Problem with HugeDomains.com

[I Heart Noise]

Registered on this forum to confirm - Huge Domains are scumbags. I'm surprised no one sued them out of existence

They currently hold my old domain for 1,800 and when I asked them about negotiation they told me "Buy it now and we'll give you a 100$ discount"

Um, thanks?

 

[DomainGist]

I still think its a rip-off/sh*tty business when someone tells you "If you'll order now we'll sell it to you for just 1,700" when they know there's no way in hell you can afford that as a small guy

Everyone is free to think otherwise, but to me that is just pure greed.

Its what they have to charge to break a profit when considering sell through rates. They'll pay a few dollars to 'win' the closeout, plus pay for a year registration. So lets say an average of $25 per domain they snag.

Its fine you saying you should be able to buy it for say $200.... but then they would need 1 in every 8 expired domains they register to be purchased by the original owner to break even on a strategy like that. Sell through rates will be nothing like that.... because the vast majority of domains are intentionally dropped.

1% to 2% annual sell through rate on a portfolio more typical. Lets say 2% for arguments sake (optimistic)....

.... $25 x 50 = $1250.

Minus other operating costs like rent on their offices, data centers (costs a lot to run their software no doubt), employees (that employee who offered you a discount will be on a salary).

The simple fact is that you pay to own a domain for a specific period of time, you are only really 'leasing' it, if the lease expires and you fail to renew then somebody else gets to lease it.... whether that's Bob Smith a hobbyist or Huge Domains the corporation.

I think that by lashing out at Huge Domains you are probably expressing frustration at yourself really? Your registrar would have sent you several emails reminding of renewal, and they even offer an auto-renew feature, its really only your own fail.

The truth is that pretty much everybody on this forum stalks the same lists of expiring domains, to purchase them as they delete, so you won't hear anybody here criticise this practice.

Its the only way we can obtain good domains, because its not 1997 anymore. Its pretty rare to have somebody angry that they've lost their domain, you are in a very small minority.... 99.9% of deleted domains will be intentionally dropped by the previous owner who no longer has a use for it.

 

[I Heart Noise]

If I'm in a small minority how come that there are hundreds of negative articles on HD all over the web?

I can't post links here but type in "Huge Domains" and add "scam" or "hostage" and tell me again about a small minority I'm in. NamePros have a couple of threads about the experience of dealing with them, as a matter of fact

 

[I Heart Noise]

Its what they have to charge to break a profit when considering sell through rates. They'll pay a few dollars to 'win' the closeout, plus pay for a year registration. So lets say an average of $25 per domain they snag.

Its fine you saying you should be able to buy it for say $200.... but then they would need 1 in every 8 expired domains they register to be purchased by the original owner to break even on a strategy like that. Sell through rates will be nothing like that.... because the vast majority of domains are intentionally dropped.

1% to 2% annual sell through rate on a portfolio more typical. Lets say 2% for arguments sake (optimistic)....

.... $25 x 50 = $1250.

Minus other operating costs like rent on their offices, data centers (costs a lot to run their software no doubt), employees (that employee who offered you a discount will be on a salary).

The simple fact is that you pay to own a domain for a specific period of time, you are only really 'leasing' it, if the lease expires and you fail to renew then somebody else gets to lease it.... whether that's Bob Smith a hobbyist or Huge Domains the corporation.

I think that by lashing out at Huge Domains you are probably expressing frustration at yourself really? Your registrar would have sent you several emails reminding of renewal, and they even offer an auto-renew feature, its really only your own fail.

The truth is that pretty much everybody on this forum stalks the same lists of expiring domains, to purchase them as they delete, so you won't hear anybody here criticise this practice.

Its the only way we can obtain good domains, because its not 1997 anymore. Its pretty rare to have somebody angry that they've lost their domain, you are in a very small minority.... 99.9% of deleted domains will be intentionally dropped by the previous owner who no longer has a use for it.

Yeah, a reputable company like Huge Domains doesn't have FB page and their accounts on Twitter must be protected too - that's a good sign of reliable business to me. A reputable business should also offer a 100$ discount on 2k domains - that's a must.

But nevermind - I'm in a small minority. The goal of business is to screw anyone over, its 21st century after all

I don't understand business the way that others understand it, that much is clear

 

[DomainGist]

If I'm in a small minority how come that there are hundreds of negative articles on HD all over the web?

Well they own a portfolio of 350,000 domains and will be registering and dropping probably 100,000+ a year, so after many years of operation... I don't think "hundreds" of negative experiences proves anything other than a small minority.

But if this is going to boil down to a debate about legality vs ethics, then basically... they aren't doing anything illegal, so there is nothing you can do about it. They probably don't care if you think they are unethical.

 

[I Heart Noise]

Well they own a portfolio of 350,000 domains and will be registering and dropping probably 100,000+ a year, so after many years of operation... I don't think "hundreds" of negative experiences proves anything other than a small minority.

But if this is going to boil down to a debate about legality vs ethics, then basically... they aren't doing anything illegal, so there is nothing you can do about it. They probably don't care if you think they are unethical.

And this should be important to me...why? Is there a reason why I should care whether they give two shits about me?

 

[I Heart Noise]

lol, what a bizarre convo

I did not expect that many people to defend Huge Domains while frothing at the mouth - they must pay their lawyers well

 

[DomainGist]

Yeah, a reputable company like Huge Domains doesn't have FB page and their accounts on Twitter must be protected too - that's a good sign of reliable business to me. A reputable business should also offer a 100$ discount on 2k domains - that's a must.

But nevermind - I'm in a small minority. The goal of business is to screw anyone over, its 21st century after all

I don't understand business the way that others understand it, that much is clear

Having a little moan on facebook and twitter to an unpaid and overworked social media intern is pretty much the most 21st century thing somebody can do.

You don't own the domain, it isn't yours... you feel entitled to it, but you aren't. To be honest, if you want to talk about the 21st century... you actually sound like a bit of a snowflake who thinks he can kick up a fuss to get what he wants. Huge Domains aren't walmart, and you aren't complaining about a pubic hair on your pizza.

Just build on a new domain and learn from the experience. Hey, it happened to me once before I became a domainer. I had a big moan too, then I accepted that it was my own crap organisational skills and moved on.

Huge Domains are in the business of selling domains, not listening to people blaming them for their own mistakes... that's why they have sales landers and direct telephone lines, rather than a facebook account. I don't really see the value in a business like that having a facebook account, domain names aren't sold by posting fluffy cat memes.

Just learn from it. Why not start by registering your new domain for 5 years, so we don't see you again next year.

 

[I Heart Noise]

Did I upset you?

I'm sorry, I really am - I didn't mean to attack your favorite resellers. I'm terribly sorry that its such a touchy subject for you. I should've known.

 

[DomainGist]

lol, what a bizarre convo

I did not expect that many people to defend Huge Domains while frothing at the mouth - they must pay their lawyers well

Well you have done the equivalent of walking into a bar to preach about the perils and sins of alcohol.

 

[I Heart Noise]

Yeah, I had another domain for 4 years.

But thanks for taking care of me anyway - that was very nice of you, giving advice when none is needed. I appreciate it - I really do, since this is what forums are for in the end

 

[vincew]

I'm not a "Huge" fan but they aren't doing anything wrong, I get the frustation but they're just doing business as they see fit. I would imagine you're mad at yourself for not renewing it, it was a costly mistake.

There are other pretty good names you could use, I like ilvns.com.

 

[I Heart Noise]

I'm not a "Huge" fan but they aren't doing anything wrong, I get the frustation but they're just doing business as they see fit. I would imagine you're mad at yourself for not renewing it, it was a costly mistake.

There are other pretty good names you could use, I like ilvns.com.

I think the the best course of action is to just ask people to change links from ihrtn.com to ihrtn.net and wait till HD will drop a domain.
.

 

[DomainGist]

I think the the best course of action is to just ask people to change links from ihrtn.com to ihrtn.net and wait till HD will drop a domain.
.

You can actually ask Godaddy to 'backorder' the domain now, for just $19.99. If Huge Domains drop the domain upon the next expiry then Godaddy will attempt to catch it for you.

 

[DomainGist]

Although there was that thing about the Godaddy CEO shooting elephants... and that's probably worse than somebody registering your old domain name, if we want to talk about ethics.

 

[I Heart Noise]

Although there was that thing about the Godaddy CEO shooting elephants... and that's probably worse than somebody registering your old domain name, if we want to talk about ethics.

I'm well aware of GoDaddy not being the most ethical company out there, having dealt with them in the past.

They can shoot all the elephants in the world for all I care, but if they'll ask me if I'm willing to pay 2k for a domain that I registered for 14.99 I probably won't ever deal with them again. So far it didn't happen, so backorder might be an idea worth pursuing.

 

[I Heart Noise]

The funny thing is that I have this feeling that HD will get desperate once they'll realize there are no buyers/takers. We'll see.

 

[DomainGist]

The funny thing is that I have this feeling that HD will get desperate once they'll realize there are no buyers/takers. We'll see.

That's not how they work, its all a law of averages and they use AI.

The price won't fluctuate any more than a couple of hundred dollars for the entire year, and then they'll drop or renew.

Now that this thread will probably be sending the odd visitor to the sales lander for eternity... their algorithm will probably signal a 'renew' based on traffic metrics.

I've had it happen myself with a similar company. I dropped a worthless domain but because it had a few links driving traffic they still have it 6 years later. Will never be sold, but their AI auto renews due to hits to the sales landers suggesting possible interest.

 

[I Heart Noise]

Makes sense

 

[peter omondi owuor]

Thank you for sharing

 

[trelgor]

I put this guy on ignore. You should too, from the looks of his PM:s.

 

[DomainGist]

I put this guy on ignore. You should too, from the looks of his PM:s.

His PM's? That he sent to you?

 

[I Heart Noise]

Found this in another NP thread

Traffic doesn't guarantee a sale, but the less traffic a domain receives, the more likely they are to drop it.

 

[I Heart Noise]

His PM's? That he sent to you?

Question for you

.boston extension - totally forgot that its available, but do you think it will be worth to buy iheartnoise.boston or is that a kind of pointless novelty?

 

[trelgor]

Yes.

 

[Kate]

I think that by lashing out at Huge Domains you are probably expressing frustration at yourself really? Your registrar would have sent you several emails reminding of renewal, and they even offer an auto-renew feature, its really only your own fail.

I think @I Heart Noise is frustrated because HD grabbed a name that probably has no end user. It may have a bit of traffic stemming from past development but will it ever sell ? Doubtful.
Had he dropped a name like ihn.com, he would understand that HD or another entity would have caught the name because it is valuable. And they would ask a lot of money for it. But a random 5L.com ?

Sorry @I Heart Noise, it's nothing personal here, just business.
I am not a fan of HD personally but what they are doing is more or less what we are doing on a much smaller scale. I have bought hundreds of expired domains and it is inevitable that among those a few may have dropped accidentally. But the majority are clearly abandoned - I have seldom heard from the previous owner.

Many years ago, I dropped a few valuable names, because I didn't realize the value back then (and the value of traffic). I have learned my lesson.

Obviously you've been asleep at the wheel. Domains don't drop in one day. It means you probably stopped working on your site for a while, otherwise you would have noticed it was no longer working. Now that the domain dropped, I would guess the ranking will suffer anyway.

I think the the best course of action is to just ask people to change links from ihrtn.com to ihrtn.net and wait till HD will drop a domain.
.

I think the the best course of action would be draw the lessons from this unfortunate experience and maybe consider rebranding yourself. In my opinion you are going to switch from a poor name to a worse name. I understand you rely more on backlinks than word of mouth but the name is not very memorable.
Also, iheartnoise.com is in use, so branding yourself as 'I Heart Noise' is not a good idea. I don't know which of the two came first but I would want a more distinctive identity.