I had watched the Goos.com expired domain name auction at GoDaddy.com which ended on August 31, 2010 and the winning bid after 428 bids ended at $9,955 USD. Now the auction is showing it ended for $355! Scam?
Today I was browsing around in my GoDaddy "watching" auction section in my account and something grabbed my attention when I went past the Goos.com domain name listing.. it showed a final price of $355 when I knew it ended for $9,955?
What?
Well, let me explain a couple things first. I do not remove domain names from my "watching" section at GoDaddy for a couple reasons. After the auction ends, the past owner has 5-7 days to renew the domain. If this happens, the domain name is automatically removed from GoDaddy’s system and in return, it removes the domain from my watching section… This tells me the domain name was renewed by the past owner.
If the domain name isn’t removed from my watching section after 5-7 days after the auction ends, that tells me the transaction was finalized and the domain name did actually sell.
So why would Goos.com go from an ending price of $9,955 on 8/31/10 and all the way down to $355 when I saw it today?
Good question and this happens to be one that I noticed the drop due to the higher selling price but there are a couple things really that "could" have happened.
If the high bidder is a "fake" or doesn’t pay for the auction.. that persons bids become void. GoDaddy would then offer the domain name to the second highest bidder and from what I understand.. the price would be at the point where the voided bidder would not have effected the bid price.
This very well could be $355! Nothing on GoDaddy states the auction ended for $9,955 or the price was dropped $9,600 and it is one of those things from the public eyes happen to catch it!
Scam? Heck, I wrote about the potential of domain name auction scamming a long time ago and it clearly could be the case here. I’m not saying it is but the potential of it is there!
I do not agree with domain name auction services who offer the domain name to "the next bidder who will pay" if the ending auction amount isn’t paid. If a non-paying bidder takes place, the auction should be rerun and past bidders notified of the auction running again. The simple fact that several "fake" accounts can be created and a domain name purposely bid very high from the start by several of these accounts to get the domain name cheap. Keeping the amounts "a little higher" from time to time would help keep the scam from being highlighted very easily with the amount of expired domain name auctions that happen everyday at GoDaddy.
I wish I had a screen shot of the $9,955 ending price but you will have to trust me that is what it ended for. Consider the 428 Bids as a good idea the domain name was bid much higher than $355! Here is some further proof as well from a DnForum.com post talking about the early $9,955 bid on Goos.com .
Since the forum posting shows the $9,955 bid price was "early" in the auction.. this is just so fitting to my "story" about the domain name auction scamming! So was this the work of some scammers?
Mike
The domain name business has got to be one of the, if not THE, most dirty business I have ever encountered in my lifetime.
There is NO transparency. There is NO accountability. There is NO standardization…
Ask your parking provider questions about traffic, metrics, PPC and you get the cold shoulder — as if you never asked them. PUSH them and you get a nice fat lie in response. CALL THEM on the lie and you are promptly told to mind your business. And that is just the PPC end of things.
Try asking questions about the continually stolen WHOIS searches. DirectNIC and their shell companies are good with that. One more reason I will NEVER buy a domain from DirectNIC -NOR- park with Parked.com (one of their dozen plus shell companies).
The topic of dirty business and domain names could fill a wall in a bookstore. But, as long as people are making money – they put up with the crap. Problem is, there are plenty of very astute people out here who are highly confident that this domain name business is quite filthy and, we are also glad that its being “watched” now… have fun.
BullS
The FBI will investigate this scam. This is as bad as the Mandoff’s ponzi scheme
Dan
I’ve seen this a few times myself, it’s definitely collusion with the idea of the winning bidder not paying and the 2nd highest bidder getting it at a far lower price. Guess the winning bidder loses their account but at a cost of $5 – they have saved themselves $$$$.
I’m sure godaddy is aware of it, but since there is no verification process for higher bids, nothing to stop a brand new user bidding 10k for a domain and then disappearing. Needs to be addressed as it stops a real market.
Jamie Zoch
@Dan,
I have read that if you pay $20, one can have their account reinstated for a non-paying bidder….. go figure.
Michael
This is quite shocking that it’s so easy to game the auction houses and get away with it.
Anothre question is however why did they pump the price all the way up to almost 10k? $1k would even be enough. And does it happen with much more expensive domains?
Black Hat Domainer
Old trick: http://www.blackhatdomainer.com/the-expired-domain-auctions-arbitrage-loophole
Wallace
It’s Shill auction bidding!Simple fact like 1,2,3.
Louise
It looks like great advertising for domains, when auctions show high results!
Domainer
Shill bidding, plan and simple.
Jamie Zoch
@Wallace,
Shill bidding on an expired domain name is not all that likely because GoDaddy is the only one getting “paid”. The shill bidding would have to come from GoDaddy themselves and I do not think that is the case here. So I wouldn’t say shill bidding.