Some Snapnames Questions

[Name Trader]

I only just begun to use Snapnames again after about 2 years. I'm either a bit rusty, or some thing doesn't look right.

Domain #1
Expired 2/09/11. Reg with Tucows. Available Soon. Order by 3/22/11, which I did. Domain showed my bid when searched. Then after a few hours Bidders/Min Bid/OrderBy all changed to dashes (-). Bid was $59. It now shows in my Pending Orders as a Backorder. Domain hasn't been renewed.

Question: Why hasn't this domain been allotted to me, or when will it happen?

Domain #2
Expires 2/11/11. Reg with Tucows. Available Soon. Order by 2/23/11, which I did. Bid was $59. This domain has gone to auction and I am the only bidder

Question: I though if I'm the only bidder the domain should by allotted to me immediately? So why am I the only bidder in the auction? Can anyone else join the auction?

 

[mwzd]

Question: Why hasn't this domain been allotted to me, or when will it happen?

The domain will probably show up for sale at YummyNames - that's the tucows sale site, you probably won't get the domain.

Question: I though if I'm the only bidder the domain should by allotted to me immediately? So why am I the only bidder in the auction? Can anyone else join the auction?

Not sure about this at all, as the only bidder you should have got the name outright, but then again, tucows is involved, so not surprised.

I think at snap no one can join the auction, but the domain might be available via another platform run by tucows for bidding, again, not sure, just imho.

 

[mrjohn]

You weren't the only bidder.

There were two or more bidders with an equal bid and you were the one who placed a bid the earliest. The auction is to allow the other bidder(s) the opportunity to raise their bid.

 

[RazorNF]

For domain #1, what does the whois show now? If it did actually drop from Tucows, Snapnames may not have been successful in getting it, hence the reason why it now shows as a plain backorder.

 

[Name Trader]

@mwzd - Thanks. I didn't find either domain on YummyNames.

@mrjohn - The auction says there is only 1 bidder... me.

@RazorNF - This wasn't a Pending Delete. It was an Available Soon. It's still hasn't been renewed and it hasn't dropped yet.

I've posed these same questions with Snapnames, looking for the answers.

 

[Name Trader]

Domain #3
expired 2/9/11. Reg at ABSYSYTEMS INC. Available Soon. Bid by 2/23/11, which I did. Bid $69. Went to my Pending Orders as a Backorder. Checked the whois and it dropped. So picked it up for Reg fee

Question: Why on earth didn't Snapnames pick this up with my bid? Also, why did it drop so soon?

So thats my only 3 bids, with 3 problems. 100% Errors. Not a shiny example of a working system, imho.

---------- Post added at 08:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:02 AM ----------

Update Domain #2 - This domain has been renewed by Tucows and I'm still the only one in the auction.

 

[mwzd]

Well, at least you can't complain about the third domain. :p

Let us know what reply you receive from Snap, though if the domain was in redemption the owner can probably renew it.

Cheers!

 

[Domainace]

Question #2... for Tucows and a couple other registrars (I forget which but I started a thread about this), Snapnames will send your name to open auction even if you were the only bidder. Essentially, they use your bid to help them sniff out a potentially valuable name that they can send to auction. It's a nasty business.

I was the only bidder on a name that was taken from me for $250 in the second auction, and I pretty much gave up on them after that.

 

[Name Trader]

@Domainace - you are right. Here's my reply from SnapNames

Thank you for contacting us.

The name Domain #1 was scheduled to be released to us by Tucows, which is one of our Priority Partners. This partnership allows us to acquire domains immediately after the Grace Period ends without any competition. In this case, the name was not released to us, and they appear to have removed the listing for the domain from our site.
They are not required to inform us of why they are choosing not to release the name and, unfortunately, they have not.

The domain went back into Pending Orders status because it is not available at this time.

As I explained above, we do have priority over domains released by Tucows. They have the option to set the prices on the names that are released to us, and the type of auction they would like to use to sell the name.

We do have to have at least one backorder in our system in order for the name to be released to us. However, once the name is released, their domains will be placed in public auctions. This is the reason that the name Domain #2 is in auction even though yours is the only bid. Because it is a public auction, any of our customers can join while the auction is active.

Register.com and Moniker also choose to use public auctions for the names that they release to us.

If you have any other questions, please

So Tucows, Register and their own Moniker opt (which means anybody can bid on the domains) for a public auction for any domain that is won at the Pre-Release phase. This is could be important information for someone.


I'm still the only bidder with 21hrs left to go.

 

[Name Trader]

OK. I won the auction for Domain #2. So the only one I didn't get was the most desirable Domain #1 which Tucows renewed. So not a bad haul for my 1st use of SnapNames in about 2 years. But I'm not sure I'm going to bid on any more Tucows, Register or Moniker Pre-Release domains. It was too stressful. Waking up at 3 in the morning to watch the auction close is something I cannot do on a regular basis. Also I think it's unfair that a Registrar can pull the domain at the last moment after they've seen some bids on the domain. this is just another way that SnapNames tilts it's auctions against the bidders, imho.