debate How do you spot fake bidders?

[katerleonid]

There’s a big discussion on X right now about fake bidding in domain auctions, and I’d love to ask more about it.

In most auctions - even expired ones - the real action happens in the final minutes (especially during the extensions).

But how can we tell if there are fake bidders when there’s no reserve?
Can you actually feel it?
Can you sense whether a bidder in the last few seconds is genuine or not?

And most importantly - when do you stop bidding and decide to let it go?

 

[Eric Lyon]

Depends on the platform and how much information they provide on a bidder or in their account profile.

Just a few red flags might be (If that info is provided)
(%/% = Potential: Yes/No)

• Geo/Location IPs within 25 miles of one another (Seller/Bidder) - 75/25
• Geo/Location Same city as seller - 75/25
• Blank Profile - 60/40
• Just signed up (Same day as bid) - 40/60
• Out-bid their own previous bid - 75/25
• No avatar (When applicable) - 35/65
• Requesting payment method that allows charge backs - 65/35
• Increases bid by 1000% or more (E.g. $300 previous to $3,000) - 60/40
• Bidder has history of failed payments - 70/30
• Bidder has negative feedback/reviews for failed agreements - 70/30
• Etc...

There's more, but that's enough to get some flags flying when multiple happen at once.

There's no 100% and some of the outweighed Yes's could be false positives. It's really a guessing game without access to the more specific/identifiable data that only the platform can see or access and even then, it can be a tough call.

 

[byte]

Multiple bids from two different people minutes after a domain has been listed with still 9 days and 23 hours to go is always a big tell

 

[katerleonid]

I’ve seen this happen with expired domains. The domain expires, goes to auction, and it starts getting bids. The issue is that the original owner can still renew it at any moment. So I always wonder, who is bidding that early?

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

Bids on an expired name is definitely a sign of fake bidders.
Its pretty obvious when bids are fake.
Sum thing you learn i.guess

 

[nicenic]

Tracking bidder IDs across multiple auctions usually exposes shill behavior more reliably than price spikes.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

No it doesnt. Tell chatgpt its wrong.
My id at different auction platforms is not same.
What does shill bidding at godaddy have to do with shill bidding at namepros
Tell chatgpt you need to start thinking for yourself

 

[katerleonid]

Actually, on the NameSilo expired domains marketplace, you don’t get the bidder’s name or ID, and of course you can’t track them across multiple marketplaces. For example, the bidder name on Namecheap won’t be the same on another marketplace.