HugeDomains.com is Buying 50%+ of Expiring Domains at GoDaddy.com

[Arca]

I've been wondering about the competition in auctions for expiring domains over at GoDaddy.com, because somebody is paying hundreds for seemingly every domain that gets a few bidders.

I’ve also noticed a clear pattern, with the last bidder (or one of the last bidders) entering the auction winning most of the time, which made me think that there is one large corporate buyer piggybacking of whatever domains other people find and bid on. Turns out that is the case: HugeDomains.com is buying most domains over at GoDaddy.com expired auctions. I looked up the WHOIS of the past 150 auctions I have lost at GoDaddy.com, and 84 of those are now owned by HugeDomains.com and listed for sale on HugeDomains.com.

While 50%+ may not be representative of overall domains bought at GoDaddy, they do seem to buy far more domains than anyone else. The 66 names not bought by HugeDomains.com were bought by a number of different individuals and companies (BuyDomains.com bought 6 of those 66, for example), so 50%+ were taken by HugeDomains, while "the rest" of the auction wins were by a number of different individual domainers and companies.

This might not be news to some, but I've never seen anyone mention that HugeDomains is this active over at GD expired auctions, so I thought it might be interesting for some people to know who is outbidding everyone in the lower range over at GoDaddy. I've read people mentioning that HugeDomains buy names in close-out status over at GoDaddy, but never that they buy most of the domains in auctions too.

HugeDomains absolutely dominates all auctions below $5XX, and they only picked up a single name above $5XX (cakemart.com) in my sample of 150 names, so $5XX seems to be a self-imposed limit for them. If I only checked domains sold below $5XX, the percentage bought by them would be even higher. I've been the second highest bidder in lots of auctions that HugeDomains.com won, and in my experience they will keep bidding until you give up or until the price passes $5XX. By outbidding most bidders in the lower end, and acquiring more than half of the domains other people also have interest, it leaves a far smaller pool of names for the rest of the domainers to compete for, so I guess that's part of the reason why the reseller prices for names keep increasing so much for names in this range.

The only way to buy cheap domains at GoDaddy auctions now seems to be to let domains expire with 0 bids, so that they go to close-out status, and then try to snipe them as soon as that happens. However, some domainers seem to think it's smart to bid $12 on any decent name when there is 1-15 minutes left, hoping that nobody else is going to place a bid, so fewer and fewer decent names are let to expire with 0 bids. However, that strategy never seems to work (I've tried it myself lots of names, and it did not work even one time), because there are always other people watching and waiting for the name to go to close-out, and they jump in and bid if you make a $12 bid, and most of those names are eventually won by HugeDomains.com. What experiences do other people have at GD recently? Anyone else have any good strategies for buying expiring domains @ GoDaddy.com these days?

Some examples of expired domains bought at GoDaddy.com auctions by HugeDomains:
Domain: skillsharing.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $540
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $2995

Domain: ledmaster.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $537
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2195

Domain: cyberstrategies.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $262
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $2895

Domain: crablab.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $320
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $1895

Domain: dailyportal.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $560
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $2895

Domain: fivesecondrule.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $42
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $2695

Domain: deltacloud.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $365
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $1795

Domain: itace.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $499
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2595

Domain: sunnykitchen.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $200
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2595

Domain: baristaschool.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $449
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2895

Domain: cakemart.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $695
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $3495

Domain: visuala.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $315
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2795

Domain: massanalytics.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $130
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2095

Domain: edusport.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $535
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2995

Domain: acneguru.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $52
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $2495

Domain: stylefolio.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $195
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $1995

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Related: HUGE DOMAINS SNIPING GODADDY CLOSEOUTS

 

[urlurl]

Whoever this bidder is, they need to realize that their actions are completely counter-productive to actually winning these domains, especially at a good price.

agree, it either tips buyers off that are to lazy to search themselves and gives everyone a 9 day chance of seeing it.

and, either they get out bid if its a good name anyways or they get stuck with the duds.

 

[urlurl]

I am (and always have been) actively against GoDaddy's practices for not assuring a levelled playing field although they are technically, legally an auctioneer.

....BUT

Yesterday and today I really got some great domains for some great prices.
Everybody was mesmerised by those stupid auction with minimum (and below) bids that they did not see the actual valuable domains.

i grabbed some too, computers can't replace a keen eye.

 

[Arca]

Nearly all domains with a GoDaddy valuation at or above $1500 has a $10 bid today as well.

 

[UXela]

And just like yesterday and the day before that -> everybody in concentrating on that and missing the true valuable domains.

Keep at it! Very good strategy!

 

[Arca]

Some company has placed a $10 bid on every single .com domain that GoDaddy's appraisal tool has valuated at or above $1500, regardless of how inaccurate such appraisal is for many of these names (most are worthless).

The ubiquitous $10 bids go all the way down to $1499. There's no unusual bidding activity for the names appraised by GoDaddy below $1500.

Not surprisingly the company behind these $10 bids was Huge Domains.

Source:
yonkersamateurradioclub.com
entitledlittle.com
naturalanimalhealth.com
bostonbreastcenter.com
mailcult.com

These were among the $10 backorder domains and Huge Domains now shows up in WHOIS for all of them.

 

[urlurl]

nothing i would have picked up.

 

[MapleDots]

They are bidding up a lot of the stuff I usually get. I lost 3 to them last month from godaddy auctions.

I put in 150usd as max bid and lost them so they are going higher than ever to acquire domains.

 

[pokainc]

I've seen them a lot of good names I'm trying to get too, but quite a few horrible ones that they are just buying because it's on some random list somewhere that someone puts as expiring... some really horrible ones...

 

[MapleDots]

I've seen them a lot of good names I'm trying to get too, but quite a few horrible ones that they are just buying because it's on some random list somewhere that someone puts as expiring... some really horrible ones...

True but some of the domains might not make sense to you but they see movement. I bought up hundreds of domains with Maple in them for Canada and since then Huge Domain is very aggressive in acquiring them.

They must somehow get the stats from godaddy because they bid against me almost every time now.

 

[urlurl]

they most likely are using parameters they have set up based on keywords, traffic and past sales

 

[Yusupbabay]

I have followed the hdtv.net auction and been defeated by HD

HDTV.NET last sold for $1,465 on 2017-12-16 at DropCatch

 

[xyo]

I have followed the hdtv.net auction and been defeated by HD

HDTV.NET last sold for $1,465 on 2017-12-16 at DropCatch

I noticed that drop too and put a discount backorder on it.
As expected there were multiple fullprice backorders on it thus it went to auction:

That leaves two possibilities:

1. Hugedomains "won" the domain in auction "beating" its own customers
2. Auction winner didn't pay and DropCatch/Hugedomains kept the domain for themselves instead of re-auctioning it

Not sure which scenario is more disturbing

 

[Michael M]

I noticed that drop too and put a discount backorder on it.
As expected there were multiple fullprice backorders on it thus it went to auction:

Show attachment 78601

That leaves two possibilities:

1. Hugedomains "won" the domain in auction "beating" its own customers
2. Auction winner didn't pay and DropCatch/Hugedomains kept the domain for themselves instead of re-auctioning it

Not sure which scenario is more disturbing

Or:

3) 1+2.
4) (unlikely) DC approached the winner of the domain and purchased it from them


Difficult to say what actually goes on behind the scenes at DC, but it is very hard to argue that there is a big conflict of interest at DC since their ultimate goal is to load up HD's profile.

The money they make from the auctions of domains that they don't want to grab and hold is just icing on the cake.

It would be interesting to hear from @DropCatch Support on what happened here - since a full priced backorder was placed and the domain was sent to auction. Does HugeDomains participate in DropCatch auctions or did HugeDomains snag this domain due to a non-paying bidder instead of re-auctioning it as per the normal process?

 

[Michael M]

Domain Name: HDTV.NET
Registry Domain ID: 2199499482_DOMAIN_NET-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.namebright.com
Registrar URL: http://www.DropCatch1452.com
Updated Date: 2017-12-17T11:15:44Z
Creation Date: 2017-12-13T19:09:35Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2018-12-13T19:09:35Z
Registrar: DropCatch.com 1452 LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 3661
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone:
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Name Server: NS1.NAMEBRIGHTDNS.COM
Name Server: NS2.NAMEBRIGHTDNS.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: https://www.icann.org/wicf/
>>> Last update of whois database: 2018-01-21T14:15:32Z <<<

Looks like the whois information has not been changed since 12-17, which is only 4 days after DC caught the domain. So from the outside it looks like the domain was awarded to HugeDomains pretty much right away.

In full disclosure I do not participate on the DC platform due to the conflict of interest mentioned in the last post - so I am not fully up to speed on their normal processes.

But if this was a non-paying bidder - wouldn't they have had longer to pay before the name could have been awarded to HugeDomains? (not that it should have been awarded to HD at all)

So maybe they do participate in the auctions?
If so, do they actually pay DC their bid amount or can they bid freely without actually exchanging real money with DC?

 

[Arca]

I have followed the hdtv.net auction and been defeated by HD

HDTV.NET last sold for $1,465 on 2017-12-16 at DropCatch


Show attachment 78598

1. Hugedomains "won" the domain in auction "beating" its own customers
2. Auction winner didn't pay and DropCatch/Hugedomains kept the domain for themselves instead of re-auctioning it

Wow, that's a surprise! DropCatch claim to NEVER keep unpaid for domains for themselves. They are to be re-auctioned until a paying winner is found, no exception. CannaMarket.com for example was re-auctioned four times before a paying winner was found.

HugeDomains bidding on DropCatch presents so many conflicts of interest that I doubt they would even go that path...

So how did this domain end up for sale at Huge Domains?

 

[xyo]

Looks like the whois information has not been changed since 12-17, which is only 4 days after DC caught the domain. So from the outside it looks like the domain was awarded to HugeDomains pretty much right away.

Good catch, didn't check that. As the auction by their rules ended on 2017-12-16 20:00 UTC and winning bidder has four days to pay, non-paying bidder can be ruled out.
Also strange the domain has whois privacy.

While checking out their FAQ about how long you have time to pay stumbled upon this:

 

[Michael M]

Good catch, didn't check that. As the auction by their rules ended on 2017-12-16 20:00 UTC and winning bidder has four days to pay, non-paying bidder can be ruled out.
Also strange the domain has whois privacy.

While checking out their FAQ about how long you have time to pay stumbled upon this:

Show attachment 78602

It seems as if they must have made an exception here?

I personally can not come up with a plausible reason for this domain to be in their possession if it had full priced backorders on it.

HDTV.net is a very nice name. I can see the temptation for them to capture this, but it should not be a reason to violate their own rules.

 

[Arca]

Good catch, didn't check that. As the auction by their rules ended on 2017-12-16 20:00 UTC and winning bidder has four days to pay, non-paying bidder can be ruled out.
Also strange the domain has whois privacy.

While checking out their FAQ about how long you have time to pay stumbled upon this:

Show attachment 78602

Maybe the domain was indeed won by a domainer (hidden by WHOIS privacy), and HugeDomains accidentally listed it for sale? HugeDomains usually don't use WHOIS privacy.

One time I logged in to my NameBright account and noticed that a domain I owned, won at DropCatch, was missing. HugeDomains showed up in WHOIS and the name was listed for sale at HugeDomains.com.

I asked them why they stole my domain and put it for sale at HugeDomains. They apologized, deleted the listing, and returned the domain to my NameBright account.

Maybe the HugeDomains system mistakenly think they won HDTV.net? Although since they were not supposed to even be in the auction it's strange that their system would even be "aware" of this domain, let alone list it for sale...

 

[Arca]

@Yusupbabay please go to https://www.dropcatch.com/MyAccount/MyHistory , search for hdtv.net, click on the auction and take a screenshot or tell us who the winning bidder and second highest bidder is.

 

[Michael M]

Maybe the domain was indeed won by a domainer (hidden by WHOIS privacy), and HugeDomains accidentally listed it for sale? HugeDomains usually don't use WHOIS privacy.

One time I logged in to my NameBright account and noticed that a domain I owned, won at DropCatch, was missing. HugeDomains showed up in WHOIS and the name was listed for sale at HugeDomains.com.

I asked them why they stole my domain and put it for sale at HugeDomains. They apologized, deleted the listing, and returned the domain to my NameBright account.

Maybe the HugeDomains system mistakenly think they won HDTV.net? Although since they were not supposed to even be in the auction it's strange that their system would even be "aware" of this domain, let alone list it for sale...

And I wonder who would price it - or is that 100% automated?

Was your domain priced when it was listed?

 

[wwwweb]

Yes, I made a $12 bid within the last 5 minutes of an auction, within seconds I was outbid. Fine fair enough I took it up to like $124, and this person put a very high proxy on a name that had questionable worth, but maybe just based on my last second bid.

They started this about 2.5 years ago, as they used to put max proxy of $102 dollars or so, but that has since been moved up.

I don’t know if anyone follows the price at dropcatch but there is a lot of new usernames over there, and prices are insane. Like end user type pricing, I’m not sure who these people who are bidding, but they keep fighting over the same 5-6 names beating each other to a non profitable death.

Namebright wins if they make all domains worth more, in causing aftermarket chaos as they have one of the biggest portfolios out there. Godaddy is loving it, as on an advanced level we know what a namebright bidding war kind of entails, but most regular users keep bidding away.

 

[Michael M]

Hmmm... Looks like DC might have seen the post here about HDTV.net

The whois still hasn't changed, and still has privacy protection on - but the landing page is no longer showing it for sale with a price.

Still wonder what has happened here? Hopefully they are working it towards reauction.

 

[wwwweb]

Who are these dropcatch bidders who use the same repeating usernameusername combo

New one on the block is:

reasonreason

 

[pokainc]

a lot of crazy nonsensical bidding going on that's for sure.....

 

[-EM-]

That is how they do monopoly.