Domain Name Owners Walk Away from Over $12.5M Bid in Live Auction

The results of the silent auction conducted by Moniker and T.R.A.F.F.I.C. are due to be made public shortly.  Some of the domains that were bid on (and passed with a standing bid)  in the live auction, will likely end up sold through the silent auction, but it’s instructive to look at what kind of bids that domain name owners actually did pass on.  To me this is the bigger story: the domain owners who walk away from sometimes significant bids, because the domain name owner is intimately acquainted with the domain name, and knows it to be worth more than perhaps a high bidder at a certain auction is willing to pay.  This is very telling.

 A little over $8M worth of domain names were sold during the live auction, (and then one buyer retracted a $275K bid, which is whole ‘nother story), which put the total sold during the live auction around $7.8M. 

By contract, domain names were not sold despite standing bids that collectively amounted to $12,596,500!  That’s a lot of money to walk away from.  This does NOT include bids that were placed on 15 domains for which I do not have the high bid (due to audio problems, and I haven’t found the auction transcript yet).  Here is a cleaned up list of domains that were passed on, with a standing bid:

 $12,596,500  Domain Name
 ?  voicerecognitionsoftware.com
 ?  officesupplystores.com
 ?  podiatrists.com
 ?  debit.com
 ?  poolsticks.com
 ?  ethanol.com
 ?  schooltrips.com
 ?  sicilian.com
 ?  consumerelectronics.com
 ?  glassblock.com
 ?  basketballonline.com
 ?  sambuca.com
 ?  transplant.com
 ?  trueconfession.com
 ?  showme.com
 $3,000,000  wallstreet.com
 $1,200,000  taxes.com
 $1,000,000  stockquotes.com
 $1,000,000  pressreleases.com
 $500,000  elections.com
 $500,000  photographers.com
 $500,000  kuwait.com
 $300,000  choppers.com
 $300,000  estate.com
 $250,000  xmas.com
 $250,000  bad.com
 $230,000  sciencefiction.com
 $200,000  copiers.com
 $200,000  banners.com
 $200,000  martialarts.com
 $200,000  gasprices.com
 $175,000  leatherfurniture.com
 $150,000  deli.com
 $150,000  contraceptives.com
 $110,000  communication.com
 $100,000  massachusettsrealestate.com
 $100,000  epayments.com
 $85,000  tennisrackets.com
 $85,000  customrims.com
 $75,000  personals.net
 $75,000  miniaturegolf.com
 $75,000  grapes.com
 $70,000  bulldozers.com
 $70,000  ghetto.com
 $65,000  house.net
 $65,000  sportsscores.com
 $60,000  hy.com
 $60,000  wir.com
 $55,000  fastmortgages.com
 $55,000  semen.com
 $50,000  bloodtest.com
 $50,000  dentists.net
 $50,000  eel.com
 $50,000  public.com
 $45,000  pensionplan.com
 $40,000  closings.com
 $40,000  technology.org
 $35,000  location.net
 $32,500  ankle.com
 $30,000  paymentcalculator.com
 $30,000  math.net
 $30,000  relative.com
 $25,000  invest.net
 $22,000  teenchat.net
 $20,000  globalpositioningsystem.com
 $20,000  sportsauction.com
 $20,000  woodcabinets.com
 $20,000  tourettes.com
 $20,000  sportsagent.com
 $20,000  lowinterestloans.com
 $20,000  venusflytrap.com
 $20,000  loghomekits.com
 $20,000  pesos.com
 $20,000  explosion.com
 $20,000  toasts.com
 $20,000  americans.org
 $20,000  locally.com
 $20,000  hatecrimes.com
 $17,500  virusprotectionsoftware.com
 $17,500  blood.net
 $15,000  bestcdrates.com
 $13,000  financialcounseling.com
 $12,500  mortgagerates.org
 $12,000  carburetors.com
 $12,000  businesses.org
 $10,000  aids.net
 $10,000  tennisplayer.com
 $10,000  snowmobileaccessories.com
 $10,000  stmaartenrealestate.com
 $10,000  supplying.com
 $10,000  electronicgreetingcards.com
 $10,000  election2008.com
 $10,000  constructionworkers.com
 $10,000  demo.net
 $10,000  emergencyclinics.com
 $7,500  artistmanagement.com
 $7,000  professionalshoppers.com
 $7,000  freemovies.net
 $7,000  oildrilling.com
 $6,000  medicaltranscriptionservice.com
 $5,500  homebudget.com
 $5,000  startingasmallbusiness.com
 $5,000  fragilex.com
 $5,000  commentbox.com
 $4,000  pregnancycenters.com
 $3,500  yardsale.org
 $3,500  freesearches.com
 $3,000  individualsavingsaccount.com
 $3,000  wednesday.org
 $3,000  unitedstatesimmigrationandnaturalization.com
 $2,500  familycellphoneplans.com

We shall see which of these domains sold in the Silent Auction when Moniker makes those sales public.

But in the meantime, this Bigger Story is worth pondering.