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

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Arca

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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



Related: HUGE DOMAINS SNIPING GODADDY CLOSEOUTS
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
if they are offering them a deal i don't think they would risk a discount on the sale price. More likely a kick back, rebate or a separate incentive. Then if it was ever discovered they could always come back and say it was just a loyalty incentive for a big client.

I think anything like that would be against the rules of a public auction and possibly illegal (similar to shill bidding).
 
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Perhaps if HD prices domainers out of acquiring expiring domains under $100 domain investors will more seriously consider low-priced aftermarket domains.

One thing I wish Godaddy would do is allow age filters for active listings - not just expiring domains.
 
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As others have said, lots of money involved..

If they agreed to some deal, then by all means it's (should be) something the public will not witch-hunt if ever disclosed


"yeah they're big client... got some bulk volume ... go that big and we may treat you same.."

..kind of thing


Can't imagine they spend big time into trust and promo then ruin themselves (and give power to kill GD in hands of HD)
 
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While this is a plausible scenario, I don't think the numbers are so big as to justify risking their reputation.
Huh? What reputation? Since when do major registrars, in this case the registrar, worry about their reputation? :sneaky:
 
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Perhaps to gain trust in an auction platform, anonymous bidders should be eliminated.

That way we don't see a repeat of H Alvarez.

I have stated previously that publicly reported domain sales which often influence registrations should go through an audit process just like publicly-traded companies. Domain investors place perhaps too much faith in reports of high-dollar sales to believe that their existing portfolios are worth renewing and that it makes sense to keep bidding on domain auction platforms.
 
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And people stupidly putting in an early first bid on a name attracts bids, as others have said in this thread. Be interesting to see if those early bidders ever actually buy.

Nope, its rare that you would see the first bidder finish off and winning the auction, even the 2nd and 3rd bidder drops out early too.
 
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With Huge Domains spending this much money on GoDaddy auctions, I think it is likely they have negotiated a deal. Maybe GoDaddy only charges them 50% on any auctions they win. Who knows? It seems likely there is some sort of deal worked out.

Pretty much any time one business does an abnormal amount of deals with another business, they are going to seek special accommodations.

Of course, I am just speculating but it seems likely to me anyway.
A rebate might be in play, they will never talk about it as they make you sign NDAS.
 
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Finally, there is a third, shady scenario. They have a special deal with GD. They are customers and at the same time brokers. GD pays them a very large fee of the profit(margin) of what they pay and the last bidder (the price that the domain would be sold if HG did not interfere). In the extreme , even almost all. In this case the HG buys the domain nearly where the last bidder would have bought it. And of course again keeps the market saturated and the prices for end users hight.

I was wondering if they were monitoring certain accounts for what they 'watch', and if there are intersections then they give the list to HD.

That's HUGE speculation, but it almost feels like it when I am constantly going to bat with only one other bidder. Either my taste buds are the same as someone elses, or something smells funny.
 
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About HugeDomains.com. I believe I initially owned this domain (hugedomains.com) long ago. If someone can help me verify its history, the past owner, under the name "V... Nguyen" .
 
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just check your email history
 
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I might be the first owner... it was over 10yrs ago... I don't know the email I used
 
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Domain dropped in 2003 ... :xf.wink: could be it.
 
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Bidders at GoDaddy should have a handle / name attached to them. I disagree with GoDaddy's stance to have the bidders be completely anonymous.
 
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if they are offering them a deal i don't think they would risk a discount on the sale price. More likely a kick back, rebate or a separate incentive. Then if it was ever discovered they could always come back and say it was just a loyalty incentive for a big client.

Yes GD could simply take less commission - or no commission - on sales made through GD, Afternic and their network. There would be no way of proving there was a quid pro quo in that agreement - it could just be described as a bulk discount. Or possibly GD is extending credit to HD or trying to buy them - why not let them run up a huge debt first?

All these auction prices then end up on Namebio, convincing new arrivals that floor prices for expiring domains are higher - maybe pricing out some buyers, but pushing up spending for others.
 
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my domain that expire was bought by hugedomains i forgot to renew.....your research is true op
 
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These people vacuum up first and last names. Hold onto yours.
 
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Perhaps we should check the SEC filings for commentary of large customers...
 
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buying .com's for around the $500 a .com and sitting on them for a few decades etc is a good investment paying o of the cheapest renewals per year eg $10 or so if a person or registrar can afford to do do etc

and i reckon the domain name industry hasn't even started to get good as really big business with very deep pockets has yet to enter the domain name industry

but when they do we will start to see proper pennies being spent on .com domain names

huge domains may just be another big player entering the game

but there will be more and more big players entering the domain name industry over the next decade or so
 
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With respect to auctions and Zero bids. I tried using backorders to snipe domains...

lol @ me because that didn't work. Noob mistake, I know but I had to try. Read this thread for more detailed info.

You have to place a bid before the auction time runs out now, because HD (or someone) is running a closeout bot to pick up domains during the now unpredictable auction -> closeout timeframe.
 
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This is all just a numbers game to them.

The quality matters less when you have as many domains for sale as they do.

They pump out sales at pretty low prices, and they have it down to a science.

They can afford to play the game in a way most of us can't.
 
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just had a look at huge domains website and lets just say not many will be able to compete with high domains

they are taking the domain name market to the next level

they offer a full refund within 30 days of purchase - no questions asked etc (standard practice when buying anything else in a shop or online) but not currently with all domain name aftrmarket resellers

I reckon huge domains will eventually offer domain name insurance or udrp insurance with every domain purchased from them and or better still i reckon huge domains will eventually include domain name insurance for free with every domain purchased from them

few will be able to compete with them

and if they were to offer free trademark check service to anyone without the need to buy from them
they would effectively become the market leader quite quickly
 
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