Sadly my lack of confidence that the sale would go through was found to be true.

As for the other points (I have only noticed that the email reply ended up here as well):

Regarding the odd parking stats:
I agree that is one method ie. if the name has been parked with http://www.Sedo.com/domainname.co.uk that can be cached / bookmarked etc however I was basing it off my account where names that have only ever been parked via the DNS change method still get the odd visit and click.

eg.
(three example domains)

The above have not had DNS set to sedo for a good few months now.

Obviously the above are not huge issues however something must be creating the clicks in the system – it would be interesting to know what

As for losing sales:
The above may be an active method of avoiding your fees however in my experience (sealedbids.co.uk was the one I had in mind when I was responding to the interview questions) transactions are lost for the sake of an email or a telephone call.

Don’t get me wrong – I am not slagging off Sedo as I do appreciate you have a tough job (especially with the arcane .uk system). I am guessing your work is not helped by there being lots of buyers who are unaware of how domain name transfer actually work, likewise what Sedo’s role is in the process. We have come across similar and made http://www.hey.co.uk/domains/domain-services/.uk_domain_name_transfer_guide.html as a result.

It does seem there is a sense of the luck of the draw on Sedo transfers – if Maria or yourself are involved or asked to take a look then things are dealt with right away however other times things can drift. Obviously it is hard to know the cause of this issue, however the general opinion seems to be is Sedo needs more (quality) staff!

It could be worth Sedo taking a stand with none paying bidders, sellers who do not release names or buyers who do not complete a transaction in a timely manner etc. by ;

- Banning users from Sedo
- Removing users portfolio
- Editing the terms to include a ‘complete by X’ date.

Likewise I accept from Sedo’s point of view it is best to stay out of the transaction (for liabilities sake!) however an active policing of sales ie. vetting bidders (pre-auth a fee, feedback system, public country of origin etc) could be a step forward as at the end of the day deadbeat buyers are just that whatever platform they are working through.

At the end of the day I am generally working towards the goal of making life better for domainers and love to work with anyone with similar aims. It is great you take the time to read comments and reply, if only Sedo can widen this out and be more receptive it can strengthen its position going forward in what is changing times in the domain industry.

Domains that were once parked with Sedo but are no longer with us sometimes still record views in our statistics due to backlinks and SE listings. Parked domains do get picked up and Rob’s example demonstrates that people bookmark parked pages when they are well optimized and attractive. It’s good to see that Sedo’s pages are performing well – even when no longer actively parked with us!

Sedo do not “lose” buyers. Some traders wait until the contact information of the buyer/seller is revealed to them in the transfer process – eg. On issue of a payment request, where the seller’s details are listed. They then use that information to close the sale externally – avoiding our commission but opening themselves up to fraud. We have no control over that. The responsibility to pursue a sales contract is entirely down to the domain seller – Sedo has no power to chase down non-sales as the contract exists between the two trading parties – we merely act as a facilitator. This is reflected in our fees. The fees incidentally, have been revised and now are only 50 GBP minimum commission.

I still haven’t quite gotten my head around “pure” domaining, registering a name and selling it for a profit without any development at all. Seems a bit like commodities trading to me.

Very well done on a great article and interview – it’s now in my bookmark folder.

- Martin Reed