NEW YORK, NY – Someone landed a fantastic deal on Flippa this weekend. Amazingly, I lost the auction despite my accidental astronomical one-too-many zero’s high-bid. I’m not going to mention what domain it was (to avoid any politics on the issue), [all luck to the winner who got a great deal] but the domain name was a single word .com highly-commercial term with an Estibot well over $200,000.00 and it sold for about 9 percent of that.
Not a .net domain selling for 9%, but a .com at 9% of the Estibot. Now I am aware that not everyone swears by Estibot values, but it is usually pretty good at valuing true generic single word .coms, and it isn’t usually that wide-off. At minimum, it’s always been a very good indicator of what’s highly desirable.
Buyers market you say? Certainly.
How my astronomical, ‘one zero too many’ high bid still missed it:
During the last hour of the auction, I placed what I thought was an unbeatable high-bid, (one zero too many, automatically out-bidding any competing bid). While I was searching around the site to see if there was a way to figure out for certain what my high bid was, and if I saw that correctly in that split-second, to make sure I knew how bad the damage would be if bidding remained strong, I then received an email that the auction had ended and the domain auction closed with a winner (not me); the domain was sold.
I was very surprised; I think the seller could have achieved more, especially since my super-seller bidding account kept placing bids automatically. So I reached out to him and asked and seller said it was just one of those quick decisions based on what he had been seeing and that you really never know with this stuff, which is true. Wished him luck at recognized at least he was looking at money-in-the-bank.
Hopefully there are no back-room deals going on over there.
- Has this happened to anyone else? Did an auction close while you were aggressively bidding and you thought you had it, in-the-bag, so to speak?
- Have you ever encountered any shill bidding, funny business, going on there?
- Any land-grabs miraculously disappear on you?
- Problems with sellers, buyers, brokers, out of the norm worth mentioning?
- Any ‘collusion’ with the ownerships’ other venues, if any?
Basically, as this venue seems to grow and mature, especially as more of a ‘domain’ marketplace, rather than just a ‘flipping’ website marketplace, what does everyone think of Flippa? I remember it as SitePoint back in the day, and at that time I thought of it mostly a place to sell developed websites, but I feel it has become more main-stream with domainers, especially since Flippa acquired Domain Holdings Group in 2015. It’s also been appearing an a venue on sales lists more often.
Added Later: There is a note in the comments section which mentions why I did not post the exact name in the story here; I was having trouble finding the closed / sold listing so I do not know if buyer and seller want the final price disclosed. See comment response to Jon.
About The Author: John Colascione is Chief Executive of Internet Marketing Services Inc. He specializes in Website Monetization, authored a ‘how to’ book called ‘‘Mastering Your Website’, and is a key player in several Internet related businesses through his search engine strategy brand Searchen Networks®
Praveen says
February 26, 2018 at 2:47 pmI have sold many domains with Buy It Now price! I knew I left money on the table but there is no guarantee that highest bidder will pay for the auction!
You need to ask the seller if he/she considers for quick deal with BIN.
Richard says
February 26, 2018 at 3:20 pmWhat the hell is the point of this article?
John Colascione says
February 26, 2018 at 3:23 pm@Richard, it publicly shares my experience on the venue; seeks feedback from other domainers on their Flippa experience. It also reminds people that if you are in a bidding war, that you can be beaten buy a BIN slapped into the auction unexpectedly and to look out for that. I’d bet many people would not expect that; I didn’t in the final hour and I do not buy much there; and wasn’t watching close enough for that. Next time I will.
AbdulBasit Makrani says
February 26, 2018 at 11:27 pmExactly! It’s waste of time without knowing the domain.
Jon says
February 26, 2018 at 4:33 pmWould be a better read if you revealed the name. Now everyone reading this is wondering what the hell the name is. Don’t see why you can’t reveal it if it was a public auction.
John Colascione says
February 26, 2018 at 4:38 pm@Jon
I know Jon, but I cannot seem to find the closed / sold listing at Flippa and I do not know if buyer and seller want the final price disclosed. I can not longer find the listing at Flippa site or even in my account history. If you know of a link on Flippa, which shows recent sales, please send it to me or post here and if I see the name listing for all to see what the closing price / final bid was, I will then disclose the name. It seems like it hidden or something
Anticareer says
February 26, 2018 at 4:50 pmYou are asking people questions for items you are interested in knowing, but you leave out the one piece of information that people would be interested in knowing.
John Colascione says
February 26, 2018 at 4:52 pm@Anticareer
Well, I understand, but take my word for it. It estibots at about $240K and sold for 9%; that is the ‘meat’ of the sale. Just trying to protect buyer and seller.
AbdulBasit Makrani says
February 27, 2018 at 1:29 pmIMO it’s misguiding for domainers especially newbies giving them valuations of Estibot and shows how cheap the domain sold for. Estibot is worthless and waste of time. Just check the valuation of Microsoft.com at Estibot and it will show you ZERO.
John Colascione says
February 27, 2018 at 1:31 pm@AbdulBasit Makrani,
Probably because it is a super-famous TRADEMARK, which makes sense.
ZERO value to anyone other than Microsoft.
Mike @ Online Business says
February 26, 2018 at 7:09 pmThere are deals to be found on flippa if you know what to look for. A few years ago I bought a domain there and resold it for 10X what I paid. Sold for over six figures.
John Colascione says
February 26, 2018 at 7:10 pmThis was certainly one of those names.
Mike @ Online Business says
February 26, 2018 at 7:20 pmAgreed. I figured out the name and definitely see this name being used by a law firm. Definitely a great deal for the buyer.
John Colascione says
February 26, 2018 at 7:23 pmThat is what I call, a retarded deal. I will probably see it sell next year at NamesCon for low six figures; high six if outbound is done to the right firms.
larry says
February 26, 2018 at 9:45 pmJon,
if the deal was listed on flippa and it sold on flippa it was not a private sale. Therefore your remark ‘I do not know if buyer and seller want the final price disclosed.” is not a viable reason for not listing the sale.
since its no longer listed on flippa, the possibility exists that the sale never happened, was fake, or many other possibilities. You have actually made more issues by not listing the domain. My advice would be list it, and have flippa comment on it.
Data Glasses says
February 27, 2018 at 12:55 amWas the domain ……..ImNotSaying/Com
Geoffrey Gonzales says
February 28, 2018 at 11:08 pmTo all,
Back off. Relax and learn the lesson he’s trying to share.
Geoff
Joe Blow says
March 17, 2018 at 6:30 pmFunny business? well their was the fella who sold $150k of mediocre .io & .ly in only eighteen months, was always ‘most active’ & editors pick & ALWAYS lots of bids from new accounts in India.
What happened to him?
He doesn’t use flippa now – doesn’t need to!