Am I still paranoid?

[elivate]

I had a bid in for a great .ca domain that was dropping the other day... bk.ca. I had a bid in with Pool and SiberName. I just checked to see if the domain resolved to a site because I did not get any notification from either drop-catcher... and it goes to http://sibername.com/auction/ and the whois says: This domain name was registered by using Sibername.com.

Now I know that this is typical of the whois for a domain that has just been picked up from a drop, especially a .ca, it takes a while for the name to be transfered to the new owner, etc... But, why was I not notified that my bid was "out bidden" as the emails from SiberName usually say? Did they just keep the name for themselves?

Man, each time I go after a high quality name this drop-catching thing really looks like a shady business...

[canames]

Wow, were you the highest bidder at Sibername? I noticed the high bid at the close was Cdn$5000 :S

I think it's worth it in the long-run, especially if Burger King ever wanted it, but it's still quite a bit.

But I agree with you about Pool's (seeming) shadiness :|

[elivate]

Well, no, I wasn't the highest bidder because I was never notified that there was an auction... I had a bid in, but was never notified that I was outbid... That is what makes me so mad... I am not saying I was prepared to spend $5k on it but the point is, I never got the chance... I though that is what these auctions were all about, all interested parties shuld have the opportunity to bid ...

[canames]

Ahh, I see what you mean now. That's true, I sometimes wonder if registrars (especially Pool) put high bids on some domains just to make sure that they either keep it, or get a lot of money for them.

[DropWizard.com]

Sibernames outbid email notification doesn't seem to work too well. I know I've had the same problem. But I also know the bids were already at 5k when I first looked at it Wed and heaven only knows what the proxy bid was.

I'm not quite sure what you're complaining about here other than the loss of an email notice. I watch Sibername quite closely now because of other auction problems and it seems they're running a pretty clean auction now.

I though that is what these auctions were all about, all interested parties shuld have the opportunity to bid ...

If you set a proxy bid you set the highest price you are prepared to pay and theoretically an email shouldn't make any difference.

Otherwise you monitor the domain right up to the last second and bid accordingly.

I wouldn't expect an auction house to babysit me

[elivate]

I did email them and they told me that outbid notices were sent... Also, they said that the high bidder did not pay, and now they seem to own the name... Shouldn't the next highest bidder get the name?

[DropWizard.com]

Originally Posted by elivate

I did email them and they told me that outbid notices were sent... Also, they said that the high bidder did not pay, and now they seem to own the name... Shouldn't the next highest bidder get the name?

Yes. Although that leads to a host of problems. Would you have bid as high if the other bidder wasn't bidding? Probably not so there should be a price adjustment downward.

Which name is it? They usually throw the names that aren't paid for into their auction system.

[whitebark]

I used another service for the same name and also didn't get any notification. Would have liked to at least known.

[maroulis]

i know it might seem as very obvious but if you're using free email service have you checked your spam folder? it's very rare that notification emails don't work...