You backorder with Dynadot? Think again

[Hypersot]

About a month ago, I backordered a domain using Dynadot's service which they failed to catch (as usual).

Today I checked to see who owns the domain and that's where I noticed it was registered via dynadot by a certain Dynadot customer (I strongly believe, one of their premium customers)

After my inquiry as to why they didn't honour the backorder, this is the answer I got:

"Yes, the domain was registered by another user via our API. When used at drop time, our API will sometimes beat our backorder service."

That is the same backorder service that they upped the price by ~200% supposedly to increase the service's performance.

So, if you want to use their backorder services, think again...

Needless to say, I'm extremely unhappy with that kind of treatment

 

[Dave]

Dynadot have never caught a domain for me in about 5 years. I have backordered hundreds of domains. Waste of time.

 

[Hypersot]

Dynadot have never caught a domain for me in about 5 years. I have backordered hundreds of domains. Waste of time.

It's one thing to have a crappy service and another to discriminate between your customers in such a degree.

We all know that they offer priorities in various levels to superbulk customers (ie. to those that spend something like $5k/year)
but when they apply the same discrimination to different services (ie. a simple $10 hand register beating a $40 backorder service) then things get out of hand. That is totally unacceptable.

 

[GoKaizen]

This has been discussed here before.

For some strange reason @Dynadot has a better catch rate with the API. It is whack.

You can buy Andrew's @FPForum software.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/desktopcatcher-software.873819/

https://www.namepros.com/threads/expired-domain-drop-catching-software.781717/

Or you could build your own API to work with Dynadot.

 

[MapleDots]

I've had limited luck with any of the backorder services. I just bid at auction and hope I get it now, I don't even bother with back orders anymore. I think I tried almost 30 times and got one. Way too much work for such a small return.

 

[FPForum]

Have seen this numerous times before. People beating their own backorders. Not only at DynaDot either - Multiple people have beat their own backorders at other places as well.

Thanks for the shoutout @Adam27 - really appreciate that. @Hypersot is already a DesktopCatcher user

 

[Grego85]

this is really nothing new, Dynadot backorders are more of a convenience for grabbing under the radar names and that's it. I recommend their API though, it has come in quite handy for me. I love me some Dynadot.

 

[Hypersot]

Thank you all for your thoughts.

My point here though is not the success rate that Dynadot might or might not have in their backorder service rather than the whole approach in how they treat their customers' base (at least the non-premium ones)

A backorder is supposed to be a legally bind contract (at least that's what they all claim).If I was NOT to pay a backorder that they had won for me, I would certainly face issues with them and a very possible ban.
One the other hand, I see that they can choose to freely ignore a backorder a non-premium user has made and give the domain to one of their 'special' clients without any consequences.
(I know domaining is totally unregulated but still...)

Please note that,
even if I use their API I'd still not be able to register any domains if one of the 'special' clients decided to use the API for the same domains. So, using the API in this case makes no sense since there is 0% of winning said domains.

Moreover,
don't forget what they said when they upped their backorder prices. It was supposed to make their backorder service stronger. I mean, how can they claim something like that when they don't even honour the most basic principles of the service? (ie. backorder > hand register)

Anyway, the purpose of the thread was to share my experience, express my disappointment and let you know how Dynadot's system works (at least for those that didn't already know). Time to move on...

 

[tanishqjain]

Does being an accredited registrar increases chances of registering premium domains fast only in case of (CCTLD's) Let's say I want to catch .in extension , would it increase my chances of DropCatching as i would have the access to database of it.

 

[Hypersot]

Does being an accredited registrar increases chances of registering premium domains fast only in case of (CCTLD's) Let's say I want to catch .in extension , would it increase my chances of DropCatching as i would have the access to database of it.

yes but keep in mind that there are plenty of accredited registrars -for the most known extensions- that will attempt to do the same. You might have better chances than you have now but you'll still have high competition (especially for the .in zone you mentioned)

 

[JayT]

The way it works, is there are only so many ping allowed per registrar at a time, every few seconds or whatever. Domains are dropping all the time though. So, if you have only 1 register so during that 3 seconds someone else beat you to the punch. This is why others get 500 of them and ping a lot more, and win domains. Now for DD vs DD API, IDK maybe something similar? Maybe a separate register setup to use it.

 

[Fancy.domains]

I’ve used Dynadot to catch a few .org and new gTLDs that I’ve sold later on.

But I agree that it is not easy to catch 4L .com etc

 

[Domainstore]

@Hypersot @Grego85 This can seem a stupid question, but : HOW WORKS API ? at any registrar ?
What do you do for that ?
And what is the successrate at dynadot API or others ? Where should I beat Dynadot to do that instead of backordering ? And what do I have to do ?
AND
Is there any thread on Namepros that explains this very well in depth ?

And What do you mean with special clients at Dynadot ?

 

[Hypersot]

@Hypersot @Grego85 This can seem a stupid question, but : HOW WORKS API ? at any registrar ?
What do you do for that ?
And what is the successrate at dynadot API or others ? Where should I beat Dynadot to do that instead of backordering ? And what do I have to do ?
AND
Is there any thread on Namepros that explains this very well in depth ?

And What do you mean with special clients at Dynadot ?

Unless you are a programmer, to use any API, you need to either hire a programmer to make a software for you or buy a ready-made software (eg. seach for desktopcatcher).

By 'special clients' I mean those clients that have spent a lot of cash with Dynadot and have priority in the API usage over others.
The more you spend at Dynadot the higher the chances you beat someone else that uses the same API as you at a specific moment or for a specific domain.

 

[branding]

Unless you are a programmer, to use any API, you need to either hire a programmer to make a software for you or buy a ready-made software (eg. seach for desktopcatcher).

By 'special clients' I mean those clients that have spent a lot of cash with Dynadot and have priority in the API usage over others.
The more you spend at Dynadot the higher the chances you beat someone else that uses the same API as you at a specific moment or for a specific domain.

I can't remember ever noticing or reading they would give 'special clients' preference over normal clients. I've been managing thousands of domains at Dynadot. Suppose that would qualify as a 'special client'.

Dynadots backorder system isn't that strong. Their API however is pretty decent. If you set up your own system they're easy to beat but so are some other registrars. It has nothing to do with Dynadot preferring the big spenders.

 

[Hypersot]

It has nothing to do with Dynadot preferring the big spenders.

Just ask dynadot's support about the priority of the api regarding the super-bulk customers vs the normal ones.
Anyone using Dynadot's API knows this; ie. the more you spend, the more power you get from their API.

Please do your research before dismissing someone's post.

 

[branding]

Just ask dynadot's support about the priority of the api regarding the super-bulk customers vs the normal ones.
Anyone using Dynadot's API knows this; ie. the more you spend, the more power you get from their API.

Please do your research before dismissing someone's post.

Yeah you're right about the API. I should have worded it better. What I meant to say was they don't prioritize bulk users when they place a backorder.

I don't think it's wrong for them to prioritize bulk users when in comes to API use as in the end they're the ones making them enough money to make having a good API feasible.

 

[oskaaay]

About a month ago, I backordered a domain using Dynadot's service which they failed to catch (as usual).

Today I checked to see who owns the domain and that's where I noticed it was registered via dynadot by a certain Dynadot customer (I strongly believe, one of their premium customers)

After my inquiry as to why they didn't honour the backorder, this is the answer I got:

"Yes, the domain was registered by another user via our API. When used at drop time, our API will sometimes beat our backorder service."

That is the same backorder service that they upped the price by ~200% supposedly to increase the service's performance.

So, if you want to use their backorder services, think again...

Needless to say, I'm extremely unhappy with that kind of treatment

Just thinking of considering them for a backorder. With this am making a U-turn or are have they improved?

 

[Hypersot]

Just thinking of considering them for a backorder. With this am making a U-turn or are have they improved?

It's been quite a while since I BOed with Dynadot but there is a recent thread somewhere where there is a discussion on Dyn's backorders. I remember they talked about priority(?) backorders vs regular backorders.

Sorry, no time to search for it but it shouldn't be too hard to find it.