Dynadot

advice How to Save Money on GoDaddy Auctions

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A well known, but rarely exploited method, could save you a lot of money on GoDaddy Auctions. Many domain investors may be subconsciously passing this over, while others take advantage of it. If you’re trying to cut costs, using this method can be beneficial to you or your business.

It’s no secret in the domain industry that purchasing from a private party, whether on a forum such as NamePros or another platform, will save you money as opposed to buying on the aftermarket.

This is where GoDaddy can save you money if you are a domain investor in any niche.

While most are focusing on the expiring aftermarket, sniping them for hundreds to thousands of dollars, you should be combing through public auctions with a filter of your maximum budget for a single name.

As this is being written, there are currently 20 LLLL.com domain names for $25 and under on the public auction, while there are 2 domains on the expiring auctions above $200. Sure, it can be argued that the quality is better with the expiring names, but there are gems in the public auctions at a lower price as well. However, for the most part, there is no quality difference.

When you locate these names and successfully win with the highest bid, it’s like hitting the jackpot because the names cost you less at auction from bidding and they don’t require you to pay a renewal fee.

As many prominent domain investors preach about buying from other domain investors, I thought that I should put it to the test and see if it has changed the mindset of other speculators. Logically, it should make sense that I would profit, big.

I listed five LLLL.com domain names on GoDaddy and here are the results:
Code:
Name      Paid     Sold
ivyf.com  $55.04   $30.00
fayj.com  $108.92  $27.00
nfxo.com  $27.17   $21.00
pfxu.com  $33.84   $21.00
nijj.com  $84.70   $70.00
          ______   _______
          $309.67  $169.00
Less 10%           ($16.90)
                   _______
Total     $309.67  $152.10
Profit             ($157.57)
As you can see, not a single name broke even and I lost $157.57 from this lot. Some could state that the quality of these names are poor; however, I would have to say otherwise and add that I've sold plenty of %FX% pattern names on an average of $330 in private transactions.

Someone on GoDaddy got great deals, and you’re missing out by draining your wallet more if you’re not watching this section, until the attention shifts, of course.

Next time you plan on investing money, learn from the results that I've shown and save yourself the cost of spot renewal by looking all around.

Yes, this does put money in your competitors’ hands, but it also saves you money. One must ask oneself, “What is more important for my business?” instead of worrying about someone else’s.

This doesn't only apply to GoDaddy auctions: gems can be located in our very own Domain Auctions with a few months of registration remaining or even in the Bargain Bin. It’s plausible making a private offer of $120 can lead to a $10,000 sale as well.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
A couple of things. One, it cost $10 to put a reserve on name in a GD auction. Use it. You can set it to whatever you like and guarantee you won't lose money. Yes it will cost you but you essentially gave your assets away. Two, those names were at the low end of the spectrum of quality of names and you paid pretty much the going rate for those names which didn't leave you much upside. Thus the need for reserve protection. And third, tooting my own horn, but you need more auction viewers. My daily list gets in front of 500-1000 domain buyers every day and I think it gives a better chance to attract new bidders. There is an art to putting names in a public auction. You've learned lesson one.
 
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I'm trying to get a grip on what the point is.


is the point:
one can save money by purchasing domains on godaddy's public auction, if they had purchased those domains.... because you lost money reselling them?
therefore they got them cheaper than what you paid for them?

is that the savings?


if so, then that's not a savings, from my perspective

none of those domains are worth much more than reg-fee, even though they sold for more..... I would not purchase them or add to my portfolio for free.


LLLL.com as a "category" of sellable domains may hold value in general, but individually, every LLLL.com may not be worthy of registration.
those not worthy, are those that you can't do shit with, but hope to sell to another domainer who doesn't know better.

finally, with any auction you put your names in, there should be a reserve.
but, I'd just let my domains expire, before I sell for less than $60

why?

tax season

:)

imo....
 
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lets keep the thread on topic please. Heated debate is fine, however personal attacks are not. Unless there is documented evidence being presented against ones character that relates to this topic, there really shouldn't be any personal vendettas happening here

thanks for understanding, no need to reply to this post. Please just get back on topic and play nice

thanks everyone:)
 
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Uh oh. I hate to burst your bubble, but I just discovered a major, major issue with your results.

The driving force behind your first set of names is primarily Chinese buyers. They are paying upwards of $100+ (though the sweet spot seems to be around $75) for anything that does not contain V, or vowels A,E,I,O,U. There are a few outliers in there not meeting that criteria, I guess I can't explain those. Oh wait, dpgp is a quad premium, for one.

Those are exactly the letters contained in your second sample set. Lower prices reflect the fact that Chinese buyers (or possibly those hoping to court Chinese end user buyers) don't want those names.
 
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A couple of things. One, it cost $10 to put a reserve on name in a GD auction. Use it. You can set it to whatever you like and guarantee you won't lose money. Yes it will cost you but you essentially gave your assets away. Two, those names were at the low end of the spectrum of quality of names and you paid pretty much the going rate for those names which didn't leave you much upside. Thus the need for reserve protection. And third, tooting my own horn, but you need more auction viewers. My daily list gets in front of 500-1000 domain buyers every day and I think it gives a better chance to attract new bidders. There is an art to putting names in a public auction. You've learned lesson one.

Every auction needs viewers. That goes without saying.

I think you may have missed the point entirely though. It wasn't primarily to turn a profit but to test the waters and prove a hypothesis. Then again, maybe I misunderstood the initial post.
 
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"other" Shane,
I reread and you're right, I think I missed the whole point of the article. But now I wonder why David had to lose so much money to prove his point :)
 
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Agree there definitely is some occasional gems to be found in the pubs. Though the problem with these public auctions, at least from my personal experience; when I win a really good domain at a price that is too good to be true, sure enough the sellers always back out and I don't end up getting the name.
 
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A no reserve auction is preferred by some because they believe it will get more bids, it just seems to do poorly on Go Daddy auctions.

There is also the preference for Expired domains over public auction, I tested this out with Adam Dicker and a couple others where the LLLL were quality had bids of $1,200 to $2,000 expired, renewed 7 day auction immediately with reserve, nothing over $400.
 
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Thank you. It wasn't a "big loss", but, it had to be done to show actual figures. You can hear it from the horse's mouth that you will lose money this way, or get a good name for a steal in the case I was trying to make, all day long from investors who have been there and done that. However, none of them actually posted any sample data to back up their hypothesis. So, there is now factual data that can be analyzed to an extent or you can run your own tests against it. Rip the domain names apart if you wish and value as you see fit. I know how many I sold to which brokerage firms, so I know I was going to take a loss.

Dave, I still can't see... the point you're trying to paint.

particularly while trying to put the title of the thread, with the outcome of the domains that were auctioned.

I can see where one would loose money by auctioning such names with no reserve, though most should know that.

but I don't see how the winner, got "good names for a steal".

I mean, if you/I/we/ don't consider them quality or worthy of competitive bidding above a minimum range, then the theory is flawed.

an investor, from my perspective, will not or does not "intentionally" risk his/her investment by auctioning their domains without reserve.... unless they are "liquidating".

imo....
 
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I'm with Biggie on this one. He was just stating his point of view. Whether the point of the thread was a magnanimous gesture, to educate or something else, is hard to say. But it's good to have a conversation freely where one can speak without being lambasted.
 
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The exact opposite of below.



Define we as the average going price of FX names are $177 as pointed out with 1 sale a month on GoDaddy. It would be interesting to see where FXSY.com will go. It is currently at $210 and has 2 days to go. I think that somewhat proves this, but you can decide as it is in my opinion, a better FX name to own.

We as a more general term than you, can get deals, if more places were paid attention to as I've won public auctions that I know would go far below the ending price of a drop or expiring auction would.

I've already stated why I did what I did, no need to go into detail as to why: such as liquidating, getting rid of those for a purpose, etc.. I ended up with data that can be analyzed.

Show me any post where people intentionally released the numbers. I'd like to see yours, but you've already stated that you'd let a name drop; which would probably receive hundreds in bids, before selling it for $60. So, it's safe to say you don't have any data to back up your claims, except that you don't like the names and wouldn't bid on them.

Your pronouns are loosely used as nijj.com did alright with a decent turnout of 8 bidders. Despite the fact, it went below what I believe it to be worth.

Don't misconstrue this post as being gripe. I let them go and happy with the results. They fared well with my experiments.

Dave, I guess it boils down to what one considers a "deal", and what one considers data that has analytical value

it's a good conversation to discuss, but....

anyone can post google keyword tool data, GD public auction results or estibot values, to analyze.
but how flawed or how many variables affect/effect that data, is what gets questioned.

one cannot simply take data at "face value" without discerning any variables that led to the results.

if you want numbers, i can post some for every domain i sold last year, but I don't think anyone is interested in my margins. :)

imo....
 
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Ugh, come on folks, I've been known (I think) for pissing some people off, but the petty stuff is unnecessarily derailing this thread. I don't see anyone deserving of being labeled as a troll here. But personal attacks also are nonproductive and not called for. So, get back on track to the subject at hand, which has created some interesting discussion. The hostility is misplaced.
 
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That being said, Godaddy auctions are more over priced then ever before. A name I won at auction 8 years ago in the bargain bin would now cost, far, far more. Too rich for my blood. There are also names I won @ GD aftermarket I sold on ebay, or for a profit on Sedo, but many times lost money on, deleted or dropped. I am curious to hear from others about their success with selling on GD auction. Never done it myself. The psychology of bidding on the aftermarket always drives the price up. Gems can be found anywhere though, personally contacting the owner of the name, NP forum, drop lists, or names that have never been registered, rare but it happens.
The first part here I find very curious, because of course the prices reflect the current aftermarket. Also, 2008 prices for LLLL.com were notably higher than today (on average, and excluding NameJet sales, which I even have trouble taking at face value currently) or at least on par. In any case, I think there are some great buys.

But then I fully agree with your last statement, because gems can be found anywhere, including at GD auctions.
 
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I think some tags for this thread can include: Old Man Winter rears his ugly head, cabin fever, stir crazy.

Calmate!
 
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After another read, I did take away some additional points here.

"...if you're just starting out" and "the least risky" - for the most part agree it'd be the "safer" choice to go with the less expensive names if you're a beginner.

the fact that days remain on both the expiring auctions and public auctions with a huge disparity in pricing
Agree here too, though this needs to be followed to prove a "huge" difference in final bids overall.

Cheers!
 
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I had a very similar experience on GoDaddy Auctions with LLLL.com domain names. I bought via private transactions and immediately listed on GoDaddy Auctions. My loss was roughly $50 spread across 7 domains. I only managed to make a profit on two of the names. Neither of which were actually any better then the others. It was an interesting experiment. I'm happy to hear others are trying the same thing.
 
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I had a very similar experience on GoDaddy Auctions with LLLL.com domain names. I bought via private transactions and immediately listed on GoDaddy Auctions. My loss was roughly $50 spread across 7 domains. I only managed to make a profit on two of the names. Neither of which were actually any better then the others. It was an interesting experiment. I'm happy to hear others are trying the same thing.
I didn't want to take too big of a loss by listing more names and knew the risk of going in without reserves set. It was a free listing and if everyone preaches buy from a private party, some are practicing it. However, a lot aren't to see the numbers sway that far in the direction that it did.

This is more of an informational piece that if you do buy, you will get your domain and you will save money.

I hope to see the pendulum swing a little more in favor of the "small guys" getting an auction in than everyone hunting for that expiring domain name as if it's pure gold, when there are plenty on a public auction that could be valued the same, if not more, for a lot less.
 
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I didn't want to take too big of a loss by listing more names and knew the risk of going in without reserves set. It was a free listing and if everyone preaches buy from a private party, some are practicing it. However, a lot aren't to see the numbers sway that far in the direction that it did.

This is more of an informational piece that if you do buy, you will get your domain and you will save money.

I hope to see the pendulum swing a little more in favor of the "small guys" getting an auction in than everyone hunting for that expiring domain name as if it's pure gold, when there are plenty on a public auction that could be valued the same, if not more, for a lot less.

I do agree that people focus more on the expiring domain auctions than the public ones. However, you can find some gold if you look hard enough and do some research. As you mentioned, the so-called gold does seem to sell at a premium, whereas the publics auctions sell at a discount.
 
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7-Day Public Auction:
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Home Page Featured $19.98/listing See example
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Category Featured $9.99/listing See example
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4 Additional Category Listings $2.99/listing
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Reserve Pricing: $4.99/listing
 
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I'm not trolling, though it seems you are. Goodness why are you so angry? I am contributing to the conversation and I won't be bullied. I have every right to state my opinion and I don't have to explain anything to you. Though I am speaking mostly from a domainers perspective, 13 years and counting.
Stop trolling.



Who are you to say what is overpriced? Are you an enduser? Are you familiar with the meaning and potential uses for all domains?
 
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After another read, I did take away some additional points here.

"...if you're just starting out" and "the least risky" - for the most part agree it'd be the "safer" choice to go with the less expensive names if you're a beginner.

that too, is a matter of opinion "forge"

least risky, could be the domain that has the "higher potential" to be resold at a higher roi, and that may be the safest choice, although it may be more expensive.

while on the other hand, the least expensive domains typically are harder to sell and/or roi is much lower by comparison, so risk of a loss is higher.

though experience, helps one make "safer" choices in either situation.

imo...
 
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A couple of things. One, it cost $10 to put a reserve on name in a GD auction. Use it. You can set it to whatever you like and guarantee you won't lose money. Yes it will cost you but you essentially gave your assets away. Two, those names were at the low end of the spectrum of quality of names and you paid pretty much the going rate for those names which didn't leave you much upside. Thus the need for reserve protection. And third, tooting my own horn, but you need more auction viewers. My daily list gets in front of 500-1000 domain buyers every day and I think it gives a better chance to attract new bidders. There is an art to putting names in a public auction. You've learned lesson one.
I value your input on the tips that were provided on how to not lose money, however, this lot was put up with a known intentional loss going into it. It was to see how much of a loss it would be, to determine if others should be scouting the public auctions as opposed to expiring auctions only.

As far as the quality of the names go, I selected 2 of my FX LLLL.com domain names to put up there. If you go back to the reported sales on these, the average is $177 a domain on GoDaddy. While I can't say if these were all expiring or not, I can tell that some fairly large domain investors take an eye to these as I went through them all to see if they are developed. In addition to that, about 15% of forex brokerage firms that I sampled going through a top 100 list before, had a LLLL.com. These are pretty good odds that can determine whether this type of domain has the potential to sell to an end user or not.

I could defend the other names as well, but I'll just leave it being that the average price is much higher for the same quality of names that have been parked for years on the expiring market as opposed to the public auctions.

This was an informational piece to look at more area than one as deals are all around, not only in the expiring auctions.

PS: Tax season. ;)
 
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