The recent Rick Latona adult domain auctions didn't go so well. Everybody knows this already. A very small amount of domains sold. I know all the excitement and buzz is surrounding the sale of WebCam.com which sold for more than a million bucks... But did the owner of the domain get top dollar? The answer is no. The day that the auction closed (Sunday, April 12) I went ahead and started a thread at GFY to discuss the WebCam.com domain sale. GFY is the largest and most popular adult forum out there with all of the heavy hitters in the adult game if you didn't already know.. Now you know.
One of the replies was by John Marco, the guy who runs/owns WebCams.com which is an actual adult cams site and a thriving business.. "domain is only worth anything because they get our mistypes.." and shortly thereafter another guy, Bossman, who has sold lots of adult domains just recently to National A1 Advertising and knows a thing or two about generic domains and their values / potential replied to John and asked "So, did you buy it?" and guess what John of WebCams.com says to Bossman?? Uhh.. "nah cuz i didn't know it was for sale.. would have paid 1.2 though" Ouch. Rick Latona didn't contact WebCams.com at all? This should of been the #1 company on their list that they should of contacted. It is a no brainer. It is the company that could use the domain the most. They need it and want it and they would of paid even more than $1.2 million I'm sure. I wonder, how many other mistakes were made along the way with this auctions? Man oh man... What a fuck up.
Was any other WebCam sites / operators contacted at all?? There is about ten big ones at least who could of easily paid more than a million dollars who are backed heavily with lots of cash! Were they notified about the domain auction of WebCam.com ??! I don't know this and we probably never will. Not that it matters or anything anymore... But from what it looks like, this auction was a disaster from start to finish. The live domain auction sucked and numerous mistakes were made.. Even Rick Latona himself admitted to this and said "We think the results were terrible and completely unacceptable. I take full responsibility and know that the buck stops with me." But the silent auction that followed only sold 6 domains total by my count and the biggest sale, while it does look like it is going to happen.. Since the domain has now been transferred to Rick Latona's escrow account... It sold for less than it could of easily.. Had he only contacted the right people / companies.
As I've wrote in the previous few posts on my site, so we'll stay on this topic; Silly little mistakes. The small ones. You know what? They have the biggest and most devastating consequences. This stuff is no rocket science guys. You have to plan and execute your strategies and not rush into anything. Marchex screwed up, as I reported in my previous post with SEO and not the first time.. Rick Latona just did once again and it isn't the first time either and just because he admits to it and whatever publicly.. Does it mean that it is OK? No.. It really isn't OK. If I was one of the sellers who put up any domains in the auction, I'd be really furious. It really bothers me seeing people screw up on the little stuff over and over again. When are we going to learn? Man oh man..
Look, I like Rick Latona and his personality and all that he brings to the domain industry but you wonder why the domain industry and whatever else is part of it is sucking and never realizes full potential... I've criticized Rick Latona last time I wrote about him but I also praised Rick Latona last year as he was the first guy I wrote a review about in a piece titled "domain developer of the year" But it really is the little mistakes that are killing any momentum there is and holding us all back. There are a million other things I can write about daily and point out all of the negatives about the domain industry because if you stack those up against the positives here and there, of which there is some too I'll admit... The negatives will be 100x more at the end of the day unfortunately.
The industry is fucked no matter from what angle I look at it. It's totally disorganized and has too many problems on just about every front. Is there any hope? Sure there is... It starts from re-organization. It starts from actually hiring and dealing with people that are competent and know what they are doing. It starts from demanding changes and not just talking about them as many do. Stop daydreaming. Get real. Take your domains and do something with them on your own. The waiting game is stupid. You gonna get burned!
Lance Ware, the guy from Cali who owned WebCam.com could of sold this domain for $1,200,000+ in pure profit. All he had to do was send out a few e-mails to the right people. Nope... It didn't happen. Too bad. He obviously didn't read my article about the art of domain sales and must use techniques in 2009 to get your domains sold. It's a nice case study though and should be a reminder --- people can refer to this published article and see just how badly people can screw up and multiple times. Over and over again. Sucks... Ayy!
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