Backorder Priority

answer to this mystery...

[Jon_King]

I have backordered many domains over the years and never granted a single one. These domains are what I call low priority for domainers... Two word terms for industry specific searches. Low keyword bid value and 500 to 5000 searches a month.

Help me understand who gets priority when a domain is abandoned, goes through the registry delete and is backordered.

I have paid for the BO service through the existing registrar, Snapnames, and Pool. Are the services real? I am starting to think otherwise. Is there a way to positively get a domain?

[geekgirl]

I've never bothered to backorder. First of all, many domains are on auto-renewal meaning the original owner can renew and it will never become "deleted." If they don't renew, it takes about 90 days after a domain has expired to truly be deleted (and become available for purchase).

I'm not sure who gets priority on backorders, but I would assume it's by date ordered?

I know several people who were successful in their backorders..through GoDaddy. Hope that helps!

[Webwork]

Hi Jon. Good to "see" you. ;)

Most registrars either assign their dropping domains to a specific auction service or run their own in-house auctions, so you kinda have to know who is hooked up with whom. (Sorry, don't have a list of relations handy.)

Worse than this, lately it appears that certain registrars may simply be "hording" all decent dropping domains. This would make sense where a) the domain has traffic that can be monetized; and, b) where the bids in the domain aftermarket are a bit "soft", as they have been for ~18-24 months.

Also, if you're going after domains with any residual link traffic then you are up against some very savvy and capable independent drop-catching competition.

Lastly, the honorable tactice of reaching out to the registrants of expiring domains and making them an offer remains alive . . and effective, perhaps as high as 1/3 of the time.

Re: GoDaddy, the word has long been that unless they're catching their own expiring domains (Doh!) the odds of them catching anything other than flies or a cold is pretty high. That was also my experience when I used to use their service. Mostly I used it as a back-up, just in case hell froze over, pigs starting flying . . and my other dropcatch orders failed me. :P (Maybe geekgirl is on to something though. You never know when players in the space decide to upgrade their services/efforts . . but the game largely remains "rigged" by auctioning deals.)

It's interesting times in the aftermarket. I've been on the sidelines, as have many, conserving cash . . and working on development projects . . ;)

[Jon_King]

Thank you for essentially confirming my suspicions.

I am not learned concerning registrar agreements so this observation is likely naive and otherwise completely legal, but I would have thought a registrars "position" and whose job to administer domains to the public would disqualify them from acquiring domains using their "inside track"... especially to the degree that I will guess it is happening. Is this not an obvious conflict of interest?

Most of my domain purchases have resulted from a direct contact and most often this works very well for me. The only real problem is simply trying to get an initial response from the owner. When my contact attempt fails I usually have Sedo look at it. They get through in almost every case... I wish I knew their "secret".

Also, picking up from another thread, direct-to-owner is my choice of payment, that is without the use of escrow. I've never been ripped-off, it is fast, easy and I have sent thousands of dollars using a Visa card via PayPal.

[mcavic]

I know several people who were successful in their backorders..through GoDaddy.

If the domain is registered through GoDaddy to begin with, and if you're able to backorder it through GoDaddy, that *should* mean that you're guaranteed to get it if it expires. But if it's registered through someone else, then GoDaddy's backordering is pretty much hit-or-miss.