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information GoDaddy to increase closeout starting prices to $50

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Godaddy will be increasing their starting price of closeouts to $50. The pricing structure will go as follows:

Day 1: $50

Day 2: $40

Day 3: $30

Day 4: $11

Day 5: $5

This news is causing a stir in the industry and some are pretty upset. You can read in more detail about the price increase here, courtesy of domainnamewire - GoDaddy to change closeout auction pricing - Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
it will all be about who caves first and buys it at a higher price! win win for godaddy... they are the king who why not
 
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Godaddy will be increasing their starting price of closeouts to $50. The pricing structure will go as follows:

Day 1: $50

Day 2: $40

Day 3: $30

Day 4: $11

Day 5: $5

This news is causing a stir in the industry and some are pretty upset. You can read in more detail about the price increase here, courtesy of domainnamewire - GoDaddy to change closeout auction pricing - Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News

Thank you for the post. After years of buying auction names and immediately moving them out when possible, I started leaving/renewing names there because they added partial privacy. Now, I will begin moving them out again to more investor friendly registrars. The new guy might not be as sharp as some think.
 
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Thank you for the post. After years of buying auction names and immediately moving them out when possible, I started leaving/renewing names there because they added partial privacy. Now, I will begin moving them out again to more investor friendly registrars. The new guy might not be as sharp as some think.
I move every name I can out. I used to only buy names at GD now I buy about 1 a year. GD auctions and closeouts are essentially a scam.
 
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It is bad news and good news at the same time. Bad news because it means higher cost for domainers, good new because it means higher cost for HD.

Maybe this will stop closeouts snipping and domainers will have some chance in GD auctions. However many domainers buy only from closeouts and don't buy from auctions, and this change will be very costly for them.
 
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It is bad news and good news at the same time. Bad news because it means higher cost for domainers, good new because it means higher cost for HD.
Nobody but GD will a gain anything from HDs higher cost unfortunately.
 
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The below comment below the name wire article summed it up perfectly for me......

"Is funny to read the comments that are angry and this is a “money grab” . D’uh, of course it is why are you surprised.

GoDaddy is a business and their business is to make money , the more they take from your business and the more they put into their own pocket is their fiduciary duty to their shareholders.

As a domain investor , you are seeking your maximum return and would not hesitate to take as much money from the buyer as you possibly can , why do you expect GoDaddy to act any different."

If you really think a domain is a quality acquisition either bid at it at the auction stage and be prepared to pay a premium or be prepared to pay more at closeouts (unless the bots still continue their rampage, then continue to look for their scraps - some people seem to be doing very well this way, so nothing is going to really change except people paying a few $$ more at closeouts) so put your mark up accordingly - otherwise use another service like DropCatch or Dynadot etc etc
 
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Negatives are obvious, so I focused on the positives:
1. possibly less sniping, we have to wait and see
2. less impulse buying of crap domains
3. $5 domains are still $5
 
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There is still the £16.99 on top for renewal lol
 
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This is such bs in so many f ways:!::!::!::!:

WTF is their problem? All they do is catch ppl's domains! Some of those domains are at GD THEMSELVES.

Why did they need to do this? Are they not already making lots and lots and lots of cabbage off of domainers and normies who happen to see closeouts?

WHY DO THIS? And it makes sense if they were doing a $10 increase or something... BUT NO. THEY'RE DOING a 2x?!

What the heck? WHY? Which overhead costs exactly went up that they had to randomly do this?

THey WERE ALREADY making millions off of everyone. I don't understand this. I'm sure their BoD understands this. Their C-Suite understands this. But I still want a legit newspress from them explaining why they decided that this was something they'd do or had to do.
 
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Gotta pay for Poynt somehow and they sure aren’t going to take it out of their bottom line.

My guess in general is they see where many sales happen at the $11 price point (because more people refuse to partake in overpriced auctions) and decided that simply wasn’t enough for them.
 
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Gotta pay for Poynt somehow and they sure aren’t going to take it out of their bottom line.

My guess in general is they see where many sales happen at the $11 price point (because more people refuse to partake in overpriced auctions) and decided that simply wasn’t enough for them.

Makes sense but $50? It used to start at $12 if unwon, $11 if closeout. They went up almost 5x? If they were trying to make up for "losses" then they would've factored things in and increased it by $2, $3, $4... because the mass amount of purchases make up everything... But they went ahead and said "welp. Hopefully this solves the bots problem and if we make money too then woot!"
 
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Well that sucks since scrolling through all them close outs is not easy ..They are in business to make money so we can’t blame them for the idea
 
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However monopoly it seems what they are building...they ought to stop at least catching domains they “like” smh
 
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This is a finely calculated chess move, now you have a $12 auction coming onto close, do you bid $12, or do you wait to closeouts to bid $50. Newbie thinks ok let me bid $12, save myself $38, we all know what happens when we bid, the HugeDomains Monster Bot rears his ugly head, and puts his $1xx bid in place, now you got a new problem, do I pay $150, or do I let it go?

At this point there is no point in waiting 5 days, and paying $5, instead of $12 if name is still there at that point. Really the system is designed to inflict maximum financial pain.

Congrats to all the API closeout snipers, you have had a great 3-4 years, uncontested.
 
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yup, GD auctions were a lot more fun 5 + years ago, i stopped looking at the clusterfuck prices a while ago - made no rational sense, and no FOMO from me
 
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May be it's good for normal domainers who do not use Bots. Less Sniping means you have time to make a decision to spend $50 + Expiration fees or let it go.. And if you can not invest $50 in that domain, It was not worth anyway.
 
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GoDaddy you are more than welcome to comment on the monopoly as the insider trading was always prohibited
 
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so the dnw article mentions: "The new pricing structure should give domain investors without special access a better opportunity to get domains in closeouts"

My questions are:
- won't API users pull the trigger on any worthwhile name at 40-50 USD detected by their bots?
- Can HD and others even check which domains are on watchlist so once we add them or proceed checkout they are suddenly gone?
- in case the reason of this decision was to prevent sniping, why just not block API access for everyone?

I guess we have to wait and see, but if no meaningful names will make 5-11 range we have to align strategies accordingly and use more alternative acquisition options.
 
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- in case the reason of this decision was to prevent sniping, why just not block API access for everyone?

Exactly.

They are blowing smoke up our collective skirts (I don't wear them, publicly or privately, it's just a saying) with their sniping story. It is a money grab and there may be a little behind closed doors deals going on as well.

I've spent a couple hours running numbers and considering as many options as I can come up with and there is one path where this will eventually backfire on them, but it will take time. Keeping my fingers crossed.
 
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Seems par for the course for GD.
 
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Like how many people have completely or like scaled back even participating, or checking godaddy auctions?

Any bid you place is countered by some sort of auto sensing bot, the closeouts are auto bidder by bots before you can blink. Really one major vendor has a monopoly on an auction platform?

Do they sense that active regular bidders has just checked out, not like it matters as prices are still sky high, and it just takes 2-3 constant parties who seem to be outbidding each other.

Who really enjoys bidding over there because you have a bot that drops a min bid on every countdown clock, opportunity cost of time of completing an auction taking hours per day. Sure you can drop your max bid, and the bot can keep tapping your max bid, until it bids it up, and bails.

The experience has become a soured one, and I really find it surprising that auctions are very scared, and impartial but some parties have been given tools to give them Demi God advantages.
 
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Godaddy will be increasing their starting price of closeouts to $50. The pricing structure will go as follows:

Day 1: $50

Day 2: $40

Day 3: $30

Day 4: $11

Day 5: $5

This news is causing a stir in the industry and some are pretty upset. You can read in more detail about the price increase here, courtesy of domainnamewire - GoDaddy to change closeout auction pricing - Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News

Cool. Then I'm done with this.

Bottom of the barrel, already pricey before their increase. No thanks.
 
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While Dutch auction formats have some fairness, it seems that the main effect of this will simply be domain investors paying more for domains that passed auction without bid. The automated bids make the auctions challenging as is, and now one pays much more for closeouts, in most cases. And if you don't have a discount cost membership, high renewal/transfer tacked on as well.

Instead of this route, why not go full Dutch auction and dispense with the normal auction first? Start at some price, maybe based on their estimate of worth, then have the auction count down steadily in price by the hour. This down auction only would mean that as far as I can see the bots with API access would lose most of their advantage in that system.:xf.smile: Once someone meets the price it has gone down to, the domain is sold. If the increments were small, then any speed advantage of the bot would largely dissipate. Anyone could place a private bid that would be placed once the price reached that level. Everyone on equal footing.

To make it really fair, a portion of the proceeds should go to the person/business/organization who held the domain prior to expiry, who created it in many cases. But now I am dreaming...

Someone should invent a system like that. Oh wait a minute, someone did! Thanks @DanSanchez !

Bob
 
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