SOLD.ca Say.ca, Corp.ca & Row.ca - The .CA Market Must be Worse than I Thought (2.Viewing)

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Good deal for the buyer.

Looks like two were bought by IREX.ca and the other one by Wise Digital.

But these were all long-term holds (two from 2001 and one from 2003) so it looks like somebody needed cash fast. It's a very tough market out there right now for Canadian buyers so I can understand it, but still, those would have all sold for a lot more at TBR wholesale auction.
 
Well at some point you have to pull some cash out of your domains, even premiums can sit for years and years waiting for the right buyer. I wonder if it was the same owner who sold, maybe they have dozens of domains like that. With $6000 US you can do a few things. I agree the buyer got a great deal too.

Makes me wonder why WHC and other .ca drop catchers don't set up a mirror auction list every week where domainers can submit their own names, WHC can pick and choose which to list, and how many. Seems the market is there for it, and they could make a 10 or 15% commission. Especially when there are poor TBR weeks or they don't catch the best names.
 
Makes me wonder why WHC and other .ca drop catchers don't set up a mirror auction list every week where domainers can submit their own names

Some registrars do offer this in one form or another and I believe WHC has stated it's in the works...

That said, domainers selling their excess stock is never going to hit the same price level as TBR domains. Buyers just view them differently, as an "investor auction" will always look like a loser domain they couldn't sell with all its potential wrung out of it, and right or wrong, expired TBR domains just have that fresh, unknown quality that just gleams with untapped potential, leading to mass overbidding in a lot of cases.

This phenomenon is well-known in the current Expired Domain auctions, as stuff people wouldn't pay $50 for on NP suddenly erupts and sells for thousands at GD expired auction. Apples and oranges.
 
Maybe but I think WHC or whoever does it will just have to be picky about the names they list. You get a few bidders going in on Say.ca or Row.ca knowing there is no reserve price, it would just start feeling the same. Though for quality domains like that they should have some kind of minimum reserve, like $500 or so.
 
I don't think too many people are willing to let a premium domain go to auction so most of the stuff will be low to mid-range quality.

The reason those 3 nice .CAs sold was that a buyer caught the seller at just the right time (financial problem, health concern, personal issue, etc.) and they decided it was the right moment to cash out. Next week it might be have been a different story, with the domain owner saying no. The money on the table is the impetus to grab it and sell, not a mystery auction price a week from now that you can't predict.

That's not the kind of thing you can count on week-in and week-out for user auctions, so mostly it'll be junk or ultra-high reserves that never get hit.
 
It's probably worth a try anyway to see if they can find a system that works, and reserves shouldn't be allowed to be set ultra high. Should be kept in the same spirit as a TBR, not an auction to end users. Given the TBR quality sometimes it's hard to think a curated list of submitted domains wouldn't be at least as good or probably better. There are times I might try this with a domain or two to raise some cash, and these TBR auctions have the most eyeballs and buyers at one time in one place for the .ca market.
 
Given the TBR quality sometimes it's hard to think a curated list of submitted domains wouldn't be at least as good or probably better.

TBR often has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with the buyer mentality of expired domains looking fresh and full of promise. This is a well-known phenomenon where an expired domain (due to the mystery of why it was dropped) is viewed in a far more positive manner than an investor trying to sell his soon-to-expire domains.

Not saying it's right, only the way it is.

How many times do you see people on here dropping domains after trying hard to sell it for years, often at discount for $50-$100 before finally letting it go (with no buyers) and then it ends up selling for a lot more at the TBR auctions.

Gold fever!

Of course there could be the odd outlier like a premium word or top-end LL/LLL, but I really don't see those hitting an open auction very often, if at all.
 
Some registrars do offer this in one form or another and I believe WHC has stated it's in the works...

That said, domainers selling their excess stock is never going to hit the same price level as TBR domains. Buyers just view them differently, as an "investor auction" will always look like a loser domain they couldn't sell with all its potential wrung out of it, and right or wrong, expired TBR domains just have that fresh, unknown quality that just gleams with untapped potential, leading to mass overbidding in a lot of cases.

This phenomenon is well-known in the current Expired Domain auctions, as stuff people wouldn't pay $50 for on NP suddenly erupts and sells for thousands at GD expired auction. Apples and oranges.
yep exactly, i was bidding on a domain in the TBR that i found was for sale on facebook for 150 dollars in a domainlist before it dropped. I forget the end price but it was over 3k. I exited at around 2k even knowing that.
 
yep exactly, i was bidding on a domain in the TBR that i found was for sale on facebook for 150 dollars in a domainlist before it dropped.

I remember buying one TBR domain that I did some research on later that had been sitting on GoDaddy for years at a sale price of $300.

And yes, it didn't sell for me either.

Good job Leroy! :cautious:
 
.CA so hard to sell

Unless it's an ultra-premium with huge demand, then I would agree with this.

It's a tough market because in 2025 you need to pay big bucks for the ultra premiums (like the ones Maple or RLM own) and that also means you need to hold out for an outlandish price in order to make a "domain profit". If you bought these in 2000-2010 then it's a lot easier to turn a profit.

You can also get lucky with the odd lottery ticket, but you can't build a business entirely on lottery tickets or your renewals will eat you alive. The very cream of the .CA crop is where the real money it, but those aren't cheap. Catch-22 for a new investor.

But as others have proven, it is certainly possible to make money just in .CA, but new investors will need a pile of money and a lot of time and patience to crack this particular egg.
 
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If those were long term holds, I wonder if this was they best price the seller ever received for them or if the interest has declined so he just got desperate

I mean, they are all short one-word domains, but I don't see them as premium. Hard to build a business on any of them. Hopefully he at least made a profit
 
I mean, they are all short one-word domains, but I don't see them as premium. Hard to build a business on any of them. Hopefully he at least made a profit

I would definitely want to own Say, and I've seen much higher sales on much worse domains than ROW and CORP. Just look at Maple's Declined Offers thread for an example of that - I'd rather own these 3 than his 3, no question.

I've said this before, but once the Carney Liberals snuck back into power, I've noticed a severe drop in .CA demand from Canadians and our overall economic indicators are dropping fast. It's obvious that Canadian businesses were hoping and praying the PCs won, and got the country's economy back on track. But now that the woke Liberals are still in charge, it's all been doom and gloom, with the banks and other financial institutions is calling for a long-term recession in Canada.

Posthaste: 'The fear is real,' says TD, predicting 100,000 jobs will be lost in looming recession

Canada is entering a recession and will soon bleed another 100,000 jobs: TD chief economist
 
I would definitely want to own Say, and I've seen much higher sales on much worse domains than ROW and CORP. Just look at Maple's Declined Offers thread for an example of that - I'd rather own these 3 than his 3, no question.

I've said this before, but once the Carney Liberals snuck back into power, I've noticed a severe drop in .CA demand from Canadians and our overall economic indicators are dropping fast. It's obvious that Canadian businesses were hoping and praying the PCs won, and got the country's economy back on track. But now that the woke Liberals are still in charge, it's all been doom and gloom, with the banks and other financial institutions is calling for a long-term recession in Canada.

Posthaste: 'The fear is real,' says TD, predicting 100,000 jobs will be lost in looming recession

Canada is entering a recession and will soon bleed another 100,000 jobs: TD chief economist
I think I would take MapleDots 3 domains, just to get Blow.ca That is the kind of magical four letter one word domain that has limitless possibilities, at least they get good sales in .com and .ai - the ideal being you get a big co using the .com and wanting the .ca for Canada. But really you never know which will do the best. The best three of the six to me are blow, say and row.

As for the Liberals, at least they are talking a better game, the new energy minister said some good things in Alberta recently. But the follow through will be key, and I have zero trust in them until I see it. Carney should be smart enough to know that fast tracking our resources that the world needs and wants is now almost the only way, or best way, to get Canada's economy on track again. Everyone is seeing more calls for recession. All the multi-billion dollar investments the Trudeau Liberals made in EV car and battery plants in recent years, well those plants have either postponed or cancelled their plans, resulting in a huge waste of taxpayer money and no economic return. The problem is Carney still has a real bent for carbon and climate so it will be interesting to see how they thread this and sell it to their followers, or if they even try. And can they get energy and resources companies to come back to Canada and invest, after being so hostile to them for the last 10 years. And will environmental groups start blocking things again, and will First Nations be supportive or not? It should make for interesting times.
 

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