I haven’t blogged about expiring domains in a while because there hasn’t been much that’s caught my eye. I have been scanning the drop lists, but nothing’s really popped out at me. Or the quantity of quality domains I spotted seemed to vary between 0-2 a day. It must be my screening methods, but tonight after scanning the drop list for the upcoming days, I’m noticing more quality surface up.

It’s been years since I’ve blogged about my chase lists, so I hope to do it more often. The problem is that if I post semi-good domains, others will chase them too. I’ll figure out a way to split my lists in the future so I can blog about dropping domains that I won’t be chasing and are up for grabs, then blog in the future about domains I chased and captured on the drop & didn’t blog about.

For tomorrow, I really like these domains:

spincoater.com – tld’s, wayback, product price, cpc
careerfashion.com – longer domains fit criteria, cpc
discountmower.com – longer domains fit criteria, cpc
jonga.com – tld’s wayback, popular
cyberperks.com – wayback
yulemarble.com – wayback

I have godaddy & bluerazor backorders added. I will also try with dynadot’s API – but I know that the quality of these drops will probably have snapnames & namejet backorders. Yulemarble & discountmower are iffy about having a hit put out (Backorder), but the rest probably will. If not, they will be fetched by other registrars for sure.

I will blog more lists in the future & try to break off the lists into what I think snap will chase, medium grade lists that are iffy & lists that I feel the api drop catchers can compete against.

Here’s a quick reference to the notes above:

cpc – the domain shows some kind of +1 value for an advertiser cost to advertise on the domain.

wayback – the domain shows some kind of wayback value for age or number of stored wayback pages.

product price – the domain specifically matches a product of significant value.

longer domains fit criteria – other domains exist that are longer & include this domain inside the longer domain.

popular – the domain shows up as a result of nested search engine keyword combination results.

I’ll try to keep the lists rolling in daily. Your feedback is appreciated as always.

Dynadot API Opened

I just received an email from Todd Han that Dynadot.com has now opened up it’s API to all users. This is great news for Dynadot customers who enjoy drop catching domains but were turned off by the $500 spending / pre payment. Now any Dynadot customer can tap right into the API system without having a bulk account.

In the past Dynadot required API users to prefund their accounts with $500 or spend $500 every year to qualify for a bulk account. The API was then enabled for bulk accounts and you are able to hook into the API system for catching domains & managing your domains.

For the past couple weeks, I have noticed a huge increase in speed with Dynadot’s API. It went from a 4-5 second pause between each try to less than one second per try. Sometimes, the API seems so fast, I swear it’s cramming 2 tries per second. I’ve never seen it operate so fast & this leads me to believe that Dynadot.com has acquired additional registrar connections or has accredideted additional registrar(s).

Dynadot.com’s API has always been my favorite. It’s been the easiest to use, it’s well documented & it actually works. Unlike other API’s like Moniker where you have to basically beg & beg for API access, Dynadot works for it’s customers. Out of all the drop catching software I’ve sold, the Dynadot tool is the one I’ve sold the most of.

It’s also nice for the company to have a president that cares. Todd Han & I have talked on the phone in the past. Todd is a good guy to work with and his concerns are for all his customers equally. Todd was very open to the software I create & how to make it easier for Dynadot’s customers to put the API system to use.

For those of you who are not aware, Dynadot.com’s API system allows users to create their own programs for registering domain names instantly. The API system ties into the live registry connections at verisign. While pending delete domains expire from the registry, various users & other registrars utilize these realtime connections to attempt to register the domains they’d like to own.

While Dynadot’s API may not compete with Snapnames & the like for the big money drops, it does work exceptionally well for low to medium grade domains. Alot of domains slip through the cracks daily & the API will surely beat out the hand reggers everytime. Dynadot’s speed increase should prove a success against other registrar API’s and drop catchers.

I will run some tests on the API and compare the speed difference. Off the bat, the API was attempting up to 10 domain registration attempts every 60 seconds. Now I am closer to 40 or more registration attempts every 60 seconds. This speed increase should yield more captured domains that I chase.

Dynadot’s API Offers the following commands to the best of my knowledge:

- Domain Registration

- Delete Domain

- Set Nameservers

- Check Availability

- IDN Domain Support

If you are looking for drop catching software which integrates with Dynadot.com’s API, you should visit my website: http://www.dropking.com. DropKing.com offers software which is used by many daily. I’ve receieved great feedback from the dropking tools & invite you to give them a try.

I have been running a service over at dnmeter.com for years now that offers domainers an opportunity to peek into the future and determine an approximate time that a .com or .net will drop in. So far the service has been very successful. My members agree that although the sort is a little different, there seems to be domains popping right & left that are qualified as resealable domains.

I often got scrutinized about the drop order secret & how precise etc. While everyone tries to make it like a secret formula, the secret is that the list is released by Verisign. It is handed out to all accredited registrars via ftp download & the files are updated nightly. Often times the service fails for a day or two every 6-8 months & we’re left listless, at least in the past. That really proved that the registrars didn’t have a crazy formula to predict the drop order.

Overall I have been frowned upon for releasing the dnmeter.com lists in drop order with an estimated time stamp. That is why I was charging $149 per month subscription for the same lists. I had a talk with the current members & although these lists are worth their weight in gold, I am happy to offer the full drop order with estimated drop time for all .com & .net domains dropping daily. The price has been cut down to only $29 per month.

I had a good chat the other day with Dutch Boyd (Las Vegas)- Ultimate Poker Champion & Domainer. He felt like if the dnmeter.com price was right, everyone would jump in. I expressed my concerns about leaking the info, for a cheap price, and he encouraged me to test the market. If there is a need for these lists, then cutting the price from $149 ot $29 monthly should prove successful & helpout more domainers.

Hope Dutch’s theory proves right & sorry Dutch if I trumped you at all on your domaining mission. I really appreciate the advice & respect you have for my blog. Hope it helps enlighten more domainers about what we do everyday. I totally respect your goals & have blogged about the markets & liquid assets even at a casino level which seems to be banned in the usa for now.

To all readers of this blog, starting now & for a while the dnmeter.com subscription fee has been dropped down to only $29 per month. You get a free month to test it out or ask for a refund. Most domainers appreciate the spread between the domains they want & when the domains actually drop. Plus awareness that there is a drop order

Pending Delete Domains

Hope this helps more drop catchers out there!

Blue Razor Backorders

Back around October last year, I purchased over 350 bluerazor.com backorders from a namepros member.  He had paid the full price of $12.95 per domain back around 2008 and the credits are usable. The seller took a big hit on the price & I secured each backorder for $8.73 a pop. At that price, I felt I couldn’t lose as GoDaddy.com keeps hiking up their backorder prices around $21 per & only allows certain coupon codes to work for a discount. I had called godaddy a handful of times for a discount & never had any luck. The cheapest I could get a backorder at godaddy was around $14.69 on a 10 pack with a 25% or 30% coupon code.

The deal with the sale was that I wanted the backorders transferred from bluerazor to godaddy. At first this all seemed doable and like it was going to be no problem. Around three weeks time passed and godaddy finally came back saying they couldn’t justify moving the backorders from bluerazor to godaddy with their accounting department. A sale is a sale and I am a man of my word. I kept the backorders with bluerazor & put them to use on 2nd tier domains that I felt certain drop catchers would target. Mostly Andrew Reberry who has been sucking up most of the 1st & 2nd tier domains without mercy & beating the drop catch software with his multiple registrar connections.

Well I proceeded to backorder domains at bluerazor. I added a lot to their system & chased domains using various API’s and staggered drop lists to compete with the backorders I put out. Overall bluerazor did ok. A lot of the domains were caught by others like moniker with INERNIM nameservers so it was hard to tell if it beat my moniker API or legit with a backorder assigned.

What I found about bluerazor is really good at catching domains that are not backordered at godaddy. Sorry for the news, but if you or someone else were to place a backorder on the same domain at godaddy.com & bluerazor.com, the GoDaddy account will automatically win and bluerazor will lose. No auction or 2nd chance at bluerazor. If the domain had additional backorders, it will go to godaddy’s auction process.

After discovering these news, I was not happy. Oh crap, I spent a good investment on hundreds of useless backorders! Then I got smarter and decided to really push the system. i like to flip the negative out of things into positive. Afterall, I am still in my warehousing stage where I am stock piling domains for sale. Plus I like to target domains that make sense to me & I feel I can sell although usually noone else sees it. So I set forth to stop backordering at godaddy & bluerazor & only use bluerazor to use up all these backorder credits.

Soon after, I found that although I was placing hits on domains using bluerazor only, all of godaddy’s drop catch farm was working hard to catch the domains I placed backorders on. Thus far, I am happy with bluerazor. After understanding the rule of only backordering at bluerazor and if someone else backorders at godaddy it’s lost – I am happy with the results. Below is a short list of domains I acquired via bluerazor & are sitting in my account. However, pay close attention to the registrar info who caught the catch:

bikeuniforms <dot> com Registrar: GO MONTENEGRO DOMAINS, LLC
fancy-gifts <dot> com Registrar: GO MONTENEGRO DOMAINS, LLC
gutterinspectors <dot> com Registrar: WILD WEST DOMAINS, LLC
cleanupbags <dot> com Registrar: GO FRANCE DOMAINS, LLC
designer-sofas <dot> com Registrar: GO MONTENEGRO DOMAINS, LLC
fishsuit <dot> com Registrar: GO FRANCE DOMAINS, LLC
saladknife <dot> com Registrar: GO MONTENEGRO DOMAINS, LLC
studiotraining <dot> com Registrar: GO MONTENEGRO DOMAINS, LLC
hypeaudio <dot> com Registrar: GO FRANCE DOMAINS, LLC
firstaidspray <dot> com Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
cosmogifts <dot> com Registrar: GO FRANCE DOMAINS, LLC
antiquescooters <dot> com Registrar: GO MONTENEGRO DOMAINS, LLC
fruitscoops <dot> com Registrar: WILD WEST DOMAINS, LLC
prairiecandles <dot> com Registrar: GO CANADA DOMAINS, LLC
importedolives <dot> com Registrar: GO FRANCE DOMAINS, LLC
healthysushi <dot> com Registrar: GO CANADA DOMAINS, LLC
trendysigns <dot> com Registrar: GO FRANCE DOMAINS, LLC
usedcoins <dot> com Registrar: GO CHINA DOMAINS, LLC

I have used up over 100 backorders at bluerazor & only 1 or 2 domains were caught by bluerazor. Maybe it’s the domains I chase or if someone put in a backorder at godaddy and I did too at bluerazor, not sure who would win. I have about two hundred and fifty backorders left, so I will keep trying & report back any progress.

After research, I see godaddy has discontinued the investor’s edge & similar discount plans. All those pages now seem to point to this page:

http://www.godaddy.com/domainaddon/domain-backorders.aspx

Where godaddy tries to charge $20.99 per backorder.  they offer the bulk discount on the page & if you order a 100 pack, none of the promotion discount codes will work. Their reasoning over the phone was because $14.69 is as cheap as you can get the backorders at per piece.

To the readers of this blog, I would recommend that you look into bluerazor & apply a coupon code if that works to get backorders at a cheap price. You will always lose to godaddy’s backorders – but with patience, certain domains slip through the cracks. It’s always devastating when a plan doesn’t pan out as thought, but you can always make the best of it! Look at the 18 domains above out of 100+ of similar quality, I think I am on a good trend here to sell and flip some sales to cover a lot more backorders everywhere.

Sedo Marketplace

It’s been about five years since I last visited SEDO. In the past I really didn’t experience much success. I set forth a week ago and decided to test sedo.com again.Right before making the move to park my drop catches at sedo, I had setup a one page lander to buy the domain or make an offer. While the parking lander worked, it simply wasn’t driving up sales like I wanted. Plus I didn’t have reliable stats info.

My portfolio is getting bigger in size with hundreds of domains. As the domains come up for renewal, I needed a way to centrally look at the domains I own in one area. Sedo provides this & the visitor stats are helpful to make the call of dropping a name or including the stats info in future sales. So I changed all my dns to ns1 & ns2.sedoparking.com. I then ended life of my one page lander parking system.

So far, the numbers at sedo are looking ok. For now, I transferred about 200 domain names to give it a test. I’d say about 100 of the domains do not receive any visitors. Ranges from 0-3 visitors for 1/2 of the portfolio seem to be common. The other half is doing well with visitors and clicks. This has become an eye opener for me because domains I felt were terrible are getting visitors & clicks. While domains I feel are great & make sense to me, don’t make sense to anyone else. That’s funny, but I’m happy to have discovered that. Any stats good or bad will tend to increase the price of a domain when it’s time to sell.

In a weeks time, I managed to sell a domain & another one is in mid sale in the transfer stage. Both domains sold for around $149 each from seperate buyers.  I look forward to those emails, when you’ve sold a domain via buy it now & the buyer has initiated payment to sedo’s escrow account. I hope it happens more often and I sell more domains. I’m hoping domain sales pick up since buyers may be broke after the holidays & things pick up in a couple months through the end of the year.

Some of the domains I have are seasonal / summer related, eg – scooters etc. So hopefully when summer comes back around, I will get some sales.  I also look forward to the visitor numbers to increase when the time comes for certain domains. Since sedo uses a google feed for it’s sponsors and content, I assume that Google may index the parked domains – but not 100% sure. I will need to examine the data & stats monthly. One week isn’t enough time yet to see what needs optimizing.

I have been noticing that dropped pagerank domains seem to work exceptionally well with sedo. I have been catching pagerank domains on the regular, but currently on pause. I like to selectively pick up batches of pr domains on the drop, do it for a week or two and chill for a week or two. The issue with pagerank domains is that you have to develop fast with unique content that is relevant to the backlinks coming in. Or the domain will likely lose it’s pagerank on the next google update.

Here is a screenshot of the parking so far for one week so far:

Sedo Parking Stats For Past 7 Days

I am pleased with the results because my previous one page parking system didn’t provide means of revenue other than domain sales. It’s nice to see that sedo seems to have a high CPC payout. I am still learning how to optimize the parked pages, but noticing that some of the domains are producing up to $4.45 per week would be great! Even if it’s just a handful that make revenue and carry over the rest.

My system is setup a little different than others. I acknowledge that I should try out & test higher paying parking systems like voodoo.com & the like. That seems to be a great option for domains that I plan to keep for long term. Perhaps after sifting through the good & the bad via sedo, I will move some domains to voodoo or etc.

My current system focus more on retaining drop catches for one year total. If it doesn’t sell, I will likely drop the domain. If it pays for itself via parking or receives inquiries, I will keep the domain for long term. I’m trying to chase 10 – 20 drops a day, so a year seems plenty to figure out if it’s worth keeping or dropping.

I’m also glad to see that fancy-gifts <dot> com is getting a lot of unique visitors. By nature I don’t chase hyphenated domains. Sometimes I do, but that’s because of huge sales I’ve had in the past where I’ve sold a drop catch hyphenated domain for $3,500. So I like to keep my ears open on the subject. The forums scared me on hyphenated domains, but after my previous sales – there are buyers & traffic!

Well that’s my story so far with sedo. I will keep everyone posted how things go & how the parking revenue & sales stack up. I also listed about 100 of these sedo parked domains with Afternic.com’s DLS system, but not much activity from afternic for the time being. Maybe time will tell.

This blog post is to discuss how one of my best selling products stacks up to the competition and why it’s a good idea to get into the fun now before it all goes away.

Since the start of writing drop catching software, one of the most popular registrars to offer a plugin API was Moniker.com. Since around 2006, that I can remember, Moniker has offered API for their customers. This API allows it’s customers to auto register domains with software they write, a little bit faster than hand registering the domain via moniker.com it self & clicking next, ok, etc on & on.

Soon, a lot of people were using the API to drop catch pending delete domain names. Moniker has always been a true champion in the drop catch API world. Most of the time unnoticed, but even using alternate registrar connections to catch the domains their customers want & request via the API registration attempts.

This post is targetting the software I sell at dropking.com. The Moniker API app is a best seller & man does it work. I give a hands down to the Moniker API system because it does a bulk registration attempt. And why shouldn’t it? With all the registrars Oversee.net holds, they have the replenishment for any drop catcher’s thirst.

Some Myths & stories have been going around so I want to clear the air a little & get you the info you need about this software.

1.) I am Dan Ramirez. I am not Dan Rubin from DNWare.com – Sorry to dissapoint everyone. I run and operate DropKing.com – former expron.com. Please let Moniker know so they can add a checkbox to determine which software you are using. Otherwise all my customers seem to get Dan Rubin’s email for contacting support.

2.) Moniker will not penalize and ban you for using their API if you respect the system. I know we all started wanting fast results, and they will come. Don’t flood their systems. It is not going to help you much. Everything is serialized & stamped, so one request or account is enough. If you hold multiple Moniker accounts even better, fire up a separate instance of the software on your desktop. One per Moniker account is good & stagger your lists.

When using the dropking.com drop catch software, please keep in mind that these fields are required as per this image of the drop catcher software before you can start your drop catching:

Drop Catching Software

This article is from my experience when domains first became available for the first time registration and what I can remember from it.

Everything was run by bbs systems and sysops until the domain registrations were taken to the web level. In the early 1990′s, netsol (NetworkSolutions.com) took over the bbs domain registrations and made the registrations available via BBS or web based for anyone to buy.

I am in my early 30′s now, but I’ve been behind a computer since I was eight years old. I really didn’t know what I was doing when I was a kid. Since my dad is into taking stuff apart, I did too and fully disassembled computers & gadgets. When I got a little bit older, I was writing programs and saving them to tape recorders and playing a lot of games.

I spent a lot of time in the library as a kid. It was around 1988 when I discovered that domain names were available for registration. At that time, the main focus was on huge diskettes, huge systems & a network of BBS systems running across telephone land lines. Mostly bbs systems and public/private chatrooms.

One day I checked out a book from the library that had just arrived. It was full of BBS telephone numbers & the login details were provided. Using my 2400 baud modem, I dialed in to a lot of BBS networks. I spent time at nasa’s bbs, bbs chat rooms & military bbs networks. It was then that I stumbled upon a military bbs that allowed anyone to register any available .com domain name via the bbs system using sysop commands. The bbs commands included available or registered, whois, finger and other commands I don’t remember or i’m not 100% sure about anymore. Maybe dig type commands.

I ran a command and found that nasa.com was available for hand registration. So was sears.com. I ran to my parents to help me in buying these two domains! I had the money saved up & the price was only $199 each at that time. I could afford 4 domains total at that time. My parents brushed it off & said I was dreaming. In my head, I envisioned a dedicated computer running nasa’s BBS diagrams and commands via a domain name to make my searches available to users at my bbs network which could now become a full website. At the time, I was able to pull up general info in text files and simple diagrams / images in 8 & 16 bit. I was only ten years old.

Today, I’d like to compare brands of computers to domain names. While I was chasing certain domains via bbs systems which later in the early 90′s became controlled by network solutions’ bbs system. .com was meant to be used for commercial businesses. Once netsol took over, the domain speculation started to increase. By this time, I was using packard bell systems running 286′s up to 486′s for the cpu and paying up the nose for bigger hard drives and more ram. I had become a teenager & all the available domains were now taken or getting picked up fast.

Today, it’s all irrevelant.. ram and hard drives are cheap and cpu’s aren’t getting much more advanced. Mostly due to our economic status & we’ve met a middle ground with strive & the technology that is available for what we need.

In my computer journey, I fell that Tandy / Radio Shack wins a special award for their brand marketing. They pushed computers that I lugged around with portability in their TRS 80 computer system. They had the brand and a proprietary assembly language that was limited and sucked. And the darn computer was over 30 pounds weight to lug around.

Tandy Radio Shack Portable Computer

In this image, you can notice a huge wave towards putting computers into your hands by Tandy’s handheld model:

Radio Shack's Handheld Computer Advertisement

Tandy / Radio Shack won the branding throughout the 1980′s. Same for Apple which was the stronger of the two.

I had an Apple II Plus, IIe, IIc & IIgs back in the early 1980′s – 90′s, My first apple computer looked like this:

The Apple II Plus

The lighted POWER button always seemed to give me comfort to know the system was on lol.

The TRS 80 & Appple II Plus – II gs all provided a means to connect to other websites. BBS sites are now compared to telnet sessions – which is what they really became. Everything became web based via a domain name.

I also had a lot of other systems like commodore computers, amiga and IBM PC XT 8086′s – 80X86′s.

I try to keep this in my mind as I chase expiring domains. When I drop catch certain domains, I can assemble a long list of potential buyers. If the list isn’t there, I don’t chase that domain. I feel like the days are here again and fresh regs and drop catching are becoming more and more liquid daily. My experience also helps me sift through the domains that seem to work for me & turning profits faster.

This post is not meant to be expert advice. I am just sharing stuff I remember and have been trying to find time to blog about. Hopefully I can continue to blog, I am trying to add a new post everyday as long as I’m not swammped.

Happy Domaining!

Hello,

Fabulous Drop Catcher

I have been working with a few beta testers who have been testing drop catching software for the Fabulous.com API. The Fab API is XML based & easy to use. The software I wrote is available at DropKing.com for purchase & immediate download.

The software works on any windows based computer from windows 95 – Windows 7 (32Bit & 64Bit). The software allows you to enter a list of domain names you’d like to register. You save the list of domains to chase into a text file – one expiring domain name per line. Next, you enter your Fab account username & password. When you are ready, simply set the pause you’d like and click start. I usually recommend using the software with a 1 second pause between each domain registration try.

Fabulous API Domain Catcher

If a domain is available to register and you have enough prefunded money, the domain is registered right into your Fab account. You only pay registration fee which is nice. This becomes a huge money saver compared to backordering domains at high prices. Why backorder when you can drop catch the same quality of domains?

The feedback I am getting from the testers is great. One of the testers claims he can beat godaddy and some of namejet’s backorders. I have witnessed losing a handful of times to Fabulous’ API where I backordered the same domains at godaddy & Fab’s API won. I’ve heard that every once in a great while fab will beat a snapnames backorder on domains of much lesser quality that probably only received one backorder.

I think the Fabulous API is an untapped resource at this time. I believe the API is extremly useful because:

1.) Not a lot of people who know about or use Fab’s API. This leaves the highway open for the API users who are getting away with murder. Imagine having the strength of a registrar with realtime connections to the registry for your own drop catching without much competition.

2.) The API is one of the faster API’s I’ve used. You can tweak the pause to “0″ which really gets the API hits hammering to register a domain for you. From the TOS & what I’ve read & talked to Fab, it’s ok to use the API tool at this speed without any fear of a penalty.

3.) Since Fabulous has strict rules to join, not many people are accepted or meet the requirements. Therefore the members who have access to the API own portfolios or hundreds of domains and are more serious about drop catching.

4.) Fabulous specializes in the TLD’s: .com, .net, .org, .info & .co. This avoids amature domainers who are clogging up the API system chasing less desirable ccTld’s (like: .in, .co.in, .mobi, .me etc) around the clock.

Overall I am happy with the product I made. It is yet another tool that can be used to catch expired domain names at registration price. The feedback has been great & I don’t see other software being offered for Fab’s API.

For more information about the fabulous.com API drop catching software, please contact me or visit: www.DropKing.com.

Hello everyone,

I am working on a new tool and would like to offer it for free for a limited time to readers of my blog. This tool is very simple & basically takes a list of up to 22,000 usa cities. It combines a keyword with a city before or after the keyword. Some examples would be:

chicagodentists.com
rentchicago.com
chicagoforeclosures.com

On & on.. The value of this tool is that you get to specify the keyword(s) & position. The end result would be a list of domains where .NET is taken & .COM is available. Allowing you to hand register the .com domain if you so chose to register the available.

I love crunching numbers & scripts & have found some decent domains this way. Some I have been able to flip for a profit rather quickly. I also notice that the .org & .info is often times registered. Other times, the same scan 3 months later has also generates new gems.

Just putting this out there & any feedback is welcome in regards to a tool you’d like to see out there. I have extra time in my hands & I can probably make it a reality. I’m looking to expand my tools selection & love automating as much of my busy work as possible.

This struck me out of the blue a couple days ago. I was visiting Dynadot.com & checking out the marketplace domains. I noticed something new, which seemed to be a pending delete tab which allowed me to backorder domains @ $11.75 USD a pop. I noticed that they have listed the entire pending delete lists & it was easy to place backorders on any domain of my choosing.

I backordered domains & was satisfied with with ease in it all. I also learned that when placing a backorder, you win the domain for only $11.75 if you are the only bidder. If there are multiple bidders on the same domain & Dynadot’s backorder service cathes the name, then you enter into a private auction with the other bidders.

As of writing the website states:

1.) You will not be charged until we successfully catch this domain for you.
2.) In order to place a backorder, you need an order history with one successful payment in the last 365 days. A completed prepay order will fulfill this requirement.
3.) If you are the only one request for this domain, an order will be created in your account using your default marketplace payment method once we successfully catch the domain
4.) If there is more than one request for this domain, a private auction will be held if we successfully catch the domain

I decided to give this a try & on purpose tried to chase some of the competition & premium drops. Very ignorant in my part, but I had nothing to lose. Especially since there were 0 backorders for the drops I decided to chase. I gave it a whirl & chased these drops today:

celn.com
pangtuan.com
bgjp.com
hhoz.com
qlzz.com

I noticed that the cutoff time for the backorders is up to approx 15 mins before the drops actually become released from the registry. This is nice for any last minute change of mind adds or removals. It’s also very easy to remove backorders from your account with a click of a button before the cutoff time.

So off went the experiment & as the drops became available, well – as you may have guessed, Dynadot didn’t catch any of these drops. Instead the regulars as in SnapNames overall crushed the drop catches.

I guess this service would be great for mid-grade domains that don’t catch alot of attention. Or targetted niche, service or product long tail domains that go unnoticed by the big fish. Still a great service for Dynadot to offer to it’s customers & I hope they keep building on with more real-time registrar connections.

Overall these are the pro’s and con’s in my opinion:

Pros:

1.) It’s a very easy to use system for entering backorder domains & tracking the progress.
2.) If you are the only one to backorder a domain, you win it for only $11.75.
3.) Dynadot is a trusted & respected company for never doing their customers wrong.
4.) Their support actually tries to accommodate things to fit your needs.

Cons:

1.) The number of total backorders is publicly displayed. Bigger drop catch companies can scrape this data & apply more horsepower to chase domains that grab backorder attention @ Dynadot.
2.) Dynadot needs to increase their price & drop catch capacity with more registrar connections to make this profitable for itself & it’s customers.
3.) I could not find documentation regarding – what if someone catches the domain using Dynadot’s API system. Who wins the domain then? It’s not technically a backorder – is the domain surrendered to the API account & the backorders are rejected? Or vice, versa?

Overall I am a big supporter of this system & would like to see how this pans out for Dynadot. Dynadot has been my preferred registrar of choice for many years now & I hope you find success with this new backorder service I stumbled across recently.