Pheenix.com - Drop Catching Service - Please Share Your Experiences

[Neophyte]

I just signed up with Pheenix.com, a new drop catching service by the owners for FreshDrop, and would like to know your experience with them. Has anyone won a domain with them? Any issues in getting the domains put in your name/in your account?

 

[Blake]

I have to say I have been very impressed with pheenix and catching names so far it's been 6 of 6 with 2 more being ordered today. My only problem has been mentioned above this showing up in the whois all over is just ridiculous:
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Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
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"Another Great Domain caught by Pheenix!"

Visit pheenix.com if you would like us to
catch domain names for you.

Backorder Pricing:

.com/.net $18.95
.tv/.cc $58.95

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Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
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I can understand the need to advertise but please rethink doing it this way .....as it is I can't move the name for 60 days but if this remains in the whois I will certainly not keep it with pheenix. Otherwise you have a great service that I would continue using....so please consider removing this please.

Blake

 

[GiftedDomains]

Agree , this hurts and needs to be changed soon, i already got a discouraging comment about this from someone.

 

[Neophyte]

I mentioned this several days ago and it was not acknowledged or addressed by the Pheenix rep. This needs to be removed from the the WHIOS records....immediately! We didn't ask that this be put in, and it is hindering sales. I had an end user inquire about a Pheenix-caught name a few days ago. I quoted him a price (and no, it was not outrageous...a couple hundred dollars) and POOF...buyer disappears. Savvy end users who know how to check WHOIS see that I paid $18.95 to backorder the domain and will want to offer $20 or $25. That is how some people think. If you don't remove this, I think you will lose customers, and domainers will not want to touch it.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------


"Another Great Domain caught by Pheenix!"

Visit www.pheenix.com if you would like us to
catch domain names for you.

Backorder Pricing:

.com/.net $18.95
.tv/.cc $58.95

 

[ioana_bv]

I haven't red all the posts, but did phoenix caught any domain that had bids on othet backorder services like snap and namejet?
what TLDs do they support?

 

[talent001]

I have read all the post. seems I'm come here later.

I have not yet use pheenix backorder service.But I will tasting.

I think pheenix has 2 core competencies, It's let pheenix be special and be love.
one is the backorder price is lower than other backorder company.
two is the first come, first serve.

If pheenix raise prices and use multi-bid that will same with other backorder company
and lose users.

Just a few suggestions.

 

[gorilla_bob]

Hi guys,

Just had a chance to read the last several posts. For the whois text, is it possible to compromise and leave the message in but take out the pricing structure?

This way we can still market our services but user's won't know how much you initially paid for it.

The team has made the changes to the whois to take out the initial price today.

Tan

---------- Post added at 02:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:01 AM ----------

talent1,

We have no plans of increasing our pricing. So your initial bid on backorders will remain $18.95. We will be moving to a multi-bid platform soon though as this will allow everyone a fair chance at acquiring the domain.

The thing that we have absolutely no plans of doing is to display if a domain name has bidders or how many bids a domain name has though. This way you are able to bid for a domain with confidence that the 'whole world' won't know that the domain is being backordered.

Tan

 

[Blake]

Tan,

First off thank you for removing the price structure from the whois as this will help quite a bit. Can I also ask that maybe you only use 1 block to advertise instead of 5 blocks that you are using now? I understand what you are trying to do but it looks very spammy and honestly if someone doesn't see it at the top they are not likely to see it the 4 remaining times in the whois record. If this could be possible I would say it's good to go honestly.

Blake

 

[gorilla_bob]

Blake,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I think we can do this. Give us 24 hours to make the appropriate changes.

Tan

 

[brian duong]

Hi Tan,

Great to hear that. We really appreciate your listening & feedback.

Brian

 

[bmugford]

Tan,

First off thank you for removing the price structure from the whois as this will help quite a bit. Can I also ask that maybe you only use 1 block to advertise instead of 5 blocks that you are using now? I understand what you are trying to do but it looks very spammy and honestly if someone doesn't see it at the top they are not likely to see it the 4 remaining times in the whois record. If this could be possible I would say it's good to go honestly.

Blake

I agree. I just looked up the whois on a domain I won and here is how it looks. Not only is the advertising box way too long, it also repeats many times.

Do we really need "Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names." 10 times in the whois, and the full message 5 times? That is absurd.
I think you need to address that. It does look very spammy.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------


"Another Great Domain caught by Pheenix!"

Visit www.pheenix.com if you would like us to
catch domain names for you.

Supported Extensions:

.com .net .tv .cc

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------

(Registrant Info)

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------


"Another Great Domain caught by Pheenix!"

Visit www.pheenix.com if you would like us to
catch domain names for you.

Supported Extensions:

.com .net .tv .cc

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------

(Billing Info)

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------


"Another Great Domain caught by Pheenix!"

Visit www.pheenix.com if you would like us to
catch domain names for you.

Supported Extensions:

.com .net .tv .cc

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------

(Admin Info)

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------


"Another Great Domain caught by Pheenix!"

Visit www.pheenix.com if you would like us to
catch domain names for you.

Supported Extensions:

.com .net .tv .cc

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------

(Tech Info)

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------


"Another Great Domain caught by Pheenix!"

Visit www.pheenix.com if you would like us to
catch domain names for you.

Supported Extensions:

.com .net .tv .cc

------------------------------------------------------------------
Pheenix.com - We backorder domain names.
------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[GiftedDomains]

First of all , its GREAT that you are listening to your customers and made fast updates to the whois.
Appreciated.

Psychology plays a huge role in this game and even if you have a $$.$$$ domain and even if it shouldn't be important how much previous owners paid or how they got that domain,,,, thats just how it is: if people see that you got it very cheap, they want it cheap and start to discuss and whine and lowball and ..... you don't want to deal with all that. So this will make things easier now. I guess its an ok compromise now with which both domainers and you can live. I guess we all understand that you need some marketing to start off things.

 

[Neophyte]

I don't want to come off as a complainer, and taking the Pheenix pricing structure from the whois is a start, but it doesn't go far enough. Like I said before, the only mention of Pheenix should be in the whois where it says "REGISTRAR: Pheenix." I don't want any references to the fact that Pheenix caught the domain, or if my END USER wants to become a domainer, he/she can join Pheenix and backorder a domain for $18.95. I support this service and want it to succeed, but once the domain is caught and paid for, it belongs to the domainer, not to Pheenix, so the domainer should have the option as to whether this information should be included in the WHOIS. If the domainer is looking to develop or transfer the domain out, he/she may not mind the Pheenix proomtional info the Whois. However, if the domainer is looking to flip the domain, then having that information is a hindrance because the buyer can go to the Pheenix site to see that the backorder price is $18.95. Again, I like Pheenix, but my buyers don't need to know that I got the domain from their service. Other dropcatchers don't do this, and though Pheenix is trying to be a unique service, those other dropcatchers are right. There are other ways to advertise. I think there will be a mass exodus of domains being transferred out of Pheenix because of this.

Also, would anyone who has caught domains using Pheenix be willing to share some of the names they've acquired? I have put Pheenix to the test, and while it is good with lower value names, it is not competing with SN and NJ, and I have even lost names to AR and GD. Maybe the focus should be on increasing registry connections so Pheenix can catch some of the better names once in a while. I know they won't beat the big players all the time, but at least a few times would be nice. This is my experience; if anyone has acquired a high value name through Pheenix please comment.

 

[Name Trader]

^^ I agree with the first paragraph above. I will be transferring my domains out after 60 days before I begin marketing them. So you will get zero repeat business as the registrar. But probably your registrar business is secondary to your drop catching service, so you won't mind. Unless you have a separate registrar business (which I don't see) You will always be seen as a drop-catcher, and buyers only need to look you up to know the price we paid (if it's a new registration). This might improve once you go to the multiple bid model. But I don't think it will be totally alleviated. You need to be known as a registrar which has a successful drop-catching service, to totally satisfy me Stop playing around with our whois records. They should be transparent, imho.

I also think the number of registry connections is the key to your ultimate success in the big picture. But as a niche player (less desirable names) you are succeeding anyway.

 

[gorilla_bob]

Thanks for the feedback guys. For now we need to leave the whois the way it is. If that means that you need to transfer out after 60 days, that's fine. We'll respect your decision on that.

On a different note, we have a clear long term vision of what we want to do with Pheenix. Right now we are working around the clock to execute on this. Look for great things to come within the next 1-2 months.

Tan

 

[Name Trader]

OK. I wait to see what the whois shows. But if it's not transparent, it means your drop-catching business is more important than your registrar business. There in lies the sting in the tail, imho. You won't get anybody keeping their domains at Pheenix, after the 60 days, if your drop-catching business is more important than your registrar business. Expect mass exodus after 60 days. But as I've said before, this might, or might not be any concern for you.

 

[GiftedDomains]

I don't think the registrar business is important for any dropcatcher at all.
Those "shill registrars" are created only for dropcatching, thats were they make money, not for making few cents from renewals after one year, etc. Most people move the domains out of all those dropcatchers registars within the first year anyway. I think thats not the point and useless to talk about whether people will keep the domains there longer than 60 days (up to one year its the same for them anyway) or not.

The only important issue is: domainers are the main customers of dropcatchers. And domainers want to make money with the dropcatched domains. Flip them, sell them, etc. So dropcatchers must make it easy for them to do that, not puting obstacles in their ways.

The key is finding a middle course between marketing and make pheenix known to more people
and
making domainers happy

My new suggestion would be to keep the "backordered by pheenix" thingy for let say 60 days in whois and then remove it alltogether and make it like other dropcatchers.

This way you have your marketing to start things off for 2 months.
Domainers start to market and resell their domains after the 60 days (since most buyers want the domains to be transfered to their prefered Registrar anyway) and domainers can decide whether keeping their domains there or move them out + no more mentioning of "backordered cheap by pheenix etc." etc. in whois and therefore easier to sell once they start marketing and selling.

No?

 

[Name Trader]

Good suggestion GiftedDomains.

 

[gorilla_bob]

I would have to say that the drop catching business is just a small phase of where our direction of the company lies.

To equate this in a meaningful way, i remember seeing an artist in my younger years, start to draw a picture from a blank canvas. The artist started his drawing, and there were many times when i thought that the artist was 'messing' up the painting. But in the end, what the artist was doing made alot more sense as the drawing transpired. I think this is the same phenomenon that you are seeing with Pheenix. We have many long term plans for Pheenix and the drop catching business is just a small piece of it. As time transpires, you'll see more of the direction that we want to take Pheenix.

That is not to say that we are not focused on the drop catching business. We have many great plans for that area. But to say that Pheenix is solely a drop catching business would not be correct within our long term strategies.

Thanks for everything. And I hope that you stick with us in our journey. Remember, we've only been open for services to the public for under 1 month. There will be many things that we will be introducing in the coming 2013 year.

Tan

 

[sircc]

I would have to say that the drop catching business is just a small phase of where our direction of the company lies.
Tan

Question answered...

 

[jk23]

Beat by GoDaddy today. Didn't think I needed to backorder there. My bad.

 

[Neophyte]

Beat by GoDaddy today. Didn't think I needed to backorder there. My bad.

Today was not a good day for Pheenix, or for me, depending on how you look at it. Here are the domains I backordered (all were dot coms)

brooklynpersonalinjuryattorney
casino-euro
eblossom
femgym
happymotoring
lapsychic
movie-streaming
painreliefrehab
pathologytoday
queenspersonalinjuryattorney

Total number of catches out of these 10: Zero (0). Were beat by the usual culprits: GoDaddy, Reberry and some others. eblossom actually dropped but instead of regging it right away, I looked for a GoDaddy coupon and while I did that someone else snapped it up.

This is the second time that I know of that a domain I backordered through Pheenix actually dropped and was available for hand registration.

Please fix these issues and increase your registry connections so that you can compete consistently with GoDaddy and Reberry, Snapnames, BuyDomains, etc. It is not going to matter if Pheenix goes to an auction system if the system cannot catch better names. It seems that, especially recently, if the domain is worth more than $50, Pheenix cannot not catch it over the other dropcatchers. And GoDaddy's backorder service is notoriously bad; they cannot catch a cold! So if GoDaddy is beating Pheenix it is definitely cause for concern.

I have used this service extensively and have acquired several domains, but I would like it compete with the big boys and snag a good domain every once in a while.

 

[talent001]

Today was not a good day for Pheenix, or for me, depending on how you look at it. Here are the domains I backordered (all were dot coms)

brooklynpersonalinjuryattorney
casino-euro
eblossom
femgym
happymotoring
lapsychic
movie-streaming
painreliefrehab
pathologytoday
queenspersonalinjuryattorney

Total number of catches out of these 10: Zero (0). Were beat by the usual culprits: GoDaddy, Reberry and some others. eblossom actually dropped but instead of regging it right away, I looked for a GoDaddy coupon and while I did that someone else snapped it up.

This is the second time that I know of that a domain I backordered through Pheenix actually dropped and was available for hand registration.

Please fix these issues and increase your registry connections so that you can compete consistently with GoDaddy and Reberry, Snapnames, BuyDomains, etc. It is not going to matter if Pheenix goes to an auction system if the system cannot catch better names. It seems that, especially recently, if the domain is worth more than $50, Pheenix cannot not catch it over the other dropcatchers. And GoDaddy's backorder service is notoriously bad; they cannot catch a cold! So if GoDaddy is beating Pheenix it is definitely cause for concern.

I have used this service extensively and have acquired several domains, but I would like it compete with the big boys and snag a good domain every once in a while.

Why Reberry is fastest? How does he do it?

 

[Neophyte]

Why Reberry is fastest? How does he do it?

I don't know if he is the fastest, but he is definitely beating Pheenix to the punch on the domains I have backordered recently.

I don't know what has happened in the past few days, but I have gone from catching a good name here and there, to catching a couple of lower-value names, to catching nothing at all. Perhaps Tan will give us an update. It would be interesting to know of other domainers are having the same issues (no caught names, some backordered names dropping), as I have had recently.

Yesterday, I backordered the following. Total number of catches: Zero (0). All are in the dot com extension:


2013-06-06 bay publishing
2013-06-06 committed couples
2013-06-06 kiddy kare
2013-06-06 more lovely
2013-06-06 now generation
2013-06-06 optical plus
2013-06-06 trobe

 

[tonyk2000]

How many registrars does pheenix have? Hope I'm mistaken, but as per my routine whois checks there are just two. In any case, after a month or so of being public pheenix already reached the limit... One may guess that indian spammers "promoting" sales of pendingingdelete domains already discovered your service, and are ordering all sorts of domains they received "interest" for, most importantly low quality ones (as the price is cheap), wasting limited resources of pheenix dropcatching system. Must be one of the main reasons of why domainers (including myself) report low success dropcatching ratio. No doubts, each and every "good" domain is also pre-ordered including but not limited to the promotion in this forum thread and in whois. Now, without auction system in place pheenix is unable to dynamically allocate resources based on domain quality (= number of preorders). Resultingly, the dropcatching success ratio is seriously decreased. I'd say, critically decreased - and there are perfect examples in this thread regarding domains which could be handregged or were catched by GoDaddy, but were not catched by pheenix

I remember good old days of handregging domains in 1-click through dotregistrar, even before they were acquired by dotster and even before dotster was destroyed by EIG.
Remembered this because of the simialar simple "domain submit" form and easy-to use minimalistic design. The same block of domains had to be copypasted to the order form for submit, submit, resubmit... The difference is that now the customers are trying to submit domains into pheenix queue 1st come - 1st served, with low chances of the domains to be acquired

Since pheenix is likely unable to limit the number of domains it has in the queue for each particular day (and this - initially small - number was a reason of a success ratio during 1st days), PLEASE increase the number of registry connections and start auction system right now, as this would allow your scripts to dynamically allocate resources basing on number of preorders.

 

[Blake]

Tan,

Was applying some backorders and was prompted with an error I hadn't received yet "10 max backorders for my account and to message to get the limited raised" .....Do I need to speak with you about this or is this something temporary?

Let me know as there will be lots of days that I have more then 10 names of interest!

Blake