Marketplaces, let’s make search better — C’mon domain

Another good search tool is gone, and I hope the domain marketplaces fill the void.

I’ve commented ahead of regarding how it’s frustrating that domain marketplaces such as Sedo and Afternic have horrible search. They are leaving lots of money on the table by not making their entire inventory searchable by more metrics.

This weekend I went to DomainTools’ marketplace section. It used to have a nifty tool to search for domains in the aftermarket. It scored each domain, giving a relative quality marker to its sorting algorithm.

Alas, DomainTools shut down its marketplace tools earlier this year. A message on its website states “DomainTools has retired the Domain Marketplace functionality as we increase focus on our security mission.”

I really hope marketplaces will take notice and make it easier for investors to search through their inventory. Sedo took some baby steps with its expired domain inventory but it’s time to do more.

I think that marketplaces could have a significant impact on liquidity and sell-through rates by improving the search experience.