Why do people bid way ahead of time at auctions?

[main]

Who are the people bidding up names at auction (GD Expiring Auctions) ahead of time? Who are you? Why do you do it? What's the logic behind it? To me , it just draws more attention to the name. At least wait until the last few hours. I can't tell you how you should bid. I just don't understand it.

 

[Rich]

Godaddy has many buyers, some people have day jobs and cannot return for the auction closing time to put in their high bid.

 

[.NJ]

Godaddy is full of shill bidders.

Its such a joke sometimes.

 

[werty]

Well for godaddy there are tons of people shill bidding so you have to be careful. That being said, for other auctions and ones where there are no shill bidders the answer to your question is there are multiple bidding strategies:

1. Some people want to lock in a price as they are not willing to go beyond it.
2. Then there is the people who prefer to sneak in the last minute to try to win.
3. And last but not least, some people just bid early because they will not be available at the time the auction ends.

 

[ajaydz]

i think it's because they have to bid once to set a proxybid(max. amount they are willing to spend on that domain).So they will bid first and set a proxy bid like $23 or $28 for example

 

[Ms Domainer]

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I've seen bids placed 8 days out and without a proxy bid (and not a backorder).

I see a lot of backorders for crappy LLLL dot com.

You can tell a backorder because the opening bid is $10.

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[Ted.T]

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I've seen bids placed 8 days out and without a proxy bid (and not a backorder).

I see a lot of backorders for crappy LLLL dot com.

You can tell a backorder because the opening bid is $10.

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I thought backorders are private auctions. How can you see them?

 

[RazorNF]

People could be placing a bid in early for any reason - I know I have personally put in an order a few days in advance,because I was going away for a few days and wasn't sure I was going to be getting regular access to Internet.

In other cases, like others have mentioned - I suspect there is shill bidding going on as well to drum up interest in a domain that might not otherwise sell. Keep in mind these tend to be the ones that are being auctioned by their owners not the expiring ones.

 

[Ms Domainer]

I thought backorders are private auctions. How can you see them?

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Nope, they are public IF the auction is an expiring one (domain is already at Go Daddy and auction is started 25 days after expiration -- in essence, the name never expires, thus keeping its old registration date).

I'm not sure what the rules are regarding backorder names that have been deleted and caught by Go Daddy (thus, new registration date kicks in).

You can tell the expiring domains with a backorder because bidding starts at $10.00 instead of $12.00.

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[main]

Yeah, there are a lot of reasons to place a bid early as mentioned. People not being in front of their computers definitely makes sense. I do it from time to time because I live in Asia and the auctions happen in the middle of the night, and when I do it's usually a proxy bid with my max.

I often see bidding battles well in advance though, often over several days. I think people have fun bidding it up. I often see early bidders come back and bid again. I guess I'm just venting cause there's often names I'm watching that I wan that start getting bid up in advance raising the final price up in my opinion. It's frustrating. Part of the game I guess.

 

[Name Trader]

I wouldn't get upset. They sell for whatever the last bid is. If you've placed your highest bid, and it's not high enough to win the domain, then at least you tried. As others have said. There are different strategies in place for those early bidders. But any domain is going to sell for what the last bid is. I sympathize with your situation because I live in Asia as well. It's a PITA.

 

[iqbal51]

What the last bid is then at least you tried other have said different strategies in place for those early biders.

 

[-EM-]

That happens everywhere. All the "fight" is in the last minute. I have seen domains at godaddy or even dynadot getting from 2-3 bids a few minutes before the last 5 minutes ending time and end up to 100 of bids, from $10-$15 to $300 in just a few minutes. I consider it normal at godaddy since they add an extra 5 mins if the last bid is too close to ending time. I know that's sometime irritating, but that's the way it is, you can not do anything to stop it.

 

[urlurl]

maybe they are marking there territory or want to scare other bidders off - not the best strategy

 

[SearchEngineZ]

For me in Australia, time of day is a big factor. For example, NameJet auctions end around 4-5am my time at the moment, and I choose to sleep.

 

[VURG]

I'll tell you one thing that happenned to me once. I bid on a domain early. The domain got outbid. The next buyer had made a high bid and so while the price went higher, the 2nd bidder retained control of the auction. The auction finished and the second bidder didn't pay up and so I ended up winning the auction at a low price. In this case, I was glad I bid early.

I can't be bothered waiting until the end of the auction to bid. My time is too valuable for that. I would rather make one bid and move on if I don't win. Auctions rarely finish at a time that is convenient for me.

 

[mind3]

It is just people that won't be free at the end of the auction.

 

[SearchEngineZ]

Also, especially for NameJet, if I am the lead bidder a few days out, I get an email when I am outbid. If I am one of the many who put in a low bid - no email to remind me the auction is ending.

 

[Domainace]

It's often a choice between a decent night's sleep and a better chance at winning the auction. When I need the sleep more than the name I just put in my best bid, and figure I'll probably be outbid. Every now and then, I wake up to find I won the name. Then I wonder if I made a mistake by bidding so much

 

[Maxwell]

To decrease their chances of winning by giving it more exposure.