GoDaddy domain name auctions changes

Joe Styler, GoDaddy’s Aftermarket Product Manager, announced 2 changes that were made to the GoDaddy domain name auctions:

“The gist of it is we made two long asked for changes on the auctions. This is due in large part to the complete auctions redo we are in the middle of behind the scenes and currently on the new Search experience and homepage. More to come this year.

1. Anyone can use the auctions API now for closeouts. We will open this up for all auctions later this year but for right now it is limited to closeout domains. This is one of the most requested things I have had since taking over auctions about a year ago. It is now live.

2. We changed the timeline for 3rd party expired domains (non GoDaddy expired domains) on the auctions. This means that now it is almost always too late for a past owner to renew the domain after the auction ends. This means less surprises when you win a domain you should get it.

There is one big caveat. One partner stream we could not do this with. But ALL partners 2 days after the auctions end you should be able to know for sure you get the domain. There used to be a maximum of 10 days post auction end in the old system so this is a huge difference. Almost all the domains that are won now will be fulfilled. Almost all auctions end now at a time when it is too late for the current owner to renew the domain.

What that caveat means is that if you have a large payment for an auction pay 48 hours post auction and you should be in the more or less guaranteed fulfillment window for your auction win and not have to fear a refund and cancellation.

There are smaller caveats of course, death, technical issues, etc but by and large you will get the domain if you win.

These were two BIG pain points customers made known to me and they were not easy fixes but we got them done. There are more exciting things coming on auctions this year. Stay tuned.”