On The Radar: Drop Catching Too Expensive Now?

Although drop catching has never really been targeted towards the budget domainer, there was a time when the budget domainer could still be a major factor in the expired domain market. However, the budget domainer is now getting left out in the cold as drop catchers have not only increased prices recently but it appears that the future trend is even higher prices. The reason for increased prices? There are several reasons for increased drop catching fees, but the leading ones are:

1. Fierce competition for average to premium domains.
2. The success of Pool.com's after-the-catch auction model. 
3. More people are using drop catching services than ever before as people continue to enter the domain industry.

The two major price increases that have really alienated domainers are both from drop catching pioneers, NameWinner and SnapNames.com. As probably should be expected, both are feeling a little threatened by Pool and have acted accordingly. First, NameWinner raised minimum bids from $15 to $40 (excluding old customers who had their prices raised from $8.95 to $30.00) and instituted a new after-the-catch auction system where you pay a non-refundable fee of $50 just to enter. Talk about a waste of money! Guess what happens when you face one of the big boys in the domain industry? That's right, say goodbye to your $50. 

If that wasn't bad enough, SnapNames.com decided to do away with all of its resellers! Instead of buying a backorder for around $40, you will now have to buy one for $69. It should be noted that the $40 backorders had a limited number of exchanges while the $69 ones are unlimited for a year. However, is it really worth $25 to $30 more dollars every time just for unlimited exchanges? In my opinion, it is not. I have used up all 3 exchanges on a discount backorder a few times, but I never had one expire uselessly. All you had to do was to renew it for under $10 and then set your sights a little lower. That is not even talking about what happens if the backorder gets the domain on the first try.   

With all that said, what is left for the budget domainer to do in the expired domain market? Enom's Club Drop has a starting price in the mid to high teens (initial bid plus registration), but there is no ceiling on how high a domain can be bid up to. While not the most effective drop catcher in the domain industry, GoDaddy appears to be the best option for budget domainers with backorders priced at only $18.95.  Since GoDaddy does not use an auction system, you have to purchase a GoDaddy backorder on a particular name before anybody else does. Furthermore, you may want to avoid .coms, especially high profile ones, since GoDaddy is more effective at catching lower extensions like .net and .org. 

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