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So it seems that starting Friday, we will be able to see a GoDaddy Auction User ID for the other bidders in auctions we participated in. Note that the IDs will only be visible after the auction ends.
The main reason for this is in case you suspect people breaking the rules or cheating .. or more importantly .. notice a pattern of suspicious activity on many of the auctions you participate in, and want to see if it's all by the same person or not. The timing of this isn't really a coincidence as it's just a couple of weeks after GoDaddy fired an employee for participating in the aftermarket.
Full disclosure in that I gave @Paul Nicks some feedback in an email, as in all fairness, GoDaddy seemed like they really wanted to do something (I never dreamed it would be this fast though .. although I'm hoping for a few more changes). I do not know if there are further changes planned or not, or if this was just a quick first step while being open to more substantial longer-term changes? Maybe he and @Joe Styler can add some more information below.
One of the suggestions I made that I'm glad to see made it into the change is to have the Auction ID's be sequential (rather than random). I think knowing if an account is new or not really can say a lot. This was my suggestion:
"- Something to keep in mind, would be to have the IDs be chronological based on original auction membership. For some people, it's important to know if the bidder against them is a new account or not. I'm thinking this would be automatically incremental going forward, however, it's something you'd need to sort for all current members [based on when they joined]."
Obviously I know a lot of people want ID's visible during auctions .. and while I do certainly think some of the reasons for that are most certainly justified, and that for those who really want it should continue to push for it .. at the same time I think this quick change should be judged based on the quick step that it is on it's own. Meaning, are you happy with this step regardless if you want more to come or not?
I do understand that while some people want full transparency .. there are also people who want their privacy .. and that in the end there is no magic solution that everyone will be happy with. Although I'm generally of the opinion that more transparency is usually for the best when it comes to auctions (I think here at NamePros there are more people who want it than not) .. although to be honest, aside from the domain world, I've never really been involved in any auctions, and as most of you know, I'm a bargain hunter when it comes to domains, so I doubt there will really be much change for me aside from the fact that I'm happy this will be a helpful new tool for those of you who do take the time to scrutinise auction platforms for fraud.
I always tell myself I need to check the whois info of the domains I lose .. but who has the time for that? lol .. So in that way, this might help me a bit to notice patterns for the few auctions I do participate in .. but I'm not sure if that will change anything for me. I'm a realist in knowing that almost for sure there is some unpreventable fraud going on all the auction platforms .. but that at the same time it's likely nowhere near as bad as some people claim it is. It's just an unfortunate fact.
I think this is a good first step, as I know there are some of you out there who are indeed quite good at figuring out patterns .. and I'm sure you'll find some things with this new info .. just as I'm also sure that the information will also show that a lot of the conspiracy theories going around are unfounded.
I don't think we'll get much surprises out of the changes. I'm sure within a week or two some of the sleuths here will be able to figure out just how many secondary "big players" are participating in a lot of auction that they aren't winning (probably out bid by HugeDomains .. lol).
I'm equally sure there will be some who take info out of context and spawn whole new conspiracy theories .. lol
But at the end of the day .. to me .. a domain is worth what it's worth .. what other people bid doesn't really affect me aside from the actual fact if I get it below my price threshold or I let it go .. although I'm glad overall for the change if this helps make things more secure and weeds out a bit of the fraud .. although I don't think there's anything that could be done to get rid of it all 100%.
Here's an article that talks about it ...
https://domaininvesting.com/godaddy-to-introduce-bidder-ids-to-auctions/
The main reason for this is in case you suspect people breaking the rules or cheating .. or more importantly .. notice a pattern of suspicious activity on many of the auctions you participate in, and want to see if it's all by the same person or not. The timing of this isn't really a coincidence as it's just a couple of weeks after GoDaddy fired an employee for participating in the aftermarket.
Full disclosure in that I gave @Paul Nicks some feedback in an email, as in all fairness, GoDaddy seemed like they really wanted to do something (I never dreamed it would be this fast though .. although I'm hoping for a few more changes). I do not know if there are further changes planned or not, or if this was just a quick first step while being open to more substantial longer-term changes? Maybe he and @Joe Styler can add some more information below.
One of the suggestions I made that I'm glad to see made it into the change is to have the Auction ID's be sequential (rather than random). I think knowing if an account is new or not really can say a lot. This was my suggestion:
"- Something to keep in mind, would be to have the IDs be chronological based on original auction membership. For some people, it's important to know if the bidder against them is a new account or not. I'm thinking this would be automatically incremental going forward, however, it's something you'd need to sort for all current members [based on when they joined]."
Obviously I know a lot of people want ID's visible during auctions .. and while I do certainly think some of the reasons for that are most certainly justified, and that for those who really want it should continue to push for it .. at the same time I think this quick change should be judged based on the quick step that it is on it's own. Meaning, are you happy with this step regardless if you want more to come or not?
I do understand that while some people want full transparency .. there are also people who want their privacy .. and that in the end there is no magic solution that everyone will be happy with. Although I'm generally of the opinion that more transparency is usually for the best when it comes to auctions (I think here at NamePros there are more people who want it than not) .. although to be honest, aside from the domain world, I've never really been involved in any auctions, and as most of you know, I'm a bargain hunter when it comes to domains, so I doubt there will really be much change for me aside from the fact that I'm happy this will be a helpful new tool for those of you who do take the time to scrutinise auction platforms for fraud.
I always tell myself I need to check the whois info of the domains I lose .. but who has the time for that? lol .. So in that way, this might help me a bit to notice patterns for the few auctions I do participate in .. but I'm not sure if that will change anything for me. I'm a realist in knowing that almost for sure there is some unpreventable fraud going on all the auction platforms .. but that at the same time it's likely nowhere near as bad as some people claim it is. It's just an unfortunate fact.
I think this is a good first step, as I know there are some of you out there who are indeed quite good at figuring out patterns .. and I'm sure you'll find some things with this new info .. just as I'm also sure that the information will also show that a lot of the conspiracy theories going around are unfounded.
I don't think we'll get much surprises out of the changes. I'm sure within a week or two some of the sleuths here will be able to figure out just how many secondary "big players" are participating in a lot of auction that they aren't winning (probably out bid by HugeDomains .. lol).
I'm equally sure there will be some who take info out of context and spawn whole new conspiracy theories .. lol
But at the end of the day .. to me .. a domain is worth what it's worth .. what other people bid doesn't really affect me aside from the actual fact if I get it below my price threshold or I let it go .. although I'm glad overall for the change if this helps make things more secure and weeds out a bit of the fraud .. although I don't think there's anything that could be done to get rid of it all 100%.
Here's an article that talks about it ...
https://domaininvesting.com/godaddy-to-introduce-bidder-ids-to-auctions/
