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domains How should auction houses handle non payment by the winning bidder?

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equity78

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How should auction houses handle non payment by the winning bidder? Back on October 29, I wrote about Kau.com closing at $100,350 at DropCatch. That bidder did not pay, it's being reauctioned. Is that the right way to handle things? I have written many times on how DropCatch and NameJet have benefited by GoDaddy failing to secure payment. Koupons.com closed at $6,100 on 8/17/20 at … [Read more...]
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I say they go the full Vlad the Impaler route or perhaps the paint someone with honey and stick them near a red army ant hill next to a murder hornet hive.
 
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They should verify bidders credit card (and credit limit) before auction, and credit the card at end of auction.

Simple!

If the bidder has an issue, it is then between winner/bidder and credit card provider.

This will put the brakes on shill bidding and other shenanigans in the industry.
 
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verify bidder accounts ( who is him and getting a valid document)
who want to bid over a certain limit must provide a valid payment method and show proof that can afford to pay that amount.

is this too much? ok, you can avoid to bid :)

probably all this is not yet enough but it will reduce a lot the shill thing.
I'm sure this is extra work for godaddy and until they are profitable they will not care about their customer so much
 
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Expired auctions GoDaddy, DropCatch, NameJet, Park.io, Catched.com get the money. So probably less shill bidding going on there. It can be the old have three accounts, or work with two others bid one up real high, not pay and then it goes to one of the lower accounts but that does not work at DropCatch they reauction. GoDaddy does not always go to lower bidders so that plan does not always work.

People are not going to deposit funds and tie up money on an auction site.
 
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Do the same thing Christie's and Sotheby's auction house does, they verify the buyers financial resources. Anyone looking to bid over 4k should verify who they are and show financial proof.
 
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There is really no excuse for outrageous bidding being allowed to ruin the reputation of the domain auction industry.

It is these auction platforms themselves who are responsible for maintaining the integrity of their own industry.

The majority of them do not appear capable of doing this.
 
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They should verify bidders credit card (and credit limit) before auction, and credit the card at end of auction.

Simple!

If the bidder has an issue, it is then between winner/bidder and credit card provider.

This will put the brakes on shill bidding and other shenanigans in the industry.
Or you could do the nameSilos model.
 
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Require the bidders to be physically present at the auction house and not let them out until they pay up. :whistle:
 
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The dollar amounts at namesilo are usually in the low XXXX
Correct. It drives down prices, but the quality is better at nj than ns.
 
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name silo does.

True but there is nowhere near that much action at NameSilo and a lot of their names get renewed, at least the high quality ones.
 
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yeah and I agree, the real good ones usually get renewed
That is always annoying when you pay a good amount for a name you want to buy and then don't get it, and you get the money released, but you had set it aside for that auction. And that's another reason for the lower prices. NameSilo really is hurting themselves in how they operate.

But say people pre-fund an account of 100K for a name that they are trying to win in that amount would also probably drive down the number of qualified bidders and people willing to put up such a deposit. But it would make sure that the top bidder would pay.
 
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I see room in the market for a business that requires 20% down.

In other words accept bids up to 5x the amount of good faith hard money that has been put up. Or pick your own number.

And add a no-pay penalty to encourage thoughtful bidding.

Is NameSilo already doing this?
 
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Is NameSilo already doing this?
It requires 100% to cover bids, but you can actually spend that on registrations and renewals in between bidding and winning auctions, so when the auction closes you may not have enough, and have to pay the rest.
 
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Require the bidders to be physically present at the auction house and not let them out until they pay up. :whistle:
That would defeat the purpose of the internet...
 
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I see room in the market for a business that requires 20% down.

In other words accept bids up to 5x the amount of good faith hard money that has been put up. Or pick your own number.

And add a no-pay penalty to encourage thoughtful bidding.

Is NameSilo already doing this?
I like your idea, even a small deposit 50 dollars to bid on names up to 1000 dollars, 250 for names up to 10000, etc I like that
 
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There is a very simple answer to this question. The domain should go to the next highest bidder.
 
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There is a very simple answer to this question. The domain should go to the next highest bidder.

I agree Stub, the one thing that has to be looked at is the gaming of that system, you bid $100 on one account, account #2 and account #3 just go into a bidding war, take the name to some crazy amount no other investor would participate.

So the auction closes at $80,000 winning bidder default, bidder 2 No thank you, I am not obligated I lost and spent the money somewhere else. Bidder 3 I will take it for $100 great.
 
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I agree Stub, the one thing that has to be looked at is the gaming of that system, you bid $100 on one account, account #2 and account #3 just go into a bidding war, take the name to some crazy amount no other investor would participate.

So the auction closes at $80,000 winning bidder default, bidder 2 No thank you, I am not obligated I lost and spent the money somewhere else. Bidder 3 I will take it for $100 great.

How much does this actually occur? The only loser here is the auction house holding the auction. I'm sorry that they don't have my sympathy :) They let 2 shill bidders bid up the price, and then point to how much they lost when they both drop out. They should control better the bidders in their auctions? IMHO.
 
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How much does this actually occur? The only loser here is the auction house holding the auction. I'm sorry that they don't have my sympathy :) They let 2 shill bidders bid up the price, and then point to how much they lost when they both drop out. They should control better the bidders in their auctions? IMHO.

Well no one said have sympathy for the auction house, but I don't want to bid in that environment.

Now @Michael at thedomains posted some thoughts on that

Then you get someone with two accounts bidding it up from $10 to $10,000 super fast, and when the next highest bidder gets it, it’s the scammer for $10. Next highest bidder doesn’t work.

A re-auction is the only fair way to do it and is the least likely to be abused. Sure, you could try to keep it re-auctioned in perpetuity but what’s the upside? This is the most transparent way to do it as well because then the public can plainly see that it didn’t go through, and what it ends up selling for.

Next highest bidder is as opaque as it comes, nobody but the next highest bidder knows there were fraudulent bids or what it ended up selling for.
 
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Well no one said have sympathy for the auction house, but I don't want to bid in that environment.

Next highest bidder is as opaque as it comes, nobody but the next highest bidder knows there were fraudulent bids or what it ended up selling for.

There is a lot an auction house can do to control shill bidding. Has a user bid that high before? Is it a new account? They could put limits on how high a user can bid on an auction, or ask them for some security/pre-payment, or have they paid for similar auctions? Have they ever reneged? Outright 100% ban on every shill bid that goes unpaid, or every shill bid (like the second bidder in your example). I'm not saying they will be able to eliminate shill bidding. But items like you example are easy to spot.
 
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