Dynadot

strategy Strategy for Expiring/Deleting Domains

Spaceship Spaceship
Watch
Impact
11,335
Here is a comprehensive strategy for buying domains at Expiring/Deleting Domain Auctions, as of Sept 2015. This process describes how the process of capturing .COM/.NET domains work.

gtld-lifecycle.jpg

Graphic Courtesy of ICANN​

PRE-RELEASE DOMAIN AUCTIONS

A Pre-Release Domain Auction is an Auction for a domain which has Expired but which can still be renewed or transferred out (restrictions apply.. see below) by the current Registrant.

This is the first stage of the domain dropping process. From 0-45 days after expiry. (The Auto-Renew Grace Period, in ICANN speak). All Pre-Release Auctions end whilst the Registrar still has control of the domain before Day 45 after expiry. On day 46 the domain is given back by the Registrar to the Registry and it will definitely be deleted. There are only very rare exceptions. Renewal (the renewal price plus the Registrar's penalty) by the original Registrant is the most common.

Usually these Auctions begin at most Registrars or Drop Catchers at around 35 days after expiry (varies with Auctioneer) and the domain has still not been renewed by the current Registrant.

The main venues for these auctions are either at a Registrar which has an Auction System, like GoDaddy, or at Snapnames/NameJet which have entered into agreements with some Registrars to be the sole Auctioneer for their Expiring Domain Names.

Usually the current Owner of these domains still has the right to renew the domain. But sometimes Registrars who have agreements with Snapnames/Namejet restrict these rights. GoDaddy is the most generous. Allowing transfer out (or renewal at Godaddy with a penalty) up to 42 days after expiry. You need to read each individual Registrars ToS to know the time they give you to renew the domain or then lose your ownership rights. ICANN says it should be at 45 days. But no significant Registrar follows ICANN rules, here.

GoDaddy is the biggest Pre-Release Auction Market on the planet by way of the fact they are by far the biggest Registrar. SnapNames/Namejet are 2nd and 3rd to GoDaddy, respectively. Everyone else are bit players in this Market. They have a small Market Share. How much? difficult to say, but probably less than 10% for all of them combined. No facts to substantiate this.

It is highly recommended that if you see a domain in a Pre-Release Auction Market you want, you should bid on it at that Auction and not anywhere else. ie: If it is at SnapNames then only bid on it at SnapNames because they control the domain. It is your first and best chance of obtaining the domain.

The biggest downsides are, 1) The existing registrant can still renew the domain, and will be motivated to do so if they see it has value. 2) It is a Public Auction, so you can be outbid by anyone joining the Auction.

The biggest upsides are, 1) You sidestep the Pending Delete Auction which is open to everyone (including Dropcatch/HugeDomains. More on them later) 2) You retain the original registration date (which I like personally. YMMV)


PENDING DELETE DOMAIN AUCTIONS

A Pending Delete Auction is an Auction for a domain which has entered the Pending Delete stage of it's current registration. Almost dead and dropped.

Domains enter Pending Delete stage 75 days after expiry (46-75 days is the Redemption Grace Period, in ICANN speak). There is no coming back from Pending Delete. The domain will delete 5 days after it enters Pending Delete and will be available for re-registration the next day (day 6 after entering Pending Delete or 81 days after expiry).

These Auctions begin when the Domain hits Pending Delete status. It is a free-for-all when a domain drops. The company with the best drop catching system usually wins most drop-caches. This is DropCatch with over 500 registrars knocking on the Registry's door.

The main venues for these Auctions are DropCatch, SnapNames, NameJet. There are a miriad of other competitors, but they are only bit-players. Bit players ocassionally get lucky and capture Pending Delete domains. Usually (not always) the domains nobody else wants.

There are no official statistics, but DropCatch probably captures at least 50% of all drop-caught domains. It could be a lot more. they are the Goliath of Pending Delete Auctions. The reason for this is mainly because their sister company, HugeDomains, wants to snap up all dropping domains which have any value, and to place them on their own Domain Marketplace for sale. Partnering with Dropcatch has, to date, been a very successful strategy for them. But we cannot see if this is profitable or not for them.

The previous Goliaths were SnapNames/NameJet, who held the position now held by DropCatch.

It goes without saying. If you are serious at wanting a domain, you should be backordering it at all 3 of these companies. backorders are free. You only pay if you win the domain. If you are the only backorderer at the capturing company, you win the domain outright.

Now this is where it become interesting because of the different policies of DropCatch to SnapNames/NameJet relating to more than one backorderer.

For SnapNames/Namejet, if there is more than backorder placed at their venue and they capture the domain, then the domain goes into a three day Private Auction. Highest bid wins the domain.

For DropCatch, if there is more than one backorder placed on a domain at their venue, and they capture the domain, then the domain goes into a 3 day Public Auction. Where anybody can bid on the domain.

Because everyone is used to the old system at SnapNames/NameJet where a domain goes to a Private Auction, they reel at the though that anybody can bid on a drop-catch with multiple bidders, if it is caught by Dropcatch. they feel cheated. But it is only the marketplace at work. Of course a Private Auction is preferred because the domain has fewer bidders, not everyone. But with DropCatch capturing the lions share of all drop-caught domains, they have chosen to hold Public Auctions, where prices are naturally bid higher than at Private Auctions. Some say too high. But in general, it is only being bid up to a price where another Domainer can still sell the domain and make a profit, in their opinion. Of course opinions between domainers vary about the price.

There is a twist to this DropCatch dropcatching. As as sop to other domainers, they have stated that HugeDomains would not be permitted to participate in any Dropcatch Auction. This of course is fine, until they are being bid up by other domainers :( What is not so good, is they recently introduced a Discount Club, where HugeDomains have priority over any backorder. this is not good at all, as users of this service see most of their backorders being captured by HugeDomains. IMHO, you should never use their Discount Club and only participate in their full price backordering, which cuts out HugeDomains access to the domain. You still need to participate in the Public Auction if there was more than one backorder at DropCatch, if you want to capture the domain. The exception only would be if you are placed at the highest bidder and nobody else bid on the domain, which is quite rare.

Personally, I see DropCatch's method of doing business as a paradigm shift. It's not going away. Either embrace it or hate it. It will make flips harder because of the higher pricing, and will usher in longer hold times for domains. I actually like the fact I can poke my finger in the eye of HugeDomains (our biggest single competitor) by placing a full price backorder on DropCatch. Even if I don't bid on any auction, and I just take the captures where I was the only backorderer. It's peanuts in the big scale of things, but it gives me satisfaction :)

For domains which are not worth the $59 dropcatch fee. I usually backorder at Pheenix. They capture some but not all. With their recently added 100 drop-catch Registrars, they should become more competitive. But they have announced the same policy of as DropCatch of Public Auctions on domains with more than 1 backorder placed on their system, from Sept 19th 2015. This won't suit everybody. But I believe it is the wave of the future. Some day, all dropcatchers will operate like this. IMHO.

CONCLUSION

For Pre-Release domains I only bid at the Auction House which has the domain up for Auction. Nowhere else works. GoDaddy, or SnapNames, or NameJet, or if the domain is registered at a Registrar which runs it's own Auction House, eg Dynadot.

For Pending Delete domains which have value and desirability, I backorder at all three major players DropCatch, SnapNames, NameJet. For domains which I think won't get picked up by any of these three, I use the cheaper drop-catcher, Pheenix. The hundred registrars they just added will make them very competitive in this section. I might even add them to my top three and see how many they catch :)

See more about DropCatch and Domainers/HugeDomains backorders below.
 
Last edited:
130
•••
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I just noticed also that Dynadot also captured a domain I had backordered at Pheenix. Although oddities like this should not happen because of the number of servers Pheenix uses compared to Dynadot, these things can be expected sometimes. But this coming on top of not beating my handreg recently. Had me test it out. So I have 8 domains backordered at Pheenix and Dynadot in the next drop. I'll report how it goes tomorrow.

Nice test, but would be also interesting to see if domains goes to auctions or not.

I'm running that kind of test with DC vs my service for weeks now :) results could be very different from a day to another, so be sure that you cannot conclude anything with this test except that TODAY, dynadot was faster than pheenix or not.
 
0
•••
Here are the results.

NetSol 3, Dynadot 3, DropCatch 1, Pheenix 1

I'm rather surprised by the results. Remember these are domains I felt have a chance of dropping and not being picked up. My average pickup of 50% I consider are domains which would mostly be dropped and not picked up.

I haven't seen NetSol win so many of these domains. They appears frequently but never predominantly like this. Dynadot. I hardly ever see capturing anything. DropCatch generally capture most of these drops. Pheenix only catching one was disappointing.

Of course. One swallow doesn't make a summer. There are way to many variables involved to draw any conclusions from this one tiny test. One thing which is consistent is me capturing 50% of my cheap backorders. Since this was basically a comparison between Pheenix & Dynadot. I think I will continue to place the same backorders at both Drop Catchers for a while and monitor how it goes. I will keep you informed.
 
Last edited:
0
•••
Incredible, i thank that dynadot were much slower.
where did you order domains woth netsol registrars ?
 
0
•••
Those are the registrars which won the domains I backordered. I only backordered at Dynadot and Pheenix. To test out their relative performances. I have 3 domains backordered for tomorrow. I try not to include any backorders for domains with backorders on SN/NJ. But don't recall if I checked those three that NetSol won. I usually setup my backorders in bulk for the length of time in advance that I can backorder domains.
 
0
•••
For the length of time I've been consistently been backordering only at Pheenix (for domains I expect might drop), about 15 months, since they upped their severs to over 100. My average success would probably be approx. 1/day (approx 50-60%), out of 0-3 backorders/day.
 
Last edited:
1
•••
@stub Are you able to sell any of these backorder domain names. Just curious, your portfolio is in in Green or Red?

Today, I just got some 7 domain hand register, out of 25 domain i tried. On the other hand, 5 main competitive domains for which i used custom made Desktop dropcatcher failed to capture anything.
 
0
•••
@premkumar - I don't understand your question about selling domains? If I win a backorder, I can sell a domain immediately provided the buyer accepts a push at the same registrar. If they want to transfer out the transaction can only be concluded after the ICANN 60 day wait. I also don't understand the green or red question. What portfolio are you talking about?

A Desktop Dropcatcher should, in theory, capture domains left after the online dropcatchers are finished and before the handreg of domains has started. If the domains were were competitive backorders, they would be picked up by the online backorder companies rather than any Desktop Dropcatcher, with very rare exceptions.
 
0
•••
Results of my ongoing Dynadot vs Pheenix Backorder tests. I backordered the same 3 domains at Dynadot and Pheenix in the last drop. The results are

Dynadot 3, Pheenix 0

This continues the outstanding performance by Dynadot and the poor performance by Pheenix over the last 2 days.
 
0
•••
I have 1 backorder at Dynadot/Pheenix tomorrow.
 
0
•••
Due to your good results with dynadot I decided to test dynadot/dropcatch/prnator next days :)

4 domains 11/10
9 domains 11/11
8 domains 11/12
6 domains 11/13
 
Last edited:
1
•••
OK. The one domain backordered in the last drop was picked up by Dynadot.

This is beginning to look like a trend. It looks like I'm going to permanently going to be backordering from Dynadot, from now on. Now it's only going to be a matter of whether, or not, I drop using Pheenix altogether. We will see in the coming days. These results, so far, are shocking to me.
 
0
•••
Due to your good results with dynadot I decided to test dynadot/dropcatch/prnator next days :)

4 domains 11/10
9 domains 11/11
8 domains 11/12
6 domains 11/13

That's good. Three tiers of different quality backorders. I predict #1-DropCatch, #2-Prnator, #3-Dynadot. I haven't used Prnator. I'm just going by the fact @davidc1 is telling us he uses SnapNames platform.
 
0
•••
Results for 11/10: I win 2 domains: 1 Dropcatch , 1 Prnator
(2 domains lost : 1 Dropcatch regular, 1 snapnames regular)
 
0
•••
I've got 3 domains on backorder at Dynadot/Pheenix in the next drop.

There is fundamental difference between my test and @davidc1's. I'm only backordering domains that I expect to drop. David is backordering domains which he expects to be captured. A difference in quality. Both are valid tests. But it probably explains why Dynadot is not featuring in his tests. Because they cannot compete at the top level because of their resources.

But I'm testing out which dropcatcher is best for these less desirable domains. For the budget conscious backorderer. :)
 
Last edited:
1
•••
Results of todays backorders. Captured: Dynadot-1 Pheenix-2.

So Pheenix not dead yet. But we will never really know if we did not backorder at Pheenix whether Dynadot would have captured the domains. Although it seems likely. So recommendation at this point is to backorder at both.

I have 5 backorders in the next drop.
 
0
•••
Results for 11/11: I win 9 domains: 4 Dropcatch , 5 Prnator
It seems that dynadot is out.
 
0
•••
Results for 11/12: I win 6 domains: 2 Dropcatch , 4 Prnator
(2 domains lost : 1 Dropcatch regular, 1 snapnames regular)
 
0
•••
0
•••
Results of my 5 backorders: DropCatch-3 Web(Associated not NetSol)-2

So I didn't win anything to day. You can't really read much into this, except maybe my thinking about what may drop may be inaccurate today.

OK. I'm going to refine my criteria to only backordering at Dynadot. To try to answer the question if Dynadot always win the domain when not backordered at Pheenix. Like all my tests. This will never have sufficient quantity to prove this fact (too many variables), but we may be able to draw a likely outcome. We already know from my 15 months of using solely Pheenix that my success rate is approx 50-60% with them. Again I would say this cannot be accurate because of too many variables and too small a sample. We have to draw conclusions, knowing these inaccuracies.

I have 2 backordered domains in the drop. Backordered only at Dynadot.
 
0
•••
For the length of time I've been consistently been backordering only at Pheenix (for domains I expect might drop), about 15 months, since they upped their severs to over 100. My average success would probably be approx. 1/day (approx 50-60%), out of 0-3 backorders/day.
Hi, sorry for my ignorance here, but is this deleting domains you are trying to catch here (is pending delete)?
 
0
•••
Hi, sorry for my ignorance here, but is this deleting domains you are trying to catch here (is pending delete)?
yes
 
1
•••
Thanks, is it really worth chasing pending delete these days? I have noticed that the quality has dropped loads lately.
 
0
•••
Thanks, is it really worth chasing pending delete these days? I have noticed that the quality has dropped loads lately.
depends of what kind of domains you need.
 
1
•••
depends of what kind of domains you need.
I am referring to domains one would sell to an end user. Interested in your truly, would be grateful if you could amplify on it a bit, thanks.
 
0
•••
Results for the last drop. I didn't capture anything. 1-Dropcatch 1- Web (Associated, not NetSol)

So since Dynadot (and Pheenix) can't compete with DropCatch or Web. Nothing to observe.

I have 3 domains, ordered at Dynadot only, for tomorrow's drop
 
Last edited:
0
•••
Back