Silly press releases for eBay auctions abound. Here’s how they work.
OK, Elliot. You got me.
Earlier today
Elliot Silver
sent me and e-mail with the subject “BREAKING DOMAIN NEWS”. The body of the e-mail read “Big News… thought you might want to cover this…” and then there was a link to a press release on PRweb.
Elliot sends me news leads from time to time, so I anxiously clicked the link. That’s when I knew I’d been had.
The link was for a press release about a domain name for sale on eBay. As you and Elliot know, it drives me crazy seeing some of these stupid releases. This one may take the cake:
President Barack Hussein Obama.com Auction Scheduled
Oh boy.
The press release reads like most eBay domain name auction press releases:
Establish demand for your domain
“Responding to demand from conservatives and liberals worldwide, the owner of the widely acclaimed and controversial domain name PresidentBarackHusseinObama.com has decided to sell it in a 10-day online auction…”We anticipate extremely high national and international demand and intense bidding in this auction’s final few days,” said a spokesman for the domain name’s owner, Fix Bay, Inc., a Nevada-based corporation”
Quote top DNJournal domain sale prices to show domain value
“According to the online DNJournal domain name sales reporting service, top domain name sales this year have included $9.9 million for fund.com, $1.659 million for DataRecovery.com, both in March, and $1.015 million for Invest.com in September, after international stock markets began to tumble.”
Say why your domain is worth as much as those million dollar sales
“Although we are not making predictions on the final dollar amount, there is a possibility this auction could smash those records,” the Fix Bay, Inc., spokesman said. “If Barack Obama is elected Nov. 4, the term ‘President Barack Hussein Obama’ will forever become an integral, undeniable and perennial part of American heritage. This compelling and irreplaceable domain name would become embossed in the U.S. and international psyche.”
It appears at the owner of this particular domain name is looking to drum up publicity for his own political campaign rather than sell the domain name:
“Wayne Melton, President of Fix Bay, Inc., a Democrat, and a candidate for the Reno City Council, said he launched the auction four days before the general election to generate publicity–and hopefully, votes–for his own campaign. ”
If that’s his goal, then I bit. But I don’t think the publicity will help him get elected.