Lets clients start their own domain name auctions — Sedo now

Domainers can start their own reserve auctions…for a fee.

Sedo is offering domain name sellers a fresh option to start an auction on its domain name marketplace.

Called Direct Auction, clients can now select domain names to be auctioned, when they start and a reserve price. It costs $59 to start a Direct Auction.

Previously, sellers could start an auction in response to an offer on their domain (aka “push to auction”) or by submitting it through Great Domains. They could also work with an account manager to auction some domains, but control was limited. Getting a domain name to Sedo’s auction page gives it a lot more exposure.

To start a Direct Auction, you click the “promote” link below the domain list in the account manager and then complete the auction information:

Reserves must be $10,000 or less.

Marketplaces run the risk of a bunch of low quality auctions if they give too much control to users. Low quality auctions turn people off from reviewing listings, which hurts everyone. In this case, I think Sedo has smartly priced the service to avoid this problem. I’ll keep an eye on it.