Dynadot allowed another bidder in private auction

[VaibhavA]

There is an ongoing private domain auction at dynadot, when dynadot caught it, there were only "1 other" showing in bidders.

I checked yesterday afternoon as well, there were only 1 others.

I logged in today morning to find out that it shows "2 others" in private auction.

I have been using dynadot for almost an year now and never had any issue. Infact, I like their auction system, where you may sometimes get a domain at reasonable price.

But this time they have allowed another member to enter a private auction.

I am sure 1 more member would agree, who was there originally after DD caught the domain.

I have no proof of what I am saying, but I am DEAD sure of what I am saying here.

I had to bring this to everyones notice, so, people may be careful in future.

Didnt expect this from Dynadot. Dynadot needs to remove another bidder to restore faith.

Hope they take quick action as auction ends tomorrow.

 

[Nice Guy]

This is what I hear and look for...

I have been using dynadot for almost an year now and never had any issue. Infact, I like their auction system, where you may sometimes get a domain at reasonable price.

Show attachment 58986

I have received the answer. Hope everyone understands what they have decided.

I have nothing more to say.

Why is there an unhappy or uneducated customer walking away upset with you all is what I care about. Not sure why something like this can't be clearly resolved. Am I missing something?

None of my business, true...but "how" you all respond with an upset customer that has been using your service for a year seems to say a lot about a company that is trying to invite me over to their platform wouldn't you agree?

Why is he so bothered? Is this truly ignorance/lack of education on the OP? I don't understand enough to have an opinion but I don't want to spend a year learning/using your service to find myself in the same boat he is in a year from now. Thoughts?

 

[scrsteven]

I'm the person who bid this name up to the current high this morning - I guess you are winning by $1 so far. I did backorder this name. They just don't show how many people backordered it. Whoever backordered it first is bidder #1 and it shows only 1 bidder until someone else who backordered it also places a bid in the auction.

 

[VaibhavA]

I'm the person who bid this name up to the current high this morning - I guess you are winning by $1 so far. I did backorder this name. They just don't show how many people backordered it. Whoever backordered it first is bidder #1 and it shows only 1 bidder until someone else who backordered it also places a bid in the auction.

Bro, I understand that point. If you see my conversation between dynadot, you will understand what i am trying to say.

To put it in simple words, lets take example of dropcatch or godaddy auctions. Do I care or anyone care how many bidders are there or who they are. I dont. I bid according to my judgement and my budget.

But when dynadot says "private auction", it makes no sense as they do not show in the beginning as to how many people backordered that domain. So, there is no transparency.

Simply put, either be transparent or call it a public auction.

 

[Kate]

@Dynadot

 

[scrsteven]

But when dynadot says "private auction", it makes no sense as they do not show in the beginning as to how many people backordered that domain. So, there is no transparency. Simply put, either be transparent or call it a public auction.

I disagree with you. How many people backordered the domain is a data point they don't have to share to call it a private auction. Maybe they've done testing and seen higher sales prices when not showing it? Who knows. Regardless, I wouldn't push dynadot - if you draw a lot of attention to it - they may decide to make their backorder auctions truly public which would not be good for those who actually research and place backorders...

 

[anantj]

I disagree with you. How many people backordered the domain is a data point they don't have to share to call it a private auction. Maybe they've done testing and seen higher sales prices when not showing it? Who knows. Regardless, I wouldn't push dynadot - if you draw a lot of attention to it - they may decide to make their backorder auctions truly public which would not be good for those who actually research and place backorders...

I agree and disagree with you. Actually, as per the screenshot shared by @VaibhavA earlier, the support rep says that they don't display the list of backordering users based on requests by users themselves.

So, on this point, it comes down to - @VaibhavA wanting the list to be displayed and others users not wanting it to be displayed.

 

[tldboss]

Now I know one more thing, thanks to OP for bringing this up and to the other members for explaining clearly.

Number of active bidders is less than or equal to the Number of people who backordered ; number of active bidders can increase

 

[Dynadot]

Hi everyone. Thank you for bringing this up. Please allow me to clarify, if there are any remanning questions. We have Expired Auctions and Backorder Auctions here at Dynadot. The Expired auctions are open to all qualified users. Backorder auctions are private. Only users who placed a backorder (regardless of TLD) will be able to participate.

If a backordered domain goes to auction, that means we received multiple requests. If you were the first to place your request, we place the opening bid on your behalf. It is very possible to see that you are the "only bidder" at the start, or even the finish, of a backorder auction. That could change, however, as all others who made the same request will have been invited to bid.

We did, at one time, show the number of received requests on our backorder page, though it has been a while since that was case. Many customers did not appreciate others knowing their interest in a domain as it could increase the competition. We also found other sites poaching our lists. Now, we show only a short list of the most requested names:

https://www.dynadot.com/market/

 

[Asfas1000]

We did, at one time, show the number of received requests on our backorder page, though it has been a while since that was case. Many customers did not appreciate others knowing their interest in a domain as it could increase the competition. We also found other sites poaching our lists. Now, we show only a short list of the most requested names:

I think you are confusing "showing the numbers of bidders before the drop" and "showing the number of bidders who participate in a BO auction".

 

[Dynadot]

I think you are confusing "showing the numbers of bidders before the drop" and "showing the number of bidders who participate in a BO auction".

I was referring to the number of backorder requests received, or possible auction participants. You can see the number of active bidders if you are participating in the auction, but not the number of potential bidders.

 

[Asfas1000]

I was referring to the number of backorder requests received, or possible auction participants. You can see the number of active bidders if you are participating in the auction, but not the number of potential bidders.

People who participate in a BO auction want to know how many other bidders have the right to participate, this is all......

 

[Dynadot]

People who participate in a BO auction want to know how many other bidders have the right to participate, this is all......

We can provide that information if you are an auction participant. You would need to chat/email the domain name while the auction is in progress.

 

[anantj]

We can provide that information if you are an auction participant. You would need to chat/email the domain name while the auction is in progress.

That is not a good solution (or even a solution in fact). You only increase the friction in getting this information and you are not factoring in that your users live in other timezones and might not necessarily be always conveniently availably during your support hours and/or have the bandwidth to contact support for each backorder.

Frankly, I don't care about the total number of backordering users and I've stopped using your backorder platform after the bad experience I've had with a. your false backorder and 2. your rude support. I'm a product guy so always look for an optimal solution and the one you've provide is not.

 

[Dynadot]

That is not a good solution (or even a solution in fact). You only increase the friction in getting this information and you are not factoring in that your users live in other timezones and might not necessarily be always conveniently availably during your support hours and/or have the bandwidth to contact support for each backorder.

We are sorry you feel that way. The vast majority of our backorder users have let us know that they do not want the number of backorder requests received to be availably publicly. Because of this, the information is available to participants, by request only.

Frankly, I don't care about the total number of backordering users and I've stopped using your backorder platform after the bad experience I've had with a. your false backorder and 2. your rude support. I'm a product guy so always look for an optimal solution and the one you've provide is not.

I'm not at all sure what you mean here when you say "false backorder" but we would love the opportunity to look into, and address, any issues you've had with our support team. Please chat or email us directly if you'd like to follow-up on the issue.

 

[Arca]

We are sorry you feel that way. The vast majority of our backorder users have let us know that they do not want the number of backorder requests received to be availably publicly. Because of this, the information is available to participants, by request only.

@Dynadot - Whether or not you show how many backorder requests were placed for a domain AFTER you caught the domain does not really matter to the people who backordered it, because you run private auctions.

I think there might have been a misunderstanding in terms of what your users (including me) have requested when it comes to not wanting "the number of backorder requests received to be available publicly". Whether or not you show how many bidders are in an auction after the domain has been caught is inconsequential, because your auctions are not open to late-comers (only people that made a backorder get to participate in the auction). However, you are currently making backorder requests public on you website PRIOR to the domain dropping (when they are still in pending delete status), and that does have consequences. The domains requested by others and the number of requests are made publicly available on your website here:

DropCatch, SnapNames and Pheenix do not display this information and for good reason. This list gives away the research that your users have made to find domains to backorder, and lets anyone piggyback off this info. When you display this information, certain other users will backorder these domain at DynaDot and also at every other backorder service. So you do not catch 99% of the domains you publicly display that people have backordered, because you give away this info, which leads people to backorder those domains with more powerful backordering services too. If you didn't display this info publicly, you would catch more domains than you currently do.

I place backorders with DynaDot daily, however, out of my last 3000 backorders with your service, dynadot only caught about 12-14 of those domains. That's a catch rate below 0.5%! Your dropcatching service simply cannot compete with other dropcatching services, because the other services own hundreds of registrars each, so it is not in your (or your users) interest that you make your users backordered domains public to everyone. Because there are a few deep-pocketed users that go to see your list of domain backorders every day, and then backorder that list with more powerful services like DropCatch, SnapNames and Pheenix, and you don't end up catching most names on that list, because when somebody else has backordered them with more powerful dropcatching services, you can't compete. This is the reason why your users, including myself, don't want you to publicly display backorders on your website. If you did not display this info, a lot of the domains you display in that list would fly under the radar, and you would have a greater chance of catching them.

Can you consider to stop making your user's backorder requests public? (remove the list above from your site)

 

[Asfas1000]

Can you consider to stop making your user's backorder requests public? (remove the list above from your site)

And also, add the number of bidders AFTER the domain has been caught, so the private bidders know how many are participating in the auction.

 

[anantj]

We are sorry you feel that way. The vast majority of our backorder users have let us know that they do not want the number of backorder requests received to be availably publicly. Because of this, the information is available to participants, by request only.

Your answer is unrelated to my concern. I've not once stated that you should not keep it hidden. My concern or issue was something else entirely (Timezone issues, especially if 24x7 support is unavailable)

 

[anantj]

I'm not at all sure what you mean here when you say "false backorder" but we would love the opportunity to look into, and address, any issues you've had with our support team. Please chat or email us directly if you'd like to follow-up on the issue.

I did and was both rebuffed and shut down. Twice. By your chat. Until that day, I always preached how good you were but you lost both my confidence and my praise for the quality of your support. To summarise, I ordered a bunch of .COM Domain names (I even shared the full list I'd ordered) and you guys went and backordered a .NET domain. And to boot, it is an NNLL.NET domain. Something that I've never even searched for. It is impossible for me to have backordered such a domain but it was still registered by you and added to my account and I was charged for it. I've stopped using both your auction and BO platform and am waiting to transfer out my remaining domains slowly (even though you have a pretty usable domain management interface and good auction platform)

 

[Dynadot]

@Arca Thank you so much for the thoughtful response. Your suggestion to have the top requests removed from our website has been sent to our team for consideration. Increasing our overall success rate is something we continue to work towards.

 

[Dynadot]

@anantj I'd really rather not go over the details here, but please do contact us directly.

 

[Dynadot]

And also, add the number of bidders AFTER the domain has been caught, so the private bidders know how many are participating in the auction.

That is a very interesting idea that I am not sure has been considered yet. That could very well work. I'll see if we can make that happen.