Verification process should reduce questionable bidding.
Responding to complaints about the integrity of its domain name auction platform, GoDaddy rolled out a bidder verification requirement today for its auctions service.
Bidders are restricted to participating in two auctions and a maximum of $1,500 in bids until they complete the verification process.
To become verified, GoDaddy Auctions will require bidders to have a verified PayPal account. PayPay verification differs by country, but is typically granted when a user links their bank account to their PayPal account.
Existing customers with known accounts that are in good standing have automatically be verified. GoDaddy’s aftermarket support group will handle situations in which a user cannot be verified by PayPal on a case-by-case basis.
Paul Nicks, Senior Director Aftermarket, released this statement to Domain Name Wire:
Our customers have made it ‘loud and clear,’ they want more checks in place with regard to qualifying bidders. We’re rolling out our first step toward pre-qualification this week and will continue to monitor feedback on the process and adapt to meet customer needs, as needed. Platform integrity is an integral part of our team’s mission. We will continue to focus on developing and evolving policies and procedures that promote customer security and trust.
GoDaddy has been under increasing pressure to prevent fake bidding on its platform. In one recent embarrassing case, two bidders pushed an auction for BetTrade.com to over $1 million. Once the fake bids were removed, the final auction price was just $117.
My guest on the DNW Podcast on January 19 will be GoDaddy SVP and GM of Domains Mike McLaughlin. One topic we’ll cover is the aftermarket and improving its integrity.
Paul Nicks says
Thanks Andrew,
For anyone who has comments or suggestions on the process please leave a comment here or email me directly. Paul@
-Paul
DNPric.es says
Hello Paul,
Have sold one domain via GoDaddy. There was no communication between the seller and the buyer. The system had no provision of it. Have received the money and the domain name is still with the seller.
Really high time to make GD auctions more user friendly. For both the seller and the buyer sides.
Also, try to look at the domain names with 50+ bids – so impossible to track and communicate properly.
Overall, really like the verification. Sedo cancels about 8% of their auctions. They can benefit from this idea too.
JZ says
is there a way to check if i am verified?
Aaron Strong says
Paul – First, I sincerely apologize for my previous comments. During my frustrations with Godaddy, I have made comments meant for Godaddy and regret using you personally as a “punching bag.”…..You have made it “loud and clear” you are a person of action with integrity….Again, I apologize…
webdot says
Will this information be visible in an actual bidding situation?
For instance, if I look at the bid history for an auction and see Bidder 1, 2, 3, etc. Will there be notations whether these people are or are not verified individuals?
Robbie says
I doubt godaddy can share such info, nor is it relevant, and it would be unfair in bidding strategy.
Godaddy, give every bidder a master bidding number, problem solved. To many foreign accounts have been playing the system, I know the platform is busy, and can be hard to police so much randomness.
This verification is welcomed news, and really adds confidence to the system, especially when bidding with big dollars.
Paul Nicks says
@JZ, After you login to your Auctions account, click on “settings” and you’ll see your account status either confirming your bidding tier or providing a link to get verified.
@ webdot, there is currently no plan to modify the bidders to distinguish verified vs not although I like the idea. I’ll shoot it to the product team.
@Aaron, thank you
webdot says
Not sure if this is specific to me and/or related to this topic, but at the moment when I go to Settings, I get error on the ‘General’ tab.
“An�error has occurred, the development staff has been notified. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
I’m glad you like my idea. 😉 I believe it would increase visibility of the initiative and help spur greater participation. Not sure it would affect bidding strategy per se, but possibly in certain situations it might.
Paul Nicks says
I’ve had a couple of reports of this error, the dev team has been able to replicate and are checking into it now, thanks for pointing it out.
webdot says
fyi, this ‘settings’ screen is working for me as of now and I see the ‘Your account is verified.’ notation.
thx.
Richard says
Hi Paul
Not sure why, but I have neither status nor any link to get validated in my settings area. I’m a VIP customer with an Int. account if that makes any difference?
Thanks
David says
I think this is fairly ironic news, considering how much trouble they have with the simplest things such as auto charging a paypal account.
My partners and I have a Paypal agreement with GoDaddy and have for some years. We keep a balance of a min of $30k in it at all dues as a float. Due to sales, etc., sometimes it even has over $100k in it.
Yet GoDaddy auctions consistently fails to auto charge it several times a month. I’m on many platform, and depend on these pieces of software working as expected. After all, I’m a human with limited availability (at CES now in fact), whereas the online scripts are not. They shouldn’t fail so damn much. (and for most other services, they don’t)
In fact, just the other day dumped a bunch of domains I won that they should’ve auto charged, but failed to. Now they want “admin” fees for what is clearly their own technology problem, and have threatened higher fees “next time it happens”.
Huh??? It’s your fault, GoDaddy! Your own technical failings, which honestly, hurt me and other legitimate auction participants more than it hurts you. Yet you double injure your good customers with such childish threats and penalties, in lieu of fixing your systems like normal human beings?? Some audacity!
Of course the people on the phone don’t understand this, nor will they let us reach a supervisor. The put powerless, uneducated people between you and the folks in power. Is this some fancy strategy to increase sales by increasing pain points that I missed in the latest Harvard Business Review? (I’m not a millennial, but this is enough to make me roll my eyes as loudly as one!)
There may indeed be a lot of bad bidders, true… every platform has them. But GoDaddy treats their better customers pretty poorly, too, and that’s not right. It’s despicable, actually. They have the resources to do better. A lot better.
I know their people are capable of more, should they bother with a higher degree of ethic. Ex-GoDaddy employees have joined companies like NameSilo, which seems to both understand the logic of tickets submitted and responds to them in just a few minutes, and have really shone.
GoDaddy needs to take these better people before they leave, and utilize them properly to run a more technologically and ethically sound company. “The Audacity of Godaddy” would be a nice blog post.
They can advertise like Coca-Cola all they want to maintain top of the mind awareness, but ultimately it’s a lot cheaper just to treat your customers with dignity and respect… and make consistent improvements monthly to systems, using SCRUM or whatever strategy suits. Valuing clients and constant improvement keeps costs low, sales high, and ultimately leaves a lot more room for profit they can keep instead of spilling out for yet more ads in an attempt to mask discontent and attrition.
Mind you, I guess they feel they can torture name bidders all the want, as they have the certain names others don’t. But the way they consistently p*ss off even name holders, sending them off to other registrars, means there will less and less juicy names to auction with time.
It’s a system, GoDaddy. Think about it. Improve your ancient systems, and treat people with dignity. That’s all we ask. It’s as good for us as it is for you.
Paul Nicks says
David, happy to discuss your issues live. My # is 319-294-3982
-Paul
Robbie says
Interesting to see what automated tools you are using to bid, if you can’t take 2 mins to make a payment. Namebright?
DonnyM says
What does it all matter when they leave up misleading traffic numbers. New domainers are getting screwed no reason to show traffic numbers.
Robbie says
I bought one of these domains once, number was like 12000 uniques per month, I parked it to track the traffic, it was 0, it was a public auction, that the party was just forwarding traffic to until the auction was over, then they killed it. I liked the name, so it was worth the price, but you are 100% right, unverified traffic no no!
Jay says
You should NEVER use traffic numbers to choose on which name to bid.
However traffic numbers are useful when you do NOT buy based on traffic numbers but the traffic stats are just one additional signal after a domain name has met many other signals.
Traffic stats have their limited use so they should be kept.
Jill says
Sedo needs to do this instead of allowing people to walk away from legal obligations with every excuse under the sun and also allowing those persons to keep their accounts alive. Thats why I dont use Sedo anymore for anything, so thank you Go Daddy for moving in the right direction!