Why private auctions?

[strongvis]

Just a little discussion on this topic :

Why do the companies (enom, pool, snap) continue to have "private" auctions ? Why not publicize all the names that you caught in a day and post them on the site so that ANYONE and everyone can bid, thus increasing the amount paid in the end. I never understood the concept of a closed auction and how it really benefits the companies catching names. . . . discussion.

 

[Anthony Ng]

But without PRE-DROP bids, how does a backordering service like eNom Club Drop decide which domains to go after with their limited resources? And without private auctions, why would anyone even care to place bids before hand?

 

[strongvis]

I'm devil's advocating a bit here .. ..

The drop services know what names are hot I'd think WAY before anyone "enters them in" . . .if they don't they aren't paying attention. We all have virtually the same lists and the drop services even put out their own lists. Let's face it we all go after the same TOP names (maybe not the same names) but we all know the goodies when we see them (and the registrar services aren't stupid).

There's lots of public auctions going on at enom that have high bids DAYS before the auction ends. . . Personally, I never bid ahead of time on any auction , private or public. It tips your hand a bit. . . even proxying. I'd only proxy bid if I wasn't going to be around for the end.

 

[bocajohnh]

Let's face it we all go after the same TOP names (maybe not the same names) but we all know the goodies when we see them (and the registrar services aren't stupid).

And I'm sure the drop catchers are trying their hardest to get these goodies. For the other 1000 - 10,000 per day that hold enough value for the potential buyer to snap/bid/whatever to get the name, I don't think these services should try, unless they got the order. Do you want pool.com to chase "MarkJohnsonDistrict872004" just because Mark Johnson paid snapnames $60 for it? If you want to chase a name like that at pool.com and sell it to Mr. Johnson, then have at it.

Personally, I don't want my drop catcher filling up their inventory with junk and puting themselves in financial difficulties by buying domains on speculation. There are some names in these public auctions that are attrocious, and it sucks that the drop service gets stuck with them, especially if they're out cash that could be used to buy more engineering time bettering their service.

My Two Cents.

 

[guiwang]

I think if enom try to catch all names withour a private auction,then they will become to a domain seller not a domain catcher.

Bean

 

[skylight]

namewinner allows you to join in an auction that you didnt bid...by paying an additional non refundable fee.

 

[seeker]

that sounds completely unfiar on top of the good points mentioned above.
Some people spend a LOT of time locating good names, so why should others just get to bid on them without doing any work on finding them???

 

[clemzonguy]

Maybe all three services.....POOL, ENOM, SNAPNAMES, NAMEWINNER will merge together into one big conglomerate and we will have wished that we supported WLS in the beginning. ICANN at some point is going to have to say okay no more registrars....will that then make the system a monopoly and not free enterprise?

 

[Steen]

Some large company needs to buy 90% of the registry connections and make a coalition. Verisign maybe?

 

[skylight]

Maybe all three services.....POOL, ENOM, SNAPNAMES, NAMEWINNER will merge together into one big conglomerate and we will have wished that we supported WLS in the beginning. ICANN at some point is going to have to say okay no more registrars....will that then make the system a monopoly and not free enterprise?

Then the minimum bid raise to $100.........
Then actual paying price will be 50% in addition to end bidding price....

::blackmail:: ::extortion::

 

[A D]

Since we are on this subject sort of.... I was chasing 6 names today... They were all caught by Enom, Pool and Namewiner.

Does anyone else actually catch anything?

If yes, who is 4th in that group?

Anything I ever want is caught 90% of the time by 1 of those 3.

-=DCG=-

 

[clemzonguy]

::blackmail:: ::extortion::

Actually maybe they already do operate together as a collective. We'd never know and might even assume they were operating under the guise of "free enterprise". I only see how prices can go up not down. I smell some money $$$$$!!

:evil:

 

[skylight]

Since we are on this subject sort of.... I was chasing 6 names today... They were all caught by Enom, Pool and Namewiner.

Does anyone else actually catch anything?

If yes, who is 4th in that group?

Anything I ever want is caught 90% of the time by 1 of those 3.

-=DCG=-

I didnt use pool, but most of the domain i submit caught by Enom, Snapnames, Namewinner. Enom caught the most for me, Namewinner the least.

Actually maybe they already do operate together as a collective. We'd never know and might even assume they were operating under the guise of "free enterprise". I only see how prices can go up not down. I smell some money $$$$$!!

:evil:

I hate monopoly !!!

 

[Promediary]

Just a little discussion on this topic :

Why do the companies (enom, pool, snap) continue to have "private" auctions ? Why not publicize all the names that you caught in a day and post them on the site so that ANYONE and everyone can bid, thus increasing the amount paid in the end.

Something (ominous) is brewing at Pool:

New Service Upload Notification
Pool.com will be temporarily offline while undergoing maintainance.

Date: Thursday, August 19, 2004
Time: 10:00 PM – 12:00 AM EST

Ongoing auctions and bidding will be paused temporarily during this time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Come back soon for our new and innovative 2-Phase auction system!

Feel free to contact the Pool.com Customer Support Team at service@pool.com if you have any questions.

Thank you,
The Pool.com Team

Be careful what you wish for.

 

[hotsauce]

Something (ominous) is brewing at Pool:

New Service Upload Notification
Pool.com will be temporarily offline while undergoing maintainance.

Date: Thursday, August 19, 2004
Time: 10:00 PM – 12:00 AM EST

Ongoing auctions and bidding will be paused temporarily during this time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Come back soon for our new and innovative 2-Phase auction system!

Feel free to contact the Pool.com Customer Support Team at service@pool.com if you have any questions.

Thank you,
The Pool.com Team

Be careful what you wish for.

heh heh heh, this will be interesting.....especially since lately a lot of individuals have been suspecting a growing prevalence of ghost bidders and/or insider collusion with large domain holders.

 

[Momentum]

I think if enom try to catch all names withour a private auction,then they will become to a domain seller not a domain catcher.

Bean

I think Bean is on to something here. Each drop service is most likely trying to keep up their appearance as a "service" used by end-users for registering domain names instead of as a speculator and reseller of domain names themselves (which is our job ). If they start offering public auctions for every domain name that they catch, then they are becoming closer to the latter.