GoDaddy Monopolizing on Auctions?

[CupidName]

So I have an personal issue with the way that GoDaddy displays the "Expired Auction" appraisals. If you notice the bidding activity/sales for these "Expired Auctions" far exceeds those of "Personal Auctions" on the platform. Some of the "Expired Auction" names are horrible but still have a tremendous amount of bids. They only allow an appraisal next to the "Expired Auctions" and do not allow the same appraisals to be displayed on the "Private Auctions". Personally I feel this puts the "Private Auctions" at a disadvantage on bidding and potential profits. They are clearly putting the "Expired Auctions" ahead of the "Private Auctions" which I would assume they personally profiting. Now I am no legal expert but this seems very unethical? I reached out to GoDaddy and this is the response I received:

Hello,

Expired auctions recently started showing appraisals on expired auctions as a test. The development team is working on a complete rebuild of the platform, which should include showing appraised value of domains for all auctions. As you are only the second person I have seen in the four months we have been showing appraisals ask about this, I believe that this is not a high priority in the overall scope of the auctions platform. We hope to have the rebuild completed in the fall or winter of this year.

Regards,
Václav Růžička
Aftermarket Support Group
Tier III
GoDaddy.com, LLC
http://auctions.godaddy.com


Anyone else have this same issue or thoughts?

 

[barman]

You're not the first person to complain about this.

BUT to be fair as to why expired listings get more bids than investor listings... it's probably because people see more value in an expired listing because of untapped potential. Perhaps someone registered a name for 10 years then forgot about it. Never listed it, never had a landing page. Now the new owner can "set the domain free" onto the marketplace.

Compare that to an Investor listing by someone who is familiar with the space and has tried to sell the name already.

I do feel that if the Expired and Investor listings were treated the same (same layout, listed together), Investor listings would get a lot more attention, and therefore bids.

 

[CupidName]

In my past life as a programmer you would never role out an incomplete product change "Live" on your platform unless it covered all the bases. So for GoDaddy to say they are testing it with "Expired Auctions" only is a little suspect. They could have very easily have tested it with "Public Auctions" but then they would only be receiving a sales commission and not all the profits/plus renewal fees. Maybe I am just over thinking the situation but it just does not seem ethical.

 

[okmachan]

https://www.namepros.com/threads/unfair-practices-at-godaddy-auctions.1133613/

This is the problem with domainers. Too lazy to make a move. I have started a discussion on this topic few weeks back. But nobody really wanted to to talk about it.

 

[Internet.Domains]

Private auctions have always been at a disadvantage to expired auctions, well prior to the appraisals showing. In all fairness this isn't a GoDaddy issue, it's more of a psychological issue with the bidders. Bidders will often run up a horrible expired domain while great private auctions or BIN's go unnoticed. Consumer behavior is often analyzed in great detail and this is a great case study.

 

[CupidName]

But would that still be the case if the "Expired Auctions" did not display the appraisal?

 

[Internet.Domains]

But would that still be the case if the "Expired Auctions" did not display the appraisal?

Yes. Prior to the appraisals showing, expired auctions still got the greater action. However, the appraisals most likely help promote all lower quality domains due to the algo pumping out high appraisals for very weak domains.