HugeDomains.com is Buying 50%+ of Expiring Domains at GoDaddy.com

[Arca]

I've been wondering about the competition in auctions for expiring domains over at GoDaddy.com, because somebody is paying hundreds for seemingly every domain that gets a few bidders.

I’ve also noticed a clear pattern, with the last bidder (or one of the last bidders) entering the auction winning most of the time, which made me think that there is one large corporate buyer piggybacking of whatever domains other people find and bid on. Turns out that is the case: HugeDomains.com is buying most domains over at GoDaddy.com expired auctions. I looked up the WHOIS of the past 150 auctions I have lost at GoDaddy.com, and 84 of those are now owned by HugeDomains.com and listed for sale on HugeDomains.com.

While 50%+ may not be representative of overall domains bought at GoDaddy, they do seem to buy far more domains than anyone else. The 66 names not bought by HugeDomains.com were bought by a number of different individuals and companies (BuyDomains.com bought 6 of those 66, for example), so 50%+ were taken by HugeDomains, while "the rest" of the auction wins were by a number of different individual domainers and companies.

This might not be news to some, but I've never seen anyone mention that HugeDomains is this active over at GD expired auctions, so I thought it might be interesting for some people to know who is outbidding everyone in the lower range over at GoDaddy. I've read people mentioning that HugeDomains buy names in close-out status over at GoDaddy, but never that they buy most of the domains in auctions too.

HugeDomains absolutely dominates all auctions below $5XX, and they only picked up a single name above $5XX (cakemart.com) in my sample of 150 names, so $5XX seems to be a self-imposed limit for them. If I only checked domains sold below $5XX, the percentage bought by them would be even higher. I've been the second highest bidder in lots of auctions that HugeDomains.com won, and in my experience they will keep bidding until you give up or until the price passes $5XX. By outbidding most bidders in the lower end, and acquiring more than half of the domains other people also have interest, it leaves a far smaller pool of names for the rest of the domainers to compete for, so I guess that's part of the reason why the reseller prices for names keep increasing so much for names in this range.

The only way to buy cheap domains at GoDaddy auctions now seems to be to let domains expire with 0 bids, so that they go to close-out status, and then try to snipe them as soon as that happens. However, some domainers seem to think it's smart to bid $12 on any decent name when there is 1-15 minutes left, hoping that nobody else is going to place a bid, so fewer and fewer decent names are let to expire with 0 bids. However, that strategy never seems to work (I've tried it myself lots of names, and it did not work even one time), because there are always other people watching and waiting for the name to go to close-out, and they jump in and bid if you make a $12 bid, and most of those names are eventually won by HugeDomains.com. What experiences do other people have at GD recently? Anyone else have any good strategies for buying expiring domains @ GoDaddy.com these days?

Some examples of expired domains bought at GoDaddy.com auctions by HugeDomains:
Domain: skillsharing.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $540
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $2995

Domain: ledmaster.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $537
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2195

Domain: cyberstrategies.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $262
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $2895

Domain: crablab.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $320
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $1895

Domain: dailyportal.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $560
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $2895

Domain: fivesecondrule.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $42
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $2695

Domain: deltacloud.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $365
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $1795

Domain: itace.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $499
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2595

Domain: sunnykitchen.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $200
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2595

Domain: baristaschool.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $449
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2895

Domain: cakemart.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $695
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $3495

Domain: visuala.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $315
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2795

Domain: massanalytics.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $130
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2095

Domain: edusport.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $535
BIN price (at HugeDomains): $2995

Domain: acneguru.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $52
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $2495

Domain: stylefolio.com
Purchase price (at GoDaddy): $195
Asking price (at HugeDomains): $1995

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Related: HUGE DOMAINS SNIPING GODADDY CLOSEOUTS

 

[wwwweb]

Even if hugenames is not winning every auction, they are running the price up on every auction, any other buyer would have their hand in maybe a dozen or so auctions, they have their hand in thousands daily. It is just a proxy robot, bidding on everything, so damn annoying.

 

[Michael M]

Even if hugenames is not winning every auction, they are running the price up on every auction, any other buyer would have their hand in maybe a dozen or so auctions, they have their hand in thousands daily. It is just a proxy robot, bidding on everything, so damn annoying.

Very true. If this 10% figure holds up or increases - imagine how many other names they bid on and get maxed out by someone else on a daily basis.

 

[Michael M]

FYI: Seems TLDpros uses Godaddy forwarding - so they were probably some of the buyers in the Other category. I am going to fix my report now to identify those as well as HD. If there is some other major buyer you guys would like me to also look into - let me know.

 

[wwwweb]

Very true. If this 10% figure holds up or increases - imagine how many other names they bid on and get maxed out by someone else on a daily basis.

I didn't know TLDPROS was active again, I actually took a step back, as I know how this calculation works, if you are paying these kind of prices, with active sell thru, you need to be in a serious bull run, which we are in, but any downturn, and you are going to sit on a lot of expensive inventory. I am not a fan of TLDPROS after what they pulled on namejet.

Huge Domains started in late 2015, but in 2018 they have taken it to a whole new level, back in 2015 people started noticing their max $102 bids on any last 5 minute bid jump.

 

[GeorgeQuang]

I didn't know TLDPROS was active again, I actually took a step back, as I know how this calculation works, if you are paying these kind of prices, with active sell thru, you need to be in a serious bull run, which we are in, but any downturn, and you are going to sit on a lot of expensive inventory. I am not a fan of TLDPROS after what they pulled on namejet.

Huge Domains started in late 2015, but in 2018 they have taken it to a whole new level, back in 2015 people started noticing their max $102 bids on any last 5 minute bid jump.

As a private domainer, i could not spend tons of money into low-quality names like they did. Too much death capital in inventories.

 

[urlurl]

i agree it doesn't make sense, the list you provided i wouldn't pay over $10 on auction for that sample.

for them to make money based on what they are spending they would have to sell 1 out of 10 of the names they purchased... and i don't see that happening.

 

[GeorgeQuang]

i agree it doesn't make sense, the list you provided i wouldn't pay over $10 on auction for that sample.

for them to make money based on what they are spending they would have to sell 1 out of 10 of the names they purchased... and i don't see that happening.

It would true in back to 2014.
Now, you could not get those name for under $50.
HD and TLDpros have being changed the game.

 

[urlurl]

a month ago i was picking up good names for $5 - $15

and then in the last 3-4 weeks it seems they were all getting bid up, in the last week hardly anything even made it to closeouts.

it's been like this before on and off

it seems to go in waves... just got to wait it out

 

[wwwweb]

a month ago i was picking up good names for $5 - $15

and then in the last 3-4 weeks it seems they were all getting bid up, in the last week hardly anything even made it to closeouts.

it's been like this before on and off

it seems to go in waves... just got to wait it out

That is the issue when you pay to much for inventory you have to ask more, and that hobby domain buyer if he can't get that $500-$1000 price point, they are going to go for reg fee into the gtld's.

Huge Domains is effectively increasing the value of their portfolio, by pushing the market higher, they stand to gain the most, just in appreciation of their underlying portfolio. Don't you wish end users would pay up like domainers are right now, bidding without cause, or effect.

 

[GeorgeQuang]

Every names that i added in watch list always had $10 bid in the last 5 mins.
There is no opportunities for them to appear in Close out

 

[urlurl]

Every names that i added in watch list always had $10 bid in the last 5 mins.
There is no opportunities for them to appear in Close out

yes, i noticed that in the last week or so, not sure if its HD that is doing it or other domainers not risking loosing it to someone else in closeouts.

 

[urlurl]

That is the issue when you pay to much for inventory you have to ask more, and that hobby domain buyer if he can't get that $500-$1000 price point, they are going to go for reg fee into the gtld's.

Huge Domains is effectively increasing the value of their portfolio, by pushing the market higher, they stand to gain the most, just in appreciation of their underlying portfolio. Don't you wish end users would pay up like domainers are right now, bidding without cause, or effect.

i agree, but has HD increased their prices?

they mostly seem to be pricing them +/- in the $2k range

 

[wwwweb]

i agree, but has HD increased their prices?

they mostly seem to be pricing them +/- in the $2k range

I believe I have heard they do increase prices based on hits to the specific landing pages of the set domain. I guess they would almost need some sort of formula when managing 4M domains.

 

[Michael M]

Here are the results for 2/26/18:

Keyword Domain Sample: 449 domains
Sold Domains: 119

Other 45
HugeDomains 20
DomainMarket 10
Above 8
Uniregistry 8
Sedo 5
InternetTraffic.com 4
ParkLogic 4
Afternic 3
BrandBucket 3
CashParking.com 3
Efty 2
Bodis 1
Brandpa 1
ParkingCrew 1
Undeveloped 1

This means that HD purchased 16.8% of the domains that sold out of the 2/26 sample list.

Domains that HD purchased from sample list:
purestory(.)com
seednorth(.)com
pantrycollective(.)com
helloyum(.)com
investingcircle(.)com
hitcycling(.)com
spotpop(.)com
hidin(.)com
meetbug(.)com
strategykit(.)com
smartada(.)com
hotelhello(.)com
toolsnow(.)com
blindmonkey(.)com
diabeticguy(.)com
worshipstudio(.)com
farmwaste(.)com
litshow(.)com
techiewire(.)com
websitestorage(.)com


FYI: I saw no sales to TLDPros on 2/26. I am rechecking 2/23 now.

 

[GeorgeQuang]

The biggest problem is : in my watch-list, all names are high-quality domains, and nearly 50% were bought by HD.
And our profit depends on good names.

 

[D Haynes]

Some of my losing domains (from 19 DEC to 23 DEC)
What do you think ?
Domain - Landingpage - Winning Price
creationhomes.com - TLDpros - $293
limoinc.com - TLDpros - $171
officepantry.com - TLDpros - 205
topvacancy.com - TLDpros - 96
pinkpiranha.com - HD - 248 - Forsale 1995
peonybridal.com - HD - 75 - Forsale 2195
annexdigital.com - UniRegistry - 95
loftconsulting.com - UniRegistry - 75
saferparking.com - HD - 60 -Forsale 1995
lagunamassage.com - HD - 85 - Forsale 1895
apartmentwien.com - HD - 95 - Forsale 2895
seriarte.com - GD - 208
hostreal.com - TLdpros - 141
negotiationpro.com - TLDpros - 163
creationlife.com - HD - 185 - Forsale 1895
hotelequator.com - HD - 85 - Forsale 2695
jordanexpress.com - HD - 93 - Forsale 2195
smsproviders.com - HD - 136 - Forsale 2095
instantmentor.com - TLDpros - 92
icoroom.com - TLDpros - 151
frealestate.com - HD - 85 - Forsale 2195
edisonauto.com - Afternic - 105
castlenetwork.com - HD - 180 - Forsale 2295
allinwhite.com - Uniregistry - 147
hawkcars.com - HD - 94 - Forsale 1795
academicexpert.com - Uniregistry - 204

What strikes me most is that I wouldn't buy any of those names for 12 bucks in close out and they pay thousands. Don't know if that means I'm clueless or they're wasting their money lol

Edit - Just seen others have said the same. Hadn't seen those posts when I wrote the above. Still that plays in my favour lol and maybe I'm not so clueless.

 

[centreurope]

That might hurt them and bite them in the ass in the end.

From what I see on the domain names I'm following, HugeDomains is overpaying crappy domains and register almost everything that we let expire, for a reason.
The only (almost) clever thing that they do is taking the priority for any generic domain name that we BO at discount price. Systematically, HG takes them. So they use our watch to select good generic domains. But as soon as we have noticed that, we have stopped to place such discount backorders with Dropcatch.

 

[GeorgeQuang]

What strikes me most is that I wouldn't buy any of those names for 12 bucks in close out and they pay thousands. Don't know if that means I'm clueless or they're wasting their money lol

Edit - Just seen others have said the same. Hadn't seen those posts when I wrote the above. Still that plays in my favour lol and maybe I'm not so clueless.

if i can pay 12$ or even 20$ for each, i will pay off all of them. But dream is always dream.

 

[urlurl]

where did the 4 million names number come from?

their site indicates 350,000 names

 

[GeorgeQuang]

where did the 4 million names number come from?

their site indicates 350,000 names

In stead of asking this question, i think we should ask ourselves - Where will our names come from ?
- GD Expired auctions ? Ya, maybe, but not many like it used to.
- Dropped List ? I'm a hard-work domainer ( i think so), i had searched and worked on Dropped List every day in 2 years. And this year i said "Bye" with this field. DropCatch has caught every names it can. No more gems on Dropped List.
- NJ : yes, maybe.
- Other sources
=>The last chance : quit Domainer career, start working normal jobs like we did before.
This night, i add 40 names on my watch list, and could not buy any of them due to the crazy prices.

 

[urlurl]

i picked up 1 yesterday and 1 today, so im good

 

[GeorgeQuang]

i picked up 1 yesterday and 1 today, so im good

are you a part-time investor ???? Or domaining is creating your main cashflow ?

 

[urlurl]

part time, so im not under any pressure to buy or sell.


Still would like to know where this 4 million names number comes from?!?!

 

[Arca]

Still would like to know where this 4 million names number comes from?!?!

It came from DomainTools.com.

Some blogs have written about it as well:

https://domaingang.com/domain-news/hugest-domains-four-million-under-management/

 

[Arca]

Every names that i added in watch list always had $10 bid in the last 5 mins.
There is no opportunities for them to appear in Close out

Previously when I tracked these last min $10 domains they went to HD. But now they go under WHOIS privacy instead. So somebody has taken HugeDomains previous bidding method.

However, HD is placing automated counter bids on nearly all those $10 bids. And when WHOIS cleared, those bids turned out to be by HugeDomains.

So apparently somebody has "stolen" HD's strategy of placing a $10 bid on everything with a certain valuation. But that doesn't matter to HD because they just place a $15+ bids on all of them. So rather few actually close at $10, and instead sell for $15+ to HugeDomains.

Here are some domains where a $10 bid was placed in the last 5 minutes and that were won for $10:
donstream.com
leg2.com
securedway.com

Now all are under WHOIS privacy

However, whenever somebody places a $10 bid, a $15 bid appears shortly after on nearly all of them. Here are some examples of domains that got a $10 bid and then an automated proxy bid:
harlemhospitality.com
findha.com
lookoutmountainclub.com

These sold for $15 and went to HugeDomains.

This bidding pattern of $10 opening bid around the five minute mark, followed by a proxy bid, usually of $25+ by HugeDomains around the 2-3 minute mark, has been taking place in a few thousand auctions a day recently. So the vast majority of these domains close at $15 with 2 bidders and go to HD.