I was attempting to place bid on an auction at GoDaddy Auctions this morning when I was shown this message on the bid confirmation page.
My proxy bid amount was just above $100, and the GoDaddy Estimated Value was just shy of $2,000.
Canceled GoDaddy Auction Win Results in Lawsuit
Namebio reported that Calor.com was sold for $20,440 at GoDaddy Auctions this past March. According to a lawsuit filed in Arizona, the winning bidder did not pay, giving the opportunity to an underbidder who reportedly completed the purchase for $11,427.17. Two months after completing the purchase and receiving the domain name, GoDaddy reportedly removed the domain name from the buyer’s account after proceeding to use the domain name. The buyer filed suit to regain control of the domain name.
As a domain investor who often buys domain names to re-sell, this is always something that has worried me regardless of the auction venue. This situation sounds similar to what GoDaddy referred to in the past as an “edge case” where a domain name was won in auction and was later removed from the account of the buyer due to an error.
What Was Your Best Domain Auction Acquisition?
I try to buy domain names at auction every day. I spend a lot of time bidding on auctions. More often than not, I come away with inventory quality domain names I opt to list for sale immediately. The vast majority of my domain auction wins are hardly memorable. I buy them to bulk up my portfolio to move inventory at nice returns.
Last week, Snagged.com posted a question on X that got me thinking for a very quick second:
ASAP.com for Sale in Bankruptcy Auction
ASAP.com and related domain names are coming up for sale in a bankruptcy auction. These domain names are owned by a food prep and delivery service called ASAP, which was previously known as Waitr Holdings. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.
The online bankruptcy auction is being managed by Heritage Global Partners. In addition to the ASAP.com domain name and an assortment of intellectual property, other domain names being auctioned include AlcoholASAP.com, BiteSquad.com, ASAPLiquor.com, ASAPPot.com, EATAsap.com, MarijuanaASAP.com, LiquorASAP.com, MunchiesASAP.com, and quite a few others.
Raymond Weil Lets RaymondWeil.com Expire (Pending Delete)
Raymond Weil is a well-known Swiss watchmaking brand. The company uses Raymond-Weil.com as the domain name for its primary website, and it also has the Raymond-Weil.us ccTLD domain name for its US-based website. The non-hyphenated RaymondWeil.com domain name had been used as a forwarder to the watchmaker’s primary website, according to Archive.org.
GoDaddy Auctions Running NameFind Auctions
GoDaddy is running a featured auction via its GoDaddy Auctions platform with domain names from its NameFind portfolio. While I would argue the domain names aren’t as valuable as they were in its NameFind auction last year, there seem to be some good inventory-quality domain names up for bid.
Our Premium Auction event has started!
Bid and buy hundreds of domain names in this no-reserve event, including Stung․com, Focusing․com, and more!
Ends 6/20https://t.co/EXnSztagvo pic.twitter.com/ufg3HnUoZE
— GoDaddy Auctions (@godaddyauctions) June 13, 2024
When sorted, I can see there are 4 pages of auctions with the maximum 100 domain names shown. The auctions have minimum bids ranging from $299 to $7,999. This is more than the starting price for its traditional expiry auctions. I do not believe there are reserve prices beyond the minimum bid amounts, so if someone bids on a domain name and there are no other bidders, it will be sold.