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

Arca · Dec 9, 2016

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

urlurl · Mar 27, 2017

i've managed to grab a few decent names, has HD held off or are they still on a rampage?

any updates?

joro001 · Mar 27, 2017

urlurl said:
i've managed to grab a few decent names, has HD held off or are they still on a rampage?

any updates?

I'M not too sure but competition for me at godaddy is still ridiculous. The occasional decent buy but otherwise still prices are way too high for average to decent names.

wwwweb · Mar 27, 2017

joro001 said:
I'M not too sure but competition for me at godaddy is still ridiculous. The occasional decent buy but otherwise still prices are way too high for average to decent names.

People who are bidding there, have no understanding of end user budget ranges on average, you can't hit a homerun everytime.

Will be a rude awakening in 2-3 years of a non sale.

joro001 · Mar 27, 2017

wwwweb said:
People who are bidding there, have no understanding of end user budget ranges on average, you can't hit a homerun everytime.

Will be a rude awakening in 2-3 years of a non sale.

Yep agreed.

Having bought and sold many names from both expired/expiring/public auctions I can say that overall the likelihood of a decent end user sale is probably better buying on the drop than public auctions, especially if there used to be a big site active in the past etc.

However, from my experience it is marginal at best, i've sold plenty names that were in the hands of domainers before, the prices we are still seeing are not worth the premiums people are paying. I actually myself got suckered into this sort of bidding a while ago thinking there must be some gold here, only to discover i'm sitting on the domains waiting just like my other names.

Is this overheating here to stay long term? I guess time will tell!

wwwweb · Mar 27, 2017

joro001 said:
Yep agreed.

Having bought and sold many names from both expired/expiring/public auctions I can say that overall the likelihood of a decent end user sale is probably better buying on the drop than public auctions, especially if there used to be a big site active in the past etc.

However, from my experience it is marginal at best, i've sold plenty names that were in the hands of domainers before, the prices we are still seeing are not worth the premiums people are paying. I actually myself got suckered into this sort of bidding a while ago thinking there must be some gold here, only to discover i'm sitting on the domains waiting just like my other names.

Is this overheating here to stay long term? I guess time will tell!

It hasn't slowed down, but with icann 60 day locks, Godaddy push pains, and escrow issues, this is not helping domainers, just adding more risk, and costs.

Unless economy hits a wall, I don't see a slowdown in aftermarket prices. You just have to let the suckers keep paying, and eventually as renewal hit along with a lack of sales, they will get that deer in the headlights moment.

Newbies are looking for quick profits, it's a sad reality, those days are just not there, to many smarter end users with many tactics, and options.

campout · Mar 27, 2017

wwwweb said:
People who are bidding there, have no understanding of end user budget ranges on average

Huge Domains should know.

urlurl · Mar 27, 2017

yes, they should.

Does anyone have a breakdown of who is getting what - just wanted to see where the trend is.

End Game · Mar 30, 2017

Arca said:
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

Great post, I've noticed the same. Much harder to pick off same quality now, than just a month ago. That said, for those domains we already own...their value just soared because of the strong bidder.

urlurl · Mar 30, 2017

actually its been like this for months now, it lets up a bit and then gets crazy again. best to leave the over paying to the them until they run out of capital. IMO

Steven McEvoy · Mar 30, 2017

Not only are they buying from Godaddy but I have notice a couple of Flippa website sales and a couple weeks later the domain is showing HugeDomains sales page!!

Rich bastards

Michael M · Mar 30, 2017

I have been trying to decide if this is a strategy that they are going to keep pursuing - or are they just doing this temporarily to try to thin (spend) out the competition?

I guess only time will tell, but seems they are driving acquisition costs too high these days to be sustainable in the long run.

MapleDots · Mar 30, 2017

My number one competition is HugeDomains. They've outbid me many times, I see the domains listed with an average price of $2800. Not a fan myself because I sell mine for 5k on average and if I have a matching .ca I often have to wait for the huge domain one to sell theirs first.

I have had a few people who wanted the .ca more but that is rare.

Now that I know $500 is the top end at huge domain, I may not lose as many during the bidding process.

Mister Funsky · Mar 30, 2017

Yep...huge has been stockpiling for a while...that's ok as it keeps a lid of sorts on the market...someone in a earlier post made a fish reference and it is true...by them sopping up the market it will, imo, drive after market prices slightly higher due to supply and demand. We lowly types may have to spend more in the beginning to get a top name but it should appreciate nicely...at least my fingers (and everything else) are crossed.

urlurl · Mar 30, 2017

that was me, and its 110% true - we may not like it, but we need them

urlurl · Mar 30, 2017

MapleDots said:
My number one competition is HugeDomains. They've outbid me many times, I see the domains listed with an average price of $2800. Not a fan myself because I sell mine for 5k on average and if I have a matching .ca I often have to wait for the huge domain one to sell theirs first.

I have had a few people who wanted the .ca more but that is rare.

Now that I know $500 is the top end at huge domain, I may not lose as many during the bidding process.

Just wait them out, they will hopefully let off once they hit their quota

CJ6 · Mar 30, 2017

What is their quota? Domain domination? I don't think they will ever stop.

urlurl · Mar 30, 2017

i'm assuming it's based of sales and extra cash available. They can't continue forever. I have been able to get some nice names under $100 a few weeks ago - it seemed at least for a little while they were holding off a bit.

That would be great if someone here had some concrete data on who is winning the auctions.

Mister Funsky · Mar 30, 2017

CJ6 said:
I don't think they will ever stop.

I've spent some time considering this...throughout history, no matter the business or business model, no one has ever stayed on top...forever that is. They may secure a short term domination, but this is not the first time someone has tried to 'corner' the market...they may cause us (those with not so deep pockets) to have difficulty in getting 'cheap' domains, it just means we have to be smarter...and buy smarter.

urlurl · Mar 30, 2017

there are other players involved to, form the newbie to the mega huge. I think some people get attracted to the auctions and in some cases get caught up in the bidding war.

they all contribute to the higher auction sales

MapleDots · Mar 30, 2017

urlurl said:
in some cases get caught up in the bidding war

HeHe, been there....

Regrets... I've had a few, but then again... too few to mention...

urlurl · Mar 30, 2017

i think we all have at one point or another

Michael M · Mar 30, 2017

I guess we certainly can't let HD get them cheap if they are going to try to dominate the auctions.

So people getting with bidding wars with HD is good... I just know that my business plan does not allow me to spend insane amounts of money on mediocre domains so I drop out and leave that game for others.

urlurl · Mar 30, 2017

yup, best thing to do

wwwweb · Mar 30, 2017

OK, seriously prices are crazy, the mid level domains used to be $102 or so to get them, now you have to go over $202. There are some extra ordinary dollars at work, not sure why people are paying so much for domains that do not have that great of chance of selling, but to stockpile them is unquestionable.

There is someone spending a lot of money, to push prices higher. I guess i know the HD names, because they place at least $2xx proxy on every domain they place a bid on.

End Game · Mar 31, 2017

I believe some of the competition is because of the recent problems with tlds. It's put more focus on even less quality dot coms. When large companies are now paying hundreds of thousands for .coms, it's telling the market they will be relevant for another decade or more.

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

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