Most domain name investors are living on hopes and dreams. They want to buy low, sell high, just like everybody else. Every day they put in countless hours of research, considering the risks of specific domains and investing the little money they do have to fulfill this dream of making it big.
What I don’t like is an unfair advantage over any other bidder on any auction system. Yes, finances will often be the largest barrier but when “other” factors come into play… it’s simply not fair.
I reached out to Paul Nicks of GoDaddy with a few questions and his thoughts in regards to API bidding.
I personally think that API bidding on domain name auction platforms does not provide a level playing field for all, which the auction services should be striving for. I do not consider proxy bidding and API bidding on the same playing field. Closeout snipping is also heavily at an advantage of an API bidder, who can send several calls to “buy” per second, when a manual bidder can not do that.
What happens to PendingDelete auctions when the bidder doesn’t pay or a charge back occurs after the auction? I’d hope the auction would be rerun after the non-payment and the “the house” doesn’t just get to keep the domain for basically free (reg fee). Are fake bidder accounts created just to initiate a non-paying bidder?
Read MoreIn my opinion, if I were involved in the bidding of a domain auction and didn’t get a chance to either participate in a reauction or have first crack if I was the second highest bidder when a non-paying bidder situation occurred, I would feel cheated. Not fair...