Ask HN: Why are there no good domain auctioning websites?

#1

Post by m4jor101 » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 1:06 PM UTC

I know there already exist market leaders such as godaddy, sedo, dynabot and other registrars where people can auction and bid domains. But I fail to understand why almost all of them are exclusive to their own platform and won't allow those with having their domains on other registrar and the enormous commission rate that they charge is horrendous.

Why isn't there any new age startup working on this almost all of the existing players are about a decade older or more so they are slow and sometimes won't even innovate.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there no good domain auctioning websites?

#2

Post by yamumsahoe » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 1:44 PM UTC

park.io is fine have you checked it

i have a love and hate situationship with it. it is an industry of squatters, even telegram has done it with their usernames.

but i think what i hate more is businesses being purchased by small and large private equity firms and getting rebranded with a shitty domain name bought for 6 figs. it fucks with the end-users who are used with the old name.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there no good domain auctioning websites?

#3

Post by micromacrofoot » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 1:56 PM UTC

I imagine for similar reasons there aren't good data broker sites or ticket scalping sites, they're inherently cutthroat industries that make money on locking up as much product as possible — opening that up only serves to create a race to the bottom on fees, which is great for consumers but terrible for the companies themselves.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there no good domain auctioning websites?

#4

Post by m4jor101 » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 2:17 PM UTC

yamumsahoe wrote: post #2

park.io is fine have you checked it i have a love and hate situationship with it. it is an industry of squatters, even telegram has done it with their usernames. but i think what i hate more is businesses being purchased by small and large private equity firms and getting rebranded with a shitty domain name bought for 6 figs. it fucks with the end-users who are used with the old name.

Thanks for suggestion, I will look into it.

Yeah I too get the same vibe but I think domains auction in general is underserved market so I was thinking of creating a auctioning website with lower fees and commission, better customer service.

But it seems like serving that market I might be supporting greedy domain squatter like them than people with genuine interest in auctioning.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there no good domain auctioning websites?

#5

Post by m4jor101 » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 2:20 PM UTC

micromacrofoot wrote: post #3

I imagine for similar reasons there aren't good data broker sites or ticket scalping sites, they're inherently cutthroat industries that make money on locking up as much product as possible — opening that up only serves to create a race to the bottom on fees, which is great for consumers but terrible for the companies themselves.

Yeah that's true that these companies are fighting on lower fees and commission modal.