TBR Musings - Feb 16, 2022 (1.Viewing)

Eby said:

That is pretty annoying obviously. The thrill of TBR is lost now and it's simply getting ready for a battle.

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Agreed, and one thing is for certain, pre-action prices are definitely up and it's much more difficult to get a TBR deal than it was pre-WHC Barnum & Bailey.

DomainRecap said:

pre-WHC Barnum & Bailey.

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Do you mean that WHC is trying to create excitement and increase the number and amount of bids on TBR domains to their benefit? Makes complete business sense to me.

aactive said:

Do you mean that WHC is trying to create excitement and increase the number and amount of bids on TBR domains to their benefit? Makes complete business sense to me.

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Duh... of course it makes sense purely from a WHC financial perspective, but there are other facets of business and the marketplace that are just as important. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter sell their user's data/habits/buying trends like madmen, but they've also come under fire for doing so, and there is a PR downside to "selling and hyping" any data you can get your hands on.

For example, WHC starting up the TBR "show everyone's bids in real-time" hype train got me to sign up at MyID, something I never thought I'd do. I still use Siber, but I'm extremely careful knowing that any action I take is immediately displayed for all the world to see.

It's very dangerous using WHC or Siber right now, like having to show all your cards while playing a poker game.

Pre-auction TBR prices have definitely increased since WHC went Barnum & Bailey, and while that does create an infusion of cash, it's not good for the overall market. What happens when all this hype meets with cold hard reality, and the new blood suddenly finds out that .CA domain investing isn't "easy money" and the TBR bubble bursts?

I will say with conviction that current Hot List-based TBR wholesale prices are not sustainable (unless it's a hobby for most of the market and they don't care about P&L) and there will be some fallout. DCI is a great LLL, but an $1100 pre-auction price is indicative of this change in process.

Buying domains is easy, selling them is hard.

aactive said:

Do you mean that WHC is trying to create excitement and increase the number and amount of bids on TBR domains to their benefit? Makes complete business sense to me.

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This isn’t the first time registrars have promoted TBR. The smart ones know that there is lots of money to be made with being open about it. Webnames has tried in the past to promote domains. They have always been off and on and their TBR system is a bit unique as I don’t believe they have auctions. Pool.com also promoted TBR and even sent emails with the top names. If I recall they were backordered names too. This isn’t a new concept. Is it bringing in a bunch of new domainers? I don’t really think so.

The Canadian market is so small and the amount of people in TBR in a given week are pretty much the same players. You may get the odd person joining auctions but they are not making a dent.

In my opinion higher prices in TBR is a great thing. Mostly for me because I’ve accumulated all the domains I could ever want. If it’s a domain I really want I will get it. I’m not buying weekly. I don’t need to. If you are; it will come to an end eventually. As .CA domains are not .COM.

Just my two cents.

theinvestor said:

In my opinion higher prices in TBR is a great thing. Mostly for me because I’ve accumulated all the domains I could ever want. If it’s a domain I really want I will get it. I’m not buying weekly. I don’t need to. If you are; it will come to an end eventually. As .CA domains are not .COM.

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Yep, the current TBR prices will certainly weed out pretenders pretty fast, and this impending fallout is good news for longtime .CA investors who are living off the gravy. It's like watching dogs fight over scraps while you're eating a steak dinner.

Inflated TBR pick numbers (200-300+ a week) + higher and higher wholesale prices will absolutely bury anyone looking to make a profit. There's just not enough .CA end user money out there each week to support such a grand expenditure of TBR cash.

Go look at old TBR lists from a few years ago - a quality list might bring 80-90 picks (maybe 100+ on a real good one) and 50-70 would be a regular TBR week. Now, you get 200-250 picks on a low-end list. What's changed? Are .CA end user sales absolutely going through the roof? Not that I can see, and if anything, sales are down in 2022.

* And there is new blood in the .CA marketplace, as I personally know several gov't drones who have gone heavy into digital properties (NFTs, domains, etc.) to fend off the boredom of sitting at home sucking on the gov't teat. Their wallets may not rival the old guard, but rest assured they are creating higher prices just by participating.

DomainRecap said:

Buying domains is easy, selling them is hard.

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Well said. Most everyone would agree or will agree someday, including those who are now bidding up on those WHC "Hot" domains!!! It's a matter of time.

In the mean time WHC will stand to win, including it's competitors like MyID, since people who don't like the current set up will start bidding elsewhere. This will turn out to be a great lesson to everyone. Time will tell.
I agree with [notify]aactive[/notify] in that it's a great business model for WHC and wishing them the best of luck and also [notify]FM[/notify] "Make hay while the sun (still) shines"

Eby said:

"Make hay while the sun (still) shines"

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I wasn't so sure if I should like this post, because of the "still" part. ;-) We're hoping to create more than temporary momentum here, but of course, only time will tell. Thank you for your wishes.

Eby said:

Well said. Most everyone would agree or will agree someday, including those who are now bidding up on those WHC "Hot" domains!!! It's a matter of time.

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The key is that no one was becoming a millionaire on .CA a few years ago, when TBR weekly picks ranged from 50-90. Now, 200-250 has become a regular occurrence - we even had 310 last week - and this is simply not sustainable.

I honestly believe new TBR buyers are looking at .COM sales charts, then seeing .CA domains bid up to 3- and 4-figures on the WHC "Hot List" and drawing the wrong correlations. As many have stated, .CA is not the same as .COM, and this might be a difficult realization for some.

FM said:

I wasn't so sure if I should like this post, because of the "still" part.

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I thought the auctions were all scheduled to end at 1:00 pm at MyID but see this instead.

1pm ET, no?

patricia/ca is flying high...

Any other high auctions this week?

I think they started staggering them not long ago [notify]Eby[/notify]

Groot said:

patricia/ca is flying high...

Any other high auctions this week?

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Lots…seems like q9 may have ended at a good price so far.

Erica.ca was the biggest surprise at $2,209.

IS THIS EVER GOING TO END?

theinvestor said:

Erica.ca was the biggest surprise at $2,209.

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:[

Damn, I see all this money flying around and I get my Top Pick (by a long shot) for a single rebid at auction....

DomainRecap said:

Damn, I see all this money flying around and I get my Top Pick (by a long shot) for a single rebid at auction....

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

My TBR is in the record books. I got one yesterday at min bid (how did you miss this AMAZING name) and got 1 in an auction on another. Not a super aggressive week for me, but got a couple that made sense for me. There were several good domains this week that was certainly worthy of a battle...

aactive said:

My TBR is in the record books. I got one yesterday at min bid (how did you miss this AMAZING name) and got 1 in an auction on another. Not a super aggressive week for me, but got a couple that made sense for me. There were several good domains this week that was certainly worthy of a battle...

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I didn't miss it, just left it for you