If you would like to advertise your domain names for sale on mobiEnthusiast, the cost is $5 USD per name per month, or $10 per month for 3 names, payable via paypal. Please send your request to information [at] mobienthusiast.mobi. Include domain name, registrar, expiration date, price, and contact information. MobiEnthusiast is not responsible for any aspect of the sale and is only an advertising vehicle. The site and its owners do not warranty the sale nor the buyer or seller. Adult names and content against the hosting terms of service are not accepted, and names may be accepted or rejected at the owners discretion.
Coinciding with the deadline for the iPhone Apps grand opening, a domainer is selling the name app.mobi. If you are interested, please send an email to information (at) mobienthusiast.mobi.
The domainer blogosphere continues to erupt over comments and blog responses to the .mobi meltdown post on Elliot’s Blog (computer link)(mobile link).
So, is .mobi really a bad investment? Well, people are still making money in private sales on undeveloped names, and some are doing better than others. The issue for most domainers, though, is you can’t park them and expect high pay per click revenue. So, when the bulk of domainers realize this, they decide .mobi is worthless. Well, the fact is, this is a tld that for most people you do have to do some work to get a return on investment. That is why a lot of domainers have crossed the line into becoming developers, including one who has been posting a lot on blog comments. He has a whole lot of developed sites that are bringing in high traffic numbers, and I know a number of people who are making some nice coin on advertising on developed sites.
So, what’s the answer? In my opinion, this could go several different directions. You could (a) let your domain names drop and call it wasted money, and a lot of people have done and will do this; (b) hire a developer, make something of value, get some traffic and sell, (c) learn to develop yourself or (d) purchase developed sites that already have traffic and are making money for less that it would cost to get a .com. A developer I know couldn’t sell a name for $86, now the site makes five times that a month developed.
It is important for people who invest in .mobi to know what they are getting themselves into, and since it is a different medium and a different business model, people who don’t know how to make it work the old way are calling it worthless. It’s not much different than what we are seeing in television advertising – the old way isn’t providing value and is being ignored. Here’s a chance to do something different, which domainers don’t like because it isn’t cookie cutter. You want to make money with .mobi? Try trading useful sites instead of parked pages.
Here is a quick note to share my perspective for domainers who read blogs warning of a mobi meltdown. They are saying that a lack of a significant breakthrough sale in .mobi names means the tld’s value is collapsing. I believe this is true only as it relates to overall domain sales in the short run and is not a long term concern.
True, there was no breakthrough high sale as there have been in other auctions. It is also true that many of these sales are in line with the midrange sales of previous auctions. As for the midrange names, in my comment earlier, I noted that two proven .mobi investors were locked out of the bidding for this round of names because the software necessary to bid runs only on windows machines and not mac. I am specifically referring to the price of boats.mobi – which would have gone significantly higher had these two individuals been able to bid. Two people do not a market make, but these two have a history of a strong belief in dot mobi and the funds to back it up. Who knows how many others were similarly affected but did not speak up.
If I believed the logic that Friday’s auction results are a true indications of the long-term strength of any top level domain (tld), it would also lead me to be concerned for the future of LL.com’s – after all, ow.com sold for $120,000 USD. I’m not concerned about the long term value of LL.com, and I am equally unconcerned about the long term value of .mobi.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, thirteen premium dot mobi domain names found a new home today with one, company.mobi, still on the shelf after not meeting reserve price. The names that sold include:
computers.mobi $ 9,500.00
airlines.mobi $ 9,500.00
boats.mobi $ 6,000.00
mortgage.mobi $18,000.00
men.mobi $10,000.00
sales.mobi $10,500.00
forsale.mobi $ 5,000.00
drugs.mobi $17,500.00
films.mobi $10,000.00
show.mobi $ 5,000.00
escort.mobi $10,000.00
religion.mobi $ 3,000.00
records.mobi $ 8,500.00
Congratulations to buyers and sellers today. Mobi Enthusiast is pleased to know that several of these names are now in the hands of domain name portfolio holders known to develop domains as viable businesses, and we look forward to seeing what you build.
It’s premium dot mobi auction time again today, and here are the items up for bid: airlines.mobi, boats.mobi, company.mobi, computers.mobi, drugs.mobi, escort.mobi, forsale.mobi, films.mobi, men.mobi, mortgage.mobi, religion.mobi, records.mobi, ringtone.mobi, sales.mobi, show.mobi and strip.mobi.
According to the dotMobi Registry, mTLD, “dotMobi followers know the drill as regards content requirements attached to these premium names — sites should initially consist of a dotMobi compliant parking page with a live web site containing relevant content to follow within a six-month period.”
To bid on these names you will need to register, and you can view the auction live by downloading the software from the site at [warning non mobile link:] Moniker.com. The software only works with windows-based computers. To listen to the auction live, go to [warning non mobile link:] WebmasterRadio.fm.
Sedo has reopened bidding on the .mobi premium auction after the worldwide auction site was brought down by the largest number of bidders ever. As I write this post, gaming.mobi is priced at $302,500, shattering the previous high sales record of $200,000 for flowers.mobi in 2006.
At the time of the Sedo crash, games.mobi was selling for $300,000. From Sedo’s website:
“05/12/07 .MOBI Auction Will Be Extended
We are aware the there are some problems with the .MOBI Auction at this time. Due the down time we were not able to extend the auction before the set closing time. Some bidders may have received emails saying that they have won the auction, however because the system was down the highest bid at the time the system failed are not binding according to our terms and conditions. The auction will be up and running very shortly and will be extended by 20 minutes to ensure all interested parties can place their bids. While this is unfortunate, the good news is that the problems are due to the large number of last minute bidders! This is the first time an auction has brought down our servers due to such a large amount of activity.
Be assured that if there is any additional down time again, it will again be extended to ensure all bidders can place their desired bids. You may want to check your buyer control panel to see if all your bids were logged properly. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Visit http://sedo.com (does not resolve on mobile phone) for more.
There’s a new game in town, and now the rest of the world knows it. At the live auction three .mobi names sold in six figures, while others were in a respectable five and four figure finish.
MobiEnthusiast.mobi looks forward to seeing the sites developed and congratulates both buyers and sellers including dotMobi.
Festivities for Moniker’s much anticipated T.R.A.F.F.I.C. live and Silent Auction has begun October 9-13, 2007 at the Diplomat Resort & Spa in Miami, Florida, USA.
Be sure to download the list of available names, including .mobi’s so you can bid on your favorite .mobi domain name. Good luck and happy bidding.
