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A simple way to make GoDaddy Closeout auctions more fair

by — Expired Domains 4 Comments

A win-win for GoDaddy and most bidders.

A lot of people are frustrated with the bidding process at GoDaddy when it comes to closeout auctions.

The idea behind closeout auctions is smart. If no one bids at least $12 for a name during the regular GoDaddy expired domain auction, the domain goes to a Dutch auction where the price starts at $11 and decreases by a dollar a day until it hits $5.

Closeouts allow GoDaddy and its expired domain partners to get something for a domain even if it’s not worth the $12 starting bid price.

But how things work in reality is very different from how they work conceptually.

People don’t want to get into bidding wars in auctions. If no one else has bid on an expired domain as the clock winds down, they (or their computers) stand ready to ping GoDaddy the minute the domain goes into closeouts so they can get it for $11 rather than what is likely hundreds if they place a bid during the regular auction.

Think about what’s happening here. An auction will expire with no bids at even $12, but there are sometimes 5 or more ready buyers who would be willing to spend $100+ on the domain. The point of auctions is to sell things for the market price, but that’s no longer happening in these auctions.

That’s bad for people that don’t have automated means to snipe the closeouts. It’s also bad for GoDaddy and its partners because they are leaving money on the table.

The solution is fairly simple: raise the starting bid for closeout auctions.

Instead of setting a buy now price below $12, set it much higher. I’m not sure what the right number is. Maybe it starts at $75, drops to $50, then $25, then $10 and drops a few bucks after that. I know that I’d be willing to pay $75 or more for many domains that close with no bids.

Raising the price will have two effects.

First, people will be more willing to bid in the regular auctions rather than wait for closeouts. The potential savings of waiting won’t be as great.

Second, GoDaddy and its partners will make more money.

The only people who will lose out are those that have perfected their systems for sniping closeouts.

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GoDaddy is closing an expired domain “loophole”

by — Expired Domains 17 Comments

Last second backorders will no longer circumvent closeout process.

Auctions for expired domain names at GoDaddy can get competitive. With no backorders required, domain names can go from $0 to hundreds of dollars even when no bids are placed until the last few minutes.

This is complicated by the closeout process. If you bid on a domain in the live auction it will likely be bid up to over $100. If you can snag it when it goes into closeouts then it’s only $12 plus the renewal fee.

Unfortunately, there are lots of people with API access and computing power who treat the closeout like a drop. They start sending calls to buy the domain as soon as the regular auction closes.

But there has been a loophole that has helped people like me. If you place a backorder the second an auction closes, you can win the domain for the cost of a backorder before it gets placed in closeouts.

For the past year or so, I will closely watch auctions and be ready to bid if someone jumps in at the last minute. If the auction ends with no bids, I’ll place a backorder at the second the auction ends.

Historically, this has helped me scoop up a lot of domain names. About 95% of the domains that make it through the auction with no bids. But it’s gotten tougher this year.

Starting in January I noticed a lot of people placing backorders with a few minutes left in the auction. I’m not sure why they were doing this because it triggers a $10 bid and then everyone can pile in.

Then a few weeks ago I noticed that many of the domains I was backordering at the last second were getting scooped up by other people. My success rate went from 95% to about 25%. My guess is that they automated the process for backordering to get the timing just right.

While the backorder loophole was nice while it lasted, GoDaddy is about to eliminate it.

Joe Styler explained this change in a post on NamePros this week.

So now the options are either bid regularly and fight with everyone else, or program a system to snipe domains the minute they hit closeouts.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. At least now I won’t log into GoDaddy to place a backorder, only to be frustrated when someone places a last minute bid.

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.App domains are off to a strong start with brands

by — Uncategorized 6 Comments

Over 2,000 .app domains have been registered during sunrise.

If sunrise is any indication, Google’s .app domain name is going to shoot out of the gates.

Sunrise began March 29 and there are already 2,225 names in the zone file. During sunrise, only trademark holders that have registered their marks with the Trademark Clearinghouse can register domain names.

I suspect that companies realize this is one of the better top level domain names and are also concerned about phishing and fake apps that could be distributed at these domains.

Apple has been particularly active, registering 75 .app domain names by my count. Microsoft has 41 and Bank of America has 27 .app domains.

Following Sunrise, a dutch auction early access period will begin on May 1. General availability starts May 8.

While there is an opportunity for domain investors, many of the names have premium prices. About 2% of the hundreds of names I searched for did not have a premium.

Also, domain names must have an SSL certificate to resolve.

Google paid $25 million for the rights to run .app.

Full details about the launch are here.

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What domain names The Hill and others bought this week

by — Domain Sales 1 Comment

A cryptocurrency exchange, nightclub owner and the political site The Hill bought domain names.

I learn about a lot of interesting industries and topics when I review Sedo’s end user sales. For example, this week I learned about pentanomics, a new theory of government. I also learned about safety shoes.

Here are some of the end user domain name purchases completed at Sedo over the past week:

Allbit.com €7,900 – Allbit is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange.

NightPay.com $7,500 – Rekom Group operates 77 bars, pubs and nightclubs across Denmark, Norway and Finland.

EthereumOdds.com $6,500 – The domain has Whois privacy and is forwarding to a sports betting site that lets users bet with bitcoin.

Usergate.com $5,000 – Entensys Corporation in Russia owns Usergate.ru.

HillTV.com $5,000 – The Hill, a political media company that runs TheHill.com.

SafetyShoes.com $5,000 – HKSDK is a company in Demark that sells “safety shoes” and work shoes.

Penta.org $5,000 – The Pentanomic Institute, which uses the domain Pentanomics.org. They are promoting a new theory of government called pentanomics.

ConcreteDynamics.com $3,000 – Summit Concrete is a concrete company in Kansas City.

MyBookkeeping.com $3,000 – Remote Books Online, a Quickbooks advisor and small business bookkeeping company.

TFPE.com €2,985 – The domain stands for The Funding Partners. It’s an agriculture blockchain company.

Diennea.net €2,500 – Diennea S.r.l. is a marketing company that uses Diennea.com for its website.

RAS.co.uk £2,250 – Retails & Asset Solutions in the UK bought its acronym.

You can see more lists like this here.

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A reminder for UDRP filers: Mess up? You can always apologize

by — Policy & Law 0 Comments

If a complainant representative isn’t aware of all of the facts, it can always say mea culpa.

Cricket South Africa, an organization behind a professional cricket competition in South Africa in the T20 format, has been found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking.

It was a complex case in which the complainant’s attorney likely didn’t have all of the facts. The respondent called out the complainant with the real facts. When it did, rather than apologize, the complainant doubled down.

For that, it was found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.

The timeline is long and it’s worth reviewing the entire decision. But I’ll summarize here: Click here to continue reading…

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