Reglikedomain industry desk

Site Bido Closing Down — Domain Auction

Domain name auction site Bido is closing down.

Domain name auction site Bido is closing. The firm disclosed the move on twitter moments ago:

Bido is ceasing operation as of May 5, 2010. All transactions and accounts will be gracefully finalized and closed.

I confirmed the closure with the firm. Although representatives would not speak specifically to why they are shutting down the platform, the firm must have been losing substantial money. It had been self-funded for years and current sales commissions could not have been covering expenses.

Just this past January the firm disclosed it was packing up to move to Silicon Valley to get closer to the action. It also hired a number or employees.

Bido launched in early 2008 with DN Journal editor Ron Jackson teaming up with Sahar Sarid. The site started with one auction a day starting at just $1 with no reserve. Jackson resigned from the firm in March 2008. Bido later expanded but hit growing pains. It went offline in late 2008 for a number of months as the firm tried to improve its overall technology.

The firm pushed the bounds of innovation in domain name marketplaces, adding a number of features to create a sort of “social” marketplace and even paying out a portion of proceeds to people who picked domain names to be sent to auction. But the challenges of creating a domain name marketplace may have been too great.

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