DomainTools has been working on some super neat auction software for the last few months. We took some time after the last auction and asked participants and viewers how we could improve the system. Granted, the software ran great the first time but there are always improvements that can be made.

Improvements:
After listening to participants we came up with a few objectives. One was to ensure an easyier and faster escrow process; two was to have better communication about the domain status during the submission process and after the auction. Our new system should do that and then some.

When:
We are announcing our next auction will be on January 3rd 2008 at 11am Pacific Time. We are going to kick the year off right, what better way then an auction. All buyers from our last auction will be notified of the upcoming auction and we will continue to find new ways to advertise to potential buyers. DomainTools currently has over 400,000 unique visitors a day and is a great place to advertise to potential buyers.

Submission Process:
We are starting with zero submissions as I post this, so there is plenty of room to submit domains. We are only accepting 20 submissions per user during this upcoming auction. Please pick your best domains and then submit them. The buyers are picky and so are we, the more generic the better the chance we will pick the domain and that it will be sold in our auction.

Contract Changes:
There are a few changes to the contract. We will require exclusive listing before the auction and for 60 days after the auction on unsold domains. If a domain fails to sell during the auction the seller is authorizing us to sell it for 20% 10% less then the reserve price after the auction. We will run a closed bid process on unsold domains after the auction closes. For example, How.com was listed at $500,000 during our last auction but failed to sell, however it did sell less then 60 days after the auction in a third party transaction. We are confident we can help sellers maximize post auction offers.

Venue:
The next auction will be held completely online at DomainTools.com. If you want to bid in person, you are welcome to attend at our office location in Downtown Seattle. Please RSVP to seattleoffice@domaintoolsdotcom.