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The 2,600 real estate domain auction that was supposed to happen today didn’t happen.
A few buyers did show up to the San Francisco event, but none of them felt comfortable buying the domain portfolio. Instead, they wished to negotiate a sale behind closed doors. “Had we had premium names, like toys.com, there would have been an auction,” said Scott King, Executive Vice President of Sales for J.P. King Auction Co.
“I still believe domain names are going to be the next Internet gold rush,” he added. Interestingly, his auction house, which usually sells yachts and other big-ticket items, has never held a domain auction before.
Many potential buyers simply do not want to take the risk of buying the domains, especially considering the current state of the real estate market. Four were interested in some sort of joint-venture, but not a sale.
Craig Harrison, the seller, has spent £21,097 ($35,000 USD) over the last ten years registering the domains. This was after his college-age son told him “domain names would one day be valuable.”
The result of the auction doesn’t surprise me. What else would you expect from an inexperienced domainer in inexperienced hands?
