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- Jul 15, 2002
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Like many others here I have been voicing my disappointment lately with the falloff in success SnapNames.com has had over the past couple of months. Others have urged that I contact them to try and find out what has been going on. I've acted on those requests and had a long conversation with Kjel Holmberg at SnapNames (SN) today. I have dealt with Kjel in the past and he has always been totally upfront with me - no sidestepping issues or trying to gloss over problems. I asked him all of the questions I have raised here as well as most that others have raised.
First for anyone new to the issue, let me recap what we already know. Everyone recognizes that there has been a big upheaval in the expiring domain market this summer, particularly since Pool.com unveiled their new auction model. By attracting high bids on domain names, Pool has been able to pay larger fees to registrars prompting some of them to switch to Pool from fixed price services like SnapNames. Other services have also moved to the auction model. So one major factor that has lowered the success rate for Snap is increased competition coupled with fewer registrars chasing on their behalf.
Another factor is that Pool will only go after names with a minimum bid of $60 (with the vast majority of those ending up in auctions that send the final price considerably higher). As a result, they chase far fewer names each day than SN and can concentrate all of their bandwidth on that smaller pool of high value names. Snap has a lower entry fee ($40 at some resellers) and a much wider audience in the general public that often orders less desirable names. Since the price is the same for everyone they are obligated to chase all names equally.
In addition, because Snap has been the measuring stick in the past, on drop day many look to see if names already have Snaps on them. If they do they are perceived to be names that have some value to someone, so speculators will place bids on those names at other services creating more competition that Snap would not face if their list of snapped names was not publicly available.
Now with that out of the way, let's move on to the larger questions, primarily about the degree to which SN catches have fallen off. This has been most pronounced in .ORG domains. Kjel told me they are acutely aware of the problem with .ORGS and are working on it every day. What many people don't realize is that the software that companies like SN, NW and Pool use to catch names is tweaked EVERY day and is more critical to success that ever before. Kjel said the software Snap used today is dramatically better than what they (or anyone else) was using just 2 weeks ago. This is one reason you see catchers with alternately hot and cold hands.
Right now Pool has their software really hotwired for the .ORGS and are running the table on them (with NW getting the ones they miss). SN engineers are working on it and the likelihood is that they will find a solution and get Snap back into the game. Kjel assures me they have every intention of doing so.
He says there is no truth at all to comments that SnapNames is putting forth less of an effort to concentrate on WLS. Of course, SN will continue in the drop business even after WLS is put in place - concentrating on .ORGs and the newer extensions (only COM & NET go to WLS). SN is considering many options to address market realities including revised pricing. They have already rolled out a low priced renewal option for their resellers. If the reseller offers it (like Snaps.com does) and your original Snap fails on all attempts, you can buy 3 more for substantially less than the original purchase price. The resellers set the price on those renewals and some may choose not to offer the option - it is up to them.
Refunds are not on the table however. SN does not and never has been able to guarantee success so they sell only the service of chasing names for you. It is up to you to decide if the price of the service is fair for the chance at grabbing a deleting name. In the end users will determine this as SN will be required to respond to market demand (or lack thereof) with appropriate pricing options.
I asked if SN might lose additional registrars to the auction services. This is always a possibility because registrars are businesses that want the maximum amount of revenue. Kjel said Snap has excellent relationships with their current registrar partners and he thinks they will continue to have a sizeable contingent working with them. He said even companies that work with one registrar can enjoy some success with good code on their side - that remains the linchpin in each company's daily success ratio.
There have been a couple of reports of snapped names not being registered at all even when available. Kjel said any such instance would have to be a bug in the system not related to these other issues and requests any such occurrence be reported to them for investigation.
There were also some questions about WLS. So what happens to Snap holders if and when WLS launches? Final decisions have not been made, but the most likely scenario is that SN would stage a mini "landrush" and try to grab the WLS for every name in its Snap database for the current holders. On those they cannot get, they would replace the Snap with a WLS subscription that the holder can use on any name.
That covers most of the major points we went over. I personally feel a little better knowing they are fully aware of the situation and are working hard on it. I think the disappointment is so widespread because SnapNames is one of only a couple of options left that give the buyer a chance to get a good domain at a low fixed price. People do not want to see that option lost so we have all been clamoring for answers. I hope this post has provided some of them.
P.S. Just as I was getting ready to post this, I got an email from Snaps.com (SN reseller) telling me they caught a 3-letter .net, jgc.net, for me yesterday! They got it through TotalRegistrations.com ââ¬â my first catch in some time. The only thing for sure in this drop catching business is that fortunes can turn at a momentââ¬â¢s notice.
First for anyone new to the issue, let me recap what we already know. Everyone recognizes that there has been a big upheaval in the expiring domain market this summer, particularly since Pool.com unveiled their new auction model. By attracting high bids on domain names, Pool has been able to pay larger fees to registrars prompting some of them to switch to Pool from fixed price services like SnapNames. Other services have also moved to the auction model. So one major factor that has lowered the success rate for Snap is increased competition coupled with fewer registrars chasing on their behalf.
Another factor is that Pool will only go after names with a minimum bid of $60 (with the vast majority of those ending up in auctions that send the final price considerably higher). As a result, they chase far fewer names each day than SN and can concentrate all of their bandwidth on that smaller pool of high value names. Snap has a lower entry fee ($40 at some resellers) and a much wider audience in the general public that often orders less desirable names. Since the price is the same for everyone they are obligated to chase all names equally.
In addition, because Snap has been the measuring stick in the past, on drop day many look to see if names already have Snaps on them. If they do they are perceived to be names that have some value to someone, so speculators will place bids on those names at other services creating more competition that Snap would not face if their list of snapped names was not publicly available.
Now with that out of the way, let's move on to the larger questions, primarily about the degree to which SN catches have fallen off. This has been most pronounced in .ORG domains. Kjel told me they are acutely aware of the problem with .ORGS and are working on it every day. What many people don't realize is that the software that companies like SN, NW and Pool use to catch names is tweaked EVERY day and is more critical to success that ever before. Kjel said the software Snap used today is dramatically better than what they (or anyone else) was using just 2 weeks ago. This is one reason you see catchers with alternately hot and cold hands.
Right now Pool has their software really hotwired for the .ORGS and are running the table on them (with NW getting the ones they miss). SN engineers are working on it and the likelihood is that they will find a solution and get Snap back into the game. Kjel assures me they have every intention of doing so.
He says there is no truth at all to comments that SnapNames is putting forth less of an effort to concentrate on WLS. Of course, SN will continue in the drop business even after WLS is put in place - concentrating on .ORGs and the newer extensions (only COM & NET go to WLS). SN is considering many options to address market realities including revised pricing. They have already rolled out a low priced renewal option for their resellers. If the reseller offers it (like Snaps.com does) and your original Snap fails on all attempts, you can buy 3 more for substantially less than the original purchase price. The resellers set the price on those renewals and some may choose not to offer the option - it is up to them.
Refunds are not on the table however. SN does not and never has been able to guarantee success so they sell only the service of chasing names for you. It is up to you to decide if the price of the service is fair for the chance at grabbing a deleting name. In the end users will determine this as SN will be required to respond to market demand (or lack thereof) with appropriate pricing options.
I asked if SN might lose additional registrars to the auction services. This is always a possibility because registrars are businesses that want the maximum amount of revenue. Kjel said Snap has excellent relationships with their current registrar partners and he thinks they will continue to have a sizeable contingent working with them. He said even companies that work with one registrar can enjoy some success with good code on their side - that remains the linchpin in each company's daily success ratio.
There have been a couple of reports of snapped names not being registered at all even when available. Kjel said any such instance would have to be a bug in the system not related to these other issues and requests any such occurrence be reported to them for investigation.
There were also some questions about WLS. So what happens to Snap holders if and when WLS launches? Final decisions have not been made, but the most likely scenario is that SN would stage a mini "landrush" and try to grab the WLS for every name in its Snap database for the current holders. On those they cannot get, they would replace the Snap with a WLS subscription that the holder can use on any name.
That covers most of the major points we went over. I personally feel a little better knowing they are fully aware of the situation and are working hard on it. I think the disappointment is so widespread because SnapNames is one of only a couple of options left that give the buyer a chance to get a good domain at a low fixed price. People do not want to see that option lost so we have all been clamoring for answers. I hope this post has provided some of them.
P.S. Just as I was getting ready to post this, I got an email from Snaps.com (SN reseller) telling me they caught a 3-letter .net, jgc.net, for me yesterday! They got it through TotalRegistrations.com ââ¬â my first catch in some time. The only thing for sure in this drop catching business is that fortunes can turn at a momentââ¬â¢s notice.
