Closing the Book on the DRT Auction
That Was
Due to the popularity of our piece on the DRT Auction, we decided it might be of interest to follow it up - close the book so to speak on the whole sordid affair.
That said, when the velvet curtain fell, the final tally for DC-selected domains in the DomainRoundtable auction was 46% or 19 out of 41 entries.
We were quite content with 37% but 46% is an even further-reaching achievement in consideration with the following barriers:
- We were given partial, cherry-picked submissions (roughly 8,000)
- The auction lacked buzz and bidders - notably the usual ‘top three’
- Conference attendance was low due to various reasons
- Low cycle in domainer-to-domainer sales
- Rampant technical issues with online bidding system
So despite being hand-strung.me, we managed to sell nearly fifty percent of the inventory we chose from the sub par list - and reluctance was in no short supply. Yes, we made some poor choices as well.
But to put it in perspective, consider that the previous two major auctions both failed to surpass the 33% mark – despite superior inventory options, conference attendance and bidder quality.
True, it is also a matter of scale, our inventory was smaller and thus more prone to percentage swings but the fact remains that with all the obstacles set before us, we still managed to move product via the channel.
It is our belief that if equipped properly, in the right setting and with a firm who values our input and trusts our worth, we can significantly improve upon those figures. Domainer input is indeed a 'good' and profitable addition for auctioneers.
Again, we thank DRT for the opportunity – we hope everyone understands we hold no ill will towards the DRT team. We were not ripped off or ‘screwed’, we were given a chance to affect the outcome and that is a real Armstrong-like step in the right direction.
Indeed, sometimes it takes a crooked road to find a straighter, cleaner, brighter path. Or at least that’s what the book says. The end.
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This article is the follow-up to our original article, Formula for Failure
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