It seems that the Domaining Revolution has ended. For those of you not familiar with the MysteryDomainAuction.com story please read here.
This is directly from John Motson…
“Following legal advice obtained as a result of concerns raised by fellow domaining bloggers and some NamePros members about the legality of an all-pay auction in the US where this site is hosted in addition to consideration of the problems I may face at the end of the auction in case more than one person bids with the same amount which is very likely I have decided that the best option is to cancel this auction effective immediately.
All bids have been refunded.
All affiliates that made commissions have now been paid out of my own pocket.”
I am glad this is over already, honestly I did not want to sit here until April and watch. I just have three questions for John.
- Are you still going to TRAFFIC in April?
- Will the domain name valued at $10,000 be awarded to the final bidder?
- What was the domain name?
I do hope that John can rebuild his reputation from this. DNXpert.com is a good blog and so is the Domaining Manifesto ebook which I am assuming is now free. It would be a little difficult to go from free to charging $27 again. A positive spin for John is using the ebook to build his email list.
***Updated***
I emailed John and he said he does not intend on answering any further questions.
Before that he did say that there will be no prize because the auction did not last the 100 days or 2 weeks without a bid. He also said that he has spoken with the last bidder and they are fine with not getting anything.
I would like to know what the name was
I don’t think he will tell us.
I think that is the question on everyones lips – What was the domain?
I dont know if John shall ever let anyone know.
I wouldnt expect this domain to go to the final bidder since all monies have been refunded.
Lets hope he can build and grow his reputation again.
Regards,
Robbie
I’m a newbie domainer, as you know, but not so newbie in another business. I think John has totally ruin his reputation with this movement. I think he should have consulted before launching this “revolution”. (sorry for my english)
It was worth a shot though. I got quite a bit of traffic from the links so its not exactly that nothing was given in return.
The marketing was good, but calling it a revolution was a bit extreme. He’s gonna get even worse PR if he chooses to reveal the name and it doesn’t hold water. Rick Latona would probably be one of the better appraisers to say if it’s truly worth 10K.
Most revolutions are short-lived.
Alas, another footnote in domaining history.
In some sense it doesn’t even matter what the domain name was, though of course I too am curious. But let’s face it, if there was a winner at the end of this, it probably would have been Motson… oh, and the person that got the domain name, would surely have taken the cash!
I think there would have been a trainwreck at the end, but we all would have been watching, no doubt. I guess it’s a good thing that it ended when it did. Motson really should have checked with his lawyer first, but I still pat him on the back for trying something new, even if some are saying the script isn’t unique – it’s surely the first time we’ve seen it used in such a novel way.
The eBook is still free and I trust it will stay that way. Still a bit sore that I bought it before it was free, but those things happen. I certainly got back my money from the auction, at least.
LMAO……… is all I have to say.
I’m sorry.. but I just think it’s really funny.. I mean, if he spent all the time creating the site.. didn’t he think about this at all… even once?
I wonder what the next revolution will be.Find out next time on
(As The Domain World Turns)Cheers,Kevin.
Everyone who placed a bid got their money back in traffic. I know that I did. That’s why I placed 10 bids and had hoped to keep playing this game for a few weeks to come. Too bad it ended so soon.
I don’t think he should tell anybody. This was a brave, innovative project, which unfortunately failed due to poor planning. But this does not mean that John needs to reveal his business secrets.
Just my thoughts,
Regards,
Ataol
I don’t see this as hurting his reputation nor should it. He had an innovative idea that unfortunately had some downsides he did not foresee, when these became apparent he acted quickly and made sure no one (besides himself) lost any money. I have more respect for him then anyone wanting to make themselves look good by pulling his name through the mud and saying “i told you so” after the fact.
Something like this has worked before, but domainers were the wrong market to target. Maybe in a few years they will be the right market to target.