SnapNames questionable practices continue 318318

[KnifeCatcher]

I saw this tweet a while back, and brushed it off to people's paranoia. However, what stood out to me is SnapNames' blatantly feigning naivety as if English is a foreign language to them (see attached).

Unfortunately, these practices continue. I see in my auction dashboard a plethora of auctions won by 1timmy and 318318 that have been pending payment for a while.

Who are these users and why do they get special treatment?

 

[Samer]

I love Snapnames.
More than DropCatch.
That said, this is inexcusable.

 

[KnifeCatcher]

I like them too, and I had great experience with their customer service. But this deserves an explanation.

It could be that these are their corporate partners and they have some sort an agreement in place, which is fine, but they should be transparent about it.

 

[Gube]

I think there is another explanation to that situation.
At no point, in their thread with them, the bidders to remove were mentionned, nor why they should be removed.
You see them in the original replied tweet, but they probably don't.
They are using Hootsuite

Which looks like that :

It's possible they couldn't see the original tweet then.
The best way to have a proper answer would be to reach out to them via email probably.

 

[KnifeCatcher]

That makes sense. I hope we get an explanation as it is been going for a while.

 

[accuname]

Mr Moneybags.

 

[Acroplex]

If you have any information on the SnapNames account "318318" PM me.

 

[jeremy77777]

I just dealt with this 318318 bot. it would swoop in with 3 minutes left, extend the time and perform a minimum increment. rinse and repeat. I manually set my bid down, let it get to a few seconds until the end and bid. The bot then returned 5 minutes later with a minimum increment. it has a 5-minute sampling rate. all the way up and past my maximum bid. Has anyone had any recourse against these bots? 1timmy was on the auction as well.

 

[jeremy77777]

I did lose the auction and tested it's sampling rate, which is 5 minutes. no one can beat it as a result.

 

[janismo]

So I was following two Snapnames auctions today. When one of them hit 1.2k and bidding slowed down, 1timmy jumped in and made his first bid.

That would have been fine, but I immediately remembered that the same 1timmy was bidding on the second auction starting from 1.8k.

What's more, a quick scan showed that our 1timmy wasn't even listed as an initial bidder in either auction.

I decided to check NP and now I see this thread

I don't want to judge anyone, but this smells REALLY REALLY bad.

By the way, he won both names for $1,305 and $2,999.

 

[Scottybobotty]

I can confirm these practices still happen. User 318318 outbid me. Worse, the auction expired 4 times, and still I lost.

Here’s how the scam works. If any human shows interest by placing a bid, it alerts the bots. The bots will outbid almost any price, knowing you want the site. SnapNames terms forbid non-humans, or resellers to place bids. However, the URL showed up later as a subsidiary reseller of GoDaddy.

TLDR: If you want to buy a domain, find a different way. There's no use competing with the bot/resellers.

Of course, I filed a complaint, though they were friendly, they didn't actually address any of the questions I asked.

 

[pleitch]

I can confirm these practices are still happening as of today, 13 February 2026, and I have what I believe is the most complete evidence chain yet showing where these domains actually end up.


The Auction


I was bidding on dynamicdecision.com, a generic two-word .com with an EstiBot valuation of $160 (as displayed on SnapNames' own listing page). Comparable domains in the Similar Names panel list at $69-$79. This is not a premium domain. Without artificial inflation it sells at or near the minimum bid.


16 accounts placed pre-orders. 12 of them bid the $69 minimum and never returned. The only accounts that engaged in competitive bidding against me were our old friends SN--318318 and SN--1timmy.


318318 set a proxy that triggered automated escalation to $1,000, then came back days later for manual bidding in $50-$100 increments up to $2,500. Classic bot behaviour consistent with what jeremy77777 described in this thread (5-minute sampling rate, minimum increments, extending the auction repeatedly).


1timmy then appeared and placed the winning bid of $2,600 — exactly $100 above my $2,500 proxy ceiling. As janismo reported in October 2024, 1timmy was not listed among the original pre-order bidders, yet participated in what was supposed to be a private pre-release auction.


I had a $5,000 budget but couldn't adjust my proxy before the auction ended during my night time (I'm in Australia).


Where the Domain Went


This is where it gets interesting.


Within hours of the auction closing, dynamicdecision.com appeared back on SnapNames as a "Private Seller" Buy It Now listing at $4,188 — a 61% markup over the auction price.


I checked the WHOIS. Here is what it shows:


Nameservers: NS.BUYDOMAINS.COM, THIS-DOMAIN-FOR-SALE.COMTechnical Contact: [email protected] Address: 5335 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256Registrar: Annulet LLC (IANA ID 607)Abuse Contact: [email protected]


Every single one of these is a Newfold Digital entity. BuyDomains is Newfold Digital's domain resale operation. Annulet LLC is a Newfold Digital registrar. 5335 Gate Parkway is Newfold Digital's corporate headquarters. The abuse contact is at web.com, also Newfold Digital.


The Complete Chain

1. Domain expires at Network Solutions (Newfold Digital)
2. Routed to auction at NameJet/SnapNames (Newfold Digital)
3. "Won" by 1timmy over a genuine buyer at an inflated price
4. Immediately listed for sale on SnapNames/BuyDomains (Newfold Digital) at $4,188
5. Registered through Annulet LLC (Newfold Digital)
6. Sitting at Newfold Digital's own Jacksonville headquarters

The domain never left the building. It went from one Newfold Digital subsidiary to another. The auction existed only to extract maximum price from the one person who actually wanted the domain — me.


And if I now want the domain? I can buy it from SnapNames for $4,188. From the same company that just ran the auction.


The Pattern


This thread documents reports about 318318 and 1timmy going back to January 2021. KnifeCatcher reported them winning auctions and not paying. jeremy77777 described 318318 as a bot. janismo caught 1timmy entering auctions without being a pre-order bidder, winning names at $1,305 and $2,999. Scottybobotty confirmed 318318 was still active in August 2025 and that the won domain ended up as reseller inventory.


My experience matches all of these reports exactly, but the WHOIS data now shows the destination: Newfold Digital's own BuyDomains portfolio. These aren't independent speculators. The domains are going straight into the parent company's resale inventory.


Also Worth Noting


I also had active backorders for this domain through Network Solutions (also Newfold Digital). Paid for, sitting there for months. The backorder service did absolutely nothing — no notifications, no status changes, no auction participation. The domain went straight to NameJet with zero involvement from the Network Solutions backorder I was paying for.


I have screenshots of everything: the bid history, the SnapNames BIN listing, the WHOIS records, and timestamps. I have also submitted a support ticket to SnapNames asking them to explain how 1timmy participated without being a pre-order bidder and how the domain ended up in Newfold Digital's own inventory within hours.


I'll update this thread with their response, if I get one.

 

[WW]

I saw this tweet a while back, and brushed it off to people's paranoia. However, what stood out to me is SnapNames' blatantly feigning naivety as if English is a foreign language to them (see attached).

Unfortunately, these practices continue. I see in my auction dashboard a plethora of auctions won by 1timmy and 318318 that have been pending payment for a while.

Who are these users and why do they get special treatment?

It's a dirty business, implemented in a way that clearly allows for abuse in thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands ler single domain (see OpenPay.com for the latest). Everyone, from those running the expired/drop auctions to those bidding on them, needs to be scrutinized heavily. In fact, this whole industry should be regulated ASAP...

 

[dnsassistant]

Is Alvarez back? Back in the day insider(name Alvarez) at Snapnames was bidding and winning discovered domains by snapnames clients. Hope it's not a repeat of that.

 

[WW]

I can confirm these practices are still happening as of today, 13 February 2026, and I have what I believe is the most complete evidence chain yet showing where these domains actually end up.


The Auction


I was bidding on dynamicdecision.com, a generic two-word .com with an EstiBot valuation of $160 (as displayed on SnapNames' own listing page). Comparable domains in the Similar Names panel list at $69-$79. This is not a premium domain. Without artificial inflation it sells at or near the minimum bid.


16 accounts placed pre-orders. 12 of them bid the $69 minimum and never returned. The only accounts that engaged in competitive bidding against me were our old friends SN--318318 and SN--1timmy.


318318 set a proxy that triggered automated escalation to $1,000, then came back days later for manual bidding in $50-$100 increments up to $2,500. Classic bot behaviour consistent with what jeremy77777 described in this thread (5-minute sampling rate, minimum increments, extending the auction repeatedly).


1timmy then appeared and placed the winning bid of $2,600 — exactly $100 above my $2,500 proxy ceiling. As janismo reported in October 2024, 1timmy was not listed among the original pre-order bidders, yet participated in what was supposed to be a private pre-release auction.


I had a $5,000 budget but couldn't adjust my proxy before the auction ended during my night time (I'm in Australia).


Where the Domain Went


This is where it gets interesting.


Within hours of the auction closing, dynamicdecision.com appeared back on SnapNames as a "Private Seller" Buy It Now listing at $4,188 — a 61% markup over the auction price.


I checked the WHOIS. Here is what it shows:


Nameservers: NS.BUYDOMAINS.COM, THIS-DOMAIN-FOR-SALE.COMTechnical Contact: [email protected] Address: 5335 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256Registrar: Annulet LLC (IANA ID 607)Abuse Contact: [email protected]


Every single one of these is a Newfold Digital entity. BuyDomains is Newfold Digital's domain resale operation. Annulet LLC is a Newfold Digital registrar. 5335 Gate Parkway is Newfold Digital's corporate headquarters. The abuse contact is at web.com, also Newfold Digital.


The Complete Chain

1. Domain expires at Network Solutions (Newfold Digital)
2. Routed to auction at NameJet/SnapNames (Newfold Digital)
3. "Won" by 1timmy over a genuine buyer at an inflated price
4. Immediately listed for sale on SnapNames/BuyDomains (Newfold Digital) at $4,188
5. Registered through Annulet LLC (Newfold Digital)
6. Sitting at Newfold Digital's own Jacksonville headquarters

The domain never left the building. It went from one Newfold Digital subsidiary to another. The auction existed only to extract maximum price from the one person who actually wanted the domain — me.


And if I now want the domain? I can buy it from SnapNames for $4,188. From the same company that just ran the auction.


The Pattern


This thread documents reports about 318318 and 1timmy going back to January 2021. KnifeCatcher reported them winning auctions and not paying. jeremy77777 described 318318 as a bot. janismo caught 1timmy entering auctions without being a pre-order bidder, winning names at $1,305 and $2,999. Scottybobotty confirmed 318318 was still active in August 2025 and that the won domain ended up as reseller inventory.


My experience matches all of these reports exactly, but the WHOIS data now shows the destination: Newfold Digital's own BuyDomains portfolio. These aren't independent speculators. The domains are going straight into the parent company's resale inventory.


Also Worth Noting


I also had active backorders for this domain through Network Solutions (also Newfold Digital). Paid for, sitting there for months. The backorder service did absolutely nothing — no notifications, no status changes, no auction participation. The domain went straight to NameJet with zero involvement from the Network Solutions backorder I was paying for.


I have screenshots of everything: the bid history, the SnapNames BIN listing, the WHOIS records, and timestamps. I have also submitted a support ticket to SnapNames asking them to explain how 1timmy participated without being a pre-order bidder and how the domain ended up in Newfold Digital's own inventory within hours.


I'll update this thread with their response, if I get one.

Damn. Heads need to roll. Unfortunately, we’re increasingly living in a lawless environment, so I doubt anything will be done about it (clearly it hasn't for years), but these patterns and abusive behaviors warrant a serious regulatory investigation into potential fraud and market manipulation.

This affects all of us, and it's been happening for years, possibly a decade or more, and it likely doesn’t start nor stop with SnapNames either. I’d bet similar practices exist across the industry in one form or another. In fact, I've felt it here and there myself, but it's harder to draw conclusions on a smaller scale while being focused on running a business rather than an investigation.

Terrible.

 

[DomainArmer]

I can confirm these practices are still happening as of today, 13 February 2026, and I have what I believe is the most complete evidence chain yet showing where these domains actually end up.


The Auction


I was bidding on dynamicdecision.com, a generic two-word .com with an EstiBot valuation of $160 (as displayed on SnapNames' own listing page). Comparable domains in the Similar Names panel list at $69-$79. This is not a premium domain. Without artificial inflation it sells at or near the minimum bid.


16 accounts placed pre-orders. 12 of them bid the $69 minimum and never returned. The only accounts that engaged in competitive bidding against me were our old friends SN--318318 and SN--1timmy.


318318 set a proxy that triggered automated escalation to $1,000, then came back days later for manual bidding in $50-$100 increments up to $2,500. Classic bot behaviour consistent with what jeremy77777 described in this thread (5-minute sampling rate, minimum increments, extending the auction repeatedly).


1timmy then appeared and placed the winning bid of $2,600 — exactly $100 above my $2,500 proxy ceiling. As janismo reported in October 2024, 1timmy was not listed among the original pre-order bidders, yet participated in what was supposed to be a private pre-release auction.


I had a $5,000 budget but couldn't adjust my proxy before the auction ended during my night time (I'm in Australia).


Where the Domain Went


This is where it gets interesting.


Within hours of the auction closing, dynamicdecision.com appeared back on SnapNames as a "Private Seller" Buy It Now listing at $4,188 — a 61% markup over the auction price.


I checked the WHOIS. Here is what it shows:


Nameservers: NS.BUYDOMAINS.COM, THIS-DOMAIN-FOR-SALE.COMTechnical Contact: [email protected] Address: 5335 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256Registrar: Annulet LLC (IANA ID 607)Abuse Contact: [email protected]


Every single one of these is a Newfold Digital entity. BuyDomains is Newfold Digital's domain resale operation. Annulet LLC is a Newfold Digital registrar. 5335 Gate Parkway is Newfold Digital's corporate headquarters. The abuse contact is at web.com, also Newfold Digital.


The Complete Chain

1. Domain expires at Network Solutions (Newfold Digital)
2. Routed to auction at NameJet/SnapNames (Newfold Digital)
3. "Won" by 1timmy over a genuine buyer at an inflated price
4. Immediately listed for sale on SnapNames/BuyDomains (Newfold Digital) at $4,188
5. Registered through Annulet LLC (Newfold Digital)
6. Sitting at Newfold Digital's own Jacksonville headquarters

The domain never left the building. It went from one Newfold Digital subsidiary to another. The auction existed only to extract maximum price from the one person who actually wanted the domain — me.


And if I now want the domain? I can buy it from SnapNames for $4,188. From the same company that just ran the auction.


The Pattern


This thread documents reports about 318318 and 1timmy going back to January 2021. KnifeCatcher reported them winning auctions and not paying. jeremy77777 described 318318 as a bot. janismo caught 1timmy entering auctions without being a pre-order bidder, winning names at $1,305 and $2,999. Scottybobotty confirmed 318318 was still active in August 2025 and that the won domain ended up as reseller inventory.


My experience matches all of these reports exactly, but the WHOIS data now shows the destination: Newfold Digital's own BuyDomains portfolio. These aren't independent speculators. The domains are going straight into the parent company's resale inventory.


Also Worth Noting


I also had active backorders for this domain through Network Solutions (also Newfold Digital). Paid for, sitting there for months. The backorder service did absolutely nothing — no notifications, no status changes, no auction participation. The domain went straight to NameJet with zero involvement from the Network Solutions backorder I was paying for.


I have screenshots of everything: the bid history, the SnapNames BIN listing, the WHOIS records, and timestamps. I have also submitted a support ticket to SnapNames asking them to explain how 1timmy participated without being a pre-order bidder and how the domain ended up in Newfold Digital's own inventory within hours.


I'll update this thread with their response, if I get one.

Thank you for the detailed information
Newfold is making the web worst and worst everyday.
They bought most hosting companies in the past and now they are after domaining.