discuss Do you trust the major auction websites?

[equity78]

Simple question, place your vote and feel free to leave a comment expanding on your vote if you like.

There have been many bidding scandals, GoDaddy’s refusal to show bidder id’s etc…

Do you trust GoDaddy Auctions, NameJet, Snapnames and DropCatch when it comes to platform integrity, fraud detection systems in place, etc…?

Please note this vote should only be based on auctions, not registrar or other services included.

 

[Joe Styler]

Care to share names ? You mean audit companies like EY and the sort ?


Seriously ? So you are the only venue that wants to hide the action and doesn't want a bidding war among users ? Interesting.
But then you should get rid of this too:

Show attachment 96317

I haven't personally been involved in the audits for a while thankfully, because it is a lot of time so I am not sure who is auditing us now. I do know we are because the guy who gets to be part of it now in my place sits two desks away and I know when he's involved in them. He's training our European Aftermarket team right now and it's night there so I can't just yell over to him for the answer. I can tell you it is big name auditors, like Deloitte for instance. If you want names you can ask the investor relations group, they should be able to give you the most up to date info. GDDY.com is the site for that. You can also see our financials and questions from analysts etc there. We do get asked Aftermarket related questions each quarter on the earnings calls if you are interested. It is important to note, these are regular normal outside checks, we are not being audited for any wrong doing of any kind to the best of my knowledge, just normal everyday stuff.

 

[.X.]

I am surprised how many have issues with auction sites. It is concerning, but also good to see at least some of the auction sites involved on NPs and responding to concerns. I wonder if people have similar concerns with general purpose domain sites like eBay when the auction does not involve domain names, or is it something unique about domain names?

For those on Twitter, I see that right now @Darryl Lopes is auctioning a 4 letter .com domain on Twitter. As far as I know this is first time this has been tried (if not, can you let me know, as I was thinking of a future blog post on the topic after the auction is over)? For those who have issues with the traditional auction sites, it does offer a different alternative that you control yourself. Obviously there are potential issues which I am sure Darryl has thought about, but it is a creative new way, and one where in a way transparency is obvious (as long as no brand new Twitter accounts are allowed to bid).

I think that is a very productive way to auction, and almost full transparency as well, I hope Twitter lets the auction happen

 

[equity78]

I think that is a very productive way to auction, and almost full transparency as well, I hope Twitter lets the auction happen

Twitter doesn't care, we tried this a couple years ago, some were afraid of shill bidding buy an egg account or relatively new account that used no real verifiable name. No way to guarantee payment.

 

[.X.]

Twitter doesn't care, we tried this a couple years ago, some were afraid of shill bidding buy an egg account or relatively new account that used no real verifiable name. No way to guarantee payment.

, ah jeez, really!! I am just wondering how we can know that when participating in an auction, nothing crooked is going on, after reading through this complete thread, and some older threads pertaining to shill bidding and ect, I am very concerned, I like to partipate in auctions, and win of course, but win or lose doesn’t matter, if the auction is 100% fair, keep talking EQ, I am learning a lot from your posts.

 

[Name Trader]

That was the exact point I was making. Everyone knows the handles and knows who is bidding against them. We prefer the domain to stand on it's own, not be influenced by which domain investor is bidding on the domain. "Oh it's Frank, he's a really smart guy. It must be a good name. I'm going to bid." And of course various other scenarios. Our choice has been and currently is to let the domain stand or fall on it's own merit.

I'm sure if you put this to a shareholder vote. They would vote for bidder handles

 

[.X.]

I'm sure if you put this to a shareholder vote. They would vote for bidder handles

Agreed, no doubt about it.

 

[anantj]

I'm going to bid.

And the problem with that is? When you have no problems with inflated bids on domains not worth the price, with special access to certain users who automatically bid on domains that receive say one bid (and some other criteria that has been suspected/discussed on other thread), non-delivery of domains and several other problems with GD Auctions that have again been listed and discussed across multiple threads, a rationale like "let the domain stand or fall on it's own merit." is just hollow words and an empty statement at best.

Your statement definitely does not inspire confidence and more importantly trust in GD auctions.

 

[anantj]

That was the exact point I was making. Everyone knows the handles and knows who is bidding against them.

I'd also like to add that this works in reverse as well - If I see a big name bidder or a handle know to have deep pockets (Even without necessarily knowing who's really behind that handle), I back out from the auction because I'm fairly confident that the auction will go out of my budget (and that's what usually happens). Almost always, I stop participating in CVCV.com domain auctions caught by one of the dropcatchers when I see Frank, Rick or some of the other known big spenders (this is just an example).

 

[Joe Styler]

Right which is my point. Knowing the bidder influences your bidding. Our Philosophy is the domain should stand on it's own and not be influenced by who is bidding on it. We can keep going in circles here but I have explained why we do what we do which is all I am here to do. I am not trying to convince you otherwise if you don't agree with our philosophy that is fine but at least you can see why we choose to do what we do.

 

[OmarVG]

Our Philosophy is the domain should stand on it's own and not be influenced by who is bidding on it.

Exactly, the domain should sell for the name itself not by who is bidding for the name. GoDaddy is the best, and Namejet sucks because their fake bidders only make fake bids to créate fake interest in the auction, thats why namejet are the best SHILL BIDDING auction platform LOL

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Twitter doesn't care, we tried this a couple years ago, some were afraid of shill bidding buy an egg account or relatively new account that used no real verifiable name. No way to guarantee payment.

So you tried it in an actual auction? Was it successful? How many bids were there?

I do agree if I was auctioning I would disqualify accounts newer than some date or with less than x followers or probably without website link.

This first one by Darryl seemed to go smoothly (saw a thanks from buyer, name already transferred) and more are planned.

 

[equity78]

So you tried it in an actual auction? Was it successful? How many bids were there?

I do agree if I was auctioning I would disqualify accounts newer than some date or with less than x followers or probably without website link.

This first one by Darryl seemed to go smoothly (saw a thanks from buyer, name already transferred) and more are planned.

There was too much squabbling, I thought it would be cool but then people were like I don't want bids from any account I don't know the bidder. So it went nowhere, now I have seen that someone could say went smoothly but it was like one bidder then someone else bid $10 more and it was over no other bids after the first two bids.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

There was too much squabbling, I thought it would be cool but then people were like I don't want bids from any account I don't know the bidder. So it went nowhere, now I have seen that someone could say went smoothly but it was like one bidder then someone else bid $10 more and it was over no other bids after the first two bids.

Thanks for info re your effort with Twitter auction @equity78 .

For those not on Twitter, this week's auction by Darryl as I read the stream had 12 bids by 8 different people with $121 final price (started $50). I hope I have that info right; tagging @Darryl Lopes in case I do not. I recognized a number of bidders as also NPs active people and all bidders seemed legitimate.

As long as Twitter TOS don't object I can see this working and potentially way to reach Twitter active potential purchasers outside domain community. I was as uninvolved outsider impressed how smooth it seemed. Clearly would be most effective for those with huge Twitter followings.

 

[Joe Styler]

I think it is great to see people trying new things in the space.

 

[Coinking]

Godaddy phone support is great, last week i have a issue with my card and they solved instantly.

 

[ResoluteDomains]

Godaddy phone support is great, last week i have a issue with my card and they solved instantly.

I wish they'd go back to offering email support too. Too many times I simply cant get on the phone, cant get to the phone, too noisy to use the phone - I just want to fire off a quick email and I'll wait for a reply. 9 out of 10 times I can wait 4-5 hours or longer for a reply. If I cant then I make it a point to use the chat but even that I cant get to a lot of times. I used to love to ask a question in the morning and I would see a reply when I got back in, in the evening.

 

[ecalc]

hot tip of the day for the bid validation internal audit group at a major auction house ...
amazoncars dot xyz - 17 bids - current bid $33,510 USD - time left 4D 9H

 

[forge]

hot tip of the day for the bid validation internal audit group at a major auction house ...
amazoncars dot xyz - 17 bids - current bid $33,510 USD - time left 4D 9H

Oh, wow. That's just really, really bad.

 

[anantj]

hot tip of the day for the bid validation internal audit group at a major auction house ...
amazoncars dot xyz - 17 bids - current bid $33,510 USD - time left 4D 9H

Oh, wow. That's just really, really bad.

Godaddy is the marketplace!

 

[forge]

Right, and I think that 6666666.com auction stinks to high heaven too.

 

[.X.]

Right, and I think that 6666666.com auction stinks to high heaven too.

Yep, I agree, but it won’t be going to high heaven, evil ass number .com

 

[Name Trader]

These examples are bound to occur. I don't know why What is the correct percentage of these kind of auctions happening? Not big. I think GoDaddy, on the whole, do a reasonably good job at preventing these kind of auctions from happening. Particularly where payment is never made.

 

[.X.]

These examples are bound to occur. I don't know why What is the correct percentage of these kind of auctions happening? Not big. I think GoDaddy, on the whole, do a reasonably good job at preventing these kind of auctions from happening. Particularly where payment is never made.

I agree, I don’t think there is any intent on Godaddy end, I think it is misfortune, many times circumstances behind control.