Earlier today, I shared that one of the things I really like about DropCatch.com is that I can pay for an auction win right away, and then I can take possession of the domain name almost immediately. I don’t think there is a perfect auction platform, but there are aspects I like about different domain name auction platforms.
I thought I would share the traits of my ideal domain name auction platform. I invite readers to share things they would like to see in their ideal domain auction platform.
I received an email this morning from Scott Pruitt, Aftermarket Brand Manager for NameJet and SnapNames, which shared some news from both platforms. SnapNames is now able to fulfill backorders for over 200 new gTLD domain name extensions. Backorders can be placed on domain names from a very large assortment of commercial (non-brand) TLDs.
The full list of the extensions that are now available for backorder on SnapNames can be found on its website. I took a look at the list, and it looks like many of the new gTLD extensions are owned by Donuts. In addition, there are some two letter ccTLD extensions like .CO, .PW, .CC, .GS, and .ME. I also see .Sex on the list, which is owned by the ICM Registry (that was acquired by MMX). There is a very wide assortment of extensions now available to backorder.
The biggest auction of the day today was the PirateBay.org auction on DropCatch.com. PirateBay.org expired and went into deleted status, where it was caught by DropCatch. The domain name sold at auction for $50,000 today. I was not following the auction closely, so I do not know how many bidders participated in the auction.
When I was looking at my Dropping.pro emails this morning, I noticed quite a few domain names in pending delete status beginning with “GE.” A few Whois searches showed me that the domain names were previously owned by General Electric, which is commonly referred to as GE. The domain names I noticed were registered at CSC, and once they were allowed to expire, they went into pending delete status, where they will be caught by drop catching services.
Here is an assortment of the GE domain names that were in pending delete status today that could have TM issues if used in an infringing manner:
For the first time I can recall, there was a .IO domain name in auction at Park.IO that I was interested enough in buying that I was willing to pay 4 figures to buy it. The auction ended on Sunday, and I was a loser, despite bidding more than $1,000 for the domain name.
I shared this on Twitter, as I think it is important to show people I am not solely interested in buying .com domain names:
Thought I was going to win my first .IO domain name in auction yesterday at @io_domains. I bid over $1k but lost. Maybe next time.
— Elliot Silver (@DInvesting) August 31, 2020
One of the best sources of domain name inventory for my portfolio is expiry auctions. I spend a fair amount of my time analyzing and bidding on domain names at GoDaddy Auctions, NameJet, and DropCatch.com. I have also bid on a couple of domain names at Park.io and Dynadot, although I have not yet won an auction on either of those platforms.
I think everyone has their own ways to analyze expiry and deleted domain names that are in auction, and I thought I would share a few ways I find them:
