Are Dynadot Employees Bidding on Backordered Domains, Or Is There a System Glitch?

[Neophyte]

On Memorial Day, I backordered tonma.com at Dynadot. When Dynadot caught it, I was informed that I was the only bidder, yet the name still went to auction. My understanding of an auction is that there must be at least 2 bidders to participate. Two weeks ago, I lost an adult domain at Dynadot under similar circumstances: Dynadot caught the domain and reported to me that I was the sole bidder. That status did not change until right before the close of the auction, when a phantom bidder showed up, outbid me, and I lost the name. I had no proof of anything shady going on at Dynadot, so I left it alone.

When tonma.com went to "auction," I was prepared. Here are screenshots over the course of the suction...um...auction:

Exhibit A: May 29. Notice the bid history. There is only 1 bidder (me).

Exhibit B: June 1. To save time and space, I did not post the screenshots from the 29th and 30th, but they say the same thing. Here is the one from this morning, hours before the close of the auction: Notice the active bidders column:

Shortly before the auction ended, the phantom bidder showed up, outbid me, and I lost the domain. Here is the email I received from Dynadot:

Expired Domain Auction for tonma.com Just Ended

Dynadot Accounts <[email protected]>
2:59 PM (2 hours ago)

to me

Dear THIS DOMAIN NAME IS FOR SALE,

You placed the second highest bid in the Expired Domain Auction for tonma.com. We would like to let you know that if the winning bidder does not submit their payment for the auction in a timely manner, you may have a chance to purchase the domain for your bid price. If that happens, you will receive another email from us in about 2 days.

Best Regards,
Dynadot Support Team
(account simplyadorable)

I just got off the phone with a Dynadot rep and he is adamant about there being another bidder who bid at the last minute. I want to know where is this other bidder? Looking at the evidence it APPEARS that either they have a serious glitch in their system OR they have an insider bidding on the backordered domains. In either case, I have been cheated out of 2 domains from Dynadot, and they need to place them in my account as they are rightfully mine. What are your thoughts about this?

 

[carob]

Two weeks ago, I lost an adult domain at Dynadot under similar circumstances: Dynadot caught the domain and reported to me that I was the sole bidder. That status did not change until right before the close of the auction, when a phantom bidder showed up, outbid me, and I lost the name.

Did the new Whois for the lost domain reveal anything?

Maybe @Dynadot would like to explain if you can see all the bidders at the start of a backorder auction - we need to know how it works.

 

[Neophyte]

It says that the new owner is in Texas and the tonma "winner" is in China.

 

[Neophyte]

From Dynadot.com Service Agreement:

Commencement of Auctions. In the event that Dynadot obtains registration rights for the selected domain name, and there is more than one Back-Order for the same domain name, You understand and agree that an auction will commence immediately after Dynadot has obtained the registration rights for the domain name. You understand and agree that the auction will be Private ("Private Auction"). You also understand and agree that participation for these Private Auctions is limited to those who have submitted Back-Orders for the selected domain name ahead of time. You understand and agree that if you do not submit a Domain Back-Order ahead of time, You forfeit Your right to participate in any Private Auction held for the selected domain name. You acknowledge and agree that Dynadot shall have no liability to You for failing to submit a Domain Back-Order prior to the release of the selected domain name.

 

[cdboard]

sounds like a case of auction sniping.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction_sniping

 

[golan]

Wow, that really sucks. Waiting for DD rep to come here to the thread and explain.

sounds like a case of auction sniping.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction_sniping

Ya but sniping is something else. I do sniping a lot on DD auctions. But in order to snipe ever have a place, there need to be at least two bidders. Like on the screenshot above, in the lower row auction you see "1 other" - that means that other guy can snipe in the last seconds. But in the upper row, one that the OP is talking about, there is "just you", that means no more bidders, - so who sniped? That's the question.

 

[golan]

But reading that other thread https://www.namepros.com/threads/dynadot-dropcatching-problem.941585/ , now i wonder how the domain could go to an auction with only one bidder, in the first place?

 

[HDmarketing]

Hello,
"Just you" does not mean you are the only one who backordered the domain. If that was the case, it would go directly to your account.

Here is what happens in case there are multiple backorders for a name caught by dynadot :
- The one who backordered first gets first bidder status with minimum bid. His panel reads "just you"
- The ones who backordered later in time are told that the names goes to auction and they are not first bidder. Their panel reads "1 other"

Now several things may happen :
- Nobody else bid and first bidder wins the auction.
- Somebody else bids anytime within the three days, then first bidder's panel now reads "1 other".
- Nobody bids during the 3 days, but at the very last seconds, one lurking bidder bids and snaps the auction...

This is what happened to you !

Remember "just you" doesn't mean you were the only one who backordered the name, it just means you were the first to place the backorder, thus you have first bidder status. There may be one or one hundred lurking bidders.

Several times, I had the "just you" status for 3 days and during the last minutes, 6 or so bidders appeared and send the auction to $xxx for nice pattern .org.

 

[carob]

Hello,
"Just you" does not mean you are the only one who backordered the domain. If that was the case, it would go directly to your account.

The few times I ordered something there it went straight to my account. But I've used another platform that is like this - first to backorder shows as highest bidder without having made a bid. But it would help if Dynadot showed how many potential bidders there are when the auction starts. In my experience their support and willingness to explain or accommodate is not good - not customer focused.

 

[carob]

unintentional duplicate post.

 

[Neophyte]

Hello,
"Just you" does not mean you are the only one who backordered the domain. If that was the case, it would go directly to your account.

Here is what happens in case there are multiple backorders for a name caught by dynadot :
- The one who backordered first gets first bidder status with minimum bid. His panel reads "just you"
- The ones who backordered later in time are told that the names goes to auction and they are not first bidder. Their panel reads "1 other"

Now several things may happen :
- Nobody else bid and first bidder wins the auction.
- Somebody else bids anytime within the three days, then first bidder's panel now reads "1 other".
- Nobody bids during the 3 days, but at the very last seconds, one lurking bidder bids and snaps the auction...

This is what happened to you !

Remember "just you" doesn't mean you were the only one who backordered the name, it just means you were the first to place the backorder, thus you have first bidder status. There may be one or one hundred lurking bidders.

Several times, I had the "just you" status for 3 days and during the last minutes, 6 or so bidders appeared and send the auction to $xxx for nice pattern .org.

"There may be one or one hundred lurking bidders."

This is the part that disturbs me about Dynadot's auctions. Who's to say that the "lurking bidders" aren't people who work for Dynadot? Assuming that what you are saying is true, Dynadot needs to stop this practice and be more transparent and reveal the TOTAL number of bidders when the domain is caught. If Dynadot catches a domain for me and tells me through my panel that I am the only bidder, then sends it to auction and a lurking bidder bids and wins the domain, then Dynadot lied to me. They said I was the only bidder when that was not the truth.

 

[cdboard]

Several times, I had the "just you" status for 3 days and during the last minutes, 6 or so bidders appeared and send the auction to $xxx for nice pattern .org.

did the auction end "on time"? or was it extended when someone bid with little time left?

I had one backorder go to auction. I was the only bidder for a day or so, then someone else bid. I bid again and won the auction, but there were no bids during the last few hours. so I don't know if they extend the auction close.

 

[HDmarketing]

@cdboard

did the auction end "on time"? or was it extended when someone bid with little time left?

Dynadot's auctions are not extend when someone bids at last seconds. This is not the common practice.
Namejet, flippa, GoDaddy and a lot of the others auction platform add additional time to prevent snapping. But Dynadot chose to end the auctions exactly three days after start.

That is great for snappers

There are only two ways to avoid snapping in this case:
1) You monitor the auction at end time and refresh constantly during the last minute.
2) You don't/can't monitor, so you put your max bid as a proxy bid. In this case, if you lose the domain, you don't have hard feelings because you did your best.

@nohbdyduzitbett

"There may be one or one hundred lurking bidders."

This is the part that disturbs me about Dynadot's auctions. Who's to say that the "lurking bidders" aren't people who work for Dynadot? Assuming that what you are saying is true, Dynadot needs to stop this practice and be more transparent and reveal the TOTAL number of bidders when the domain is caught. If Dynadot catches a domain for me and tells me through my panel that I am the only bidder, then sends it to auction and a lurking bidder bids and wins the domain, then Dynadot lied to me. They said I was the only bidder when that was not the truth.

Well, I can understand their point of view, in fact, the other backorderers have been beaten by you in the sense that you came first. You have the same bid as them, so the only reason you are winning is that you came first. Maybe they could add a feature like "number of backorderers". Put I guess this may be part of their strategy to force you to put in your max bid as a proxy bid. Not knowing how many lurkers there is...

Pool.com is also a bit unclear : you can be the only bidder, but there is a link hidden in a corner of the auction panel where you can see the total number of backorderers, and there may be many. If you don't look for this link, you may think you are the only one...

They said I was the only bidder when that was not the truth.

Well, it's true it CAN be misleading. They should rephrase it "You are the only ACTIVE bidder"... I think it's their right to keep the number of bidders hidden. I find it quite exciting myself, especially when I'm in the snapping position...

 

[golan]

- The one who backordered first gets first bidder status with minimum bid. His panel reads "just you"

Wow. Thanks for the explanation. Good to know.

 

[Neophyte]

I just received a reply from Dynadot support:

Hello,

We are sorry to hear that you were outbid on both domains, however that is what happened.

We do not give out client information, nor can we place the domains in your account as they were bid during the bidding hours and the current registrant is the rightful owner.

We can understand your frustration however there is nothing magical. Specifically referring to tonma.com, a domain only goes to auction if there was more than one backorder placed. We do not display on our site how many backorders are received for one domain. While all customers who placed a backorder are invited to participate in the auction, not all do.

In this case, as the Dynadot agent confirmed, a bid came in at the last moment. That is a common tactic in our auctions as the bid time is not extended when a bid comes in in the final moments.

Please be advised that Dynadot does not keep a portfolio:
https://www.dynadot.com/community/help/question/dynadot-domain-portfolio

As for the email you received from Dynadot. It is simply advising you that you were the second highest bidder and if the winning bidder does not may payment on time, you would then be given a chance. Again nothing magical here. Just us informing you.

Best Regards,
Sam Rodriguez
***********************************
Dynadot Support Team

 

[tvanrijt]

Exhibit A: May 29. Notice the bid history. There is only 1 bidder (me).

Show attachment 31898

You should really catch up on your emails.

What I dislike, is that a dropcatch auction is open to anyone, so let's say 2 people backorder something at DropCatch.com and it gets caught, the auction is for anyone at DropCatch, not just the 2.

Here, I think it is unfortunate. Reading all replies I think their wording is not very clear (the "Just you" part especially), but it indeed looks like you were not the only one backordering.

 

[Neophyte]

Hello,

We are sorry to hear that you were outbid on both domains, however that is what happened.

We do not give out client information, nor can we place the domains in your account as they were bid during the bidding hours and the current registrant is the rightful owner.

We can understand your frustration however there is nothing magical. Specifically referring to tonma.com, a domain only goes to auction if there was more than one backorder placed. We do not display on our site how many backorders are received for one domain. While all customers who placed a backorder are invited to participate in the auction, not all do.

In this case, as the Dynadot agent confirmed, a bid came in at the last moment. That is a common tactic in our auctions as the bid time is not extended when a bid comes in in the final moments.

Please be advised that Dynadot does not keep a portfolio:
https://www.dynadot.com/community/help/question/dynadot-domain-portfolio

As for the email you received from Dynadot. It is simply advising you that you were the second highest bidder and if the winning bidder does not may payment on time, you would then be given a chance. Again nothing magical here. Just us informing you.

Best Regards,
Sam Rodriguez
***********************************
Dynadot Support Team


My response to this would be for Dynadot to reveal the number of bidders should a domain go to auction. That, to me, is not giving out client information. Don't mislead your customers. Don't make it APPEAR that a client is the only bidder when he/she is really not. Make sure customers know up front that there may be "lurking bidders" who may bid at the last moment. Sometimes, perception is everything, and Dynadot's current practice gives the perception of dishonesty.

 

[cdboard]

odd happening yesterday.

I had a domain backorderd at dynadot. the name dropped, and my control panel said my backorder failed.

I have had this happen before, when another company snaps up the domain. so, I went to whois to see what company grabbed it.

it's now registered at dynadot, with a 2 June regg date.

I sent dynadot an email to see what happened.

 

[Domain Lead Finder]

I had the same trouble with domains ending up in auction even though I was the only bidder, and later on nobody bid on this domain, and I got it like 3 days later. It must have happened like 10 times just at dynadot alone. But I never lost the domain name just got a 3 day delay in delivery. Its very strange.

 

[imadoer]

I sniped u I have the name sorry it happens to me all the time