"Manual Drop" Tool. Worth Having?

[Simsi]

Hey guys

Just an idea to run past you - i've been thinking lots about Drop Catchers and how hard it is to get the domain, not to mention how lucrative it is for the services, and being a developer i'm always on the lookout for new projects to get up and running.

So it occured to me, why not write a variation on a theme, whereby "domainers" and others (why not!) can manually add their sites to a drop - effectively creating a "manual drop" - that works in the same way as the automated services, but allows ppl with domains to effectively "drop" their names ahead of expiry and thus pick up on the profits.

To a degree, its like an auction (but then so is a drop catcher) but there is more to it than that (backordering, grace periods, pre-auction sales etc) and I have one or two other ideas in these latter areas that make this a) more interesting and b) more practical (which i won't share here for now).

The upshot being that the bulk of the final price goes to the registrant (read "seller") rather than the drop catcher service. To work properly, it would need to be "managed", particularly in the area of escrow, so there is a logistics issue.

But if anyone (Namepros?) can see any mileage in managing such a service, it'd be a fun one to develop and if done properly, potentially good for our community I would have thought. It would need proper planning, trusted people, and some experienced heads behind it, but there are plenty of those here.

Any thoughts?

Simsi

 

[DomainSage]

Hi Simsi,

I have thought about a similar thing. The problem is that the only people that would add their names are those in the business ( IE us ) .... In general we do not let good names drop
The only ones that let domains drop ( that are worth catching ) are people not in the 'know' and hence would not be adding their domains to such a service.

When I ran my hosting business I would contact clients who had let domains expire if I thought they had value and ask them if they would be interested in letting me sell them on, I would then pay to renew them and split any profit with the original owner.

All the best.

Richard

 

[Simsi]

Hi Simsi,

In general we do not let good names drop
The only ones that let domains drop ( that are worth catching ) are people not in the 'know' and hence would not be adding their domains to such a service.

Thanks for the feedback Richard. Actually, this in principle is slightly different, its more of a "profile" thing, in that by adding your domain to the "manual drop" queue with a specified date, you are alerting potential buyers ahead of an auction in order to give them a chance to "backorder" (register interest).

So for example, a manual drop would occur typically 30 days (example) after the domain was registered for the drop. It may be registered with a pre-auction BIN so any backordering chappie can pre-buy ahead of the auction at BIN. Failing that, it hits the auction (maybe with an optional reserve at x% of the BIN) either 30 days later, or as soon as two or more people have "backordered" it (whichever comes later), thus triggering the auction for a set period (theres more beyond this but for another time).

I'm kinda "thinking aloud" here so the feedback is welcomed

 

[IAmAllanShore]

What would differentiate this from any currently available auction service? (Like pool.com's marketplace or afternic bazaar or similar...)
Just the fact that the names are theorhetically "dropping-early"?
I seem to be lost as to the concept.
-Allan

 

[DomainSage]

Sorry Simsi, I still don't quite get it

I can't really see this being any different to a normal auction, mind you it is probably just me ... Been doing a lot of work today and my brain is fried

I do wish you all the best with the project though.

Richard

 

[Simsi]

LOL. No problem guys. If a project isnt obvious enough then its probably not worth pursuing anyway :D

The idea ultimately is to find a way that we can catch the profits that "dropping" domains seem to make for the Pool's of this world.

Seems silly that we could sit on a domain for 2 years, get offered squat, then when it drops, hysteria settles in and the Big Boys make hundreds or thousands of dollars from it.

It struck me that the reason for this is that the domain gets more visibility through these services and "drop lists" or "expiring soon" lists etc, and obviously, the more people that know a domain is available, the more people bid.

Still think we should at least develop a NamePros database of all our domains though. That would help.