poll Drop catching is dead, a waste of time, a scam..

[DomainBFF]

are all things I've personally felt and heard from others over the years.

I set up a poll, but I really want to hear what your opinion is on drop catching and open up a discussion regarding your experiences, success stories, failures, and maybe even tips if you choose to share.

I'll start -

I personally have deep enough pockets to play the drop catching game, but by no means at the level of apparently tons of domainers out there. 10 years ago I was winning domains left and right that go to auction every. single. time. nowadays.

I spend several hours a week going through and backordering hundreds of domains I see value in, even a decent amount that are very niche, not filled with backlinks, or don't have any existing brands under a given name. However, my success rates are still very low.

I'm at the point now where I feel like not even wasting my time, as I'm just going to be able to go bid on the majority of my list post-drop anyways when they go to auction. But even then, I don't understand how there are so many domainers that have this type of money to throw around daily on what are still speculative holds / long-term investments.

I go toe-to-toe when I am dead set on a name, but these days I'll get into the thousands of $ and still have the same bidders going back and forth with me until I either tap out, or pay a steep premium. And the insane part are these bidders are actively engaged in bid wars for hundreds of thousands of dollars in domains across all of the different platforms.

I know who a few of them are, but still no idea on hundreds of these people. Domaining can be lucrative absolutely long-term for a small percent of domainers, but there is no chance that this many people are making enough profit to still be putting this type of money into some very speculative investments daily.

That said, I have sold a few that I have caught or bid up to large amounts, but I am also still holding several thousands of dollars I've bid over the years with no sale.

Also, at namecheap auction I had a very premium name that I was in a bid war on a few weeks ago and was ready to go up to mid x,xxx. I was refreshing constantly, and usually receive an email every single time I'm outbid, but for some odd reason when we got to only ~$265 I was the high bidder waiting for him to bid back, but it never came and I was so excited. Only to find out that I was mysteriously "outbid" once it had closed even though I never received a notification and was watching and refreshing on 2 computers. I was/am still absolutely livid with @Namecheap and would love an explanation if you'd like to contact me.

So there's my rant and I have more tips I could share that have worked for me, but I would love to hear your thoughts, experiences and stories!

Cheers

 

[Gabriel360]

Nothing is wrong with dropcatching. Domain investment just got more competitive...like everything else.

You'll find the same thing happens in non-dropcatch auctions. People wage bidding wars on marginal domain names every day.

To enter an auction is to enter a war.
Regardless of the kind of auction it is, bidding wars are the norm now.

By the way, the idea that these bidders can't be making enough money to justify their bidding frenzy is not correct.

Enterprise money from corporate entities are playing the domain games now. Plus, domain investment is more accessible than ever. You are not just bidding against someone in your town, country or even continent. You are bidding against people in countries you may not even be able to pronounce.

Plus, profitability is not really a big deal for a lot of domain investors. They are happy with the unrealised profits that their portfolios represent. As such, someone who won a domain in an auction for $1,000 and flips it for $10,000 is happy to put the WHOLE of that $10,000 into acquiring more names. Hence, their capability to bid MORE for unremarkable names.

Also, there is a cadre of investors who are so rich and busy with other ventures that they do not have the time to review thousands of domain names to find desirable ones like you do. Instead, they deploy BOTS that track auctions with bids. And they push it into the stratosphere because you're not bidding against a human. You are bidding against a machine with a vast budget.

That's why you'll see domain names with less than 1 minute left in the auction get bids up to 100s of dollars the moment you place that first bid.

Anyway, the point is nothing is wrong with dropcatching. Domain investment as a whole just got more competitive.

If you want to win more names, increase your budgets. Increase your budgets SIGNIFICANTLY.

Let the new reality influence your pricing strategy. That's the only thing you can control—the price you sell the names you win.

 

[Marka]

Dropcatching is dead. The answer is very simple:

1) Companies intercept traffic for aggregation. As the internet of the past dies, everyone intercepts names. I buy domains from marketplaces. It's easier. Sometimes cheaper.

2) Shadow interception. Very often, companies take domains from themselves with fake bids. They buy domains from themselves for show. You pay $100,000 for a domain, and they take it for a symbolic $10 in the interception price. The higher the price, the more profit for them.

They will sell the domain to you anyway. Domaining is slowly dying.

 

[pb]

It used to be that you could catch or cheaply buy a domain overlooked by others. Now there are just too many eyes (and the dropcatchers make sure there are even more after the drop, by redirecting the domain to the auction page) plus all the AI tools make sure there is nothing left out. I won't vote, because none of the options fits. I just don't have time to go through the humungous lists and then end up getting scraps or nothing. Is dropcatching dead, then? On the contrary, it's very much alive, just too densely populated.

 

[DomainBFF]

It used to be that you could catch or cheaply buy a domain overlooked by others. Now there are just too many eyes (and the dropcatchers make sure there are even more after the drop, by redirecting the domain to the auction page) plus all the AI tools make sure there is nothing left out. I won't vote, because none of the options fits. I just don't have time to go through the humungous lists and then end up getting scraps or nothing. Is dropcatching dead, then? On the contrary, it's very much alive, just too densely populated.

You hit the nail on the head. Maybe better phrased, "..dead for the average domainer"

I consider myself above average in sales/portfolio/budget, but there's no chance I'm paying mid-to-high x,xxx for something that honestly doesn't have many use cases and wayback machine shows them as sitting for years at hugedomains or another sales lander. I just watched sum 500k get blown on average names at close. I am amazed. I have had a list of target domains that I have been reinvesting profits into and own several premium domains, but I am just still in shock at witnessing the amount of money being blown on domains that I could hand reg and get the same meaning across and have/will continue to probably outsell.

I think I am done with auctions personally unless I see immediate sales opportunity and end user value.

 

[pb]

If there's an immediate end user value, then GD, DC and others will make sure the end user finds the domain and outbids you. It's their game and we're just, well, game. I think snapnames/namejet still have private auctions for backordered domains? That's something worth praising, were it not for the fact that they advertise the number of backorders before the drop, thus making sure that the auctions are sufficiently filled with bidders. There's always something, but as I said, it's their game, they invested in it, they built it, they can set the rules. We can only choose whether to partake.

One other thing that I used to like were GD closeouts. In fact I got most of my '20 domains from closeouts. If others missed a mid-tier domain and you had fast fingers, you could get it for $11+$9 or some such. Now GD did some spreadsheets and changed so you can get it for $50+$22, lol, no thanks.

 

[DomainBFF]

If there's an immediate end user value, then GD, DC and others will make sure the end user finds the domain and outbids you. It's their game and we're just, well, game. I think snapnames/namejet still have private auctions for backordered domains? That's something worth praising, were it not for the fact that they advertise the number of backorders before the drop, thus making sure that the auctions are sufficiently filled with bidders. There's always something, but as I said, it's their game, they invested in it, they built it, they can set the rules. We can only choose whether to partake.

One other thing that I used to like were GD closeouts. In fact I got most of my '20 domains from closeouts. If others missed a mid-tier domain and you had fast fingers, you could get it for $11+$9 or some such. Now GD did some spreadsheets and changed so you can get it for $50+$22, lol, no thanks.

Oh man I used to love GD closeouts. Nabbed plenty of x,xxx sales there and still hold a few I love personally.

This is all such a conundrum to me. Auctions and platforms are selling domains for more than ever, while on the other end destroying all of the channels that generate(d) exposure and sales. You would think the shoe would have to drop one way or another. Good names sell and will 'til the end of time, but time to sale and eyeballs are shrinking every day it seems.

 

[pb]

Oh man I used to love GD closeouts. Nabbed plenty of x,xxx sales there and still hold a few I love personally.

This is all such a conundrum to me. Auctions and platforms are selling domains for more than ever, while on the other end destroying all of the channels that generate(d) exposure and sales. You would think the shoe would have to drop one way or another. Good names sell and will 'til the end of time, but time to sale and eyeballs are shrinking every day it seems.

GD wants to be the cloaca through which all domains sales flow. Sorry, I meant funnel. Or did I?
Sorry, English is not my first language. Or last.

 

[stevegpan]

I did pick up some from GD closeout a couple of years ago...sold few.. still have thousand of names. not sure about the closeout now. I spent a lot of time back then...Now sometimes just bid but bidding war is crazy..

 

[biggie]

Hi

caught a name at snap two days ago that I forgot I backordered
gotta go back and review that list.



imo…

 

[DomainBFF]

I did pick up some from GD closeout a couple of years ago...sold few.. still have thousand of names. not sure about the closeout now. I spent a lot of time back then...Now sometimes just bid but bidding war is crazy..

Exactly. I used to be able to snag amazing names uncontested, but now names that I see even a little bit of value in shoot up to x,xxx in the final minutes. I've just started letting others do the hardword and then coming by to check out what's available in the final moments. People are throwing insane money at mediocre names every. single. day.

 

[william]

Many people hit on some good points why the prices are going up but here are two MAJOR factors that no one mentioned. These are the driving force behind the skyrocketing prices over the last years. Inflation and bots/ai. Wealth in the hand of a few. And the difference between an average person and super wealthy is unimaginable. So $10 to you is $100,000 to them. They have a lot of money to throw around and you don't. Secondly, many of the bids and auctions are taken over by bots. And they have been for years. They are getting better. They find names, place bids, do everything that you do - but more efficiently. If you have deep pockets, you have access to not only these bots but exclusive dropcatching capabilities.

 

[karmaco]

You can still get average names dropcatching pretty easily.

Its the better and best names that are always bidding war level. The cost to engage successfully on that level has gone up every year.

I also think its this--some people are opting for better quality small portfolio versus huge quantity average.

So when a great one comes its never going without a fight. Take it as a sign that you are picking good names.

 

[william]

Take it as a sign that you are picking good names.

I wouldn't count on that. It's like a line by a restaurant. People assume that if there are other people, it must be good. In addition, there are bots that look for domains with bids. So you may be competing with both - people who assume a name is good because others want it, and bots, who are looking for "hidden gems".