information GoDaddy to increase closeout starting prices to $50

[JudgeMind]

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

 

[DomainVP]

Three domains I decided to drop, just sold on GoDaddy Auctions for a total of $1,022 USD.

My acquisition cost last year at the drop for all three - $75 USD - covered my costs with other sales.

Not sure what this says about GD and the auctions platform at the moment.

These are also domains that I have listed here for $20 - $30 BIN

 

[tiletalk]

There is still the £16.99 on top for renewal lol

 

[Jv1999]

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.

 

[ManaveA.]

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.

 

[Mytz.com]

Why ?

 

[bmugford]

Thanks for the mention @Bob Hawkes! - I would agree that model works really well to get investors max possible return capital using NL, I'm not sure GD will adopt it though because it is a bit more involved than a regular auction.

I suspect the main reason this is happening is pure monetary inflation, we are about to see what printing trillions (30%+ of total dollars in existence) in 2020/2021 will do to the purchasing power of your dollar. It's one of the main reasons why I've advocated for all domainers to adopt a foundation of sound-money with Bitcoin. Having savings is one of the most overlooked aspects of being a domain investor.

I am all for diversifying with multiple asset classes.

Pretty much any asset is an inflationary hedge from domains, stocks, collectibles, precious metals, crypto, etc. I personally don't really see anything that special with bitcoin vs any of the other inflationary hedges.

With domains if the USD value goes down in theory it should drive prices up, while at the same time making the fixed cost of renewals less of a factor.

Brad

 

[Pairadice]

Before this happened, everyone said it was impossible to snipe a closeout bc of the bots. Now, that is still the case, all that's changed is that the bots will have three additional days in which to purchase at a higher price. But they won't snipe everything good because not only does the cost go up for them too, but they needed us to think for them before, and that won't change. There's too many domains, they won't be able to keep track of them all. This could lead to opportunities to get good domains that weren't there before, especially if you are willing to spend $30-50 during those first three days.

 

[wwwweb]

but the API still has the advanatge as the first to pay the $50, so nothings changes to solve the probelm we cared about..

Rumour has it API in closeout is kaput.

 

[TLDMart]

So, they are not setting up a program to compete with Name Liquidate... Not that I thought they would...

I get why they are doing this, I know it will not benefit me, there are thousands of undervalued domains elsewhere, so I will continue to limit my spending on GD...

On a broader level, we will see what the market does. As others have mentioned, the bump up to $50 is on par with some of the other marketplaces.

I have won a few $12 auctions at GD though...

 

[D Haynes]

if u call them scam u gotta call all auctions scam..because same rules and results apply everywhere

Its how you get to the results that's different. They allow some people/companies use of their API but most don't. The playing field isn't even.

 

[wwwweb]

Still don’t get basis for if a domain doesn’t close at $12 in auction, how it can be worth $50
A few mins later.

If you notice a counter bid to your $12 bid shortly after it is placed after 7 days or so of no bids, by a similar party we should understand the game very quickly.

 

[karmaco]

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.

 

[Alop]

However monopoly it seems what they are building...they ought to stop at least catching domains they “like” smh

 

[freety85]

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.

 

[biggie]

Hi

i don't participate in gd auctions much, but....

clubdrop a former enom product, which later became namejet...
had same auction format
starting price was $240 and dropped over time down to $5, if no buyers.
i bought some at $240, some at $5 and many in between.

this was circa 2006 and a recent sale at sedo yielded $5k, from one of those $5 snags back then.

imo..

 

[tomcarl]

eh maybe this will save some folks money, they'll be a lot more serious about what they're buying.

 

[tomcarl]

Drastic changes in such short periods of time, the perks of having a monopoly.

 

[Jv1999]

I agree with everybody whos says... What do you expect from GoDaddy. They are a profit motivated company. But I give you a fairly solid prediction. That there will be no sales in closeouts except for the final $5 bids DropCatch or no DropCatch automated bids in the auctions. Except for DropCatch will be able to now snap up bargains for $50 with automated bids for those domains which had no bids in the regular auctions. It's not there yet. But its coming.

I think the DropCatch parent company should be GoDaddy's next acquisition

Yerp. I found that it was impossible to wait for $5 after $8 because ppl would automate it.

So I just buy at $8.

Now we buy at.... $F I f t y. . .

Not GD putting a block or income gap in domain investing or anything *cough* rich get richer

 

[Name Trader]

It's the natural order of things. Become monopolist -> raise prices -> people leave -> stop being a monopolist.

Sounds a lot like cPanel

 

[UncleBrand]

ok
so here come the crazy move from Godaddy
so i just checked for a domain at 50$, it will cost me 50+8.99+ taxes =71.38$ (21%taxes)

 

[Jv1999]

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!"

 

[Alop]

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

 

[Mister Funsky]

- 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.

 

[garptrader]

Publicly-traded companies are pressured to grow revenue and earnings. However, if customers feel they are being taken advantage of, they will go elsewhere. Domain name investing has been promoted by the industry as a motive for drop catching services, mass development, hundreds of New competing extensions and attending conferences. What percentage of domain investors actually make a living off domains? We don't even have reliable reporting of the size of the industry (sales) by the the very platforms that have the data. Wy? Because they know the truth - the average investor is losing money with domains. There are other places to deploy capital with more consistent returns.

 

[wwwweb]

Yeah, I have not been an active bidder in quite some time. The math does not make sense when it comes to sell through rate.

I would like to see an entirely new process when it comes to expired domains. These registrars act like it is their God given right to insert themselves as the middle men and make profits on "pre-release" domains.

They did nothing but be the registrar. They did not come up with the idea, they did not registrar the domain, they did not pay renewals. It is pretty unreasonable in my view that they are the ones keeping all the profits.

I have almost my entire portfolio at GoDaddy, but what I consider their greedy moves lately are concerning to me. Starting with their high stock registration rates, doubling the cost of DDC, doubling the cost of buy service, now this.

Brad

That focus will bring them to the ground

Stock market as a whole in the technology sector is up quite a bit across the board. They are the 800lb gorilla in their space, and they are riding that wave.