GoDaddy Changes Expired Domain Pricing
In response to Standard Tactics coverage, GoDaddy has changed starting bids on TDNAM auctions.
The prior week I mentioned that GoDaddy was making a change to its TDNAM auctions based on some of my commentary on Standard Tactics. In my commentary I had suggested that, by setting minimum bid prices higher than the standard $10 bid price, GoDaddy was effectively bidding against its clients on TDNAM.
In response, GoDaddy has changed how it prices expired domains. All domains now start with a $10 bid and the auction information includes a “valuation” price. Although the site doesn’t describe what “valuation” is, it appears to be the price that the auction would have started at under the old system.
In the above example, dirtymovie.org has a starting bid of $10 and a valuation of $920. Instead of having to bid $920 to win the domain name under the old system, you can now bid as little as $10.
Go Daddy Group CEO Bob Parsons told me regarding the change during our phone conversation the prior week. He stated he hadn’t thought of the minimum bids as “bidding against clients”. When he looked at it that way he decided it ought to be changed.
I’m looking forward to discussing GoDaddy with Parsons on his weekly radio show tomorrow. Given the change the firm has by now made to TDNAM, it shows that the firm is open to criticism and willing to address issues: it now suspends domains with invalid whois rather than deleting them, and no longer allows employees to bid on TDNAM auctions.
Be sure to tune into RadioGoDaddy Wednesday at 4 PM EST to listen to the live broadcast.
