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HUGE DOMAINS SNIPING GODADDY CLOSEOUTS

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So annoying Godaddy hasn't stopped Huge Domains from sniping Godaddy Closeouts with their automated tools, no way a human bidder can win a even closeout.

First they were sniping with the backorders, now you cut that out, and you are letting them snipe via automated tools.

So what do you say @Joe Styler , you want to even the playing field a bit, as your partners are bidding everything in a split second, from $12, to $11, and bidding everything else into the hundreds from a simple bid. I would rather pay a Huge Domains surcharge at checkout.


Huge Domains has an unfair advantage on the auction platform, essentially taxing every user for using it with their automated access advantages given to them thru the house.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I'd be incredibly surprised if anything changes. GD only care about making money (as any business would). Its a lost cause. We need to face facts that they don't care about the small players.
 
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Ah, Bidder 913932. I just looked today to see who I was losing all my names to, and it's Bidder 913932. I'm glad to finally learn who it is. I wrote to Godaddy today with a complaint. Not so much about the automated bidding, but on sniping the $12->$11 names.

Just recently, I've lost these names to Huge Domains: EmergencyRobotics.com, unfinite.com, ciamo.com, streetphotographer.com, sexytights.com, mindfulnesshacks.com, remindio.com, ezfacelift.com, pittsburgher.com, top10trends.com, easyflorida.com, cleandoggy.com. So many more. And this list does not include the even more names that I tried to buy at $11 but was sniped.

Short term, it's making Godaddy more money. For example, today I bid on a name with no bids and auction with just seconds left. Hoping to get it for $11, I ended up having to pay $207 once Bidder 913932 saw I put a bid on it.

Long term, Godaddy is pissing of hundreds or thousands of loyal customers. I don't think it's a winning situation.

As for me, it's so frustrating, I think I'll just be hanging up my hat soon.

It does tell me one thing though: the domain market is not as healthy as some think. It's Huge Domains scooping up many or most of the names, not individual domain investors. Another good reason to perhaps step away.

Solution: I know Godaddy won't stop automated bidding through the API, but they could prohibit the sniping the $12->$11 names. That would make a lot of people happy.
Read up Joe Styler from Godaddy says this is not happening, many have stated otherwise.

It’s about profits, and bonuses, lemming customers like you don’t matter, and it takes two, or more to get those 0 bids, or 1 bids into the $xxx, as all those proxies are sitting, and waiting for a sucker to come along and play the game. Sorry, looks like you spent a good portion of your time doing the work, but everyone must pay the Huge Domains Tax on Godaddy. I would think plenty of NDA’s have been signed with Huge Domains, and Godaddy for various of scenarios.

The Huge Domains piggy back doesn’t work without bidders, and more, and more are figuring this out. Godaddy execs are ok with it, bigger bonus for them, less money in your pocket. No way Huge Domains can outsell their spends, I don’t think they are expected to make payment within 3 days like regular customers.

Godaddy has stated the closeouts can’t be gamed, clearly they are clueless like they were when their backorder loophole was being gamed by the same party.

Your right the domain market is being propped up by fake appraisals, and a bot waiting to outbid a no bid auction.
 
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Just for fun I tried a random auction that was $26, and the timer was going under 5 minutes. At this point bidder 91932 which is huge domains had no bids in that auction, I ended up outbidding the top proxy to $60, sure enough within 2 minutes bidder 91932 joined the closing party when nobody else other then me and another person were bidding on this obsecure term and placed their proxy around $150.

I can’t imagine how many small closing one or two interested party type auctions are just getting bid up automatically.

Something feels really off here, like someone giving the house an assist on every bid. It feels really off, my bid was more of an experiment to see how far reaching this is based on some wacko prices I have seen closing, and now I am starting to understand why. Bid carefully.
 
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Just for fun I tried a random auction that was $26, and the timer was going under 5 minutes. At this point bidder 91932 which is huge domains had no bids in that auction, I ended up outbidding the top proxy to $60, sure enough within 2 minutes bidder 91932 joined the closing party when nobody was bidding on this obsecure term and placed their proxy around $150.

I can’t imagine how many small closing one or two interested party type auctions are just getting bid up automatically.

Something feels really off here, like someone giving the house an assist on every bid. It feels really off, my bid was more of an experiment to see how far reaching this is based on some wacko prices I have seen closing, and now I am starting to understand why. Bid carefully.
I've had loads of names where I was the only other bidder to HD. Names I would have won for 12 bucks. I'm certain they just run bid queries through the API and auto bid on any name with a bid (as well as other criteria). This is the main thing that grates with me. I can handle a bot bidding on names they've searched for or selected but when its us doing the looking for them it's just not cricket.
 
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So in the end HD gets all the good domain and GD makes more money..
And if we place fake bids and don't pay our accounts suspended..
HD is letting us find the good domains..
...
 
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So in the end HD gets all the good domain and GD makes more money..
And if we place fake bids and don't pay our accounts suspended..
HD is letting us find the good domains..
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I don’t know their current ownership maybe around 6.5 million domains. They are really more stirring the pot, giving an assist on bids, to push prices higher. I don’t see them going after the big ticket domains, more so the 1-2 bidder type names that would sell for $11 - 100 type domains, and pushing those bidders into the higher hundreds for mediocre kinda so so names.

Along with their ability to snipe closeouts within milliseconds of them opening, they pretty much set the trend, and price on godaddy auctions. The site needs lemmings to feed the eco system. Seems like more, and more domainers are seeing the trend in their research, and seeing their one off bids being bid into the hundreds for no reason other than one automated bidder who seems to set the tone on the site.

I guess they could also be using bid patterns to gamble on others research, and snipe their bids.
 
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Just for fun I tried a random auction that was $26, and the timer was going under 5 minutes. At this point bidder 91932 which is huge domains had no bids in that auction, I ended up outbidding the top proxy to $60, sure enough within 2 minutes bidder 91932 joined the closing party when nobody else other then me and another person were bidding on this obsecure term and placed their proxy around $150.

I can't see the bidder numbers until after the auction is over. You can see them while auction is still going? I only see Bidder #1, Bidder #2, etc.
 
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I can't see the bidder numbers until after the auction is over. You can see them while auction is still going? I only see Bidder #1, Bidder #2, etc.
No, everyone has it the same way, after the auction ends all is revealed when it comes to bidder 91932 etc...

Their pattern is pretty constant they come in under 5 minutes, and place a proxy by a large factor that a bidder has to keep chipping away at, and finally break, at which point they will not rebid, and then they have to pay up, otherwise huge names gets it cheap, or you have to break their proxy, and pay up. Great for Godaddy to have a working partner who helps themselves, and the house at the same time.
 
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How do they achieve that?
I have no technical knowledge I know nothing about API access.
Could someone from within GD like a programmer/engineer help them achieve this? I mean they are a big company with big interest into this. Its screwing over everyone on earth lol wtf!
Thats so cheap.
 
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How do they achieve that?
I have no technical knowledge I know nothing about API access.
Could someone from within GD like a programmer/engineer help them achieve this? I mean they are a big company with big interest into this. Its screwing over everyone on earth lol wtf!
Thats so cheap.
The largest domain owner is making sure nobody is cheap aftermarket prices to compete with their 6 plus million strong storefront, and Godaddy is making many multiples more with Bidder 91932 throwing an assist on every 1 or 2 bid domain, as they are putting 3 figure proxies on them, and forcing people to pay up, or abandon the domain to Bidder 91932.

Two winners, the rest are the losers as the deck is stacked against them.
 
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GD claims that the API is open to almost anyone. What I don't understand then is why every name that goes into closeout and doesn't emerge out again ends up with HD?

Shouldn't there be someone else doing this and beating HD at least now and then?
 
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GD claims that the API is open to almost anyone. What I don't understand then is why every name that goes into closeout and doesn't emerge out again ends up with HD?

Shouldn't there be someone else doing this and beating HD at least now and then?
It’s godaddy rewarding huge domains for their assist on every poor sap that bids on a lesser level name, and ends up paying $300 for a $50 name. It’s quite obvious they know no human bidder can beat their API, but they can’t tick off their biggest platform partner. They will spoon feed you the same bs, equal playing field blah blah, we love all our customers the same etc... Just corporate sugar coating, enough domain pros have noticed the fix is in, as was with the backorder loophole, and it’s funny how a few lines of code took a month to fix, once it was exposed.
 
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It’s godaddy rewarding huge domains for their assist on every poor sap that bids on a lesser level name, and ends up paying $300 for a $50 name. It’s quite obvious they know no human bidder can beat their API, but they can’t tick off their biggest platform partner. They will spoon feed you the same bs, equal playing field blah blah, we love all our customers the same etc... Just corporate sugar coating, enough domain pros have noticed the fix is in, as was with the backorder loophole, and it’s funny how a few lines of code took a month to fix, once it was exposed.
I asked what the maximum queries rate was when they said there was a limit but didn't receive a reply. If its anything less than once a second it's pointless. As for the level playing field quote that's just absurd. That's like saying I have a level playing field with the ufc if I want to start an mma organisation.
 
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I asked what the maximum queries rate was when they said there was a limit but didn't receive a reply. If its anything less than once a second it's pointless. As for the level playing field quote that's just absurd. That's like saying I have a level playing field with the ufc if I want to start an mma organisation.
I am not sure why they can't be more fair to all their clients, obviously no bidder can beat a computer when it comes to out clicking them.
 
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It’s godaddy rewarding huge domains for their assist on every poor sap that bids on a lesser level name, and ends up paying $300 for a $50 name. It’s quite obvious they know no human bidder can beat their API, but they can’t tick off their biggest platform partner. They will spoon feed you the same bs, equal playing field blah blah, we love all our customers the same etc... Just corporate sugar coating, enough domain pros have noticed the fix is in, as was with the backorder loophole, and it’s funny how a few lines of code took a month to fix, once it was exposed.

You are again comparing humans to api. My point is a bit different. Many players are supposed to have that api, why HD seems to be the winner almost every time?
 
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Maybe they have more computers/connections sending the API a query at whatever the limit is, similar to how the big players in the dropcatching world operate.
 
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So if the limit is once a second and they have 200 stations with 200 different ip's they can query availability 200 times a second instead of once. Just a theory.
 
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So if the limit is once a second and they have 200 stations with 200 different ip's they can query availability 200 times a second instead of once. Just a theory.

But Joe Styler in this thread already stated that the limitation is not per ip/station etc, but per account. He specifically pointed out that it is designed to be different from the drop catch.
 
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You are again comparing humans to api. My point is a bit different. Many players are supposed to have that api, why HD seems to be the winner almost every time?
I think we are simply not noticing other players as they are probably going for better quality domains, or not buying in the same volume when it comes to closeouts. Who is the comparison player to Huge Names?

I believe I have seen Level2, and another company called WebContents who maybe using API access.
 
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But Joe Styler in this thread already stated that the limitation is not per ip/station etc, but per account. He specifically pointed out that it is designed to be different from the drop catch.
You're correct, I forgot about that. It would still be interesting to know what the query limit is.
 
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Who are the people placing $10 bid on auctions that is supposed to be $12 starting bid? How is this done?
 
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Who are the people placing $10 bid on auctions that is supposed to be $12 starting bid? How is this done?

Those are backorders. If a backorder was placed on a name, it starts with $10
 
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Those are backorders. If a backorder was placed on a name, it starts with $10
how do I place a backorder? where on Godaddy is that available?
 
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