Bids roll in for domain hype auctions

Punters looking to purchase some of the most valuable virtual real estate on the Web have until Friday to raise the cash and make their bid for cinema.com, loans.com and taxes.com. GreatDomains.com is flogging the Web addresses amid hype that this once-in-a-lifetime offer could be make-or-break for some e-companies and decide the fortunes of future e-commerce winners and losers. The auction ends this Friday, January 28th at 2:00 pm (PST). Not content with waiting for people to make their bids, GreatDomains.com executives have been traipsing around different companies trying to find a buyer for these lucrative Web addresses. And it's easy to see why. GreatDomains.com sold a number of names last year including drugs.com, capital.com and perfect.com, some of which it claims fetched more than $1 million. "This past week, we visited key executives from leading companies in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York to discuss the auction,'' said Steve Newman, GreatDomains.com's president. "They generally showed great interest and were amazed to realise that these powerful domain names with instant brand recognition were still available," he said. Well, only for another five days. ® GreatDomains.com