TBR Drop - Mar 25, 2026 (31.Viewing)

DomainRecap said:

Did you check out last week? Quite a few mid-to-low range domains that ended at $60, or $30 total in real money. Those same domains would go for $100-$200 at WHC, and I see it happen every single week.

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Yeah but the numbers still pale by comparison

DomainRecap said:

Must be something in the water over at WHC, as their auction prices (relative to the quality of the domain) are way, way above anyone else's.

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Showing you the truly open system is the most profitable for the Auction house. I will bet bottom dollars most every auction house will eventually transition to the most profitable version.

Just to clarify, unless something changed since I left, WHC does not:

a) reveal pre-drop bids
b) send names to auction that have only one bidder

And regarding CIRA's involvement in these various models - I don't think they actually ever prescribed any bidding or backorder model. The main rule I remember is that any backorder/registration attempt has to be based on a customer's order. As far as I know they never actually regulated anything beyond that.

FM said:

Just to clarify, unless something changed since I left, WHC does not:

a) reveal pre-drop bids
b) send names to auction that have only one bidder

And regarding CIRA's involvement in these various models - I don't think they actually ever prescribed any bidding or backorder model. The main rule I remember is that any backorder/registration attempt has to be based on a customer's order. As far as I know they never actually regulated anything beyond that.

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Not saying they do, but, just saying we miss the old days of not allowing domains to go to public auction so that the pre-TBR bidders who put in the effort wouldn't have to compete against the people wanting to slide into post-TBR auctions.

And yeah, baremetal and grape's systems are definitely better for the people who are willing to put in the effort and place the pre-tbr bids.

FM said:

And regarding CIRA's involvement in these various models - I don't think they actually ever prescribed any bidding or backorder model.

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Well, regardless of the hard-and-fast rules, I know their pre-Fury website did and clearly outlined the process of how the TBR should function back then. And I remember talking to Richard about this and he stated CatchDrop had to convince them of this new "open auction" format, so it wasn't like a registrar could just start running open auctions without CIRA consultation.

After all, no one ever did it before and only after CD opened up Pandora's Box did WHC jump into the pool headfirst.

I guess it's like a lot of things in Canada - the system only works until some yahoo finds a hole and exploits it.

MapleDots said:

Showing you the truly open system is the most profitable for the Auction house. I will bet bottom dollars most every auction house will eventually transition to the most profitable version.

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Sure, but it's certainly not that simple and WHC doesn't exist in a vacuum. Current TBR investor prices are absolutely unsustainable and the market will eventually adjust and contract based on this competitive, open auction-based price-gouging. Assuming auction participants don't all want to go bankrupt, there is a real-world ceiling to how high TBR auction prices can rise, and I think a lot of people are sitting a few floors above that ceiling right now.

That is, unless .CA domain sales and end user prices suddenly grow exponentially to make up the ever-growing gap, and I don't see that happening. To me, end user .CA demand is pretty well the same as it was 5-10 years ago, yet the cost of acquisition has skyrocketed. Hmmmm...

I was having a conversation about this yesterday, as it wasn't that long ago that you could buy a true premium .CA for $500-$1K and an ultra-premium for a bit more. Now, people are blowing $500-$1K on junk domains and even more on Fool's Gold and, at least for now, this is seemingly the 'new normal'.

Look at some of your portfolio you bought years ago and extrapolate what these domains would sell for on WHC today. TBR auction prices have increased 3X-5X at least and I am not seeing the number of .CA sales or end user prices increasing by the same 3X-5X rate over the same period, so eventually, something's gotta give. The only reason I'm not 'getting out of Dodge' is that I also own a pile very nice domains I got for cheap long ago, but God help someone starting from scratch in today's TBR bubble.

.CA domains are easy to buy but tough to sell, and I think over the next year or so many will start to understand this adage.

FM said:

Just to clarify, unless something changed since I left, WHC does not:

a) reveal pre-drop bids
b) send names to auction that have only one bidder

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1) Yes they do, and if you have an active preorder you can see what the current bid price is before the drop. I report these numbers regularly.

2) With their open auction format being 100% anti-consumer, WHC has to offer some type of carrot, otherwise no one would ever place a bid there. The only reason to create a preorder at WHC is that tiny glint of hope that you just might win it outright for $20 - if that lone ray of hope wasn't there, you'd just go to another registrar.

But I have found that with time, and WHC continually tuning its system towards creating more and more auctions, it's almost impossible to win any domain (of even dubious merit) outright. And in many ways, placing a preorder at WHC is counter-productive to winning it.

DomainRecap said:

But I have found that with time, and WHC continually tuning its system towards creating more and more auctions, it's almost impossible to win any domain (of even dubious merit) outright. And in many ways, placing a preorder at WHC is counter-productive to winning it.

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And that's why I don't place pre-orders there....

FM said:

Just to clarify, unless something changed since I left, WHC does not:

a) reveal pre-drop bids

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If we're being Frank (get it? ) the WHC Hot List tends to serve the same basic purpose of highlighting popular domains with active bids.