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Heritage
Auctions (HA.com),
the world's 3rd largest auction house
(trailing only Christie's and Sotheby's) has
created a new division dedicated to domain
names and intellectual property.
Veteran domain investor/developer Aron
Meystedt (who was profiled in our September
2009 Cover
Story) was selected to found and
direct the new division that will operate from
Heritage Auction headquarters in Dallas,
Texas (Heritage also has offices in San
Francisco, Beverly Hills, New York
and Europe). In
a landmark leap into the mainstream
auction world, domain names and other
intellectual property will take their place
alongside Heritage Auctions' vast offering of
collectibles and investment quality items including
fine art, sports memorabilia, rare coins, wine,
movie posters and more.
Meystedt told us, "Securing the involvement
of a major auction house like HA.com is
something I’ve wanted to accomplish for
several years. This is going to help spread the reach for domain owners and brokers going forward."
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Aron
Meystedt, Founder & Director,
Domain Name & Intellectual Property
Division
Heritage Auctions (HA.com)
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Aron
noted, "Heritage has over 800,000 registered bidder members
who have proven to be seriously interested in collectibles and
investments. Our online platform has been vital
to our growth. We are able to seamlessly
integrate online bidding with in the room floor
and phone bids. Heritage Auctions will sell
around $1 billion worth of collectible
merchandise this year alone. Heritage Auctions
is very excited to enter the domain industry.
Heritage prides itself on transparency,
integrity and expertise and we feel we can bring
all three into the domain market."
Further
detailing what HA's arrival in the domain space
means for domain owners, Meystedt said, "Heritage
Auctions is a company that values and
understands premium domain names. Several
years ago, the founders bought HA.com on
the aftermarket. HA.com has helped propel
the company forward in a great way. Heritage Auctions will reach a
new, untapped group of buyers that the domain community hasn’t been able to reach previously.
Our members are actively seeking investment opportunities and collectible items."
"Heritage Auctions
offers “liquidation opportunities” for owners of domains and other
collectibles," Meystedt said. "We can market and sell your names to our buyer base that spans the globe.
Heritage has a tremendous marketing and PR
department. For example, this item at
auction - Frank
Miller’s Batman: The
Dark Knight Original Cover Art -
has received tremendous press. It is a one-of-one
type of investment, and this is the type of
collectible that Heritage is great at
promoting."
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Image
from Bigstock |
Meystedt
added, "Heritage Auctions has the
ability to integrate live Internet bidding
with the floor auctions. Many
companies have attempted this, with poor
results, but HA.com works flawlessly.
We will use a combination of Internet
bidding and live auctions to bring the
most money for domain owners."
Meystedt
also had a message for domain brokers.
"We will be providing another way for brokers to sell their
inventory, as we market their listings to buyers all over the globe. We also have a special commission structure that is
very attractive to brokers. All a broker has to do is leverage their network to bring us top quality names for our auction. We will market these names to a previously
untapped group of buyers."
"You
will see Heritage Auctions hold a premium
domain auction very soon. We are |
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accepting
submissions for names that have investment
or serious end-user qualities. The
best type of names are: LL and NN, LLL and
NNN, one word names, names with traffic or
revenue etc. For our inaugural auction, we are seeking names valued at
$5,000 up to 7-figures.
Heritage often sells items for over $1,000,000
– so this price tag certainly won’t
scare away our bidders," Meystedt
said. |
To
get started with Heritage Auctions Meystedt said
all you need to do is register at www.HA.com/IP,
a process that he said literally takes just a
minute. Meystedt said those who have premium
domains to submit or those with questions can
also reach him by email - [email protected]
(As the owner of XF.com, Aron is no
stranger to a rare two-letter .com address. He
also owns Symbolics.com - the first .com
domain ever registered).
"When you inquire I can share more details about how our process
works," Meystedt added. "I will
also be personally reaching out to many domain brokers and premium domain owners with information on what Heritage Auctions has planned.
We will have our full IP department site launched very soon – but we wanted to
give the domain community the news first, before we
announce the launch of the new division to the
world," Meystedt concluded.
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