GoDaddy auctions, something strange going on

[domainscp]

In the last few days over at Godaddy auctions I have seen something pretty strange going on. Not sure if this has been brought up already but I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this. I have been watching several auctions a few nnnnn.coms, a few one word dot coms and a few ccc.coms. Ive seen the price get up there a ways, a lot but nothing out of the ordinary and then for some reason the price goes back to starting level bid. One example would be 52265.com. The price made it up to about $800 or so with 7 days left, then last night it went back to the starting bid of $10, then made it up to about $400 through out the course of today and now its back to $22. Another name is c78.com. It made it up to about $4800 or so, went back to the $20 range, then up to $1800 or so and now its back to $276. All while the time left on the auction didnt reset back to normal auction length time. So if this same thing happens again right near the auction end and its back to a minimal bid are these owners going to have to give up the names at a big loss? Would like to hear anyones thoughts on this.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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Shill bidding.

I believe that Go Daddy has some algorithms for rooting out shill bidding, so it's probably just in a cat-and-mouse game with a shill bidder or two.

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[domainscp]

I was kind of thinking thats what it was, is this something new? Ive been a regular watcher of their auctions and seen a lot of that in the past but have never seen the price lowered back.

 

[Bannen]

Wonder if they cancel the account of anyone they catch shill bidding. I also noticed MovieList.com the last while; it was way up into the 5 figures, then this morning I noticed it back down to $400 or around there. If that's shill bidding there should be severe penalties, because the fake bidders are literally cheating a real buyer out of thousands of dollars, if a real bidder bid those high amounts too and won the domain...
Shill bidding can potentially cost a 'real' winner a ton of extra money and if that is ever the case with a won domain being in the larger amounts, IMO godaddy should adopt a zero tolerance to it and even, in those larger cases, provide some legal avenue for suing the fraudulent bidders.

I've often wondered if there should be some kind of an ICANN 'blacklist' started. I'd hate to have a governing body wield even more power like that; but if it's a case of finding some domainers who obviously shill/cheat others out of thousands and it is proven, that ICANN might add them to a blacklist where they will never be allowed to register dot.com's at any registrar and their present domains will be taken and auctioned off. The domain sphere is still largely unpoliced, which is why there are still rampant fraudulent activities happening worldwide, like this shill bidding, appraisal scams, etc. I don't know what the answer is... but SOMETHING can be done, more than what is currently being done by the registrar powers that be.

 

[The New Guy]

but SOMETHING can be done, more than what is currently being done by the registrar powers that be.

Maybe a system where sellers can specifiy only verified buyers or buyers with a track record of buying and paying for domains auctioned by at least 3 different sellers.

I can see shills being in one of three categories

- sellers trying to pump up prices, but that fails if they go too high
- buyers trying to shut out other buyers by pumping the price, then when it's close to ending the shill goes away and they're the high bidder at a much lower amount
- trolls who do it just for fun.

 

[Name Trader]

AS domainscp stated. This could also cost the seller a ton of money if the removal of the shill bids are close to the end of the auction. Especially if there is no reserve. The shill bids might also have put off other genuine buyers.

I agree with the zero tolerance policy. If a seller has more than 2 domains within a month with shill bids, then that seller should also be banned as well. Since the shill bidding clearly benefits the seller.

 

[AEProgram]

GoDaddy needs to make the following changes and it will be the best auction place on the planet for names.

1: Stop allowing people to do these mini increments and keep getting the auction extended another 5 minutes etc. This is how you solve it, it's simple:

Someone places a bid, he gets a notice hes outbid because of a proxy bid, he has 30 seconds to bid again and try to beat the proxy bid, if he doesn't the auction DOES NOT get extended by 5 minutes. This change is something namejet, snap etc need to do to, its not fair these people who bid just to extend then wait and extend again without becoming the main bidder. Outbid or block them from bidding.

Imagine if in a real auction house the typical domain bidding rules would apply. Auctions would take months to complete, people would be sleeping on the floor. I mean you either outbid or your out, you can't sit there with your silly increments and waste everyone's day.

To the people here who sing the "just put your max in" song, you must realize it's a dangerous game on gd and other places because of the fraudsters. And that leads to second thing they must change.

2: IF you have the ability to bid they must have you verified not just by some prepaid card but by phone, etc. NameJet makes you send ID in etc for bidding over 2500.

3: SHOW user ID's, stop this nonsense of bidder 1, bidder 2 etc. this is preventing the end user from spotting certain patterns. If its good enough for snap, pheenix, namejet etc to show user ID's it should be good enough for godaddy. User ID's are a nickname that cannot be changed.

 

[The New Guy]

I agree with the zero tolerance policy. If a seller has more than 2 domains within a month with shill bids, then that seller should also be banned as well. Since the shill bidding clearly benefits the seller.

Not always.How a buyer could use it to their advantage.

- Seller lists okdomain.com, most buyers target $1,000 as their max.
- auction quickly gets up to $400
- Coordinated shill bidders jump price up to $2000. Buyer expects big payday.
- Last day all shill bids are pulled. Price drops down to $400.
- Since most buyers have been chased away, the one at $400, or someone who comes in afterwards is able to snap it up.

A buyer shilling wouldn't take it up to $800 to have it drop down to $22 - they'd nudge it up bit by bit and pull others along with them. At least a smart one wouldn't - who knows what some people think when they do stuff like this.

 

[jideofor]

GoDaddy needs to make the following changes and it will be the best auction place on the planet for names.

1: Stop allowing people to do these mini increments and keep getting the auction extended another 5 minutes etc. This is how you solve it, it's simple:

Someone places a bid, he gets a notice hes outbid because of a proxy bid, he has 30 seconds to bid again and try to beat the proxy bid, .

This is one part that discourages me from moving onward because I feel that is un-deserving or that someone is shill bidding on their domain. Mine happen the very second I place a bid. I often back out.

 

[NameOmnia]

More than often I see nonsense domain names with ridiculous bids and, I wonder, if I notice it why GD doesn't.

I don't agree with AE about not extending the time as I think everyone has the right to bid as much as they want ( as long as the bids are real ) and give the seller ( and the name ) the greatest possibilities to reach a high price.
Keep in mind that GD is allowed to bid against you; there is no rule in their policy that states the contrary aka that employees are not allowed to bid on the names. At least it was so not long ago.

I'd like the idea to see bidders nicknames and a sort of rating which would help the seller assessing the buyers

I totally agree with those who want severe interventions for everyone that fakes : accounts blocked, IP blocked ( to avoid creating double profiles ), banned email address etc..

 

[Name Trader]

Someone places a bid, he gets a notice hes outbid because of a proxy bid, he has 30 seconds to bid again and try to beat the proxy bid, if he doesn't the auction DOES NOT get extended by 5 minutes. This change is something namejet, snap etc need to do to, its not fair these people who bid just to extend then wait and extend again without becoming the main bidder. Outbid or block them from bidding.

I don't agree with your assumption that somebody who is placing incremental bids against a proxy bid is necessarily a shill bidder. They could be just trying to find where the proxy bid ends. I've used that tactic and had it used against me. I think it shows active participation in an action. Because the bidder has to be at a computer at the time the auction is running. I don't think shill bidders have that kind of patience.

I think the 5 minute extension is fair. Anything less and you might lose a domain simply because you need a pee break or to make a cup of tea.

---------- Post added at 07:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:27 AM ----------

@The New Guy - This is assuming the shill bids get noticed. If they don't, then the buyer is paying too much for the domain. That's a risky game, imho.

 

[johname]

There a difference also between a shill bid and someone just running up the price on you. Common in actions to try to make the other guy spend the most of his dry power.

The 5 min count down not going anywhere because of the attempt to email the losing bidder and give them time to bid again.

 

[AEProgram]

There a difference also between a shill bid and someone just running up the price on you. Common in actions to try to make the other guy spend the most of his dry power.

The 5 min count down not going anywhere because of the attempt to email the losing bidder and give them time to bid again.

the guy is sitting at his computer he was told he was automatically outbid GD DOES NOT EMAIL or TEXT if the outbid was a auto proxy right when you bid, so please understand what im suggesting here.

 

[Bannen]

DobermanPinscher.com was up to over $25,000 a couple days back...
...now it's at $25.

 

[NameOmnia]

Is GD becoming a farce or what? Also..are those domainers thick? How can they possibly think they won't we caught?
As I said there are nonsense domains ( I mean it ) that have ridiculously high bids...

 

[DU]

I think the guy that runs DNF may have some insight into how this works. While working as a GoDaddy employee he was known to bid on auctions against his customers.

The only way to fix any problems with this industry is to fix it.

If you don't like the GD auction system then stop using it. As for fair? Of course it's fair... the rules are the same for everyone (except GoDaddy employees back when it was ok for them to bid)

 

[NameOmnia]

I think the guy that runs DNF may have some insight into how this works. While working as a GoDaddy employee he was known to bid on auctions against his customers.

The only way to fix any problems with this industry is to fix it.

If you don't like the GD auction system then stop using it. As for fair? Of course it's fair... the rules are the same for everyone (except GoDaddy employees back when it was ok for them to bid)

LMAO I love the way you called " we know who " " the guy that runs DNF "....just amazing!

Did you say they stop bidding against people?

 

[Bannen]

DobermanPinscher.com was up to over $25,000 a couple days back...
...now it's at $25.

Now it's jumped from $25 up to over $30,000 again. Boing boing boing...

Same thing with movielist.com... up over 25k, then down to 400 bucks, now up over 25k again, whassup with these two domains yoyo-ing?

 

[Lloris]

This would be a real problem. I wonder what happens when you leave a bid and a shill bidder knocks off your bid. When shills disappear somehow would biding start from the beginning or would go down to the highest legit bid?

That is why I am always cautious to live a bid. But sometimes, I miss a domain because I cannot sit in front of the computer at the time bidding ends.

 

[AEProgram]

DobermanPinscher.com was up to over $25,000 a couple days back...
...now it's at $25.

was 30k in the morning now 1k