discuss Has Anyone Had HugeDomains Purchase their BrandBucket Names?

[The Rover]

This actually happened to a domain that I had listed on BB for a fair price. I say "fair" because I would have actually liked to have listed it for higher, but obviously BB puts a limit on the price for any particular domain. For obvious reasons, I won't disclose the domain, however, I'm curious if anyone has recently had any of their BrandBucket domains purchased by HugeDomains? When this happened to me, immediately after they purchased the domain, it was then listed on their Hugedomains marketplace for literally 3X the price than what was allowed to be listed on BrandBucket.

Things are really beginning to look increasingly wicked in this industry as of late. If others have experienced this, it would make me wonder how often they deploy this type of strategy. After reading this thread, it certainly appears that we need more transparency regarding TurnCommerce. With the (alleged) business practices of bidding up their own listings at DropCatch using foreign bots or whatever else, if proven true, would really explain how they would be able to pay higher prices for other domains, in addition to bidding up auctions on both GoDaddy and paying "premium" prices on BB.

We should be greatly concerned that literally 50-60% of the active, expired GoDaddy inventory is being snatched up (and artificially bid up) by TurnCommerce. With those type of numbers, this ain't capitalism at this point, folks. It would simply be a rotten monopoly at best (and at worst) potentially violating antitrust laws if any of the other alleged business practices are ever found to be true.

Thoughts?

 

[biggie]

When this happened to me, immediately after they purchased the domain, it was then listed on their Hugedomains marketplace for literally 3X the price than what was allowed to be listed on BrandBucket.

so, if I had bought it and did the same by listing it on Sedo, Afternic, UniReg, etc. then would it be such a big deal?

BB puts a limit on the price for any particular domain.

that's not HD fault because you chose to list it on bb, which imposes a price limit

Thoughts?

if it was me, i be happy that somebody bought the name, and would take the money and move on

imo....

 

[biggie]

If so, then that would be indicate of a pattern.

even if it was a pattern, all that would mean is that they are buying names and repricing higher than what previous owner did

it's done everyday, by other domainers, here, there, and everywhere else
so why should hd be faulted for practicing in the game like others?

that's my point on that issue.

imo….

 

[Kpett]

It's really disappointing and troubling when fellow domainers show no concern as to how a single company has been able to literally own over 1K+ Registrars and consistently purchases 60% of the GD expired inventory, and yet refuses to question "how" they are doing this or how this is affecting the industry.

@The Rover - Just do a search on nP for Huge Domains and you will see multiple threads about HD - it's not that we have no concern - most here certainly do. It's just that in your case, they aren't doing anything other domainers would do. If I saw a good name on BB and thought I could sell it for more, I would buy it and do just that.

But instead, you just continue to debate every response to your post. You aren't getting responses to your question about HD buying their domain on BB because most domainers don't care who buys their names from them at BB - if their name sells on BB they are happy with it and move on.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Nope, it was definitely a direct purchase made by HugeDomains.

How did you definitively confirm this?

I'm not saying this is the case, but if you're mistaken to what actually happened, and we (domainers) go around spreading this narrative, then we'd essentially be spreading fake news.

I'm only saying this because I just checked several domains with a BB to HD NameServer history, and all seemed to have been acquired through expiration channels. Such as:

Spooxy.com

Oxote.com

_____________________________________________________________________________

Possibl.com is an example (with an expired auction sales record) of a BrandBucket published domain that expired, then according to NameBio, was purchased for $355 at GoDaddy by what appears to be HugeDomains.

**There have been instances where NameBio is wrong, such as when a domain is renewed after the auction closed. Which raises the question, if HugeDomains really wanted a domain from an auction, and it was renewed, would they spend $X,XXX on it?**

WHOIS while at BB

Compared to the current WHOIS:

Simply an immediate, direct acquisition that was quickly thrown into their inventory. Which, let me clarify that I actually don't have a problem with in and of itself. I would normally care less which company purchased my domain.

What I do have a problem with, is when a single entity is edging closer to literally controlling a particular aftermarket.

If you still believe HugeDomains bought your domain directly from BrandBucket, and are willing to provide some kind collaborative info such as WHOIS screenshots, BB sales screenshot, or what not (domain name blurred out if you wish), I would love to discuss your chief complaint regarding "a single entity edging closer to controlling a particular aftermarket."

However, as the thread title is, "Has anyone had HugeDomains purchase their brandbucket names" and since we have yet to factually establish a single instance where HugeDomains bought a domain directly from BrandBucket, it might be a little premature to elaborate into more complex concerns. A lot of NPers have had the misfortune of HugeDomains picking up their BB domains through the expired channels that HD dominates.

If you really wanted to figure out the scale of domains leaving BB to HugeDomains or vice versa, you'll need to sign up for DomainTools and use the DailyChanges tool among a few other steps.

Lastly, for what its worth, there are plenty of instances of domains being dropped by HugeDomains, and then listed on BB. One example being:

PhatCheck.com

 

[BrandCougar]

"Macro View" -

HD's aggressive acquisition strategy is creating scarcity and with scarcity (on a macro scale) will be a catalyst for market pricing increases over time. (sort of like in coin collecting)

@The Rover - Is this not a positive?

I agree - on the buy side it makes it more difficult to acquire inventory, but this economic impact would develop a vacuum and would increase prices in parallel on the sell side of a market.

The odds of HD imploding is more likely than the odds of HD becoming the only single source provider. (not in our lifetime)

Now if HD acquired BB and ALL the sales channels available on the market to us and THEN locked us all out from advertising on any available site on the internet, now that would be a concern.

Inventory acquisition does not constitute a monopoly, that's called a "collection".

However, sales channel access and the inability to participate (advertise or sell) in a market would be more concerning.

-Cougar

 

[The Rover]

Who cares? be happy that they bought your domain, otherwise, you might have it for a longer time, maybe never getting sold.
let them try to sell it for 3x, and even if they do, why do you care?

It's incredibly short sided and naive to conflate the fact that I was "oh-so-lucky" to sell a domain on BrandBucket with a potentially much bigger issue that could be potentially in play.

 

[myfavorite]

All people are saying is that it was listed at a price and they decided to buy it. Why bother what they do with it.

A lot of people are working hard to sale their listed names at give away prices on slack channel and equally here on NP. I wouldn't mind their buying my entire portfolio on all brand market.

Enjoy your sale.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Maybe they bought it for a personal project and decided it wasn't the right name and listed it to get their money back.

That could be one explanation if HD actually bought it directly from BB, however that's apparently not the case. Read the three comments above your comment in entirety to be brought up to speed.

So, in closing, feel free to gloat on my honest mistake.

I don't think it's about gloating. It's about moving on with the facts.

I'm oddly alarmed how little importance you seem to place on fact checking. But I guess that's an issue most Americans struggle with, seeing how we ended up with a president who is fact checkingly challenged.

As others has mentioned there are other threads discussing domainers grave concerns of their dominance. Have you read all 930 posts from: https://www.namepros.com/threads/hu...50-of-expiring-domains-at-godaddy-com.988898/ It really is a great thread. A lot of effort has been put into that thread by @Arca and others for quite some time.

Possibl.com was indeed the domain, so kudos to Grilled for getting that info. You must have a lot of time of your hands, and I do find it odd that you've spent so much energy on this, but thank you nonetheless for getting that info.

Thank you for clarifying.

It's a little more complex than 'odd' as to why I spent so much energy on this. But 'oddly' enough, I'm working on this issue with trained professionals and will be using this as an example next week to reflect and work on it. Nobody really wins an internet debate. It's all a waste of time and energy. Yet, some seem to get sucked in as a possible avoidance / distraction technique and/or a combination of either always having to be right, or finding an answer nobody has found yet. Better put as, "I just gotta know."

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I hope there are no hard feelings.

 

[The Rover]

so, if I had bought it and did the same by listing it on Sedo, Afternic, UniReg, etc. then would it be such a big deal?


that's not HD fault because you chose to list it on bb, which imposes a price limit



if it was me, i be happy that somebody bought the name, and would take the money and move on

imo....

Firstly, the fact that you (and apparently a few others) so quick to jump in and defend HD, is quite odd. Secondly, that wasn't my point of this post. The point (as stated in the title) was to find out whether in fact, others have experienced this. If so, then that would be indicative of a pattern and/or strategy used by HD (aka Turn commerce).

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I suspect you are right that most would not even know if they had bought one of their names that sold.

I wonder if it means that they see the future in brandable names of high quality, and therefore are moving into these venues (probably in parallel of other ways like use AI to suggest unregistered or dropping brandable names that have value). Buying at BB prices means though, with uncertainty of resale probability, that there is some significant risk to them I would think.

I understand not disclosing the name, but was it a strictly made up word or something close or even exactly a dictionary word/combo?

It would be really interesting to know if any SquadHelp names were bought by them.

Bob

 

[biggie]

However, the idea that it's completely normal for a single company to purchase 50% of all active GoDaddy expired listings should be troubling t you (and anyone else who respects this industry), no matter how you slice it.

I think one should have been troubled long ago, when gobaddy and other registrars first got in the business of auctioning off expiring names, instead of letting them drop from the registry.

nor do I think this "industry" is being dominated by a single company.

also, my replies aren't knee jerk
I thought about what i wanted to say in response to what you posted
however, I don't cater to allegations or spread rumors of such, and I don't overlook the facts.

and so far, the only factual information is that you sold a domain and the people who bought it, repriced it higher.
and since i don't know the actual name, then basically, i'm taking your word that, that is what actually happened.


imo….

 

[biggie]

I don't have to disclose anything

above, you don't have to disclose anything, when asked "what domain was sold"

yet, no one should be skeptical about what you're saying

so far, this thread has turned into "Hey, let's be skeptical of the very person who is asking honest questions". So in other words, it's a regular sh*tshow and business as usual.

you feel your questions are honest, but they are based on allegations posted by others who did not substantiate them or prove them to be true, as being a fact.

I haven't seen a posted list of names they supposedly won in GD auctions, or seen a list of names they supposedly bid the prices up on, within their platform.
so, there is reason to be skeptical

Honestly, the mere fact that you and others seem so "skeptical" are actually validating my reasoning of why I even started this post

one has to be skeptical of the allegations, until they are proven to be true.
it's like convicting someone for a crime, without evidence.
and there is nothing reasonable about that

but is it really that difficult to believe that HugeDomains purchased a domain from BrandBucket? Sure, I find it a little odd,

no, it not hard to believe that HD bought or even buys names from bb
nor is it hard to conceive that other domainers, may have purchased names there too
so, taking that into consideration, I find noting odd about that, especially since BB is a marketplace for anyone to buy names from.

what's odds to me, is that you seem to think they don't have right to buy names from wherever they see one that they like.
and because they bought yours from BB, then we should be suspicious of their motive for buying it and for buying it from that place, in particular

that's something i don't get.

It's sort of like the middle ages where the peasants are just happy to have crumbs. "Just be happy that you made that sale!" That's actually scarcity mentality. People are so blinded with ANY type of sale these days, that they run the risk of losing sight of a different strategy that could, in theory, be in play (if the accusations are true, that is) which could be hurting the industry in the long run. It's very naive, selfish, and short sighted thinking, imo.

it's not selfish, naïve or short sighted for one to be happy they got a sale

strategies are sometimes made public, but very few will divulge their own strategy for what they have their eyes on and how they go about getting it.
their buying strategies may be as closely guarded as their selling tactics.
i'm sure you can agree that statement can apply to anyone in the domaining community.

therefore, if HD has a new strategy or has put their eyes on a different group of prizes, then it is inline with the evolution of domainer tactics.
and with most means of accomplishments, once known, they will be copied.

there is no monopoly in buying, because if you have the money, then you can always outbid.
but if you don't sell what you buy then you either have to renew or drop.

if HD is buying 50% of GD expiring names and buying in it's own auctions and buying from bb, they they will have more decisions to make if those names don't sell when it's time to renew.

imo...

 

[wwwulff]

I would make every attempt to be transparent about my operations

You refused to give us the name that HD bought from you so we could verify if you are speaking the truth - I doubt and think you have a different agenda, so maybe you should follow your own advice.

On another note, HD is welcome to buy all my BB names I don't care who buys my names as long as they pay

 

[Peak.Domains]

Congrats on the sale!

 

[wwwulff]

For obvious reasons, I won't disclose the domain

What obvious reasons, I don´t see any?

 

[wurdd]

Why not disclose the name? What does it matter, let the detectives here help you.

 

[myfavorite]

The mere fact that you and others seem so "skeptical" are actually validating my reasoning of why I even started this post.

Here people mostly want information based on verifiable facts. I'm not necessary referring to you, but there are occasion where claims made by some were later discovered to be false.

 

[biggie]

Instead of walking away, you seem really hellbent on defending TurnCommerce. It's actually becoming kind of weird.

you would probably like for me to just walk away
but I won't, until I've had my say
and I may keep coming back, depending on what you post after

You seem to be having difficulty grasping basic economic concepts, or worse, you have an agenda to blindly defend a company that may (or may not) be a monopoly. You also seem to not be able to get your head beyond "making a sale" on BrandBucket. It's almost as if you're nearly trolling at this point. You're certainly not adding any substance to this thread,

definitely not trolling, just expressing common sense
it's not about defending hd or tc or whoever you want to call them
it's about defending the principle, that you don't convict people based on allegations or rumors.

if you was the one that all the posts were about and folks were slinging unsubstantiated allegations against you and your practices, how would you like it?
maybe you would appreciate someone who said wait "lets get the facts first", before we condemn him or shun him or have someone oversee him

Let's not get things twisted here. There is always a chance for monopolies to form, in virtually any industry. That is a simple fact. Regardless if you personally think that TurnCommerce is or isn't, when studying the history of other corporations that have turned into legitimate monopolies, I would suggest that you learn more about their origins, sales patterns, strategies, acquisition rates, and tendency to often funnel funds via unethical means. However, according to you, everything is 100% fine in this industry, right?

what you're alluding to, by comparing tc with what other companies do or have done or may have done, and by use of phrase "often channel funds via unethical means" is, to again, make an unproven association in how they may be doing business.

i'm no lawyer, but i'm pretty sure that in a court of law, such statements would be objected to and certainly wouldn't be allowed in the record, without proof.

imo….

 

[Chris Hydrick]

When this happened to me, immediately after they purchased the domain, it was then listed on their Hugedomains marketplace for literally 3X the price than what was allowed to be listed on BrandBucket.

Did you request a price increase from BB? If so, when was the price increase request submitted and when was the sale? I'm asking this because BB has let it be known in instances when a trending keyword or what not is more valuable that day, then when they reviewed it, as depicted by the market.

You are not obligated to list with them. You could have listed it anywhere else if you felt confident enough to ask the 3X that HugeDomains is allegedly offering it for.

I say allegedly due to your refusal to provide the facts. You're looking at this from your prospective that you've fully vetted your side for errors. Everybody else, who doesn't know the domain, sales date and etc, hasn't been afforded the opportunity to validate the alleged domain went from BB NameServers to HD NameServers without any chance of HD acquiring the domain via expiration process to include registrar expired auction or fully dropped domain.

Or, do you have additional information such as BB giving you enough info to indicate the buyer was HugeDomains?

Look, you don't have to share the details. Just as President Trump isn't obligated to share his tax returns, but if you or him, would like to gain the support of the people, you're going to have to try and be as transparent as possible. You might be weary to share a hot hidden keyword or whatever your reasoning is, then blur that part out, yet still provide the details one would have looked up, if the domain name was known.

It's like telling tech support you plugged in your laptop and it won't turn on. You'll show them the laptop, but you won't allow them to troubleshoot the power supply.... How would tech support know if you are using (a) the right cord (b) the cord is plugged into the wall (c) the cord has a short in it (d) anything else that an extra set of experienced eyes might see.

 

[Domainace]

So, why is this a problem? Ask yourself (with a straight face) what could hypothetically happen to the domain market as a whole, should TurnCommerce one day go belly up (because of their own mistakes) and they're forced to rapidly dump or liquidate their entire inventory? This isn't exactly a far fetched premise. Do you not think that this would have a negative impact on domain values across everyone's domain portfolios?

I really cannot understand, after 3 pages, what your point is. This sort of complete distraction from constructive thinking is why I rarely read NP threads anymore. If this is the point, then you can relax. Domain names are not commodities. Each one is unique. Most successful people in this business sell to end users, and end users wouldn't know or care about TurnCommerce having a fire sale. In fact, them going belly up would be a great opportunity for domainers to pick up some good names for cheap, and for prices to come down at Godaddy auctions. Win/win for everybody except TurnCommerce.

I know what I want for my domains, and whatever TrueCommerce does isn't at all relevant to my business. Unless they buy a name from me for $2000, of course, in which case I wouldn't be complaining about it.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

For demonstrative purposes, let's use the below quoted example to explain a theory to what might have occurred.

Possibl.com is an example (with an expired auction sales record) of a BrandBucket published domain that expired, then according to NameBio, was purchased for $355 at GoDaddy by what appears to be HugeDomains.

**There have been instances where NameBio is wrong, such as when a domain is renewed after the auction closed. Which raises the question, if HugeDomains really wanted a domain from an auction, and it was renewed, would they spend $X,XXX on it?**

Say OP sold Possibl.com via BB.

Then OP pushed the domain to the buyers account (OP might have opted NOT to change WHOIS info to the buyer)

If WHOIS info wasn't changed, the buyer might not have received the renewal notice emails. Hence the quick turnaround time from a domain sale, to an expired auction acquisition and sales listing by HugeDomains.

Or maybe the buyer opted for a different domain. It wouldn't be the first time a buyer bought a domain from a brandable marketplace, didn't renew it, and the domain ending up in HugeDomains hands.

This, of course, is all a theory. And seeing how OP has yet to provide the domain or specific dates / facts for anyone to validate, it's not likely OPs allegation will be substantiated any time soon.

#WhatAWasteOfTimeThisThreadWas #PleaseFactCheckBeforeStartingAThread
#OrProvideProofToCollaborateYourClaim #NoIWontProvideDetails #BecauseIDontWantToBeProvenWrong #IJustWantToUseTheThreadTitleToPushABiggerConcern
#DontWorryAboutTheThreadTitle #LetsTalkAboutWhatsBeingTalkedAboutInOtherThreads
#ItsNotFakeNewsISwear
#ItsNeverTooLateToBeTransparent

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Really nice detective work on finding what domains went from BB to HD, @Grilled Thank you! Also really clearly laying out the steps and possibilities in your description.

The fact that there were just a few, seems to suggest that only rarely do domains move from BB to HD, and even then it seems mainly or always after having expired for various reasons.

I think the OP point 2 is of concern if any one entity ends up with too much of the prime domain assets it is potentially problematic. I think the reason people focussed so much on your point 1 and not point 2 @The Rover is because of the title for the thread and also because the other point has already been discussed in length in different threads on NPs.

But mainly I just wanted to thank Grilled for a superb job tracking down what really happened. Hats off to you!

Bob

 

[biggie]

If the name would have been provided up front, it would have saved a lot of other peoples time. And the claim would have been quickly debunked by an extra set of eyes. That one action, or inaction, caused a trickle down effect to unnecessarily waste a lot of peoples time and/or energy. An issue all too common on nP.

totally agree

the premise of the thread was false, as @Grilled discovered

and if the name was revealed, the 2nd point would have been deemed redundant, since it was already discussed in another thread.
the OP could have bumped that thread, with his real intent

I think the OP point 2 is of concern if any one entity ends up with too much of the prime domain assets it is potentially problematic.

it is of no concern to me, because it won't happen.
other domainers who've been in the game for decades, have also been acquiring prime/top tier/ premium names for years

no one entity, not even godaddy has all the prime names registered with them
the myth that hd is buying up 50% of expiring names there, doesn't mean all or even half of them are high quality.
it's an assumption, until the list is published, an assumption because of who there are seen as.

the other point has already been discussed in length in different threads on NPs.

exactly, which makes bringing it up here, redundant, especially when no new information or facts are revealed

thank Grilled for a superb job tracking down what really happened

now that, I can agree with!


imo….

 

[The Rover]

I suspect you are right that most would not even know if they had bought one of their names that sold.

I agree, that's why I posted. I'm really curious if anyone is even aware of this.

I wonder if it means that they see the future in brandable names of high quality, and therefore are moving into these venues (probably in parallel of other ways like use AI to suggest unregistered or dropping brandable names that have value). Buying at BB prices means though, with uncertainty of resale probability, that there is some significant risk to them I would think.

Perhaps they simply have deep pockets because we're unaware of some huge financial backers that they have acquired? Who really knows. Either way, I'm merely wondering why hasn't anyone look into it deeper. I mean, if they weren't purchasing brandbucket names and literally half of the active expired listings on GoDaddy, then I wouldn't care at all. However, seeing the volume of GoDaddy expired domains that they are acquiring really should set off some alarm bells, which is the reason why I care. I can't honestly imagine them selling enough revenue from HugeDomains to support the habit of regularly buying BrandBucket domains. When I see one of my domains sell on BrandBucket for 2,500, only to be immediately listed on HugeDomains for 7K, it does make me really wonder just what the hell is going on. Like you said, surely that ain't sustainable in the slightest...unless of course those funds are being paid by other domainers, by proxy which is what others have alleged. I really hope that is not true.

I understand not disclosing the name, but was it a strictly made up word or something close or even exactly a dictionary word/combo?

It was just a dictionary word that dropped the last letter.