HUGE DOMAINS SNIPING GODADDY CLOSEOUTS

[wwwweb]

So annoying Godaddy hasn't stopped Huge Domains from sniping Godaddy Closeouts with their automated tools, no way a human bidder can win a even closeout.

First they were sniping with the backorders, now you cut that out, and you are letting them snipe via automated tools.

So what do you say @Joe Styler , you want to even the playing field a bit, as your partners are bidding everything in a split second, from $12, to $11, and bidding everything else into the hundreds from a simple bid. I would rather pay a Huge Domains surcharge at checkout.


Huge Domains has an unfair advantage on the auction platform, essentially taxing every user for using it with their automated access advantages given to them thru the house.

 

[golan]

Also I think they buy like 5-9k names each day on the drop.

Interesting, but questionable. There are no 5-9k even remotely good names each day on the drop. Even if you count GD domains in.

 

[werty]

Interesting, but questionable. There are no 5-9k even remotely good names each day on the drop. Even if you count GD domains in.

They register a lot of domains that are garbage and don't mean anything... Could be much less than I stated on a daily basis (I've seen a few grand on random days) but if you look for domains registered everyday by dropcatch, you will see at least a few grand and most are for them not customers. Yesterday they caught 2800+ and I have seen much higher before. Here's the list I just got from expireddomains.net (attached):

 

[golan]

They register a lot of domains that are garbage and don't mean anything... Could be much less than I stated on a daily basis (I've seen a few grand on random days) but if you look for domains registered everyday by dropcatch, you will see at least a few grand and most are for them not customers. Yesterday they caught 2800+ and I have seen much higher before. Here's the list I just got from expireddomains.net (attached):

Amazing. Who needs these? xjsfks.com wtf

 

[werty]

Amazing. Who needs these? xjsfks.com wtf

I think some in China buy short domains even if they don't mean anything. Please note that this list is, according to expireddomains.net, everything dropcatch caught yesterday. So that includes both for customers and huge domains. Although most will be for huge domains for sure...

 

[Dave]

I think I've single handedly cost Huge Domains 6 figures this year alone. At least $10k in the last month. I've been bidding on a lot of domains I like trying to win them and they outbid me 99% of the time to prices that I'm just not willing to pay.

 

[wwwweb]

I think I've single handedly cost Huge Domains 6 figures this year alone. At least $10k in the last month. I've been bidding on a lot of domains I like trying to win them and they outbid me 99% of the time to prices that I'm just not willing to pay.

I have been doing the same thing lately making them pay $1xx-$2xx more than anyone else is willing, except them. I am sure they get daily reports on spending, but I still see a lot of people outbid them to win their name.

That is pretty good you pull out before they stop bidding. Given they are active on anything with a pulse, I think at this point you are aware who is on the other side very quickly when you get that outbid notice, or that large proxy wall that is hard to outbid on subpar names into the hundreds.

You can surely agree that no domineer can throw away profits by purchasing such domains by the tens of thousands as the sell thru is not there, so any idea what their angle is? There has to be some kind of incentive attached to this activity?

 

[Dave]

I have been doing the same thing lately making them pay $1xx-$2xx more than anyone else is willing, except them. I am sure they get daily reports on spending, but I still see a lot of people outbid them to win their name.

That is pretty good you pull out before they stop bidding. Given they are active on anything with a pulse, I think at this point you are aware who is on the other side very quickly when you get that outbid notice, or that large proxy wall that is hard to outbid on subpar names into the hundreds.

You can surely agree that no domineer can throw away profits by purchasing such domains by the tens of thousands as the sell thru is not there, so any idea what their angle is? There has to be some kind of incentive attached to this activity?

I think it's as another poster mentioned. They are happy with a much smaller profit margin than typical domain investors. Maybe they're happy making 20-30% margins. I mean clearly their model must be working for them or else why would they do it.

If they can scale up their inventory size whilst maintaining relatively consistent margins then their revenues increase, which in turn makes their business all the more valuable.

 

[wwwweb]

Why pay all your profits to
godaddy, people usually invest in new technologies, or ideas.

As stated above the domain business is very high risk, especially when dealing in tier 3 type name.

I wonder if they have a side deal where they only pay 5 percent commission for names won, and sold at Gofaddy etc... for the way they are bidding there has to be a built in incentive?

If you could make 10-20% margin as constantly as them, then why has everyone here stated they have given up bidding, isn’t. that free money?

Only reason I question is because I know the grind with these kind of names, it doesn’t add up.

 

[Dave]

Why pay all your profits to
godaddy, people usually invest in new technologies, or ideas.

As stated above the domain business is very high risk, especially when dealing in tier 3 type name.

I wonder if they have a side deal where they only pay 5 percent commission for names won, and sold at Gofaddy etc... for the way they are bidding there has to be a built in incentive?

If you could make 10-20% margin as constantly as them, then why has everyone here stated they have given up bidding, isn’t. that free money?

Only reason I question is because I know the grind with these kind of names, it doesn’t add up.

Well it appears they've removed the human element from decision making on what domains to bid on. The reason the average domain investor won't bid them up is because it isn't free money.

It takes considerable time each day to browse the lists and place bids at auction. Time is money and if huge domains have removed that human element it isn't costing them anything in resource to place those bids, so it isn't eating away at their profits like it would for a typical domainer.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

Due to their monstrous size, they need to purchase about 125 domains per day just to maintain their portfolio size. If they want to grow by double their sales, they would need to buy 250 domains per day. Even if they buy 250 domains per day for $200, their expenses would only be $18,250,000 for the year and they likely have over $100,000,000 in sales each year, so no problem there. I think their average is probably closer to $70-100 per domain if you include all their purchases and auction BIN snaps.

Here are some of the domains I lost to them in July & August:

NameDev.com - $206 (HD bid until $201)
WallMates.com - $37 (Listing price $2,795)
CompuConnection.com - $27 (Listing price $3,995)
InsuranceForTeens.com - $45 (Listing price $3,195)
Cheeked.com - $204 (Listing price $3,895)
InvestorNames.com - $65 (Listing price $3,595)
SureVacations.com - $54 (not listed yet)
BackyardWarehouse.com - $17 (not listed yet)
GripAssist.com - $204 (not listed yet)
Calendoo.com - $50 (not listed yet)
Fittro.com - $136 (not listed yet)
DietTrend.com - $210 (HD bid until $205)
Wallberry.com - $104 (not listed yet)
Bivys.com - $134 (not listed yet)

Average Auction Purchase Cost: $105.93
Average Sales Price: $3,495 (From what I've seen, they don't negotiate)

If I apply this same logic to my portfolio, there is no reason why I or any domain investor couldn't do the same thing to maintain their portfolio or slowly grow their portfolio. The month of August so far has been one of my biggest months at $29.1k in sales for 5 domain sales. That is an average of $5,820 per domain (2 over $5k, and 3 under $5k). To replace these domains, even if I had to spend $500 per domain, it would only be $2,500.

The most expensive and painful process is building your portfolio. Growing more once it is big is the easy part.

 

[werty]

Due to their monstrous size, they need to purchase about 125 domains per day just to maintain their portfolio size. If they want to grow by double their sales, they would need to buy 250 domains per day. Even if they buy 250 domains per day for $200, their expenses would only be $18,250,000 for the year and they likely have over $100,000,000 in sales each year, so no problem there. I think their average is probably closer to $70-100 per domain if you include all their purchases and auction BIN snaps.

Show attachment 127601

Here are some of the domains I lost to them in July & August:

NameDev.com - $206 (HD bid until $201)
WallMates.com - $37 (Listing price $2,795)
CompuConnection.com - $27 (Listing price $3,995)
InsuranceForTeens.com - $45 (Listing price $3,195)
Cheeked.com - $204 (Listing price $3,895)
InvestorNames.com - $65 (Listing price $3,595)
SureVacations.com - $54 (not listed yet)
BackyardWarehouse.com - $17 (not listed yet)
GripAssist.com - $204 (not listed yet)
Calendoo.com - $50 (not listed yet)
Fittro.com - $136 (not listed yet)
DietTrend.com - $210 (HD bid until $205)
Wallberry.com - $104 (not listed yet)
Bivys.com - $134 (not listed yet)

Average Auction Purchase Cost: $105.93
Average Sales Price: $3,495 (From what I've seen, they don't negotiate)

If I apply this same logic to my portfolio, there is no reason why I or any domain investor couldn't do the same thing to maintain their portfolio or slowly grow their portfolio. The month of August so far has been one of my biggest months at $29.1k in sales for 5 domain sales. That is an average of $5,820 per domain (2 over $5k, and 3 under $5k). To replace these domains, even if I had to spend $500 per domain, it would only be $2,500.

The most expensive and painful process is building your portfolio. Growing more once it is big is the easy part.

What's your sales rate if you don't mind me asking?

 

[wwwweb]

Due to their monstrous size, they need to purchase about 125 domains per day just to maintain their portfolio size. If they want to grow by double their sales, they would need to buy 250 domains per day. Even if they buy 250 domains per day for $200, their expenses would only be $18,250,000 for the year and they likely have over $100,000,000 in sales each year, so no problem there. I think their average is probably closer to $70-100 per domain if you include all their purchases and auction BIN snaps.

Show attachment 127601

Here are some of the domains I lost to them in July & August:

NameDev.com - $206 (HD bid until $201)
WallMates.com - $37 (Listing price $2,795)
CompuConnection.com - $27 (Listing price $3,995)
InsuranceForTeens.com - $45 (Listing price $3,195)
Cheeked.com - $204 (Listing price $3,895)
InvestorNames.com - $65 (Listing price $3,595)
SureVacations.com - $54 (not listed yet)
BackyardWarehouse.com - $17 (not listed yet)
GripAssist.com - $204 (not listed yet)
Calendoo.com - $50 (not listed yet)
Fittro.com - $136 (not listed yet)
DietTrend.com - $210 (HD bid until $205)
Wallberry.com - $104 (not listed yet)
Bivys.com - $134 (not listed yet)

Average Auction Purchase Cost: $105.93
Average Sales Price: $3,495 (From what I've seen, they don't negotiate)

If I apply this same logic to my portfolio, there is no reason why I or any domain investor couldn't do the same thing to maintain their portfolio or slowly grow their portfolio. The month of August so far has been one of my biggest months at $29.1k in sales for 5 domain sales. That is an average of $5,820 per domain (2 over $5k, and 3 under $5k). To replace these domains, even if I had to spend $500 per domain, it would only be $2,500.

The most expensive and painful process is building your portfolio. Growing more once it is big is the easy part.

They own over 6 million names, good record keeping on your bids, all those low domains they most likely had proxies exceeding over $150 on most of them. This is just a sample of you being 1 person that you lost out on, imagine across the board. I have seen them win domains in the high hundreds, and cross over into the $1,xxx range also. Great insight though.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

What's your sales rate if you don't mind me asking?

I'm just under 1% @ 0.95% or so. I just updated all my pricing to NameWorth pricing this summer to "take my own medicine".

This month would have been $11,850 if I hadn't updated my pricing. But $22.5k of the $29.1k are lease-to-own sales, where it probably would have been cash-in-hand if I hadn't updated my pricing. So it seems like it is a little give and take so far.

Sales rate is about right for August even with the pricing increase. Buyers just seemed to flip to lease-to-own instead of buying upfront.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

They own over 6 million names, good record keeping on your bids, all those low domains they most likely had proxies exceeding over $150 on most of them. This is just a sample of you being 1 person that you lost out on, imagine across the board. I have seen them win domains in the high hundreds, and cross over into the $1,xxx range also. Great insight though.

Ah, ok. I didn't realize they were up to that many. So, it should be even easier for them to buy if they have double the inventory.

With the big purchases, they may be filling inventory for their PremiumDomains.com site that is due to launch.

From a supply and demand perspective, the bigger they get, the more weight they'll have on causing prices to rise both in the aftermarket and retail pricing.

 

[werty]

I'm just under 1% @ 0.95% or so. I just updated all my pricing to NameWorth pricing this summer to "take my own medicine".

This month would have been $11,850 if I hadn't updated my pricing. But $22.5k of the $29.1k are lease-to-own sales, where it probably would have been cash-in-hand if I hadn't updated my pricing.

Thanks for the info. I really can't see how (using your example above) paying $500 per domain makes the business worth it with 1% sales rate. Like $500 x 100 domains = $50K just to sell 1 domain? How do you make it work? Perhaps my sales time frame is too short term (within 1 year most of my sales) vs investing longer term. But even paying $200 per domain x 100 domains is 20k. So in theory seems unlikely to even breakeven. This is what I don't understand with many of the auctions in which known domainers are constantly paying these prices... How do they even turn a profit...

 

[Dave]

Thanks for the info. I really can't see how (using your example above) paying $500 per domain makes the business worth it with 1% sales rate. Like $500 x 100 domains = $50K just to sell 1 domain? How do you make it work? Perhaps my sales time frame is too short term (within 1 year most of my sales) vs investing longer term. But even paying $200 per domain x 100 domains is 20k. So in theory seems unlikely to even breakeven. This is what I don't understand with many of the auctions in which known domainers are constantly paying these prices... How do they even turn a profit...

If people really are overpaying that's their choice. Look on the bright side, anyone who is overpaying for domains won't last long in this game, which means in future less competition for you.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

Thanks for the info. I really can't see how (using your example above) paying $500 per domain makes the business worth it with 1% sales rate. Like $500 x 100 domains = $50K just to sell 1 domain? How do you make it work? Perhaps my sales time frame is too short term (within 1 year most of my sales) vs investing longer term. But even paying $200 per domain x 100 domains is 20k. So in theory seems unlikely to even breakeven. This is what I don't understand with many of the auctions in which known domainers are constantly paying these prices... How do they even turn a profit...

When building a portfolio, I would suggest trying to stay around the $20-40 range if possible.

What I was referring to is if you have a decent number of domains already, and you are just buying domains to replace the domains you sold, then I was saying (as an extreme example) $500 per name is a bargain if you are selling them at $3,500 or more. Ideally the price would be $100 or less.

After doing this for 15 years, I have about 7,000 domains. Some years I went up by 1,500+ names, other years I went up by maybe 100 names.

But now, if I'm selling 70 domains per year, even if it costs me $500 per domain to replace them, it is still only $35k. If my average sales price for the year is $3,500, my revenue before registration fees would be $245k.

Realistically though, my average auction cost has been $172.78 per domain for the last 3 months. But I've been focusing on purchasing what I'd consider Tier 1 & Tier 2 domain names otherwise I'd be spending much less per domain.

So the plan was to increase the prices to NameWorth suggested levels (where I feel it makes sense) and then try to get to $250k in annual sales from the current $130k-$140k. So hopefully I'll get there, or maybe I'll crash and burn because the prices are too high. But the first month is looking great so far and on track.

But based on the recent results, I would only suggest raising prices with a lease-to-own option.

 

[Josh R]

When building a portfolio, I would suggest trying to stay around the $20-40 range if possible.

What I was referring to is if you have a decent number of domains already, and you are just buying domains to replace the domains you sold, then I was saying (as an extreme example) $500 per name is a bargain if you are selling them at $3,500 or more. Ideally the price would be $100 or less.

After doing this for 15 years, I have about 7,000 domains. Some years I went up by 1,500+ names, other years I went up by maybe 100 names.

But now, if I'm selling 70 domains per year, even if it costs me $500 per domain to replace them, it is still only $35k. If my average sales price for the year is $3,500, my revenue before registration fees would be $245k.

Realistically though, my average auction cost has been $172.78 per domain for the last 3 months. But I've been focusing on purchasing what I'd consider Tier 1 & Tier 2 domain names otherwise I'd be spending much less per domain.

So the plan was to increase the prices to NameWorth suggested levels (where I feel it makes sense) and then try to get to $250k from the current $130k-$140k. So hopefully I'll get there, or maybe I'll crash and burn because the prices are too high. But the first month is looking great so far and on track.

Pretty sure you can't buy tier 1 names for less than $20K but I get your point

 

[Recons.Com]

I think I've single handedly cost Huge Domains 6 figures this year alone. At least $10k in the last month. I've been bidding on a lot of domains I like trying to win them and they outbid me 99% of the time to prices that I'm just not willing to pay.

This is the way to go. To create the poison pill until the model is no longer viable.

 

[Lox]

2300 in, 2100 deleted, 200 transferred out in a day, ... almost every day (estimate) 200+ sold >$2k+