Who has the best API for drop catching?

[mrjohn]

I'm looking at building a drop catching app. (Don't sweat that part -- I have all the coding background I need.)

What I want to know is who has the friendliest API for drop catchers?

I was leaning toward using Moniker's API, until I read their TOS, which indicates people with too many queries and not enough registrations will be terminated. Is that even true? Or is that one of those TOS that companies keep in their back pocket just in case.

So far, I haven't been impressed with the offerings I've found beyond Moniker's API. Are there any other good ones out there?

My only other thought is using GoDaddy's reseller system. But, I'm not even sure it has the appropriate functionality.

My goal is to take my search tools that I've built to scour the drop lists and build an automated registration engine.

I could use some advice.

 

[GoQuickly]

From what I hear, Dynadot is pretty legit.

 

[Name Trader]

I agree with Erdinc's view about this. All the best domains have been eaten up in the pre-release. You are plowing through a lot of domains for one diamond in the rough. Wouldn't you be better off watching the pre-release domains instead?

 

[mrjohn]

Wouldn't you be better off watching the pre-release domains instead?

I make money doing this my way. More domains slip through pre-release and end up deleting than people realize.

I'm not looking for business advice. I'm looking for the best API to improve an existing successful business model.

 

[bmugford]

Not all registrars have pre-release partners. There are more gems deleting than people realize.

I would also vote for Dynadot.

Brad

 

[Erdy]

I'm using Dynadot and that's the only registrar I used so far for dropcatching. I use a custom script written by my developer but unfortunately it only makes a request every 4 seconds. I'm also looking for alternatives.

 

[xtmoney]

erdinc - what are limits/queries with dynadot?
4 seconds for which TLD's? com net org?is there any way this increase to 10 queries per second?
do you have any success catching good domains..pagerank pr4 pr5?

 

[Domagon]

I don't do drop-catching so these following thoughts may be way off base ... with that said, I'm curious whether registrars that offer API access share registration query data with select drop-catchers.

Something to research ... look up the domains one didn't catch and see if it's same few drop-catchers, especially if they're small obscure ones, picking them up ... if so, there's likely a data leak.

On a related note, I'm curious as to whether some registrars cache / drop excessive registration requests; make it look like the registrations were attempted when they weren't really. This is likely more of an issue at registrars that also do drop-catching - some of the biggies, such as eNom have numerous, separate registrars / partners specifically for drop-catching.

Point is not only look at who has the best API, but also research how trustworthy they are.

Ron

 

[Erdy]

erdinc - what are limits/queries with dynadot?

The only limit is that you should wait for a response before sending a new query.

4 seconds for which TLD's? com net org?is there any way this increase to 10 queries per second?

I have heard there is but not over the api. Instead some scripts login you to your account through the web. I don't know much about that.

do you have any success catching good domains..pagerank pr4 pr5?

I have never cared about pagerank for any domain I bought. To end users the least important thing is the pagerank.

 

[John Slaney]

Dynadot has worked well in the past for me.
Unfortunately the script I was using is not working and the developer is MIA so if you know good dropscript for Dynadot send me a PM

 

[xtmoney]

thanks for answer..so i need to call to programmer to wait for response before sent new query? if so..what's the time between query and waiting for response.?
someone above mention 4 seconds..i think this is a lot as we know there lot of catchers/competitions .
all questions are because of i want to know are dynadot 500$ prepay funds worth it..
sorry for my english.
For me pagerank is important because i have lot of buyers who buy domain with pageranks.

The only limit is that you should wait for a response before sending a new query.


I have heard there is but not over the api. Instead some scripts login you to your account through the web. I don't know much about that.


I have never cared about pagerank for any domain I bought. To end users the least important thing is the pagerank.

 

[mrjohn]

So, pretty much no one supports using Moniker or GD, right?

 

[Michael]

OnlineNic has the least sophisticated throttling, and is really cheap. No free push, and annoying to move domains out, but if you can deal with those hurdles that is what I would recommend.

Dynadot is also good, although from what I remember over the span of 100 seconds you can only do 10 requests on each domain you're going after, so it is pretty slow.

From what I've heard about Moniker, you have a maintain a certain success rate (i.e. you can't do 1000 requests for 1 successful registration). That gets even trickier when you're using other APIs, because for example if Dynadot wins alot, your Moniker success rate will be even lower than your already low overall success rate. I can't remember what the percent is, but I think it is pretty high, maybe 25%. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Wild West Domains (Godaddy) has a good one, but it is really hard to get approved to use it.

Your best bet, in terms of not getting banned, is to check availability at whois-servers.net (port 43), and when you find it available, then use the APIs. They don't restrict, I've hit them tens of thousands of times a minute (for a bulk availability checker) and didn't get banned.

You won't be able to beat those of us that know the drop order though

 

[mrjohn]

Your best bet, in terms of not getting banned, is to check availability at whois-servers.net (port 43), and when you find it available, then use the APIs.

That's pretty much what I'm doing now. I have a good handle on the drop order.

Geez . . . you'd swear this drop-catching business was competitive.

 

[xtmoney]

michael - yeah..that's correct about whois servers net..they are best for me (pity there is not the same with .org)..at least for com and net..with same server i use tool to check bulk domains 400-500k for 1 hour.
and about dynadot you are right..100 sec. for 10 request which is very slow.
i will implement api in my tool and when domain is available then api will finish the work,

 

[kinesis]

I'm developing a project called RubySpider, part of the App will be what you speak of for sure, let me know via PM if you are interested in compensating me for my development work.

 

[xtmoney]

when i ask dynadot about restriction/limits of queries they answer:

Hello,

For COM/NET domains, you can't send a command for the same domain name more than 10 times in 100 seconds. You can search for other domains during that time, but for the same domain you are limited to 10 queries in 100 seconds.
You need to wait for a response from our API before sending another request. I believe those are the only two limitations.


and when i ask about biz us and info here they say that there no limit/queries .

but what about org?are they limited too.and anyone know good whois servers
for bulk search org's?