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."
but to keep extending and keep extending until people stop bidding altogether is not an auction at all.
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.