$500k Bid Ahead of Auction, Rebate(s).com Sells for $1.0M — AZ.com Gets

Ahead of the Domain Roundtable live auction kicked off in Seattle today, AZ.com has by now received a $500,000 bid.

The Domain Rountable live auction gets started at 2PM EDT/11AM PDT today. The event will be broadcast live online at www.domaintools.com/live-auction/live with a video feed.

Ahead of the auction even started, online bidders have by now started the bidding frenzy. Here are the current notable bids:

AZ.com $500,000
FineCars.com
MakeMoneyOnline.com $95,000
p6.com $27,000
p4.com $30,000
ConsumersGuide.com $45,000
Free-Credit-Note.com $27,000
Stronger.com $25,000
WebGeeks.com $20,000
GoodHotels.com $35,000

Name Intelligence, the promoters of Domain Roundtable, are pushing the technological envelope with this auction. Buyers in the audience or online can bid in real time. There is no fee for absentee bidding and admission to the auction is free. This ought to ensure that all interested bidders participate. The video stream of the auction will be on a short delay, but the online interface will be in real time. Ahead of the auction started, there were by now close to 1,000 people watching the feed.

Another difference between this and other live auctions is that the first bid meets the reserve. This ought to allow the auction to move more quickly as people will not bid if they don’t want to pay the reserve price. It will also eliminate most worries regarding shill bidding, as anyone who bids could end up winning and paying for the domain.

Whether or not the technology will work as planned remains to be seen. One concern is fraud and deadbeat bidders, since it is easier to hide online than if you actually show up at the event.

This article will be updated during the auction.

LIVE: UPDATES
Invention.com sells for $500k!
Rebate.com and Rebates.com sell for $1.0M!