Public Auction - TBR is changing, we need to discuss. (1.Viewing)

Public Auction

With CatchDrop offering the first PUBLIC auctions the domaining industry is going to change a little bit and eventually we are going to have new members that want to discuss the auction or bidding process via the forum. Unlike other forums that forbid you to discuss offsite auctions DN.ca has no such rules and we endorse free and open discussion on most anything.

So as I am pondering this change exciting (or dreaded) change I have come to the conclusion that it will change the TBR landscape and probably other registrars will have no choice but to open up their systems when they see higher bids on public auctions.

How can I say for sure there will be higher bids on public auctions instead of closed ones?

For me there have been many situations where I wanted a domain and I did not get order it because I was busy or it landed at the wrong registrar. Had that domain been in an auction where I could have entered before final bid I would probably have participated and chances are the end sale price would have been higher making more money for the registrar. So it is probably inevitable that other drop catch companies will closely monitor this and eventually make changes as well.

So we have to decide where we want these discussions, do we want them behind the google firewall (TBR forum) or in front of the Google firewall (NamePost.ca forum).

We have a lot to discuss before we make any changes which is why this discussion is in the TBR forum instead of a public forum.

Drop a note down below to express your opinions about this.

I have something quite interesting to add and I will post about it once I see some participation in this topic.

Great, more yahoos who don't understand the game to bid against.

IMO, public auctions are great….. For the auction platform.

A scenario popped into my head. Let’s say “xxx.ca” dropped and a future public auction company caught the domain. What would be stopping them by emailing that “xxx.ca” company and be like hey, your exact match 3 letter domain has expired and now at auction at…….. You can just sign up and start bidding.

So IMO, in the end, it would drive up prices from “newbies” not having the slightest idea in the value of domain names. Is it good for business? Possible…. But bad for the everyday domainer pockets when we have to compete against more potential end users from a “potentially” corrupt dropcatcher who’s not playing by the rules.

That's my fear as well, that this change is opening up a huge can of worms and other registrars will inevitably switch their business plans to match. Then again, maybe not because this "public auction" stuff just makes me more hesitant to lay down bids on some domains.

This will certainly result in a temporary spike in TBR auction prices as every Tom, Dick and Harry will join the latest "Get Rich" scheme, but eventually market realities will hammer them down hard and bring everything back to equilibrium.

But buckle up as I think we have some rough days ahead before all the yahoo bidders bankrupt themselves.

A Public TBR Auction System is a lot like corporate downsizing and sending production/jobs offshore... it's a really great plan, until everyone does it.

Not quite the same as a public auction but there was a time, and some of you will remember, that all of the names that Sibername caught in a TBR week were available to bid on by everyone that had placed a starting bid on any name that they caught.
I was in on many of them and liked it because I could get involved in the bidding on names that I hadn’t placed an opening bid on. But it was a two edged sword as others could bid on names I had placed starting bids on as well. It could get quite hectic when they had good weeks as there might be 30 plus names available to bid on. I got some nice names and lost some but it was almost never dull.