Very quietly, it looks like Godaddy.com increased the starting bid on its expired domain auctions from $10 to $12, an increase of 20%.
Although I didn’t get a notice about the change, (even though I buy domains on their platform all the time), I confirmed with my Godaddy rep who told me he didn’t ever get a notice about the price increase.
“This is the first I heard of it as well”, he told me.
After checking with the powers that be, he confirmed that the minimum starting price on expired domain auctions increased to $12.
Of course as expiring auctions go, Godaddy.com prices are well below that of NameJet.com and SnapNames.com so I guess you can’t complaint too much.
But some sort of notice would have been a nice touch
yeah, I noticed this as well. I couldn’t understand why some were priced at $10, while others at $12. I noticed a trend where all the newer auctions were $12, so I figured they raised prices.
I wonder what happens if the name doesn’t sale at $12. Will the names go down to $11 now instead of $9.
Some type of notice would be nice, but I’m such Bob is laughing all the way to the bank.
As far as I can tell the price change goes into effect for domain heading for auction tomorrow
They went up to $11 a couple of weeks ago, mixed in with some that were $10. Now they are moving to $12 with, $10 domains mixed in.
I think they are testing the market to see what it will support. My guess is when they hit some resistance, meaning bids go down, they they will drop it down a dollar or two from there for a while.
I expect it to keep going up until they find a happy medium.
I agree that GoDaddy are testing the waters with price increases. Ironically, I have been a huge patron (and open supporter) of the company and have paid them quite alot over the years.
My experience of the past two years, and specifically the last year, has been one of increasing disappointment with GoDaddy. They are morphing into the stereotypical big, impersonal corporate machine. This inevitably leads to loss of valuing the individual customer. Have seen it over and over again. Company growth/size has a direct negative correlation with quality of service. The larger the company gets, the worse the service.
If you find a corporation that can maintain long-term customer loyalty despite having gotten big, then you’ve found a truly rare company that has active, focused, dedicated management that consistently promote quality service from within and at all levels. It NEVER happens by accident. Only by design … and with the right people at the helm.
It wasn’t necessarily that GoDaddy were superb. They were just a solid step or two better than the rest of the registrars and hosting companies … many of which are terrible! However, that narrow lead is near gone. GoDaddy seem to have supplanted quality and customer service with a well-funded hype marketing machine. Today, you email tech support and get someone who literally cannot rub two sticks together. Both frustrating and sad. To switch away is a big inconvenience at this point. Custom scripts and sites have to be moved, lots of nuisance work. But I’m looking anyway.
Free market rules. When people leave, it’s almost always over poor customer service. Rant over.
GUESS WE KNOW HOW THEY ARE PLANNING TO PAY FOR THE NEXT SUPER BOWL ADS HUH?