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

tonyk2000 · Mar 22, 2018

wwwweb said:
Only way is to band together to defeat the Goliath, make them pay, boycott their services, otherwise they going to prettty well out tech you, and out weigh you out of the market.

With more and more "fresh" $$$ coming in, nothing will be changed in current environment I think. I remember bidding handles that were active in "closed" beta of lets say dropcatch after their initial launch and some time later - they were very active, but are no more active. Other bidders are now overpaying. Where the previous active bidders and their domains are now? I remember Korea-originated bidding handles on Snapnames in 2005-2007 - and they paid crazy prices - also no more active, and many domains they won at that time - were subsequently transferred to Korea-based registrars - are now dropping from these registrars. Just checked whois records for dozens of recent GoDaddy auction winners (in light of related thread discussing the stats and outcome) - with natural exception of Huge Domains and Mike Mann and some others, many of these are simply unfamiliar so one would guess that younger domainers building portfolios this way ($$$ overpaid) are not yet profitable, and may never become profitable.

Something may be changed should some mainstream media start publishing the things about our industry, such as screenshots of one bot (HugeDomains) acquiring KillTheChildren.com and other bot (that runs GoDaddys search results) explaining "why it is great" (in GoDaddys opinion, "Kill" is a high value keyword that has an average sale price of $2,117). Or, should U.S. elects to finally reset its economy by dropping privately-issued "United States Dollar" as the Federal Reserve is a private company [more versions and possibilities are discussed on conspiracy theories websites]. Or, should somebody acquire Huge Domains or Godaddy or ... (and "kills" or downgrades the business which happens with most acquisitions in the domain industry)

urlurl · Mar 23, 2018

next question:

Does HD ever drop any names, and if they do at what rate?

tonyk2000 · Mar 23, 2018

urlurl said:
Does HD ever drop any names, and if they do at what rate?

Routinely looking into "pendingdelete" lists, I noticed that, at some point of time (2015-2016), they stopped dropping anything (with some exceptions like deleting trademarks regardless of expiration dates, likely due to C&D letters received). Now they drop domains again (lifetime before drop - 1 or 2 years). Nothing mass though...

DnEbook · Mar 24, 2018

urlurl said:
next question:

Does HD ever drop any names, and if they do at what rate?

Interesting question

GeorgeQuang · Mar 24, 2018

Last year : acquiring 13 names/ week.
This year : just 6 names/ week.
Due to Huge Domain's action.

jideofor · Mar 24, 2018

GeorgeQuang said:
Last year : acquiring 13 names/ week.
This year : just 6 names/ week.
Due to Huge Domain's action.

sad bro, just sad...

jideofor · Mar 24, 2018

I have not been able to pick any good domain name since this yeah... my closeout settings is always dry...

Recons.Com · Mar 24, 2018

You can still pick nice ones, just takes longer.

Some I got (coms)

My Educators

Helm Partners

Ball Coverage

GeorgeQuang · Mar 24, 2018

Recons.Com said:
You can still pick nice ones, just takes longer.

Some I got (coms)

My Educators

Helm Partners

Ball Coverage

Yes, but it takes time to receive offer from end-users.
HugeDomain makes me crazy every day.

jideofor · Mar 24, 2018

Recons.Com said:
4 million names at $8 = $32MM/year on renewals.

They need to sell around 12800 names at $2500 average to cover that, which is only around 0.3% of the inventory.

If they have STR of 0.5%, then they are making around $20MM to cover their other costs, expected profit and leave few million bucks extra to waste on GD auctions.

And do you think they are really selling domains at that rate? We all know the realities on ground.

Michael M · Mar 24, 2018

I been still been running the research I started here in another thread, and 3/2 gets very interesting!

HugeDomains purchased 3x+ names out my list list than they normally do, and a "new" buyer stepped in and purchased 3x what HD did. Here's a snapshot, more in the other thread, and looks like it continues on 3/3.

Recons.Com · Mar 24, 2018

jideofor said:
And do you think they are really selling domains at that rate? We all know the realities on ground.

Yes, I am sure the are. Option to pay over time helps too

Kazzia · Mar 27, 2018

Hey good point.

Michael M · Mar 27, 2018

The "Afternic" buyer has continued to grab an insane amount of domains at GD expired auctions (200+ a day) from 3/2-3/4 so far... HD is also stepping up to purchasing 50-70+ domains a day. (out of a sample of ~600 domains)

So yes, HD is buying a lot of names - but I think recently there is some other player on the field that is scooping up GD auctions en masse. They are using Godaddy whois privacy and parking at afternic with $50-500 BINs.

wwwweb · Mar 27, 2018

Michael M said:
The "Afternic" buyer has continued to grab an insane amount of domains at GD expired auctions (200+ a day) from 3/2-3/4 so far... HD is also stepping up to purchasing 50-70+ domains a day. (out of a sample of ~600 domains)

So yes, HD is buying a lot of names - but I think recently there is some other player on the field that is scooping up GD auctions en masse. They are using Godaddy whois privacy and parking at afternic with $50-500 BINs.

$50-$500 BINS, only a matter of time before their portfolio over reaches their revenue, not enough meat on the bone, if they are just scraping what is getting thru the cracks, or questionable domains with some potential, their portfolio will balloon to a point where their renewals, and new purchases can't cover their costs. I have always found this quick flip strategy only has so much of a shelf life, before someone hits a rut, and gets caught holding to much, with to slow sell thru. Any decent two keyword .com on godaddy is costing $500 - $2000 like clock work now, the bargain stuff is being tagged on the way down, and it is a dog fight in the last few minutes, and usually ends in the $50-$200 range.

creataweb · Mar 27, 2018

Recons.Com said:
hmm... strange. I thought Brandpa would be over 3000 by now and Brandroot would have over 20K?

It seems BP dropped names that were found listed elsewhere which could explain the lower numbers.

Recons.Com · Mar 27, 2018

Michael M said:
The "Afternic" buyer has continued to grab an insane amount of domains at GD expired auctions (200+ a day) from 3/2-3/4 so far... HD is also stepping up to purchasing 50-70+ domains a day. (out of a sample of ~600 domains)

So yes, HD is buying a lot of names - but I think recently there is some other player on the field that is scooping up GD auctions en masse. They are using Godaddy whois privacy and parking at afternic with $50-500 BINs.

What does Afternic buyer mean? He is listing it on Afternic with landing pages there? If that is the case and it is done under privacy, I don't like it a bit! With so much cost base, low listing fee, low chance of selling, it would make an economic sense only if it were an affiliated party! I am not claiming it is, but too fishy and does not make sense for anyone else to do this.

Michael M · Mar 27, 2018

Recons.Com said:
What does Afternic buyer mean? He is listing it on Afternic with landing pages there? If that is the case and it is done under privacy, I don't like it a bit! With so much cost base, low listing fee, low chance of selling, it would make an economic sense only if it were an affiliated party! I am not claiming it is, but too fishy and does not make sense for anyone else to do this.

Whoever it is they are using Afternic landing pages with no seller name and using Whois Privacy. The whois privacy and huge spike in Afternic listings from my GD Auction sample is what made me take notice.

I agree it seems odd... That is why I have reached out to Joe and confirmed:

#1: "All customers pay for privacy but some get discounts that are open to anyone based on volume. If you have premier rep speak with them about your cost. There's also coupons floating around and specials etc that are run so really the price of privacy as well as any other product we sell can vary widely."

#2: Godaddy is not the one doing this. They do not warehouse domains from their auctions in any way.

I think someone is just not working with a sound business plan here, but I will need to continue to analyze to see if the buying continues or stops.

wwwweb · Mar 27, 2018

I agree, Godaddy has their plate full with their premium portfolio which is much more lucrative for them to focus on.

I think it could be one of these guys who caught domain fever, and is trying to execute some sort of business plan, as we all know it is only a matter of time before this strategy burns out on you. Especially right now some of the highest prices ever are being paid in the aftermarkets by domain investors, the smart money is almost better off to sell their internal inventory, and wait for certain economic factors such as higher interest rates, trade wars, budget issues to go the other way, and find a better re-entry point into the aftermarkets.

Recons.Com · Mar 27, 2018

Michael M said:
Whoever it is they are using Afternic landing pages with no seller name and using Whois Privacy. The whois privacy and huge spike in Afternic listings from my GD Auction sample is what made me take notice.

I agree it seems odd... That is why I have reached out to Joe and confirmed:

#1: "All customers pay for privacy but some get discounts that are open to anyone based on volume. If you have premier rep speak with them about your cost. There's also coupons floating around and specials etc that are run so really the price of privacy as well as any other product we sell can vary widely."

#2: Godaddy is not the one doing this. They do not warehouse domains from their auctions in any way.

I think someone is just not working with a sound business plan here, but I will need to continue to analyze to see if the buying continues or stops.

I personally have hard time believing that. Rich people are not stupid. Why would you be wasting money on privacy, even discounted, if you a) could register hand regs for that cost and have some chance of sales and making money; b) lose % sales that come via whois search and direct contact?

Michael M · Mar 27, 2018

Recons.Com said:
I personally have hard time believing that. Rich people are not stupid. Why would you be wasting money on privacy, even discounted, if you a) could register hand regs for that cost and have some chance of sales and making money; b) lose % sales that come via whois search and direct contact?

I have no clue who it is or why they are doing what they are doing.

I have only spot checked a couple of handfuls of whois and prices but here is the whole list for who I suspect to be this new "Afternic buyer" from my 3/2 sample if you want to look at it for yourself. There can certainly be a few domains in the list that are attributed to other buyers as I can not automate whois on Godaddy - but I suspect a vast majority of these names are the same person/company.

(226 names)

acceloro.com
actsnap.com
adblack.com
advicety.com
arborjobs.com
arenaus.com
aspirewine.com
auctionmetal.com
babyslot.com
backasset.com
backupcanada.com
balletcapital.com
bandsway.com
barkinghome.com
beautifuleast.com
bikeslang.com
bitcoingrind.com
blacknext.com
blendvideo.com
bloomsafe.com
brokerchief.com
buckdeal.com
buildingyour.com
buzzdebate.com
campcarbon.com
caymanfunding.com
caymanglobal.com
caymanlending.com
chartous.com
cheffeed.com
chickenbroker.com
cloudgarrison.com
cobrook.com
cogcafe.com
cognitionmarketing.com
cognitivecafe.com
colourdeal.com
companyroof.com
concerntech.com
connectcrop.com
cooladviser.com
dataindian.com
datumbit.com
decisionu.com
degreeam.com
demandus.com
differentglobal.com
directadvocate.com
directniche.com
donorland.com
downfund.com
downfunder.com
downfunding.com
driftorder.com
dualfamily.com
edgesnow.com
empoweredplus.com
energybasis.com
energymoon.com
everbudget.com
exoclass.com
facemanual.com
fairmob.com
fanslaw.com
fansprout.com
farmercredit.com
findcount.com
flexadviser.com
flyingglobal.com
flyoption.com
flysponsor.com
foodboarding.com
foodthumb.com
friendlybuzz.com
fundduck.com
getretreat.com
giveassets.com
glamseek.com
goproducer.com
gorillamob.com
greeklondon.com
grubgrid.com
hairprofit.com
handmadecool.com
healthford.com
healthyfever.com
healthyguards.com
heartmortgage.com
heartsoap.com
helloclose.com
helpingcloud.com
homeeo.com
housesluxury.com
hoverbux.com
hoverdoctor.com
hybridaudit.com
indiaaccount.com
innovativewarranty.com
insuranceblue.com
insurevideo.com
justretreat.com
karttop.com
kickmanager.com
kidjamaica.com
kidturkey.com
kinorder.com
lapreview.com
leadglide.com
leadingrecovery.com
leadsection.com
learnignite.com
lettervillage.com
licenseindex.com
liveshut.com
loantester.com
loanvoice.com
luxecrown.com
magazinefast.com
mainbite.com
makebird.com
maxiclone.com
medicinenear.com
meetstack.com
metricscart.com
mittcasino.com
mixtureo.com
mobilityjob.com
mortgagereal.com
musclehop.com
musclesure.com
musicchicken.com
nearconstruction.com
neatscan.com
nutribucks.com
offbeer.com
officialex.com
openlower.com
openmuscle.com
optionready.com
oursurgery.com
outdoorscorp.com
outdoweb.com
palmangel.com
partnermen.com
partnerwoman.com
peakoption.com
pharmacyscore.com
planetray.com
pocketbreak.com
portfolioglobe.com
primerrealty.com
princesstop.com
profitmomentum.com
propertyic.com
prospectspark.com
qualityflip.com
quotesense.com
railsurf.com
rallyaid.com
ratingflow.com
reachvine.com
reactplay.com
readscreen.com
rechargealert.com
referralfocus.com
replacementcompany.com
retitan.com
rewardagent.com
rideinformation.com
rideoo.com
runmenu.com
savvycreek.com
schoolcharge.com
securityplayer.com
servicenova.com
shadenews.com
shopcope.com
simplehike.com
singlemountain.com
slimmethod.com
slipbank.com
smallstudent.com
snackconnect.com
socialcaravan.com
socialdiving.com
sourcerow.com
sparkshuttle.com
specbay.com
speedygrip.com
spiritualbin.com
stoparm.com
storyfitness.com
streetsingles.com
surgerun.com
surveyjoy.com
swisslevel.com
talkbowl.com
tappotential.com
targetsoon.com
taskstaff.com
tenpulse.com
textpaint.com
thinksymbol.com
thunderson.com
tradenice.com
tripamount.com
tripfling.com
trustedbio.com
turboleague.com
turbostay.com
tutorwith.com
venturecanyon.com
vestestate.com
vicetap.com
vieware.com
virtualrest.com
wandercrowd.com
warmfarm.com
waterfanatic.com
watteye.com
westcart.com
wingend.com
womantechnology.com
woodenequipment.com
youngoption.com
yourcapsule.com

tonyk2000 · Mar 27, 2018

It is not impossible for GD to give domain privacy for free if it is a large account, simply because they have no obligation to charge for this service. At least it is more likely, GD itself imho does not need to change its role to aftermarket domain seller (hiding this under whois privacy), as they make much more $$$ in total by selling domains on expired auctions (in other words, what domainers - in total - are (over)paying now to GD - is a higher amount, and retail sales of the same domains will result lower earnings cumulatively)

creataweb · Mar 27, 2018

I doubt selling names for $50 on Afternic is going to prove profitable.

Recons.Com · Mar 28, 2018

tonyk2000 said:
It is not impossible for GD to give domain privacy for free if it is a large account, simply because they have no obligation to charge for this service. At least it is more likely, GD itself imho does not need to change its role to aftermarket domain seller (hiding this under whois privacy), as they make much more $$$ in total by selling domains on expired auctions (in other words, what domainers - in total - are (over)paying now to GD - is a higher amount, and retail sales of the same domains will result lower earnings cumulatively)

That is not the most important thing, although adds a layer to it, why would someone pay for privacy, instead of registering more names for the same money.

The issue here is the potential conflict of interest.

Please consider the scenario below, which is completely hypothetical and I am not claiming this is what is happening:

A registrar holding the auction establishes an affiliate company (AC) and puts 1MM of funds there for domain acquisition. Then that AC goes into auction and using the registrars auto appraisal tool or some other algorithm starts bidding 12 to 200 on names. It spends all 1MM bidding on 20000 names and winning 10000 of those, while for the other 10000 its participation results in bringing sale prices closer to the true limits of other participants resulting in $1MM of extra revenue for registrar. Remind you, the $1MM registrar spent funding the AC came back as well for the 10000 AC won, so registrar gets $2MM for $1MM it spent, plus 10000 names that can generate another $200,000 to $300,000 a year.

All those names are now listed at the registrars marketplace with its landing pages as well.

Until it is clarified/revealed who that third party is and that it in no way is affiliated with the registrar, I will not participate in the auctions there. I spent over 10K there just in 2018 and am putting all activity there on hold.

Michael M · Mar 29, 2018

Recons.Com said:
That is not the most important thing, although adds a layer to it, why would someone pay for privacy, instead of registering more names for the same money.

The issue here is the potential conflict of interest.

Please consider the scenario below, which is completely hypothetical and I am not claiming this is what is happening:

A registrar holding the auction establishes an affiliate company (AC) and puts 1MM of funds there for domain acquisition. Then that AC goes into auction and using the registrars auto appraisal tool or some other algorithm starts bidding 12 to 200 on names. It spends all 1MM bidding on 20000 names and winning 10000 of those, while for the other 10000 its participation results in bringing sale prices closer to the true limits of other participants resulting in $1MM of extra revenue for registrar. Remind you, the $1MM registrar spent funding the AC came back as well for the 10000 AC won, so registrar gets $2MM for $1MM it spent, plus 10000 names that can generate another $200,000 to $300,000 a year.

All those names are now listed at the registrars marketplace with its landing pages as well.

Until it is clarified/revealed who that third party is and that it in no way is affiliated with the registrar, I will not participate in the auctions there. I spent over 10K there just in 2018 and am putting all activity there on hold.

I don't see any conflict of interest or any wrong doing on Godaddy's part. Joe clearly said that Privacy is not free and that GD is not participating in the auctions in any way.

Right now all I have seen is that HD is not buying 50% of domains at GD, though they are leaving a major impression on most decent names. And that there seems to be some other buyer that has stepped in with an odd strategy. Anything else is speculation unless someone can identify the buyer. I posted a list of some names above - maybe someone can play detective and figure it out?

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

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