Get Your Name in Print

The TRAFFIC Down Under show in Brisbane Australia is just around the corner. Specifically, it’s November 18th through the 20th in Brisbane.

If you’d like to submit domains to our auction there, I suggest you do so now. The reason is that I spend over $40,000 a month in print campaigns with periodicals like Website Magazine and Internet Retailer. As you probably know, the lead time is at least 30 days. If you get your names to us this week, we have time to squeeze them into our next campaign before the auction comes.

Auction Results and Final Thoughts - NYC 2008

It’s time to leave New York and go home. Overall, I think it was a very successful show. I cut a lot of deals, developed and strengthened strategic relationships and had a good time. Before I go on I’d like to say, thank you to everyone who voted for me as Domainer of the Year. That’s an incredible honor to be voted for by your peers and I’m grateful.

On the auction front, while we didn’t put up huge numbers, we put up bigger numbers than two of the other auctions. And at $700,100 in sales, we averaged the same amount per lot as Moniker’s premium auction, more or less. I’ve spent the last few days analyzing what we did right and what we did wrong and below are my thoughts.

Those that I do a lot of business know that most of the names that I own I am willing to sell at small margins. That’s my business model. I do a lot of sales because I’m not greedy. Anyway, back to the point. I think the first thing I did right was I brought inventory priced low enough that we got sales on a day the sky was falling in New York.

I think we picked the right auctioneer and spotters. Most people were entertained by them. I did make one major mistake with them. I didn’t stress to them that the buyers were internet professionals and needed clarity. When they first started they would say “sold” when it wasn’t really sold to keep momentum going. I put a stop to that right away. The thought of correcting blogs and confusing sellers and buyers was horrible. Don’t blame them though. That was just habit for them. Our next auction will start at exact reserve prices and it’ll be obvious what sells and doesn’t. I pledge to you transparency. After the first 10 lots or so, the auctioneer was straight up, by the way. Matt Lowery is great and will stay with us and we both apologize for any confusion.

Another mistake I made was I wasn’t myself on the stage. I didn’t know if I should smile or frown or talk or what so I sat there doing nothing. I like to think I have a dynamic personality when I want to and I should have just relaxed and done my thing. I know selling domains as good as anyone so what was there to doubt? I guess I was afraid to smile because I was worried the audience would not bid if I looked like I was happy about making money. On hindsight, that’s ludicrous. They know if they want the name or not and most of them are learning or will learn that I don’t need to make a lot of money on the name. My goal is to sell the most names. I just need to prove that.

We tested our online software and we loaded the data but we never tested it with the data. Shame on us. This isn’t my first rodeo. I’m not sure how that slipped through the cracks. You could see the html tags in the lot descriptions. That was embarrassing. Other than that, the software worked great and their onsite staff handled the situation.

Thank you to everyone involved. I had an awesome team! The official auction results are below:

Domain Name Price
MCC.com $195,000
CountryClubs.com $85,000
EFS.com $55,000
NAP.com $47,500
Lisbon.net $32,000
Spreadsheets.com $25,000
423.com $25,000
PER.com $20,000
LotteryNumbers.com $20,000
SecurityAlarms.com $18,000
PublicAuctions.com $17,000
TruckRims.com $16,000
ComputerBatteries.com $14,000
Wines.net $13,000
BabyAnnouncements.com $13,000
PreOwnedJets.com/PreOwnedJet.com $12,500
Sugarless.com $12,000
RentalCondos.com $11,500
11.net $10,000
OneHourPhoto.com $7,000
GolfClubRepair.com $6,500
BreastExamination.com $6,000
Microbrewers.com $6,000
PrinceEdward.com $4,100
Monopolies.com $4,000
ModelSchools.com $4,000
FrenchPerfumes.com $4,000
HighFidelity.com $4,000
Coeds.net $3,000
PostOfficeBox.com $2,500
StockBuying.com $2,300
StockOrders.com $1,500
ForexTickers.com $1,100
SecondaryLending.com $800
ForexTicker.com $800
StockShare.com $400
StockShares.com $300
StockOrder.com $300
MufflerRepairs.com 
ResearchLab.com & ResearchLabs.com 
Atriums.com 
CustomBoots.com 
TheBronx.net 
GolfClothing.com 
GolfJackets.com 
DayTraders.com 
GayLawyers.com 
Cyberspace.com 
OilandLube.com 
Cognacs.com 
CatFood.com 
Rhodes.com 
Schnapps.com 
DefenseAttorneys.com 
BrooklynLawyers.com 
Chew.com 
CR.com 
BlackEntrepreneurs.com 
Audit.com & Audits.com 
Drugs.net 
Autos.net 
ND.net 
GD.net 
French.net 
PaintContractors.com 
Tasks.com 
RugCleaning.com 
GolfSweaters.com 
Gas.info 
ER.com 
FinancialBrokers.com 
BroadwayShows.com 
SanJuan.com 
Vino.com 
GolfClubs.com 
BlackEntrepreneur.com 
CountryLakes.com 

Total Sales: $700,100

Now it’s time to shut this laptop down and board a plan,  go home and start preparing for the Australia show and many more exciting things to come.

P.S. Thank you Ron Jackson of dnjournal.com for use of the photo.

Last Minute Addition - Seoul.com

Rick Latona Auctions is proud to announce the last minute addition of Seoul.com to our T.R.A.F.F.C. New York auction. Seoul is the largest city in South Korea as well as the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the world. This is listed with a very aggressive reserve in the 1 Million to 1.5 Million range and is priced to sell.

It is game time everyone. All of the “Good Luck” emails have been well received and thank you for your support.

Online bidding is available NOW at http://www.proxibid.com/ricklatona - if you haven’t signed up yet please do. When the hammer hits on these names bidding will be closed.

If there are any issues with registering for online bidding please give David Clements a call at 678-468-9228.

Here is to a great success!

Anxiety Level at All-Time High/Email Down

So, last night I had a dream that Audits.com and Audit.com, two fantastic names, sold in the millions at the auction. Then the dream turned into a nightmare where nothing else sold.

I wake up and go to check my email and our Exchange hosting provider is down. I haven’t received any messages since 3:30. I’m not sure if they are capturing emails or if all of my mail is bouncing.

I use Intermedia.net and they are normally very reliable. I really hope they get it up soon.

Bidding Starts NOW!!!!!

We’ve done one more thing to change the way domain auctions should be run. Our main competitor throws names that don’t sell into an online bidding system and runs them for another week. We are starting the online bidding a week before the live auction. You can sign up now and start bidding! The auctions will close when the live auctioneer says “sold” on the 24th at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Domain Conference and Expo.

My anxiety level is at an all-time high but at this point, I need to let the market determine our fate. I’ve done everything that we could think of. We’ve got, what we feel, is an incredibly good list of names at low reserves. We’ve got a world champion auctioneer. We are using the best online auction software company. We are starting the auction a week early! And, we have better financing options than our competitors because we will pay 10% of your down payment. I don’t know what else to do at this point other than sit back and hope for the best.

We are here to stay which is why we’ve put so much into this. Anything worth having is worth fighting for and the domain buyer, my customer, is why I fight.

Quick Links
View Auction Inventory
Register for Auction
Submit Domains for Auction

Here We Go Again!

I swear I’m not schizophrenic. I know it can appear that way when I change my newsletter design so frequently. This time it is a bit different as my organization continues to reinvent itself. This is a total rebranding as our booths, shirts, site, newsletter and business cards will all have the look and feel you see now.

Our goal was to have a cleaner more professional look but not to take it too corporate. I still wanted the site to look and feel like a blog and have a cool, friendly edge to it. While it’s not easy to set out to be cool, you can look for inspiration. The Lincoln was in the original design so we went with the color scheme and lines of that car as a starting point.

Some of you are going to hate the new look but all of you should find it easier on your eyes! I wanted to really get people’s attention with that orange but I didn’t truly realize how bright it was until I’ve spent the last few days going back and forth between the two designs. Please apologize to your retinas on my behalf.

I’m not going to lie to you guys. We took this live as soon as it was good enough. We’ve been inundated with work preparing for this auction. Some of the content may be out of place, out of date or incomplete. Whatever problems we find with this new design, we’ll get them fixed quickly, hopefully within days, if not hours.

It is my sincere hope that you like this look and feel.

Financing Options at Rick Latona Auctions are Better

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Rick Latona Auctions Partners with Domain Capital.

Atlanta, Georgia USA – September 10, 2008 – Today, Rick Latona Auctions, LLC and RickLatona.com, LLC announced a partnership with Domain Capital to finance domain name purchases.

Typically, Domain Capital finances up to 60% of the purchase price, requiring a 40% down payment by the buyer. However, for a limited time, Latona Company clients have to only put 30% down on domain name purchases. The Latona Companies will take care of the remaining 10% of the down payment on the domain name.

Asked about it, Rick Latona said, “To thank our clients for their confidence and business, the Latona Companies are providing an outstanding monetary value-add for purchases through our opt-in newsletter and auctions. Now someone can buy a $100,000 name with just $30,000 down instead of $40,000 down because we are putting up $10,000 of the down payment. Domain Capital offers a great product and this is our way of thanking our customers for their business”

About Domain Capital:

Domain Capital is a financial services company that offers financing to businesses based on the inherent and recognized value of premium domain names.  Our vision is to innovate exciting new financial products and services designed to enable entrepreneurs to exploit new business models. For more information, go to www.domaincapital.com.

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Note: Please ask questions about this. I realize that it may come across as a bit confusing but this is the real deal. I will make 10% of your down payment for you!

See You Down Under. Rick Latona Auctions Lands Another Contract

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

RICK LATONA AUCTIONS TO FEATURE AT TRAFFIC DOWN UNDER DOMAIN CONFERENCE

Atlanta, Georgia, USA (September 8, 2008) – Rick Latona Auctions will be holding an auction at the TRAFFIC Down Under conference on the Gold Coast, Australia. The show is scheduled to take place November 18th through the 20th. Please see the official site for details.  Rick Latona Auctions is already scheduled for an auction at the TRAFFIC conference in Brooklyn, New York (www.TargetedTraffic.com), so this will be the second TRAFFIC event for the company.  The Australian conference is being co-hosted by TRAFFIC and Fabulous.com, and it promises three unparalleled days of intense workshops, key industry speakers, and fabulous social events.

“Take a look at their agenda.” said Rick Latona of Rick Latona Auctions, “This is three solid days packed with serious industry workshops and educational sessions.  The first keynote speaker is Paul Twomey, CEO of ICANN.  TRAFFIC and the folks at Fabulous.com really have an excellent program planned.  I wouldn’t want to miss this one.”

What other industry leaders have said about Rick Latona Auctions forming their strategic alliance with TRAFFIC:

“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.” Ron Jackson

“Rick, I have no doubt it will be a success.  Hey Rick, Is there anything in the domain world that you’re not doing?” Larry Fischer

“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.  This really is a game changer.” Rick Schwartz

Submissions to Rick Latona Auctions should be sent to Submissions@RickLatonaAuctions.com.

For more information about Rick Latona Auctions, go to www.RickLatona.com.
For more information about Fabulous, go to www.Fabulous.com.
For more information on TRAFFIC Down Under, check out their website at www.TrafficDownUnder.com, or for TRAFFIC simply go to www.TargetedTraffic.com.

About Rick Latona Auctions:
Rick Latona Auctions was founded as a natural extension to www.RickLatona.com to pursue other avenues in the domain marketplace to sell domain names.  When asked why he made the decision to launch now, Rick said, “I had been considering the idea for years.  When I realized that I was one of the largest individual resellers and brokers of domains it really became an issue of timing.  Rick Schwartz created that timing for us.  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.”
Mr. Latona has been in the internet and domain industry since the mid-90s and Rick Latona Auctions is just one of several companies that Mr. Latona has founded during that time.  Other ventures include:
www.RickLatona.com – RickLatona.com stays busy Buying, Hosting, Transferring, and Selling more than 1,000,000 USD worth of domain names per month.
www.DigiPawn.com – DigiPawn is the first company to recognize domain names as assets and loan money on them.  Today, it remains one of the largest companies of its kind in the world.
www.aeiou.com – Aeiou.com offers an affordable development solution for domain owners ready to move forward with their internet properties.

About Fabulous.com and the Dark Blue Sea Group:
Fabulous.com is operated by the Australian listed company, Dark Blue Sea Ltd. DBS owns more than 500,000 high quality, commercially focused, generic keyword domain names (web sites).The DBS suite of products includes Fabulous.com (an ICANN accredited domain name registrar), the Domain Distribution Network (aftermarket domain distribution and fulfillment services), DarkBlue.com (online advertising affiliate network) and Roar.com/PageSeeker.com (online advertising portals) which combine to provide a fully integrated internet marketing platform. Dark Blue Sea is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (code: DBS) and has a Level 1 over-the-counter ADR program through the Bank of New York (code: DKBLY).

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Contact:
David Clements
david@davidclements.com
Rick Latona Auctions, LLC
405 Brentwood Dr. NE
Atlanta, GA  30305
Ph: +1.678.468.9228

Jen Sale
pr@fabulous.com
Fabulous.com
Ph: +61.7.3007.0000

I Predict an Incredibly Good Week!

When I was selling cars, back in the day, a bird flew by and took a dump right in the very center of the tie I was wearing. My sales manager walked by, pointed at it and told me, “Son, you are going to sell more cars today than anyone!”.

This weekend I had a similar experience. Standing on my back porch, having a very important business conversation on the phone, a wasp dive bombed at my face and stung me right in the center of my nose!

LMAO, you should have seen me. I screamed various extremities then, dropped my phone on the ground and ran inside the house like a scared little kid while the pain spread from my nose to my cheeks.

Another funny thing about it is that when I called my associate back he told me he didn’t believe the story. He told me that every time we start to get somewhere I want to get off the phone.

I don’t know what the odds are of getting stung in the middle of the nose but I predict an incredibly good week.

Want a piece of domaining history? A few more names that will be auctioned off in New York.

On the 11th of July, 1985 the domain mcc.com was registered. It was only the 4th .com domain ever registered.

Today that name generates around 100 dollars a day in revenue and it will be auctioned off in New York with a reserve of only 5x earnings.The name will fly off the shelf, but for how much? I can’t wait to find out.

Here are a few more names that have been added to the inventory that is hitting the block.

CountryClubs.com
DayTraders.com - Another really old site. It’s number 1 or number 2 on Google for almost anything related.
Audit.com and Audits.com - The singular sold last year in New York. Now someone can buy the pair.

Our list is still coming together but I’m pretty excited about it looks so far.

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