BrandBucket Experience

[xtremex]

hello

I am new to BrandBucket. Before getting my hands on this

I wish to experience about brandbucket from my fellow members


Thanks

 

[cocaseco]

They guy is really friendly and is someone capable of running this thing.

Thank you for a great informative post!

I am curious about this one line. What is it that led you to believe he was capable? I'm not publicly suggesting that he is or isn't. Was it brandable experience or business acumen? IMO, you need both in generous amounts to be successful in this role. Anyone that is incredibly strong in one, but weak in the other, will fail in the long run.

I'm just curious from a business perspective. Many years ago in grad school we studied a Harvard Business Review case study that has amazing similarities, but the key issue was they promoted a technical expert in their field to a staff leadership position. It ultimately brought the company down, but by the time the ownership group saw it, it was too late. The focus was on the leadership teams failure to keep their eye on the business, not the technical expert and any deficiencies he may have had. I have looked high and low for the article and haven't yet been successful. I'd like to think that BB will have long term success despite all the recent problems.

 

[trelgor]

To 'curate and simplify' this massive feedback experience for BB, I created this post. Bless my heart. It is not in any way meant to be aggressive, but progressive. Feel free to add to the list.

The post is meant to be a personal list of the questions and points raised in this thread, for thread readers in general, and for BB representatives in particular.

1. Sales figures. If you want a stable marketplace with loyal sellers, there need to be sales stats. For motivation and embetterment.

2. Trend watch. The big picture of the marketplace is only visible to BB at present and beneficial only for inhouse portfolio owners. At the expense of them trying their darndest to make educated guessing profitable. This means keyword search, name types, industry demand. In short: what sells and why. I don't see why this should be top secret for sellers in every respect and how it wouldn't be win-win to educate us. This is a strongsuit for a niche marketplace this size. The elephants could never compete.

3. Some sort of replacement for the vote-for-credit feature. It was probably partly a submission flow regulator. But many hobby investors has now built it into their model. Without it count their effort and 30% out. That may cause ripples.

4. What is the plan? How do you see BB evolving and finding new opportunities?

5. How many names listed is the limit and how do you tackle cluttering?

6. When submission criteria change, please say so first. Or explain that there might be fluctuations and why.

7. When you are actively participating in a forum thread please reply to all warranted questions. In your own time. I have a couple that has gone unanswered, as do many others. It is unprofessional. Either participate or don't. Halfmeasures benefit none.

The sellers on a marketplace like yours invest in the success of the model and the company. They are not stakeholders but have the same need for reports. They invested their hardearned money. Respect that.

 

[slimjim270]

To 'curate and simplify' this massive feedback experience for BB, I created this post. Bless my heart. It is not in any way meant to be aggressive, but progressive. Feel free to add to the list.

1. Sales figures. If you want a stable marketplace with loyal sellers, there need to be sales stats. For motivation and embetterment.

2. Trend watch. The big picture of the marketplace is only visible to BB at present and beneficial only for inhouse portfolio owners. At the expense of them trying their darndest to make educated guessing profitable. This means keyword search, name types, industry demand. In short: what sells and why. I don't see why this should be top secret for sellers in every respect and how it wouldn't be win-win to educate us. This is a strongsuit for a niche marketplace this size. The elephants could never compete.

3. Some sort of replacement for the vote-for-credit feature. It was probably partly a submission flow regulator. But many hobby investors has now built it into their model. Without it count their effort and 30% out. That may cause ripples.

4. What is the plan? How do you see BB evolving and finding new opportunities?

5. How many names listed is the limit and how do you tackle cluttering?

6. When submission criteria change, please say so first. Or explain that there might be fluctuations and why.

7. When you are actively participating in a forum thread please reply to all warranted questions. In your own time. I have a couple that has gone unanswered, as do many others. It is unprofessional. Either participate or don't. Halfmeasures benefit none.

The sellers on a marketplace like yours invest in the success of the model and the company. They are not stakeholders but have the same need for reports. They invested their hardearned money. Respect that.

@trelgor

Terrific post!!!

BB has an opportunity to accelerate their business growth by leveraging, developing, and engaging their seller base.

Your post is a terrific summary of several opportunities to develop their supply channel and broaden their partner relationships.

-Jim


cc: @michaeljkrell / @AndrewRice

 

[cocaseco]

When you are actively participating in a forum thread please reply to all warranted questions. In your own time. I have a couple that has gone unanswered, as do many others. It is unprofessional. Either participate or don't. Halfmeasures benefit none.

The sellers on a marketplace like yours invest in the success of the model and the company. They are not stakeholders but have the same need for reports. They invested their hardearned money. Respect that.

Spot on....the growing tide of dissent could be so easily stopped. This is becoming a case study of what not to do. It's as if we are all in a car and as a passenger, we see the train headed right for us. We scream and yell, but still the driver doesn't see the train. We chose this car over others because it seemed like the best vehicle to get us to our destination. While we don't own the car, we still have a vested interest in the outcome of the trip.

 

[DKN]

To 'curate and simplify' this massive feedback experience for BB, I created this post. Bless my heart. It is not in any way meant to be aggressive, but progressive. Feel free to add to the list.

The post is meant to be a personal list of the questions and points raised in this thread, for thread readers in general, and for BB representatives in particular.

1. Sales figures. If you want a stable marketplace with loyal sellers, there need to be sales stats. For motivation and embetterment.

2. Trend watch. The big picture of the marketplace is only visible to BB at present and beneficial only for inhouse portfolio owners. At the expense of them trying their darndest to make educated guessing profitable. This means keyword search, name types, industry demand. In short: what sells and why. I don't see why this should be top secret for sellers in every respect and how it wouldn't be win-win to educate us. This is a strongsuit for a niche marketplace this size. The elephants could never compete.

3. Some sort of replacement for the vote-for-credit feature. It was probably partly a submission flow regulator. But many hobby investors has now built it into their model. Without it count their effort and 30% out. That may cause ripples.

4. What is the plan? How do you see BB evolving and finding new opportunities?

5. How many names listed is the limit and how do you tackle cluttering?

6. When submission criteria change, please say so first. Or explain that there might be fluctuations and why.

7. When you are actively participating in a forum thread please reply to all warranted questions. In your own time. I have a couple that has gone unanswered, as do many others. It is unprofessional. Either participate or don't. Halfmeasures benefit none.

The sellers on a marketplace like yours invest in the success of the model and the company. They are not stakeholders but have the same need for reports. They invested their hardearned money. Respect that.

Nice post Bro!

I believe BB will reveal sales data as well as search data to help us to know better about the market.

 

[AndrewRice]

3 sales in total, all within the last 30 days or so.

Hopefully not pure luck and this will be something that is sustainable. I didn't have a single sale from November last year until around a month ago. However, I have been consistently adding inventory over this period.

As for auction of accepted name, no real reason. Just testing the waters. I have a lot of names - prob will hit 500 mark in the next month or so. So a little cash flow goes a long way.

Congrats on the multiple sales!

Good job sticking with it, looks like your patience is paying off.

 

[AndrewRice]

@AndrewRice

This is r e a l l y interesting. (To me atleast).

Since you see a quality difference in names sold versus names unsold I was wondering if you could try to verbalize it? Exemplify?

Personally, I don't see any selfevident "premium" appeal to M*O*B*I*A*G*O (1) or V*A*Z*O*O*L*A (2).

I think (1) has many alternate variations that could be considered equal or superior. It has an extra syllable in the form of the "A" in the middle. What I like about it is that it is based on a highly desirable keyword. I also like the "go", that the "A" works well with, see "A go go". That is somewhat negated though by the pronunciation of that "A" that to me atleast becomes long. Same prosody (word melody) as "santiAgo".

Not being keyword based at all, (2) has even more similar alternates IMO.

What is the linguistic quality stamp you see in these names compared to lesser names?

Defining and detailing a few linguistic rules of thumb would IMO benefit BB, BB buyers, and BB sellers alike. On par with acquisition skills, and industry knowledge.

What are yours?

Thank you for your replies!

It does seem a bit obvious, that higher quality names sell better. However, I think many sellers could benefit from this advice and though it is obvious, many domain investors struggle actually implementing a tight investing strategy.

As far as those two specific names in my opinion those variations are the best. It is my opinion, but the buyers must agree to some extent.

There is no scientific strategy for making up brands but I think much of it comes down to experience and creativity. I'm still figuring this stuff out myself to be honest.

 

[AndrewRice]

To 'curate and simplify' this massive feedback experience for BB, I created this post. Bless my heart. It is not in any way meant to be aggressive, but progressive. Feel free to add to the list.

The post is meant to be a personal list of the questions and points raised in this thread, for thread readers in general, and for BB representatives in particular.

1. Sales figures. If you want a stable marketplace with loyal sellers, there need to be sales stats. For motivation and embetterment.

2. Trend watch. The big picture of the marketplace is only visible to BB at present and beneficial only for inhouse portfolio owners. At the expense of them trying their darndest to make educated guessing profitable. This means keyword search, name types, industry demand. In short: what sells and why. I don't see why this should be top secret for sellers in every respect and how it wouldn't be win-win to educate us. This is a strongsuit for a niche marketplace this size. The elephants could never compete.

3. Some sort of replacement for the vote-for-credit feature. It was probably partly a submission flow regulator. But many hobby investors has now built it into their model. Without it count their effort and 30% out. That may cause ripples.

4. What is the plan? How do you see BB evolving and finding new opportunities?

5. How many names listed is the limit and how do you tackle cluttering?

6. When submission criteria change, please say so first. Or explain that there might be fluctuations and why.

7. When you are actively participating in a forum thread please reply to all warranted questions. In your own time. I have a couple that has gone unanswered, as do many others. It is unprofessional. Either participate or don't. Halfmeasures benefit none.

The sellers on a marketplace like yours invest in the success of the model and the company. They are not stakeholders but have the same need for reports. They invested their hardearned money. Respect that.

I don't know the answer to many of those questions but I can say in general BB like any business plans on growing and I don't think they plan on limiting that growth. My apologies if i've missed any questions in the past. I'll be happy to answer any question I can, as long as it is constructive.

 

[J Parker]

I assume you mean the ones that were rejected? Yes, they were pure brandables. They were all sold through me being contacted either via my parking page or whois email. The best domains should be ones that someone would type in or search for IMHO. These were some of my lower quality ones, but I had still selected them due to my belief people would search for them for various reasons.

Your post is a good example of why complete stats are important. Let's say you sell 5 names listed on BrandBucket, 3 are sold from of a search on their website and 2 are type-in / whois search. Reality would be that BrandBucket sold 3 names for you, other 2 would have sold on any parking page.

 

[London555]

I don't know the answer to many of those questions but I can say in general BB like any business plans on growing and I don't think they plan on limiting that growth. My apologies if i've missed any questions in the past. I'll be happy to answer any question I can, as long as it is constructive.

Andrew-first of all thank you for your helpful posts. You've stressed "Quality" names here sell on BrandBucket. My question is this-why would BrandBucket approve any name they don't consider "Quality"? Is BB telling us they have 16,000 "Quality" names and adding each day or are they telling us "Keep those listing fees coming in and we'll keep approving names" ? Thank you.

 

[trelgor]

It does seem a bit obvious, that higher quality names sell better. However, I think many sellers could benefit from this advice and though it is obvious, many domain investors struggle actually implementing a tight investing strategy.

As far as those two specific names in my opinion those variations are the best. It is my opinion, but the buyers must agree to some extent.

There is no scientific strategy for making up brands but I think much of it comes down to experience and creativity. I'm still figuring this stuff out myself to be honest.

Everything is science as far as I am concerned. It's just a matter if you have managed to quantify it. Gutfeel is science too. You just haven't bothered to explain it.

Running with the gutfeel is fine if it works. But to become better you would naturally need to know more about why something works. Trial and error and creativity is fine. Knowledge you can explain is even better. That knowledge lets you see patterns and things you didn't think of before.

I never liked the "it's just the way it is" answer, as you may notice.

Utilizing a tight investment strategy would imply that the investor can quantify quality on a more detailed level than "its quality if it sells".

Why is *M*O*B*I*A*G*O better than MOBIGO MOBILY MOBIO MOBIFY MOBICA MOBIRA MOBIX MOBIXA MOBILIA MOBILIS MOBILIST MOBION MOBIATO MOBIAN MOBIANO MOBIANDO MOBIA MOBIAL MOBIARO MOBICO MOBILIGO etcetera.

Reading Doron's list of BB sales I don't see many meaningful patterns.
http://dngeek.com/2015/05/here-are-1134-names-that-sold-on-brandbucket/

The list as a matter of fact has a couple of "mobi" keyword sales. Incidently none of the above that I just picked off the top of my head. Maybe some sold while your name was listed. Are they thus per definition better?

Quality in 2 word brandable combos is easier to pinpoint. Maybe that's why the most successful portfolio focuses on those...

On the other hand keyword rooted brandables and more abstract brandables seem to sell as good.

I was just hoping for some guru advice about those. Some examples of names and why you think they will sell and vice versa.

Thanks again for your time.

 

[NameFit]

@trelgor - Giving the example of *M*O*B*I*A*G*O - you hit right on, you just cannot tell which one is better than others. If someone is trying to justify it on the basis of 'quality' - I just do not get it. Yes, *M*O*B*I*A*G*O is better than some others *M*O*B*T*A*G*O (that also one may dispute) or *M*O*B*L*A*G*O (one may dispute that one either) but it is definitely better than MOBBABO.. (in my my opinion that is also disputable), may be it is better than MOBTATO(?)

Point is that we are talking about quality in a area where 70% of the 'decent pronounceable' names can be substituted for another. And when it comes to 16,500 names, the chances of getting selected get more slimmer. Evey name has to potentially compete with thousand (probably ten thousand) others, and do you think human brain can handle it? Probably machines cannot either. Probably we will need supercomputers to derive a pattern out of these.

Coming to Keyword driven one/two word brandables, quality will vary based on the trends in the industry (I know some ares always premium like travel, sports, finance etc etc.). We have all seen the sales list on Doron's blog and many are saying that you can gather the trends out it, doubt it, yeah some names are better than others - that is all it says. And it is human thinking, 'you think it is better just because it got sold'. How a name gets selected, the biggest factor that plays a role is *personal liking* more than anything else. Some name may sound 'cool' to some (buyer) but not to other (buyer) - and that is very true for made up brandables. We all just seem to ignore the 'likeabilty' factor in the domain business, and it plays a very important role in keyword driven names as well. Some buyer likes a name, he likes the name - you cannot argue with that. Even if you present other (close) sounding, spelling names to the buyer at much lower price, he is not going to like them. There is no 'algorithm' for 'likeabilty' - The ratio of buyers to sellers is a fraction, and it does not matter what majority think, as long as buyer (or few of his close buddies) think it is cool name, he will buy it - "against the majority opinion".

 

[AndrewRice]

Andrew-first of all thank you for your helpful posts. You've stressed "Quality" names here sell on BrandBucket. My question is this-why would BrandBucket approve any name they don't consider "Quality"? Is BB telling us they have 16,000 "Quality" names and adding each day or are they telling us "Keep those listing fees coming in and we'll keep approving names" ? Thank you.

I'd say all of BB's names are quality, but there are varying levels of quality I think you'll agree.

 

[NameFit]

I'd say all of BB's names are quality, but there are varying levels of quality I think you'll agree.

I think quality is a highly subjective term, every name is superior to the next in quality ladder..and that ladder has so many steps that human mind cannot traverse.

 

[AndrewRice]

Everything is science as far as I am concerned. It's just a matter if you have managed to quantify it. Gutfeel is science too. You just haven't bothered to explain it.

Running with the gutfeel is fine if it works. But to become better you would naturally need to know more about why something works. Trial and error and creativity is fine. Knowledge you can explain is even better. That knowledge lets you see patterns and things you didn't think of before.

I never liked the "it's just the way it is" answer, as you may notice.

Utilizing a tight investment strategy would imply that the investor can quantify quality on a more detailed level than "its quality if it sells".

Why is *M*O*B*I*A*G*O better than MOBIGO MOBILY MOBIO MOBIFY MOBICA MOBIRA MOBIX MOBIXA MOBILIA MOBILIS MOBILIST MOBION MOBIATO MOBIAN MOBIANO MOBIANDO MOBIA MOBIAL MOBIARO MOBICO MOBILIGO etcetera.

Reading Doron's list of BB sales I don't see many meaningful patterns.
http://dngeek.com/2015/05/here-are-1134-names-that-sold-on-brandbucket/

The list as a matter of fact has a couple of "mobi" keyword sales. Incidently none of the above that I just picked off the top of my head. Maybe some sold while your name was listed. Are they thus per definition better?

Quality in 2 word brandable combos is easier to pinpoint. Maybe that's why the most successful portfolio focuses on those...

On the other hand keyword rooted brandables and more abstract brandables seem to sell as good.

I was just hoping for some guru advice about those. Some examples of names and why you think they will sell and vice versa.

Thanks again for your time.

In the case of M*O*B*I*A*G*O i'd say that it flows better than most all of your other examples and also it has go on the end which adds to the value.

As I said earlier I'm still learning myself and I'm not professing to be a super expert on brandables. For more insight I'd refer you to Micheal's blog handreg.com

 

[trelgor]

In the case of M*O*B*I*A*G*O i'd say that it flows better than most all of your other examples and also it has go on the end which adds to the value.

As I said earlier I'm still learning myself and I'm not professing to be a super expert on brandables. For more insight I'd refer you to Micheal's blog handreg.com

Thanks. It's just that handreg.com is mostly 2 words.

How about the other BB sales then?

M*O*B*I*B*I
M*O*B*I*E*R*A
M*O*B*I*N*E*T*I*C
M*O*B*I*N*G*A
M*O*B*I*X*I
M*O*B*I*Z*I*O

 

[equity78]

I think quality is a highly subjective term, every name is superior to the next in quality ladder..and that ladder has so many steps that human mind cannot traverse.

Exactly and over the years I have spoken to so many people that universally thought their names were great and other brandables sucked. When Zane ran Namerific we used to talk and he thought the names and logos on BrandBucket were inferior to his Namerific, I would bet if I asked Margot she would have said BrandBucket was superior. Then you take big established domainers, Doron's list drew upon the first list I published which was the first time any data was published, @hookbox also contributed in the comments and I added his data points, but I remember talking to Adam Dicker when I was publishing the list, he asked me why anyone would have purchased any of the names ? I said well we all don't have your money and own names like Planets.com or Witchcraft.com or Worm.com.

Domaining is subjective and brandables in domaining take that to another level. It is more art than science imo.

 

[equity78]

In the case of M*O*B*I*A*G*O i'd say that it flows better than most all of your other examples and also it has go on the end which adds to the value.

As I said earlier I'm still learning myself and I'm not professing to be a super expert on brandables. For more insight I'd refer you to Micheal's blog handreg.com

I thought it gelled Andrew because I thought of Mobiago like Asiago the cheese, that ago ending made sense and was catchy.

 

[hookbox]

In the case of M*O*B*I*A*G*O i'd say that it flows better than most all of your other examples and also it has go on the end which adds to the value.

As I said earlier I'm still learning myself and I'm not professing to be a super expert on brandables. For more insight I'd refer you to Micheal's blog handreg.com

Sometimes it's easier to accept poor quality names from high volume domainers not because they think the names will sell but to control the space that they want to dominate.

 

[AndrewRice]

M*O*B*I*B*I -- it has some good rhyming qualities
M*O*B*I*E*R*A -- flows pretty well
M*O*B*I*N*E*T*I*C -- combined with magnetic adds some value
M*O*B*I*N*G*A -- easy to say
M*O*B*I*X*I -- pretty memorable
M*O*B*I*Z*I*O -- io endings seem to be the bees knees

 

[NameFit]

@equity78 - to add to the quality aspect in domains. We all review the daily sold list, and how many times we tell ourselves, 'what the hell'. I have this name and I would be happy if you give me $2K for it (while that name got sold for $15K). That name was out there and buyer liked it - that is all it matters. PERIOD.

 

[London555]

In the case of M*O*B*I*A*G*O i'd say that it flows better than most all of your other examples and also it has go on the end which adds to the value.

As I said earlier I'm still learning myself and I'm not professing to be a super expert on brandables. For more insight I'd refer you to Micheal's blog handreg.com

Why would anyone go to Michael's blog when he's approving names now on BrandBucket that are in direct competition to his own? You don't find a conflict here?

 

[NameFit]

M*O*B*I*B*I -- it has some good rhyming qualities
M*O*B*I*E*R*A -- flows pretty well
M*O*B*I*N*E*T*I*C -- combined with magnetic adds some value
M*O*B*I*N*G*A -- easy to say
M*O*B*I*X*I -- pretty memorable
M*O*B*I*Z*I*O -- io endings seem to be the bees knees

Exactly my point, there is more competition within just 3/4 positions..

 

[equity78]

Why would anyone go to Michael's blog when he's approving names now on BrandBucket that are in direct competition to his own? You don't find a conflict here?

There definitely is a conflict, it comes down to can members tolerate it ? Do they see it as a big deal or a little deal, people lost their shit when Adam Dicker bid on auctions when he worked at Go Daddy and Flippa employees being allowed to bid on auctions.

I would imagine if Michael was told he had to make a choice, he would leave BrandBucket, go back to being an ambassador and continue with his business. I am not putting words in his mouth that is just my opinion.

 

[London555]

M*O*B*I*B*I -- it has some good rhyming qualities
M*O*B*I*E*R*A -- flows pretty well
M*O*B*I*N*E*T*I*C -- combined with magnetic adds some value
M*O*B*I*N*G*A -- easy to say
M*O*B*I*X*I -- pretty memorable
M*O*B*I*Z*I*O -- io endings seem to be the bees knees

Andrew-Im glad you think that "io" is the bees knees. I wonder why then my Cloudi.io ( a GREAT tech extension) was turned down AFTER I told BB that iCloud.com sold for $4million and Cloud.io sold for $45,000 and Cloudi.com is for sale for $135,000. It wouldn't have anything to do with a major seller on BB being stuffed with "Cloud" names would it?