Success with Backordering/Dropping Domains

[armengrecotech]

Hi all!
Yes, you all know I'm new to this. I'm still learning, so bear with me!

I use justdropped.com to find domain names about to drop. However when wanting to backorder, I know GoDaddy is probably not the best to go with for backordering. So, I've settled to use Namejet to do that work.
Have any of you snapped up a really good domain name that gave you a great profit? I know for me I must start small and work my way up, but I was just curious.

Say if... for example www. tickets . com was dropping and the person just didn't plan to stupidly register it again. There is probably not a good chance of me snapping up the domain because it's THAT good.

But anyways, have you had any personal success or is the game basically trying to handreg things?

Just need a positive direction to go in.

Thank you!

 

[hrethel]

Personally, if I had to pick only one drop catching service out there, it'd be SnapNames. I've just had more luck with them grabbing domains for me in the past, not to mention tending to get a better price there than with most catchers.

However, if you really, really want a specific name, you're going to have to use at least the big 3 (SnapNames, NameJet, and Pool). But let's be honest: I get the JustDropped lists as well, and the vast majority of the names on those lists are absolute crap (this is by no means an indictment of JustDropped; that's just the nature of dropping domains). If it's gotten past the pre-release stage and into the pendingDelete stage, you've already lost a good amount of the valuable stuff to the pre-release bidders. What's left is generally niche end-user stuff, or something like donandmikeswebsite.com (this domain courtesy of TDNAM, since I'm not going to repost anything from JustDropped here).

Therefore, in the case of the names on JustDropped lists (or any other dropping domains list out there), unless something fell through the cracks - something rare in these days of high competition among the big companies - you might as well save your money and use GoDaddy's backordering service (look into Investor's Edge). At least then, if you catch it, you're only out around $20 as opposed to paying $59 or more for a less-than-stellar domain. The worst that will happen is that GoDaddy will decide to send it to one of their foolish auctions, in which case you might as well give it up since you're probably competing with someone who will bid up the price beyond any reasonable number. If that happens, you get a credit back, and you can continue backordering other names.

So, that's pretty much the summary of the market at this point. Good luck!

 

[garptrader]

If you are going to backorder at Namejet also do so at Snapnames (unless of course the name is exclusive to Namejet - Network Solutions or Enom drops). Snapnames seems to be better at grabbing names than Namejet but sometimes Namejet wins.

Hopefully the analogy I am about to present paints an accurate picture. Your best chance at finding good names is to be willing to pay a modest sum to other domainers. Yes, it will cost you more but you will be dealing with higher quality domains. The next best choice is to look at the drop marketplaces but you need to realize that 99% of drops are for a reason. Lastly you can try to handreg names but realize this industry has been around a while and if someone hasn't already registered the name, why not?

Analogy - if you want to buy cheap furniture, your best bet is to look for neighbors getting ready to move or who just bought new furniture. It could be in good condition but they don't really want it and are willing to part for it cheap. If you live in an apartment, you could also keep your eye out on the nearby dumpsters. Sometimes people will just leave their used furniture outside (because they bought new or are moving) and you could grab it if you do so before your other neighbors think about doing the same. Or lastly you could visit your nearby junkyard and who knows you might find something worth cleaning off. Domainer inventory is your neighbor's used furniture. Dropped domains are the used furniture beside the dumpster. On rare occasion you will find something worth taking but normally it is beside the dumpster because your neighbor didn't think they could sell it for anything. Lastly handregs are the furniture in the junkyards. Do you really want to spend hours looking in the junkyard for good furniture/domains?

 

[armengrecotech]

Thank you for both of your insights. It's greatly appreciated!

I can only use Namejet since they take Discover.

However when placing a backorder, is my credit card charged, or does it just serve as a placeholder?

 

[Name Trader]

You don't get charged unless you win the domain. It's just a placeholder.