Namecheap Garbage Auctions - Something Shady

[Lauren Stephens]

So, I have been bidding on namecheap auctions. Namecheap owns all these names, they are not privately owned. I won an auction for a domain name and then I noticed that the screen now says that they extended it (presumably so they could get more money!). Has anyone else had this happen? Is this normal? I have done a lot of auctions and have never seen this on any other platform! ps namecheap extended the auction time TWICE.

 

[anantj]

I won the bid otherwise but since at the last minute the name shows up at the top of the list, people jumped in at the last minute

Obviously, you did not "win". You put in an interim high bid but you do not win auctions until they are truly over (i.e. you have the winning bid when the auction time runs out).

 

[anantj]

Sure, there is probably some sniping going

There was a LOT of sniping that used to happen before this time extension. In fact, bidders with API access simply set up automatic bidding for the last second thereby winning auctions even if there were other users who would have bid higher than the winning bid

(that is what happened to me)

No, that's not what happened to you. The major intent of the time extension is to prevent sniping. How can you call it sniping when you have 5 minutes to rebid?

 

[Jv1999]

20-30 minute extensions are hardly the same as one minute. basically just keeping it open til no one else shows up to bid. no, it does not make any sense. sure maybe this industry accepts it, but that doesnt make it make sense. by the way if someone "wants to pay more" they should show up on time to do so if it is that important to them.

If you get overwhelmed waiting 20 to 30 mins, then... you can always place a proxy bid for your max you'd spend on the domain, and if they outbid you, I guess who cares because you weren't going to pay that much anyway

 

[anantj]

I like how you went from having no clue how the auctions work, and within moments of learning something new, you've already decided it's a terrible idea and not how auctions should ever work and accused someone of having some secret connection to NameCheap... Simply because the standard, common way that auctions work didn't benefit you in that moment.

Do you think it's better if someone can use a bot (or even no bot) to snipe names at the very last second? Where it becomes a game of chance / reflexes / hoping your connection is a bit closer to the server so you can get in at the last millisecond? Is that really better than the name going to whomever is willing to pay the most for it? Did you not even consider this as a reason? That's wild.

If you were outbid in the final millisecond in an auction with a hard close, you would be here calling that system garbage. "What, this person was able to buy this name for only $38?!? But it's worth so much more! I would have paid more if they would have extended the auction!!!! Auctions should always extend when someone is willing to keep bidding!!"

It's a pretty great system for the people who want a name and are willing to pay more than the other bidders for it. Seems to me that's much more in line with the spirit of an auction.

It's very common for auctions to have a close time that gets extended if anyone bids in the final minutes. It's not some wacky NameCheap thing, and it doesn't make them garbage.

Heritage Auctions has extensions for people who bid near the end. Sotheby's does it, too: "Each lot closes in one minute increments and will be extended by two minutes if a bid is placed within the final minute before the lot's scheduled closing time."



You're right, it's a terrible system and not an auction at all.

You aren't just salty that you have to be willing to pay more than the other bidders to win an auction. That's definitely not what's going on here, right? This is actually about the integrity of the auction process and not just you ruminating for days over having to pay more than other bidders?

You should absolutely tell Sotheby's how auctions should work, after posting about it for days and still not coming up with the obvious reasons why auctions run this way other than "its just NameCheap being greedy!"

Yeah, of course Namecheap wants an auction to sell for the highest price that someone is willing to pay for it, but you're completely oblivious to the other half of that equation - that someone else is willing to pay more for the domain, and that's the point of an auction. It's not a carnival game to see who can hit the button fastest to the time limit.

Great points. Namepros essentially endorses and enforces this as well through the requirement of "auction ends x hours after last bid". That boils down to the same mechanics of auction extension due to a late bid.

 

[Jv1999]

So i just tried it right now with an auction. The extension is going past 20 mins.

So I put in a huge proxy bid.

The bots are adding 10 dollar increments every 5 mins and not going past my proxy bid

So if you get bored, take a break by putting in a 50 or so proxy bid and you get 15 mins off.

 

[Kai W.]

In reality, an auction is an open and fair way of bidding. But this is not the case in the Internet, and at least so far no perfect solution has emerged. In real life, auctions are real-name or membership-based, and buyers are able to see each other. But this information is not available in the Internet, and 'auction APIs' are like off-site bids here. Perhaps a better mechanism will be created in the future, but for now this is the common practice of every online auction platform.

 

[pablohc86]

Try godaddy auctions. You will be very very very happy if the time get extended 20 minutes xD

Btw from what i see things, if they describe the time extension for every bid in the last 5 minutes in their rules, it's our decision if join that kind of marketplace or not.

 

[Sutruk]

You should thank them for extending the auction for 5 minutes in case of a last bid in that time frame.

If not, that last "sniper" bid would have won that auction in the last second, you would have lost that domain for $5 more, and you would be way more pissed off, believe me.

their claim that they do it to avoid snipers is bogus

Their claim for extending the auction to avoid snipers is a very very valid one.

Extending the auction for 5 minutes if a last bidder appears in the last 5 minutes is one of the fairest things every online auction should have.

 

[JB Lions]

It should never be extended. It was extended nearly 20 minutes total.

As many have pointed out, that's common practice with domain auctions. GoDaddy, Namejet, your auction etc. 20 minutes is not bad, I've been in some that were extended hours, some threads here at NP with some going on all day long. I prefer this than snipe type auctions. Haven't been in any ebay auctions in years but they don't extend, so lots of last second (literally) sniping going on. You can always set your max and proxy bid.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

No warning of this practice whatsoever

I'm sorry to correct you, but it is absolutely clear in the Namecheap guide to auctions.

• If a bid is placed in the last five minutes of an auction, the auction’s remaining time is extended to five minutes.

Also, as others have pointed out, the practice is widespread in domain auctions at other venues. Here on NamePros usually auctions get extended by bids (details depend on how the person setting the auction sets it).

-Bob