My fresh domain auction bidding strategy

I changed my expired domain bidding strategy on a recent trip and liked the results.

A couple of weeks ago, I changed my auction bidding strategy. And so far, it’s working well for me.

Historically, I would place a bid that was perhaps 10%-25% above the current bid and then raise my bid as other people pushed up the price.

This has two drawbacks.

First, people create bots or manually bid in modest increments to create bidder fatigue. You sometimes have to sit around for hours watching modest incremental bids that extend auctions.

Second, you get sucked in and end up bidding more than you planned.

I was recently hiking in the Olympic Peninsula, and it forced my hand for bidding. I knew pulling out my phone on a hike would seriously upset my wife. And I had no idea what my cellular connection would be at any given time.

So I decided to set maximum proxy bids and see where I ended up.

I placed a proxy bid of regarding $6,500 on one domain and got it for $3,433. I placed bids on another couple of domains in the $500-$800 range and got both for $100-$200 less than my proxies.

I’ve kept this strategy up since returning from vacation. Yesterday, I placed a $3,080 bid on a domain and got it for $2,388.

This strategy has kept me from getting caught up in auctions and bidding too much. It has saved me time and frustration. And I think it might have also pushed off some other buyers. If they bid and briefly get into a winning position, they might get sucked in themselves. They might lose hope if they keep getting notices that proxies superseded their bids.

Has anyone else tried this strategy?