Is There Something Wrong With Contacting Owners of Expired Domain Names?

Elliot Silver
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I know that Go Daddy, NameJet, and Snapnames are well aware of domain investors who reach out to the owners of expired domain names in an effort to purchase them before they go to auction. This probably annoys the auction houses and it has spurred a debate about this practice on forums and in private discussions.

The rationale for domain investors doing this is simple. The domain owner may not have realized the domain name was worth anything, so a lowish offer could get the owner to renew the domain name and then re-sell it to the person who inquired about it. The buyer would then get to purchase a domain name in private before others had the opportunity to bid on it. If others pre-bid on the domain name, the buyer would know that there is interest from other parties.

There are a few downsides to this practice. For instance,

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Afternic Domain Auction Results

Elliot Silver
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Afternic held a domain auction on Snapnames that ended a couple of weeks ago in March. The results of the auction are listed below. The highest value domain name that sold was GFA.com, which closed at $15,100.

In addition to the listed results, I was told the company closed an additional $24,000 worth of sales after the auction closed. This is something to keep in mind for the next time you have a name in auction that doesn’t meet reserve. You might want to ask the auction house or brokerage to reach out to the high bidder to try and close a deal.

The results of the Afternic Snapnames auction are listed below:

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My Picks for Afternic Auction on Snapnames

Elliot Silver
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Afternic auctionAfternic  is currently holding its annual Spring auction on the Snapnames platform. At the time of this article, 20 of the auctions have bids, and there are just over three days remaining in the auction (ends Friday, March 22). There are 137 domain names up for auction, and many have reasonable reserve prices.

My top five domain name picks for the Afternic auction include:

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Before Buying Expiring Domain Names, Be a Sleuth

Elliot Silver
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I buy many domain names at NameJet, and on occasion I bid on names at SnapNames. I think there are some good values out there, especially when you manage to find a name that has few bidders.

One thing I think is important is to do some research on the previous owner to try and figure out some things about the domain name to determine if it’s worth buying (in addition to keyword research). By looking at the Whois history and doing a bit of additional research, you can uncover some possible reasons for why it’s expiring:

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Three Hours Remain in Snapnames .Net Auction

Elliot Silver
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Snapnames is running an auction for .net domain names, and the auction is closing in just under three hours. There is no reserve price for the 85 domain names that are up for auction, but the minimum bid you can place is $99.

At the time of this post, seven of the auctions have bids, including the following names:

  • backers.net – $104
  • collegealgebra.net – $99
  • freephonenumber.net – $99
  • museumstore.net – $99
  • sorts.net – $99
  • vacationsrentals.net – $99
  • walkout.net – $99

The domain names I checked show a registrant of    “Moniker  Online  Services,  LLC,” although I don’t know if that is an escrow account that is being used to ensure transactions are completed or if Moniker owns these domain names.

One thing that is a bit annoying with the Snapnames auction is that when I click on a particular domain auction, I can’t click the back button on my browser to go to the main auction page. I tried it in Chrome and Safari, and it doesn’t seem to work for either. Not sure if it’s a bug, but it’s annoying to have to keep referring to the link to get to the main auction page.

Moniker & SnapNames: Websites Down

Elliot Silver
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In case you’ve been trying to access Moniker or SnapNames, I want to make you aware that the company is experiencing a system outage. Unfortunately, that means DNS changes, registrations, account changes, and transfer initiations can’t be done in the meantime.

According to the company’s Facebook page about an hour ago:

“Our apologies for the disruption of services currently being experienced by Moniker and SnapNames customers. We are working to correct the issue and will keep you posted as we work on a resolution. Again our sincerest apologies.”

A few minutes ago, the company provided another update:

UPDATE: We continue to experience a system outage. Our engineers and network consultants are diligently working toward a solution. We will continue to provide updates until the issue is resolved. Our apologies for the inconvenience.

The company doesn’t know when the websites will be up and running again, but I assume it won’t be too long. I’ll give you an update when I hear more. I guess it’s not such a good week to be a domain registrar.

*** Update at 11:15 ***

Looks like the sites are back (or are in the process of coming back) online according to the latest tweet from the company:

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