By: RH
Most domain investors check out NameJet just about every day. The quality of inventory 
and the number of bidders are there day in and day out. I like NameJet, buy there and Hybrid Domainer is an affiliate of the site. There are a couple things I would like to see changed.
Specify Private Auction Sales
NameJet allows certain people either due to the quality of their portfolio or the relationships they have made to sell through NameJet. That's a nice feature and a way to keep members engaged with your platform.
These names should not be just shown under pre release with no other notes in my opinion. Someone bidding should know that they are bidding on a name that is being sold by an individual and not expired.
Go Daddy allows your auctions to be mixed in with expiring auctions, but you can click a button and see what kind of auction you are bidding on.
I have always believed expiring auctions just get bid higher so there is the benefit of having people think the name is expired. Domainers seem to feel its a better buy that a gem was left to expire, rather than another domainer is selling some inventory. I know this to be fact as I have had people who are friends or clients not be as interested in a domain when finding out it was not expired.
I once emailed someone who I had brokered names before and let them know a name on Go Daddy was at $80. The name was in their niche and this person would have a decent budget for the name. The first email was, "thanks for letting me know about the auction." The second one was,"Why didn't you tell me it was a public auction ?" The name was the same, we had discussed his budget for names in that niche and it was low x,xxx. The fact that someone else was selling affected him pschologically. I was not the seller getting him to buy my name, it was just letting him know that it might be a name he liked.This was not the only time I have had someone lose interest when the auction was not expired.
NameJet may also look at the fact if they denote private seller vs expired that everyone will be emailing them to get into the sales channel. Either way I think it should be noted for full transparency.
Minimum Pricing
The second suggestion of mine would be to lower the minimum price. If a domain is good its going to get way more than $69. If its not they could still do some business they would otherwise not have.
If you start the bidding at $20 then you may get a lot of so-so names with one bid and get $20 for names that at $69 someone will pass on and wait for it to drop. True someone else could beat them to the drop but there are a lot of names where someone will think, "For $20 sure I will buy it but for 3 and a half times that, no thank you."
If someone wanted to save some money they could watch the name at NameJet with 0 bids and then place a back order at Name.com and the cost would be $49.99. I know a few people who do this almost daily with .tv domains. $20 is not a lot on one name, but if you are an active buyer those $20 savings add up nicely.
Start them at $20 and make more money on the thousands of potential names daily that usually get no bids at $69. I think it benefits everyone.
So those are my two suggestions. What do you thing ? What would you like to see improved ?
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