March 22
This week Rick Schwartz decided to quit blogging and put widgets.com on ebay.com
With 4 days to go now the auction is up to $120k
I’m pretty sure the reserve won’t be reached and domain won’t sell, so no idea why Rick decided to do that. eBay is certainly not the place to sell a domain like that.
Looks like he didn’t even take the time to write a proper description, all it says is:
Widgets.com the #1 generic domain name for sale and looking for an end user to develop. This prime domain name receives thousands of monthly visitors by way of type ins.
No other information will be made available. Domainers make note
This is not a misspell. Is not IDN. Does not have any mistaken letters. This is the one and only WIDGETS.COM registered back in 1995.
Either way, good luck!
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March 22nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Why do you think eBay is a bad place to sell this?
Do you think they have a bigger community of widget developers and vcs subscribing to eBay alerts on ‘widgets” then Sedo?
What would your proper description be?
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
6-7 figure worth domains fetch much higher prices on high profile auctions, like the moniker TRAFFIC.
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Might be doing it for an experiment, or market test, or for domain market awareness (big audience on ebay). Who knows with Rick.
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
He is doing it to send a message to domainers. I wrote this on his blog, and I’ll repeat it here.
—
I hope you all realize what is going on here. The message should be loud and clear. Rick has been warning everybody all year to help him mount a defense against what is coming. Very few are paying attention, and very few are helping him build the fort to protect against the coming invaders. So, rather than waste is time blogging to people who don’t listen, he is leaving us to fend for ourselves and he will use his new found time to mount his own defense (probably by developing some of his domains and selling others). We have lost our visionary and a big industry voice.
WAKE UP PEOPLE! Rick stops blogging, Frank stops blogging, Yahoo kills arbitrage, Ask/Google, Snowe Bill.
The writing is on the wall.
Fast forward to 2010 and do a “Where are They Now” on the domainers of yesteryear. Some will have cashed out and be wealthy and happily retired. Some will have developed domains into businesses worth millions or maybe even billions. Most, however, will be EMPLOYEES working for a BOSS, wasting their hours thinking about the good old days and wondering what went wrong.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:23 pm
wow conspiracy theory…
major portfolios are not set it and forget it
Takes constant optimization and tests
With changes in rules and providers- I would expect them at the server 24/7
Yahoo kills arbitrage????
Ask/Google I believe raised their payouts
Snow Bill- well that only effects two kinds of people- bad guys or good guys without the resources to defend themselves
When you go into business you need a plan, lawyers, budget
Hooking up a $7 domain is not a business and that’s why some will loose them
I suspect Rick decided to sell a domain because he always likes to self-fund investments- and with legal and development costs anticipated- he wants to prepare. He also knows those without the resources to defend or develop will be liquidating and cash on hand is always a deal closer. The $60K domain passed at the last traffic is $300 this afternoon at the “cattlemen’s club.”
Why widgets- why here/
There’s a 100m development drive for Widgets right here in the Valley where eBay is based. It’s a tight community- he had an instinct for what would get attention
Why sell here
Nows as good a time as any to test new suppliers when you know the existing ones are about to fold. And since the community turned its back on him in a time of need, I’d be making changes too