Self-Drop Catch Service ~ Can I compete?

[DotWeekly]

Thank you for looking!

I am thinking of starting my own Drop Catch Service. Not some little $100 software. All the domains will be for myself. No other's will be able to backorder on the service. After adding up what I think will be needed, it's going to cost about $50,000 to start and that is not the money for the domains.

The bases are:

Purchase 1-3 Registrar's
New Custom Software

and that's about it.

Can I compete against SnapNames 30 Registrar's and eNom's 30 Registrar's and whatever Pool has?

Would I be able to grab at least a couple Top Tier Domains in a week?

Any help would be great!

 

[fonzie_007]

It's an interesting question that I've considered myself. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has specific knowledge working in the drop catching industry.

 

[bobdigital]

There's a dude on the other forum that, for the past two weeks, I've sent lists of domains to.
He has caught one for me. "PoeticJustice.com"
He only charges $15 if he snags it for you.

 

[GiddyUp]

i know that movie...good snag!

 

[zzzw]

I think you have to be a registrar to register catched names otherwise you may be too late ? I may be wrong.

 

[gazzip]

I would'nt think that purchasing 1-3 registrar's would help much, I beleive it may be against the rules for registrars to hoard the names for themselves - ie - You if you owned them.

I would also guess that the vast majority of Top Tier domains would currently be registered with the very oldest of register - ie - Netsol etc who already have a deal/partnership going with snapnames and other established drop companies - This is what has made them so successful IMO

It may be hard for you to start a partnership with other registers if you were the only buyer - Why would they want to do that when they can hook up with snap or enom and have hundreds of people bidding against each other - they would make far more money with them.

Of course non of the above is pure fact but it is something to consider before you invest so much.

Good luck


.

 

[Simsi]

I would also guess that the vast majority of Top Tier domains would currently be registered with the very oldest of register - ie - Netsol etc who already have a deal/partnership going with snapnames and other established drop companies

I've always been surprised that this sort of thing is allowed to happen to be honest. One would have thought that it wasn't condusive to an open market. Maybe it's never been challenged?

 

[gazzip]

I've always been surprised that this sort of thing is allowed to happen to be honest.

edit > You mean registers should'nt be able to hook up with drop companies ?

.

 

[Tippy]

Unless you can get all Snap, Pool, eNom etc... registrars working for you I cant see it working. They obviously offer them some type of commission on sales so I guess if you could offer more you could own them.

 

[accent]

I've always been surprised that this sort of thing is allowed to happen to be honest. One would have thought that it wasn't condusive to an open market. Maybe it's never been challenged?

Since when are the powers that be in the domain market concerned with fairness?

It is an interesting idea. If you could come up with more clever software than snap or pool you might even have an advantage. They have ruled the roost for a while and may have become complacent. If you try this and have success then keep quiet about it.....

 

[DotWeekly]

Thank you all for your posts.

What I would be banking on, are the Top-Tier domains that are not found until they go into PendingDelete! Once they go into PendingDelete they are fair game to all Drop Catchers, even if they are partnered with snap.

As for hording the domains and being a Registrar, I see no reason why you can't do it. It's a business, and that is your inventory. I would sell the domains that I catch at some point., but I do not see a reason why you could not do it.

One way to look at it is, there are all these Tasters out there, they are getting some of the domains that are missed by the big guys, which shows, the big boys do not get them all, which leaves hope for others willing to invest some $$$.

 

[Shorty]

I think realistically you would not be able to compete on most occasions, but sometimes its the luck of the draw, and you will get a few names. However, I dont see it being worth your while to spend $50,000+ for what is, in essence, a lottery ticket where you arent even guaranteed a prize if you win, and when the odds are just as unfavourable as the national lottery.

 

[DotWeekly]

How much of this is a speed issue?

Let's say SnapNames tries to grab 30,000 + domains per day

They own 30 Registrar's

They split up there list, 1,000 domains per registrar and use there software.

Now, let's say I have 3 registrar's

I have a list of 15 domains per day

I split my list up, 5 domains per registrar and use my software.

Who is going to be faster?

OR

Is it Connections?

They have a list of 30,000 domains. They run a list of 30,000 domains thru 30 differant registrars at once.

I run a list of 15 domains, thru 3 differant registrars at once.

Who has the better chance?

 

[accent]

Remember me when you buy your island.

 

[cache]

the name catching is not a fair game, so I doubt it will be successful.

 

[GiddyUp]

ive often thought about this. if snap and other drop catchers have 30 registrats working for them, why not buy 50?

if you had 50 and all the speed and comparable software, wouldn't you beat them out? or at least have a fair chance?

what is the cost of getting a licensed registrar? I assume its somewhere around low $X,XXX because of the many individuals I see that own their own. It wouldn't be practical to own if it was much more seeing as the likelood of you gaining that many registrations through your own registrar isn't likely to cover that cost in a fair amount of time.

Let's say they cost $1,500/registrar (somebody please correct me with the actual figure)

$1,500 X 50 = $75,000

Custom Software = $$$$$?

Hardware/Misc equipment costs = $$$$$?

Let's try to solve this equation.

What if this cost $5 million total to build and another 50k/month to operate ? (these numbers are total speculation)

Would $5 million startup + 50/k a month be worth it to become a major contender on the drops?

I surely think so.

Looking at DNJournal and the past week's sales, Snap had approximately $365,000 in sales just for names with a minimum sale price of $2K. I think we can all agree that this is merely an average week with the top sale at snap only hitting 30K.

$365K/week X 52 weeks = approximately $19 million/year
This estimate would have to be in the lower range.

As somebody mentioned before, they have the exclusive contract with NetSol, which is where the best names come from - that is fact, not opinion.
The majority of generics and names with the most history/backlinks would have been registered with Netsol.

Even if you can't broker a deal to get some NetSol names, I still think it would be profitable. If you could somehow get a share of their names, all the more profits.

I also am aware of the fact that some of these are "intentional drops" and that Snap will only get a percentage of final sale; nonetheless, were talking some BIG figures here.

Please contribute any info you may know - let's keep this thread going!

 

[Kate]

The drops are a cut-throat business. IMO buying/setting up registrars is not the way to go (costly investment with uncertain return). Instead, try to identify registrars that are not working with pool or snap and set up some sort of partnership with them.... Of course you still need the software.
You would better get more than one registrar on your side if you want to compete with the big guns

 

[DotWeekly]

Giddy Up~ The cost for a Registrar is $10,000 for each one, and I am sure this a yearly fee. So if you purchased 50 Registrar's you would be looking at a half of a Million Dollars Yearly just for the Registrar's, then your software fee's, domain registration fee's, hosting etc. You would be in the Million Dollar range easy per year.

I would be interested to hear if anybody here has a full drop catch service of there own? Not just some software that hooks up to eNom's or Monikers API, but there own Registrar and software etc. If you could let us know what it might take to start one up and what your success rate is.

 

[Ronald Regging]

Im trying to figure out how owning your own registrar is going to give you an advantage over an API script. When it drops, it drops, to the second.. A registrar has as much chance of catching it as a guy with a script, assuming it actually drops and isn't sent to a partner auction house. If you try to reg it every second through your registrar connection or every second through an API, whats the difference? You're still going to be checking it every second and hope it checks at the exact moment... Why not just get a decent dedicated server, get multiple IPs, setup say 3 accounts each at 3 different registrars that offer APIs, then setup your server and software so you can have essentially 9 simultaneous attempts to register the same small amount of domains. Maybe I'm missing something?

 

[DotWeekly]

Im trying to figure out how owning your own registrar is going to give you an advantage over an API script. When it drops, it drops, to the second.. A registrar has as much chance of catching it as a guy with a script, assuming it actually drops and isn't sent to a partner auction house. If you try to reg it every second through your registrar connection or every second through an API, whats the difference? You're still going to be checking it every second and hope it checks at the exact moment... Why not just get a decent dedicated server, get multiple IPs, setup say 3 accounts each at 3 different registrars that offer APIs, then setup your server and software so you can have essentially 9 simultaneous attempts to register the same small amount of domains. Maybe I'm missing something?

This is a good idea, but Moniker and eNom are the only two that allow you to use the API Software with them. The problem is, there system is slowed down due to the amount of other's using there service. With having your own Registrar, you are fully at Real Time registering, where as at moniker and enom, your "instant checking" is not really instant. It maybe delayed as much as 3-5 seconds or more. (Which is why the software does not work) It is slowed down due to multi-users, using the same software, other's checking for available names etc. That is the reason why eNom, SnapNames, Pool etc have 30 Registrars. One for all of there customers and 29 others to run the software on to catch dropping names.

That is how I understand it.