On GoDaddy for $670,005 — WAN.com closes

Sale would be highest ever on Go Daddy’s auction platform.

[Update: sale didn’t go through.]

An auction on GoDaddy.com for the domain name WAN.com closed overnight for a whopping $670,005.

Of course, one of the first questions asked following an auction like this is “will the sale go through”?

The seller is definitely legitimate. Shane Cultra has a story on the seller who lives near him. If the deal closes then the seller will be able to buy Cultra a very nice dinner.

So the big question is if the buyer will come through.

I reached out to Paul Nicks, Director of the GoDaddy.com Domain Name Aftermarket, to find out if the firm has any bid verification in place. For example, aftermarket Sedo has various levels of bidder verification that are required in order to place high bids.

“We don’t right now have bid verification in place, but we have been looking at implementing a system to verify bidders on high-priced auctions,” Nicks stated.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean the buyer won’t follow through. If the sale is consummated, this will be the highest public sale ever transacted on the platform. The current leader is HomeOwnersInsurance.com for $570,000. If it’s not consummated, I suspect Nicks will fast track plans for bidder verification.

Here’s hoping the transaction completes — for the sake of the domain aftermarket and for that nice dinner Cultra is looking forward to.