Go Big or Go Home. RickLatona.com is now in the live auction business.
July 17, 2008 by Rick Latona
“Exciting times my friend!” Those were the words used by the illustrious Rick Schwartz when we came to agreement on my company doing a live auction event at the TRAFFIC meeting in New York this coming September. Exciting times indeed, Rick.
I’ve become the largest individual reseller and broker of domains in the business because I’m a domainer to the core. I understand what names people want and what prices will get them to bite. It’ll be more than interesting to see how this winning formula will perform in a live format.
Granted, there are four other companies doing auctions along side mine at the show. Schwartz is breaking the mold again by testing a multiple auction format. I’ll have only one hour to do my business but a lot can be accomplished in that amount of time.
I have a plan on how to make the names we are listing really stand out from the crowd but it would be silly for me to tell you guys about that here with competitors watching.
As details become available you’ll be able to find out about them here on my blog or more importantly on my newsletter. If you aren’t signed up yet, do so on the top right corner of this web page.
Your involvement is going to help liven the domain auction space. Congrats!
Nice move Rick!
We expect lots of great Geo’s and Dictionary word names from your auctions and wish you the best with this new venture!
Wow, Rick! Nice move. Congratulations!
Looking forward to seeing the names you take to the auction.
My money is on your lot having the lowest pass percentage. Should be a good time.
This is way exciting to see what a entrepreneurial type of domainer with an understanding of pricing can do. Your going to be a busy guy getting prepared.
I hope I can sleep tonight knoing this.
You always keep things fresh and interesting mate. Sounds good!
This is a good thing.
Very exciting news, Rick. Congratulations to you. I’m sure that your participation will help the industry.
[...] Latona has announced on his blog that he will be auctioning domains at September’s TRAFFIC conference in New York. Latona [...]
great news, we want the CAR there!!
page howe
[...] just announced in his newsletter and on his blog, Rick Latona has now joined the Live Domain Auction Business and will be one of the five live [...]
Looking forward to “good things”.
Proud of you.
Congrats, Rick, and good luck with your auction!
Congrats Rick. I knew we could count on you to shake things up and keep life interesting
You will be a force to be reckoned with in NY!
[...] http://www.ricklatona.com/2008/07/17/go-big-or-go-home-ricklatonacom-is-now-in-the-live-auction-busi... [...]
The live auction guys are getting greedy with contracts that tie up your domain for months and charging very high commissions.
The time is right for someone to use a common sense approach and charge reasonable fees and no strings attached.
Please make sure no junk is allowed in the auction and start with the premium names first.
Good Luck Rick…
[...] just announced in his newsletter and on his blog, Rick Latona has now joined the Live Domain Auction Business and will be one of the five live [...]
Go for it, Rick!
I will point my domains to your website
and cheer you up from behind.
August –
http://www.biddingwar.net
Awesome, good move. Much success.
90% financing on your domains at the auction would be nice!
$10,000 down payment buys a $100,000 domain name…very nice!
–Anunt Patel–
I support Anunt Patel recommendation regarding financing domains.
Cheers,
Emil
Rick,
I have no doubt it will be a success. Hey Rick, Is there anything in the Domain world that your not doing?
all the best,
Larry
Rick congrats, can’t wait to see your terms for your public. Some of the other auctioneer sites have too much “red tape” and trash names listed.
Looking forward to seeing list of names that you’ll be auctioning..
Great move, its about time there was some real competition in the domain auction space, the current fees and rules are excessive.
Your newsletter list is great quality, I can only imagine what names might show up at the auction.
I believe Rick’s auction at TRAFFIC will provide the spark that the industry needs at a time and place that will make a difference. Having multiple auctions means choice, competition and improvement. As you might imagine there was a lot of resistance to this idea. An idea I have been trying to implement for over a year. The result will be vivid and immediately visible as the New York City show unfolds. It isn’t just 5 auctions. It is 5 companies competing to be the new standard. It is 5 companies each promoting to different audiences and end users. It is 5 companies that have an opportunity to disrupt business as usual. Like I have been saying and what will be clearly evident as we approach and do this New York show…..this really is a game changer. This will bring us all to another higher plateau. This will be noticed and those that think that there is only so many dollars that will just be split up are going to be proved wrong and I will tell you why. What determines a sale at an auction is quality and price. Bring that to an auction and there is no ceiling on sales. The only ceiling is crappy domains with high reserves.
Rick good luck and we hope to support you and all the other companies in a way that helps to move us all up a level or two or more. We want you to join the list of companies we have helped to transform. These really are exciting times and this is going to be an exciting set of auctions.
[...] at the next Targeted Traffic conference in New York City. While our friend Rick Latona says “Go Big or Go Home” in regard to his ideas, to tell the truth, none of us here at BIDO has any idea as of yet [...]
i like the idea of more competition but not sure this format is going to work - i envision a disjointed affair - but what the heck do i know.
Auction r us. Keep on growing. I will probably submit some domains for fun.
Congratulations Rick. It is wonderful to know your accomplished approach selling domain names for sure is going to improve the current auction scene.
We accommodated your “breaking news” in a post on Dominiolo.com, a Forum in Spanish for Domainers.
Cheers,
Gamaniel Rosas
Good luck there Rick.
Are u after some domain names which you can list for sale?
Recent TRAFFIC auctions didn’t do that well, hopefully this will help change things for the better, good luck!
Rick,
I applaud your decision to enter into the auction space and no doubt your experience, popularity and quality of domains will provide an exciting and profitable event. However, I strongly encourage you to promote your auction beyond domainers and include “end-user” industries as well. From my experience in both buying and selling domains, especially the last year, domain auctions sales have been dismal – in part to a lagging economy and high reserves****, but also because the big auction houses have done an extremely poor job promoting their auctions to audiences outside the domain industry. Complaints have been sounding for these players to justify their excessive commissions and bring in new buyers. Simple SEO online press releases run around $250. For a few thousand bucks, they could send out 10 press releases targeting the top 10 categories (real estate, travel, health, technology, etc) and drive links back to their main page or domain auction list. As domain investors, the value we place on a domain is far less than a relevant end-user/business will. Domainers need to make money by either parking or re-selling it. Parking revenues are way down and, even with new-comers like evolanding and localmatters, the dollar amount for that click (or conversion) is far less than what a relevant business might expect.
***In the latest geo auction, Moniker did do a good job of slamming reserves to the floor – as evident in the majority of the inventory being listed around $200-300, but still too high for the majority of domain investors. I personally didn’t see many sales in the aftermarket online auction. If we want to see prices go up, we need to educate the end users.
Again Rick, congratulations on ‘going big.’ I love your blog and can’t wait to participate in your auction.
Jay Lohmann
http://www.InvestInURLs.com
Best of luck with the new venue. When your plans call for travel I hope you think of us!
-Commerce
I don’t understand- what you can you achieve at Traffic better then the lists you already have and the global reach of the Internet? You and Sahar are only going to try to sell your own names that haven’t sold already to the same crowd, hoping to end up nothing more than an appraisal in disguise.
[...] at the next Targeted Traffic conference in New York City. While our friend Rick Latona says “Go Big or Go Home” in regard to his ideas, to tell the truth, none of us here at BIDO has any idea as of yet [...]
Rick, you are like the fuckin man! Awesome news. Whenever I want to show investors about how profitable domaining can be, I use your hot ass as a reference. Because you’re the only guy that comes up as the buyer of six fig domains at auctions over the years, and everyone wants to be like you. I’m actually shocked that Schwartz gave you the nod for this, but I can’t think of anyone more deserving. This reply isn’t meant to be an ego stroker, but more as public praise for someone who is so underrated. If only people saw the side of you that I do when we shoot the shit… and no, I’m not hitting on you old man. ;D
Hi Rick,
sorry, but what do you think about .me domain?
Can you help a young italian domainer?
Thanks!
Alex