Domainers Dropping Domains Like Crazy at TDNAM

[Seabass]

I have been putting together domain lists of domains I want from TDNAM since late 2005. What I am seeing now is that about half +/- of the domains I am interested in and have put into my "watch" list are being dropped by domainers.

Most of the domainers dropping them have less than 1,000 domains - stats courtesy of stats provided by DomainTools.

TDNAM is turning into a scrap yard for domains no domainer wants. Many of the domains sound nice, but upon further inspection they are trash. Also, regular owners are not letting good domains drop much anymore. They should now call it "The Domain Scrapyard Aftermarket".

 

[Ross]

I have been putting together domain lists of domains I want from TDNAM since late 2005. What I am seeing now is that about half +/- of the domains I am interested in and have put into my "watch" list are being dropped by domainers.

Most of the domainers dropping them have less than 1,000 domains - stats courtesy of stats provided by DomainTools.

TDNAM is turning into a scrap yard for domains no domainer wants. Many of the domains sound nice, but upon further inspection they are trash. Also, regular owners are not letting good domains drop much anymore. They should now call it "The Domain Scrapyard Aftermarket".

Most GOOD QUALITY domains that are being dropped get picked up by places like snapnames and pool or tasters. So its not uncommon these days to find NOTHING at all on TDNAM.

Also a sidenote, DomainTools stats thing is incorrect most of the time. It says that i only own a couple domains which is far from the truth.

 

[Slick Domains]

Most GOOD QUALITY domains that are being dropped get picked up by places like snapnames and pool or tasters. So its not uncommon these days to find NOTHING at all on TDNAM.

TDNAM gets all of GoDaddy's drops and GoDaddy is the most popular registrar. I've been picking up names on GoDaddy that I've been flipping for 3-4 figures. There is no way Snapnames, Pool, etc. would have passed on them.

Its not the best, and definitely not the most user friendly, but I wouldn't overlook TDNAM when backordering domains.

As for the original poster, I think that is a good general assessment. Once domaining gets more mainstream, very few "gems" will ever expire and the registry is picked pretty clean (though I still reg at least 5 names a week).

The future will be a lot of purchasing names from others and watching them appreciate while sitting in your portfolio. There will always be names that drop, but competition for those names goes up each day and the number of them goes down each day it seems!

 

[Ross]

Its not the best, and definitely not the most user friendly, but I wouldn't overlook TDNAM when backordering domains.

As for the original poster, I think that is a good general assessment. Once domaining gets more mainstream, very few "gems" will ever expire and the registry is picked pretty clean (though I still reg at least 5 names a week).

The future will be a lot of purchasing names from others and watching them appreciate while sitting in your portfolio. There will always be names that drop, but competition for those names goes up each day and the number of them goes down each day it seems!

Im not saying there are not good drops on TDNAM im just saying that its not uncommon to find anything worth on TDNAM these day. I browse through TDNAM prolly every 2 days(dont have tons of time to look through lists of names sometimes) and i find some that worth every once and a while. Though i am a pretty picky domainer when it comes to the aftermarket. I dont usually pick up a domain to flip unless i know for a fact i can turn a profit or atleast get my money back.

 

[Slick Domains]

No problem. Was just pointing out that SnapNames, Pool, and NameJet don't have access to GoDaddy domains (unless of course noone grabs them at TDNAM).

 

[gazzip]

Looking at how many domains are registered at GoDaddy it's no surpise so many are dropping now at TDNam. GoDaddy is probably the most popular registrar for Domainers.

The more news there is about BIG SALES the more newbies (like myself) will get carried away a reg a load of them. I cringe when I see how many domains some of the newer domainers own.

Its very easy to find good generic domains to develop or names that are brandable but its very hard to find domains that always pay for themselves or make a profit by way of natural traffic. Yeah they "may" get traffic later on but in the meantime it's costing money.

Thousands of domains held by domainers drop EVERY DAY.

As FS put it - "a virtual boulevard of broken dreams".


Damn, that sounds depressing but its true, .... just imagine how many names he has seen dropping in the last 10 years !


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[Ross]

Yes that is true Gazzip but as Slick Domains has pointed out that GoDaddy gets all of its dropped domains before they actually get dropped. So there is a chance to find a really good one in there from time to time.

 

[DotWeekly]

Yes that is true Gazzip but as Slick Domains has pointed out that GoDaddy gets all of its dropped domains before they actually get dropped. So there is a chance to find a really good one in there from time to time.

Considering Godaddy has almost 25 MILLION domains registered threw them, I would think they would have nearly has good of domains expiring that NetSol provides NameJet. I have seen some lists of the gems registered threw Godaddy and I think I finally figured it out why TDNAM does not get that many gems....

Godaddy CARES for it's customer and set's Auto Renew, Automatically when you register or transfer a domain to them. If you register or transfer a domain at NetSol, you have to Set the auto renew.

I think this is why not so many gems drop at TDNAM. The ones that do drop, most likely have Auto Renew set, but the CC on file is dead (expired).

Also to note, as the OP stated, that people own 1,000 domains etc etc (according to domaintools.com) keep in mind the number that is shown are RECORDS not domains. So if there is 100 whois records for 1 domain, that number will show 100 for 1 domain. So that number is NOT accurate and it just shows Records. Plus it goes back to domain records you Have Owned in the past as well by matching an email address.

 

[Slick Domains]

Godaddy CARES for it's customer and set's Auto Renew, Automatically when you register or transfer a domain to them. If you register or transfer a domain at NetSol, you have to Set the auto renew.

I think this is why not so many gems drop at TDNAM. The ones that do drop, most likely have Auto Renew set, but the CC on file is dead (expired).

I also like the auto-renew option. However, in the interest of covering both sides, one downside to TDNAM is that GoDaddy keeps many of the good ones and lists them as "Premium Domain Names." Sucks for those of us looking for a "great" deal. There are tons of good deals, but few great deals slip through the cracks.

 

[JMJ]

I also like the auto-renew option. However, in the interest of covering both sides, one downside to TDNAM is that GoDaddy keeps many of the good ones and lists them as "Premium Domain Names." Sucks for those of us looking for a "great" deal. There are tons of good deals, but few great deals slip through the cracks.

The premium domain names are from other sources IE BuyDomains and Fabulous

 

[Name Trader]

Most of my drops come from TDNAM.

 

[Seabass]

2006, 2007 were the heyday of good/great TDNAM drops at reasonable prices - it will never be the same again. There still are some good domains at TDNAM, but now there is an influx of Domainer Drops that you must wade through to find the good domains.

I used to buy 10 domains or so a day at TDNAM - now its about five a week. I used to spend 4-5 hours a day studying domains to purchase there. This was in addition to my time studying domains at NameJet, SnapNames, etc... so I know the TDNAM market well. But now I am finding more time on my hands b/c of a lack of good inventory and existing "phantom inventory" meaning good-looking domains from domainers that are actually bad domains.

@Tivo - Yes most of the really great gems are still at NameJet, SnapNames - but Pool is dead as far as I am concerned. However, it seems you have to search even harder for that gem at those auction houses b/c they are being cherry picked. Yeah, DomainTools says I own 2,000 domains but that is not true either.

@Yofie - Correct me if I am wrong, but are you not confusing Whois Records with Amount of Domains Owned that DomainTools reports separately? Why would it count records? That does not seem like any kind of metric anyone would be interested in, unless you were wanting to see trading activity on a domain.

I realize the Amount of Domains Owned that DomainTools gives is flawed, but it does give you a rough guide at least.
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[Dimester]

The last couple of months I have picked up about 5 dropped names a week from TDNAM. It takes a lot of time sorting through junk names that never should have been registered in the first place.

 

[Name Trader]

@ Seabass. With a record number of TDNAM drops, how is it you manage to spend less time wading through the lists? It's taking me longer

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Considering Godaddy has almost 25 MILLION domains registered threw them, I would think they would have nearly has good of domains expiring that NetSol provides NameJet.

Except that the really good ones were registered before Godaddy even existed. Even those who transferred out of NSI probably went to enom, dotster, and tucows a number of years ago. Those who've moved to GD are probably more recent domainers and owners who watch their domains more closely. I think the super drops are from long time business or investors who've gone bust, have died, have had staff changes who didn't know about renewals, domainers who've lost interest, etc. NSI and Register.com may be lousy registrars and losing numbers all the time, but they do still hold some of the best names from way back.

 

[Seabass]

@ Seabass. With a record number of TDNAM drops, how is it you manage to spend less time wading through the lists? It's taking me longer

Stub, I realized this was left out when I made my last post. But the answer is just a little tricky.

It really is not more volume of domains, just that the ones dropping have a really high percentage mix of domainer owned or domain company owned domains. So, a higher volume dropping from domain experts portfolios these days. Nixing these are fast, but there are many of them - YET overall I am spending much less time looking, but more work for less return per hour of work.

Here is what I do and you may do it to. I make my Watch List and then work it the day before or the day of the auction. I pop the domain into Archive.org and DomainTools.com and wait for those results before checking out the "amount of docs" in Google that exist that match the terms. IF the domain is owned by a domainer then I nix it immediatly. IF the domain says Domains By Proxy I dump it 99% of the time, b/c if you look at the Domain Ownership Records at DomainTools of these Domain By Proxy owned domains, you will usually see that a company or person owned it at one point and then it suddenly went to Domains By Proxy about one year before the auction date. To me, that means that was a domainer or big domain company like NameMedia or Marchex. IF I determine the domain is neither Domainer Owned or Domains By Proxy then I move to the next step which is checking it at Google, and then go onto my other techniques of analysis. By making sure it meets this criteria before looking at Google, I can burn through a list very quickly. Especially if you do it with about 20 Firefox Tabs open. :D

Historically speaking, you could not burn through a list of domains in 2006 and 2007 b/c there were not that many domainer owned/domain co. owned domains dropping like there is now. There was much more work, but you found many more domains. Now ..... it's less work but still a lot, but with far fewer good domain snatches happening.

I hope that makes sense.
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