Libby and I have written a number of blogs on auctions. They seem to be in the news more and more these days. It has almost gotten to the point where not a day goes by that some celebrity isn’t making headlines for putting his or her personal items on the block. But, today’s auction blog is a bit different. It isn’t about stars making money from selling diamond rings or gowns worn to the Academy Awards; rather this auction blog is dedicated to the sale of far less glamorous items–Web addresses.
Hundreds of Internet domain names were recently up for auction in Hollywood, Florida. Last Friday’s bid-fest included a list of domain names such as cameras.com, which pulled in $1.5 million. Sexeducation.com sold for $120,000 and babies.net went for $26,000. In addition, Flowers.mobi, an address with the new extension for mobile devices, went for $200,000, while fun.mobi pulled in $100,000. Sound like a lot of dough for a dot-something? Experts say a boom in Internet advertising driven by companies such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have sent prices for sought-after domain names soaring.
But, Friday’s auction also featured domain names that didn’t fetch nearly the amounts the aforementioned ones did. In fact, some names didn’t sell at all. Take for example, HELL.com. The owner put a minimum price of $1 million on the underworld’s domain; confident he could get at least that much. You can imagine his surprise when there were no takers. According to news reports, every bid failed to reach the reserve price.
“The world is still alive and well. Nobody is going to hell right now,” auction organizers told reporters, adding that the domain would now be part of a silent auction. Interestingly, it’s not the first time that the owner has tried to sell HELL.com. Reports show he put the address on the auction block in April 2000, at a starting bid of $8 million. Perhaps the third time will be the charm.
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