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View Full Version : Domain back-ordering / drop-catching services


Robo
2014-05-18, 21:57
Has anyone ever used one of these? They all seem a little skeevy, and the registrar I like (Hover) doesn't offer them at all, which seems like a bad sign. But a domain I reeeeally want is dropping soon, and these seem like they could have better odds than me trying to grab the name really quick on my own…

(For anyone who doesn't know, these are services that flood the servers with tons of requests to register the domain as soon as it expires. Some of them just give you the domain if you're the only person who "back-ordered" it with them, and if there are multiple "back-orders" they hold an auction, which seems fair enough. But some of them are super scammy and will hold an auction no matter what, and not tell you if there are any other bidders or not, and say that you will be dropped from the bidding if your bid isn't within 30% of the highest bid, all in the name of getting you to blindly hand them as much money as you can afford, without ever knowing if there are even any other bidders at all…)

Robo
2014-05-23, 12:38
...anyone? :o

Wyatt
2014-05-23, 13:05
I haven't, and I think I wouldn't. It seems like an easy way to get yourself scammed, and you may not even get anything out of it.

I'd suggest just going for a different domain. Doesn't mean you have to change your product/service/company name. Just get a different domain. Being at basecamphq.com didn't exactly hurt Basecamp, did it?

Or you could consider a different TLD. There are a ton of new generic TLDs available now, and more are coming online almost weekly. You might be able to get the name you want under one of those. As long as it's vaguely related to what you're building, you'll be totally fine.

Remember, most people find stuff by searching for it now. Search results are much more important.

Robo
2014-05-23, 14:30
I know that search is way more important these days, but I just don't want to get, like, an embarrassing name. This name is already not the ideal name—if, say, the name of my startup is Roboco, and the ideal domain is roboco.com (which is owned by a domainer), this domain is robocogames.com. But if we don't get this, we're stuck with roboco-games.com, and dashes are just gross.

I feel like it's obscure enough where it might just expire without anyone else trying to grab it right away? But I'm not sure. And I'm paranoid that the currency registrar can see that I checked the whois and they'll know someone is interested and they'll register it themselves. So Idunno.

Wyatt
2014-05-23, 14:46
Look over the gtld list. I bet you can find something that works, like roboco.wtf :D

http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/delegated-strings

709
2014-05-23, 20:41
Wow, no .games/.game? That's… weird. Especially looking at the list. There's a lot of (no dot) wtf names there. :confused:

709
2014-05-23, 20:47
if, say, the name of my startup is Roboco, and the ideal domain is roboco.comocobor.com. Still nice sounding. Still a lot of logo potential with symmetrical characters. Available as a .com.

Robo
2014-05-23, 20:56
Wow, no .games/.game? That's… weird. Especially looking at the list. There's a lot of (no dot) wtf names there. :confused:

Oh, yes. I could get roboco.management, roboco.camera, roboco.kiwi, or roboco.democrat—but not roboco.games. A weird omission in a list with few of them. (roboco.menu!)

ocobor.com. Still nice sounding. Still a lot of logo potential with symmetrical characters. Available as a .com.

In case anyone was confused, Roboco isn't actually the name of my startup. :lol: It was just for example purposes. (robocogames.com is actually available, no dash required.)

709
2014-05-23, 21:06
No, I didn't think it was actually roboco. :D Just wanted to give an alternate (and simple) thought process a shot. That is, don't get hung up on something that's overwhelmingly taken. There's still a lot of .com available.



*although, now that I searched the name through GoDaddy I have to buy it. If I come back a week from now it'll be 500 bucks. :| :\

Robo
2014-05-23, 21:47
I kind of want to stay in .com…I think if I get roboco.link or whatever, I'd worry about inadvertently driving traffic to roboco.com and making it even more expensive when we do try to get it (and we do want to, eventually…"games" isn't part of our logo or communicative name and is potentially limiting). I feel like the people who do type URLs pretty much type ".com" reflexively, at this point.

But I hate hate hate dashes. They're hard to vocalize…try telling someone your email address if it has a dash in it.

So I really really want this domain. It's the first time I've ever been tempted to use one of these services. If we can't get robocogames.com, I don't know what we'll go with. Probably robocoapps.com or something.

Again, I know it doesn't matter as much as it used to, but it matters to me. I want a URL I can be proud of, not something that just says "nobody dotcom" like robocogamesllc.com or roboco.biz.

Robo
2014-05-28, 17:44
Status: pendingDelete

oh god oh god what do i do what do i do

Wyatt
2014-05-28, 21:18
Patience, Padawan.

In gTLD news, the best domain possible has been taken. I'm sorry you couldn't get to it first. http://butt.holdings/

Bryson
2014-05-29, 00:09
Do you know anyone in Palestine? You could get Roboco.ps, which is awesome. ;)

Robo
2014-06-04, 12:43
I got the domain.

*happy dance*

Noel
2014-06-04, 18:51
With or without the help of shady services?

Brad
2014-06-04, 19:07
How many kneecaps were broken in the process of this domain acquisition?

Robo
2014-06-04, 19:09
I got it without breaking any kneecaps! Just $15 at Hover.

It was a bit of a gamble, though. If anyone else in the world was using a drop catch service on it, I wouldn't have had a chance. But I didn't think it likely that anyone would, and that instinct proved accurate.

It's a good name. I'm happy with it, even though I do want to lose the "games" eventually (since we're not really a games company). But that'll be one of those five- or six-figure deals we just can't make now. Until then, I'm happy. It's still pretty short and I won't have to tell people "roboco dash games" all the time.

And no, I'm not going to say what it is. :p