broadway.org.
They were probably scared (or somebody scared them) that the domain was going to be bid up so they paid a handsome fee to pull the domain out of the auction.
So everyone wins here. Neustar sells a domain name that would never have been sold for anywhere near $25,000, Sedo probably got its commission and the buyers got what they wanted: the domain name. They paid a lot more than what they could have paid but they probably don’t know that and never will.
They could probably claim they had some “term” that said that they can do whatever they want but that is just ridiculous when there is no such term for everyone and all other auctions.
Everyone wins here except the idiots that thought that this domain was going to be auctioned off and were waiting for a month now while the auction was active.
Everyone except for the people that think that the rules apply to everyone. Try cancelling a domain name auction at Sedo and see what happens.
Everyone except the domain name industry that sees 2 well known companies dive into the mud for $25k. The domaining industry that clearly demonstrates to the world that domain name auctions are NOT like any other auction.
At least I know that my instincts are correct. Well, it is not exactly instincts as what I think about these 2 companies is based on numerous facts over the years.
Shame on you Neustar and Sedo. Shame on all of us too… You know why people.
(Hat tip to @domainnamewire and @thedomains)
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New York City has always been about hype and hucksterism. For an example, look no further than the style shown by the winning candidate’s campaign in the last US presidential election, or the thin golden (not gold, just golden) facades that decorate the buildings that carry his name.
.NYC is a perfect marketing vehicle for businesses in New York City. The TLD is already widely visible in the wild.
One of my favorites is:
Ferry.NYC
Whenever something bad happens in the world, Trump must be to blame. Such is the impaired logic of the hapless sufferer of Teump derangement syndrome. Sad!
Konstantinos – I know this name was on the to be auctioned list, but I didn’t see it in the list when the auction went live at Sedo. Was it there and later pulled, or was it pulled before the auction opened?
As a .nyc domain investor, this sale was good news. It may also help the auction prices of the other names on the list. Definitely see that it may be frustrating for people waiting to bid on a domain that is pulled, but I think mostly investors looking for a good deal.
Who knows, there is a chance it could have been bid up more with a few folks pushing the price up.
It could have been sold for $500 or $50,000. I am talking about rules and ethics here that most people don’t care about when they get their way.
Definitely hear you. Just curious if this name was in the mix when the auction started?
If so then there was an opportunity for someone to have bid on it, and if they had of bid and the domain be pulled, then different issues.
If no one has bid on it, and if the name wasn’t in there when the auction went live, it’s less problematic.
I don’t know the exact timing.
Trying pulling put of a Great Domains auction or the Namescon auction or a Christies/Sothebys/HeritageAuctions auction and see what happens.
Even if we leave ethics outside of this, people sign an agreement that seems to not apply to Neustar.
I have participated in many auctions outside the Domaining industry and have never seen this.
Shame.
The auction rules are clearly stated on the FAQ of the http://auctions.nyc site. Before the official open bidding period for a particular domain auction starts, anyone can opt to “Buy It Now” for a premium price. http://www.auctions.nyc/faq.html. Once the bidding period for an auction actually starts, “Buy It Now” is no longer an option. That seems totally fair and square to me. If you go to the .nyc official website at http://ownit.nyc, the blog posts make it clear that the domain name discussed here was sold before the auction bidding period ever commenced. End of story.
Yeah, I don’t care about their FAQ or some crazy term. I care about what is right. I wrote about this in the post.
Konstantinos – I did more research into this and what happened with this sale seems reasonable. I wrote about it here: http://www.developed.nyc/broadwaytickets-nyc-sells-25k-travel-themed-premium-nyc-domains/
Short version: The sale happened before the auction started. Their auction FAQs describe what happens in this scenario. If the auction had already started, they wouldn’t withdraw the domain – even if it had no bids – it would have to continue.
Also I have seen physical items being pulled from auctions before bidding starts because a private deal was done – for example a house auction might not go ahead because the bank sells it privately even after the auction was announced (but before bidding starts).
( Look at the answer under this question “Can I buy a .nyc Premium Domain Name before a scheduled auction?” at: http://www.auctions.nyc/faq.html )
Reasonable to some people. Not me.
Like I said I don’t care about their FAQ or some crazy term. I care about what is right. I wrote about this in the post.
Banks are bad in general so comparing a domain name company to a bank is not so favorable.
Like I said, put a domain into a Great Domains auction and then say you have sold it a day before the auction begins. See what happens.
Or try it with a HA auction.
Sorry Matt, but you don’t know what kind of company Neustar is. I know for years now. They are careless to their registry customers (lost many domains from different New gTLD registries, see credit.club, home.nyc, etc.), they are disrespectful to the domain owners, they follow no rule (ICANN or otherwise), they have been a bad registry for .biz and .us since 2002, and the list goes on and on.
SEDO = SCAM. There are so many people with bad stories about SEDO…