I Won the Tucows Auction

I just won an exciting domain name related auction that you may not have known regarding.

Last month Tucows hit the 10 million domain milestone, making it just the third registrar to reach that number of domains under management. To celebrate, Tucows staffers each received decorative cookies (see picture).

One Tucows employee put the cookie up for auction on eBay with this description:

This item is going to move quickly! Don’t lose this chance to own a piece of history. This limited edition collectable is as attractive as it is delicious. The Official Limited Edition OpenSRS Service Guy 10 Millions Domains Cookie can be yours for a very limited time. These finely crafted baked goods were created and distributed to the entire Tucows team to mark this auspicious milestone. Rather than gorging myself on shortbreads (delicious as they are) I decided instead to provide one lucky bidder with the opportunity to make one of these highly-sought collectibles their very own. Don’t delay, bid today!

All proceeds from this auction will be donated to charity.

Now, since Tucows is Canadian, I assumed “charity” meant to pay for hockey tickets or a keg of Molson. But the seller updated the listing to say proceeds would be donated to Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation, a foundation to help children affected by cancer. The seller also offered to match the winning bid:

Q: Will the entire bid go towards the Charity or will there be eBay fees? Apr-08-10
A: Of course there are eBay fees – gotta pay the man..err…webservice. In any event, I don’t think that is quite fair, so to smooth over the fact that eBay is shaving a rider on what is otherwise a very benevolent and thoughtful transaction, I will match the winning auction bid with my very own money. When the cookie sells for $5000, I will pony up $5000 of my own smackaroos to match and donate to the Foundation. Make that next bid hurt me!

And, following a concerned bidder questioned the quality of an old cookie following a 10 day auction:

Q: I’m concerned regarding how sunlight will affect the saturation and colour quality of this cookie. Are there recommendation care instructions available to ensure a lifetime of enjoyment? Apr-05-10
A: Which lifetime? If you are worried regarding caring for the cookie for its lifetime, just make sure you eat it ahead of it goes bad. If you are more concerned with your lifetime, I recommend shellac. Note, I don’t recommend trying both options at the same time, this is something you ought to decide on ahead of time.

I have to admit I was a little concerned while bidding in the auction. Pretty much every bidder in the auction had feedback of less than 10 on eBay, so I have my suspicions. I think someone was orchestrating some “Halvarez” bidding, if you get my drift.

But I had to win this auction. This isn’t some reg fee name. This is a premium, category-killer for sure.

Thankfully benfranklin, vaxis, and saggydimes didn’t show up to bid, so I managed to snag this one for only $127.50.

I’m waiting for the cookie to be pushed to my account right now.

[Update: unlike in domain name auctions, the runner up got the item, too. A second cookie was sold for $127.50. With Ross’ matching donation, $500 was donated.]