Dropcatchers - Some really bad people running these services.

[Gerry]

That and SEM.
How long until the industry gets audited and becomes transparent ?

Not until this becomes a recognized mainstream industry, as in internet properties.

Gee, wait until people actually have to claim income and pay taxes on these billions...

Step right up, Ladies and Gentlemen...get your offshore accounts now.

[Poker]

Not until this becomes a recognized mainstream industry, as in internet properties.

Problem is that by then most of the good deals have been had. Pro's and con's to the wild west me friends.

[Gerry]

Problem is that by then most of the good deals have been had. Pro's and con's to the wild west me friends.

There has been a couple of legal proceedings that deemed domain names as "assets".

Problem is, there are not enough savvy business leaders, bankers, financial experts, legal folks, and fund managers that know much about domain names.

[NameYourself]

Bidding in multiple drop auctions and pre-release auctions across many platforms, it is common and smart for people to place their bids at the last second, especially in snapnames and namejet pre-release auctions since when there is a bid on the domain it is seen publicly and this draws attention to the name. There have been many domains especially at namejet which go from 0 bidders to several bidders within the last seconds, this part of last minute bidding / backordering is common.

The other part, unusual bidding is something I've also encountered, though it is a difficult thing to pinpoint. Since the other person bidding is not something public there is a lot of room for abuse on the auction-end and just as much room for speculation/conspiracy on the other end. I think there should be much more transparency with auction-houses everywhere. If a bidder bids someone up but rarely/never wins then this is where a potential problem exists. This is a hard thing to identify without statistics of bidders and win/loss ratios. It is best NEVER to place a large proxy bid ahead of time. Even if nothing "funny" or tempting occurs on the auction-house's side, there is still the potential for the auction to go higher earlier on, leading to even higher bids at auctions-end. One auction I remember was one in which I never expected other bids/interest in. It was very low search, had little or no traffic, and was something that had more personal meaning than something that was popular and well known to others. Placing a high proxy bid, the domain went up several hundred percent to within just dollars at the very end of the auction. The bidder was not a name that was recognized and it just seemed "odd" how it went from xx to high xxx within dollars all from the same previously unknown bidder who never seem to win. There is plenty of room to speculate about auction-side fraud given the ambiguity from lack of publicly available data, not to mention it has happened before. With more disclosure, a lot of this could be put to rest and create a more open and fair bidding environment.

[jaydub]

This is just coincidence Adam.
Much like the gas companies that say there is no price fixing but somehow they all miraculously have the same price! all over the city...just coincidence.

This is why I hate proxy bids because as you say, many times it somehow ens up bein $20 short of your max bid....ugh!

Dropcatchers --- without naming names I have had many auctions that I placed a high bid on and then watched the 'other' bids come very clkose to my my bid and literally stop $5 away from my high bid. Do you think there is something funny about that --- HELL Yes!

This has not happened everwhere but has happened on more than one occasion to me and I know what's going on, it's obvious.

When the current bid is $200 and I bid $1500 and it ends around $1495, that's pretty obvious it was bid up.

I must say, they are not all bad.

Who else has seen this happen?

-=DCG=-

[sitehq]

hi guys relevant thread

the only beef i have.. i think. is with namejet and im not sure im right so i havent called them about it (and i dont think they have any people anymore to actually deal with namejet issues)

i know my bid color chnages when someone else is close, but if they are walking up from say $300 to a $1000 reserve does their bid color chnage to tell them they are getting close and it gives them a chnace to rethink .. in other words can a bidder walk up knowing that he has some fair warning before his bid isnt just pushing up another domainer, but may actually win; and thus some confidence that they are bidding without consequences until they get to a number that beats the proxy.

i will say i think i say a change at snapnames recently where an auction isnt extended with EVERY BID, just when the winning bidder changes.... bt it was anectdotal evidence at best. this would sure help the water torture.

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[tomsa]

My rule is: Never express interest before the last minutes.
Good for backordering and bidding

[Adam Dicker]

My rule is: Never express interest before the last minutes.
Good for backordering and bidding

Good advice but it won't stop dropcatchers from escalating prices.

-=DCG=-

[draggar]

*yawn* Let me know when something new comes up in regards to this.

.. and people still think Halvarez was a one man operation?

[namestrands]

I am happy in knowing that one day there will be a whistleblower and big class actions will ensue. The drop catchers will get away with it for now, but not forever. If the domain community put up rewards for whistleblowers to come forward with evidence that will out their Parking Company, Auction Site or Drop Catching Firm then that same community take swift and brutal legal action then you might get some trust in the marketplace.

Registrars should be EXCLUDED from being dropcatchers, in fact they should be excluded from owning any interests in such. Its anti-competitive. In an ideal world we should all have equal opportunity to catch a domain on the drop or simply all take part in a lottery. You pay $1 to enter a domain lottery and then an automated system chooses the winning bid. The lottery will of course be a grass roots organisation that keeps a 25% profit running costs and the rest goes to financing a DAG (Domain Action Group) to fight for the domainers against the AWFUL UDRP results and to take on companies Blatantly Reverse Hijacking Domains.

(Not that I have given it much thought)

Until then, I use my own developed secret weapon ;-) so secret I had to kill the gardener who glimpsed upon it.

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