Grape.ca and Register.ca TBR Market Review (1.Viewing)

I'm really liking the Grape TBR section

They don't catch a lot of domains but it's good to keep an eye on them because they seem to catch the occasional treasure.

I have to see it's super easy to use and I enjoy going there.

UPON REVIEW

From here on I probably will not be bidding at Grape, the TBR discounts there on pre bids will be keeping me off that platform moving forward. So the way I look at it is it's probably a good thing. It will keep me on one platform and what I bid everyone has to bid, no favoritism because someone came to the table early. In the end it will keep more money in my pocket and focus me more on domains I see a market for instead of chasing the whale sales.

So unless you backorder your domain at Grape you may want to fully understand that the people you're bidding against can get up to a 50% discount to the number you're bidding at. Knowing this, and what I've bid in the past, leaves a sour taste in my mouth and I cannot continue to bid at Grape or Register.

I understand the more savvy TBR participants understood this but I was fairly new to grape and register so it was news to me. I don't fault them in any way because they are upfront about it but I am posting it to make sure anyone bidding there fully understands other bidders can exceed your bid, win the domain, and still receive a 50% discount. Great for them but not great for anyone coming into auction on the fly trying to gain a domain.

I have a busy life, I can enter the WHC auction at any point and enter my bid if I feel the domain is a good fit for me. I also know anyone bidding against me has to pay the same price as me so it puts everyone on a level playing field.

The key strategy here is that whenever an ultra-premium domain hits the TBR, automatically create a preorder at Grape with a significant bid where 50% of that bid would be in your comfort zone for buying the domain.

After all, a) the ultra-premium domains that go for big bucks on Grape are hyped and highlighted virtually everywhere and b) it's not like Grape can scrap their preorder bonus design, as with 100% of domains going to auction, without it no one would ever have a reason to place an order there.

Isn't that unfair tho from them to do that?

WHC is fair and period. And I actually thought about registering and bidding on some of the stuff with them.

Rdt said:

Isn't that unfair tho from them to do that?

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It's not about fair or not, it's my bad, I did not read up on it first or I would not have participated.

I agree with you the WHC system is better without having to invest valuable time beforehand putting in orders for domains you only have a small chance of winning. It's actually commendable to the folks who put in all that leg work and they deserve the catch, but it's also kind of self limiting to the auction house because in my case alone they could have made 5k more had it been a standard type of auction. The domain I was thinking of went way under actual value and the only reason I did not bid was knowing someone else was going to get it 50% cheaper than I if they won it. So technically grape lost more than 50% because I would have bid up at least another 5k. They lost that 5k and the 50% discount to the pre bidder. Now because grape puts a lot of resources into catching the top 1-2 domains chances are they are going to lose out on multiple bids from me and once members also figure it out that number increases once again.

The chances of them eventually following the WHC model are probably pretty good and if I were a betting man I would say it will probably happen sooner than later. Money talks and in this case they are leaving lots of it on the table so we'll see how it turns out in the end.

I appreciate the review and all comments. I can see why the rebate might not appeal to everyone, so it may help to explain the thinking behind it.

The way we structure Stage 1 rebates is really a market design decision rather than a pricing tactic.

First, the rebate comes entirely from the registrar margin. It’s not funded by other bidders and it doesn’t increase the price anyone else pays. If the Stage 1 bidder wins, we simply give up part of our margin. In other words, it’s a commitment incentive funded by us a risk-sharing mechanism, not a cost imposed on other bidders.

The reason we introduced Stage 1 rebate is that it provides a strong signal of genuine interest, and that signal is operationally important to us. When we see serious pre-orders, we can allocate registrar resources, connections, and ordering priority across multiple registrars more efficiently. Instead of blindly spreading capacity, we can concentrate it where there is real demand, which improves capture probability on competitive names.

Anyone who has spent time around TBR knows that capture success is often related to how registrar resources and ordering priority are allocated in those few milliseconds around the TBR opening time.

Another effect is that it tends to reward people who actively follow the drop market. Domainers who research names and commit early can position themselves strategically, while occasional end-users typically only appear later in Stage 2. In that sense the system favours loyal users.

More broadly, we try to design the platform to encourage cold, rational bidding rather than emotional bidding. For example, our anti-sniping extension is 15 minutes instead of the typical shorter periods, specifically to discourage last-second impulse bidding and give participants time to think through their decisions. That structure reduces impulsive escalation and helps avoid overbidding, which is a common problem in very fast auctions.

Finally, the objective here isn’t to maximize our margin on a single auction. The goal is to maintain a healthy system with strong early signals, efficient drop capture, and rational bidding behavior.

Placing a pre-order typically takes only about three minutes, and most users spend far more time than that researching the weekly drop list. Users who expect to compete seriously on a domain generally find it puts them in the strongest position. The rebate isn’t meant to change outcomes, but to reward earlier conviction rather than last-minute reaction. Those who prefer a traditional auction can still participate normally in Stage 2.

Ofcourse we’re always open to feedback from users if there are ideas on how the system can be improved further.

ms23 said:

First, the rebate comes entirely from the registrar margin. It’s not funded by other bidders and it doesn’t increase the price anyone else pays. If the Stage 1 bidder wins, we simply give up part of our margin. In other words, it’s a commitment incentive funded by us a risk-sharing mechanism, not a cost imposed on other bidders.

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Well stated, and if there was no "commitment incentive" present in your "market design" then absolutely no one would have a reason to bid.

Every auction system is inherently weighted against the bidders and by a domain being listed, it automatically increases the price for anyone taking part. That's the punishing "whip", so therefore every auction system also need a "carrot" to draw customers in.

At Grape it's a preorder discount, while at WHC it's the (increasingly unlikely) chance that you just might win a mid-range or lower-end domain for $20, assuming no one else bids. But without this carrot, no one would bid.

But if I may, I find these TBR "carrots" to be rapidly losing their value, and in some cases, disappearing entirely.

For example, if every major bidder preorders every single premium at Grape, then there is no discount. Then everyone is on a level playing field with no pricing/discount advantage for anyone.

And with WHC experiencing a spike in demand from new bidders, not to mention their 'everything but the kitchen sink" Hot List, it's almost impossible to outright win a domain, as even the junk goes to auction. Previously at WHC, you would win some mid-range/lower-end domains outright, while the top stuff went to auction (fair trade), but not anymore, as auctions are what makes WHC the real money. So their "carrot" being shunted to the back of the TBR bus, and is quickly turning into a fairy tale I'll tell my grandkids.

The current TBR auction levels are unsustainable, so I'm sure we'll see a corresponding implosion a bit later as the newbs figure out that .CA isn't a Get Rich Quick scheme, but for now, it's a rough game and one slanted directly towards the TBR registrars and their withering carrots.