Our TBR System
Introduction
Our TBR system combines three business models:
our original first-come first-served retail ($12.99) pricing model, a
pre-registration auction for interesting domains (having a
selling price of less than $200), and a post-registration auction
for valuable domains (selling for $200 or more).
The logic for all these models is fairly simple. We have a long history
of being one of the "bulk" TBR registrars, and we very much want to
keep that business. For interesting domains we want to register the domain
directly to the winning bidder, as this is simpler and puts the domain
into the winners hands immediately. For valuable domains where the
bidding is going to get serious, we want to know we actually
registered the domain before we ask for high value bids.
Using the system
The system has a simple interface for ordering domains (one or many),
specifying a registrant, and an optional maximum bid (called "max bid").
Bidding
Max Bid needs to be explained. The auction format we are
using is called "second highest price". This means that the bidder with
the highest bid (or the first bid if there is a tie) pays the price bid
by the next highest bidder. For example if two clients had max bids of
$75 and $50, the domain would be registered to the client with
the $75 max bid, and they would be invoiced for $50. (More examples below.)
There are lots of reasons and advantages to using this auction
format. It allows you to bid what you think a domain is worth, and still
have a realistic chance of getting it for a much lower price. It allows
you to set a bid price and not have to watch and monitor to see if anyone
"bid you up" at the last moment.
We should mention that the system will display the 2nd highest bid as the
"winning price". This means that no one (except the high bidder) knows
what the high bid is. Bidder ids are "obfuscated" with a new ID each
week. You CAN tell if you are bidding against the same bidder in multiple
auctions but you (and they) won't know anyone's identity, and the IDs will
be different next week.
There are a couple exceptions to the pricing rules.
"retail price" and "queue_jump" orders are
not considered bids. If there is only one bid, the winning price will be
the opening bid price ($50). If there are two bids for $200 on a domain,
bidding is closed and the domain will be scheduled for the
post-registration auction (if we manage to register it to a
proxy registrant) (you can still place an order for the domain,
we just won't let you waste time bidding on it).
The first client to place an order has a special option available
called "queue_jump". A queue_jump bid basically pushes the domain ahead
of the other retail priced orders.
Post Registration Auction
The most important detail of the post-registration auction is that ONLY
CLIENTS WHO HAD ORDERS IN THE SYSTEM WILL BE ABLE TO BID. A retail
price order is sufficient to allow entry into the post-registration
auction. (We believe our job as a registrar is matching registrants
to domain names, not hording domains for later sale... so the role of
the post-reg auction is simply to determine which of the existing orders
we will complete.) [ We will make an exception and allow late entry to a
post-reg auction for the prior owner of a domain.]
The post-registration auction uses the same interface and auction
format as the pre-registration auction. The first client to have placed
a $200 bid in the pre-registration auction is considered to have
the opening bid for the post-registration auction.
Auction Close Times
The pre-registration auction closes 15 minutes before the TBR run starts.
Currently the close is 10:45 am pacific time, 1:45 pm eastern time.
The post-registration auctions close 45 minutes into the next TBR run. (
11:45 am pacific, 2:45 pm eastern.) We chose this time thinking that
it should work well for most folks. It provides a week to load a max-bid
for the post-registration auction, it puts the close in a time that
should not overlap other registrars, and occurs on a day when folks should
already be checking their TBR orders.
Anti-sniping policy: any high bid received in the last
hour of a post-reg auction will extend the auction close time
by 24 hours (added Sept 26 2007, effective for Oct 3 2007 close date.)
Some examples may help make these times more clear. If we assume there is
a domain scheduled for the January 3rd 2007 TBR run, we will stop
accepting orders for that domain at 10:45 am (pacific, 1:45 eastern)
on January 3rd. We will then attempt to register the domain (either to
the winning bidder or a proxy registrant if the bidding went high enough)
during the TBR run (on the 3rd). If the bidding pushed the domain into
a post-registration auction and we manage to register the domain, then
the domain will be placed in a post-registration auction which closes
at 11:45 am (pacific, 2:45 pm eastern) on the 10th (a week later). If
a new high bid is received after 10:45 on the 10th, the auction will
be extended to the 11th. If a new high bid is received after 10:45 on the
11th, the auction will be extended again.
Payment
Payment for domains registered through the pre-reg process will be
collected shortly after the TBR run. Payment for post-reg auctions will
be collected before the domain changes ownership. We reserve the right
to request extra security when collecting payments for high-value
post-reg auctions.
Examples
In the examples below, client A is the first one to order the example domain
so the queue_jump (QJ) options are available to A, but not to B.
A B Winning price
Bids 200 200 domain moved to post-reg auction
Bids 200 100 100 (domain registered to A)
Bids 100 75 75 (domain registered to A)
Bids 75 100 75 (domain registered to B)
Bids 75 75 75 (and registered to whomever placed the first $75 bid)
Bids 200 - 50
Bids QJ 50 50 (domain registered to B)
Bids QJ - QJ ($40 I expect).
Bids - - Retail ($12.99)
The "Bid History" for an auction is shown if you click on a specific order.
It displays the history based on the winner and the price they would pay.
Price by Winning Bidder
YOU id 1 id 2 bidder timestamp
$50 id 1 2006-05-27 23:46:57.40313
$50 id 2 2006-05-29 14:26:14.85013
$100 YOU 2006-05-30 14:39:39.19868
That may require some explanation. In this example there are three
bids shown. The opening bid was $50 by "id 1", the second bid was
$100 by "id 2"... which changed the winner but not the winners price,
and the 3rd bid by "YOU" is $150 or $200 and is currently winning
this auction. The winning price is $100 as that is the second highest
bid. Make sense?
Comments
We understand that some clients have seen "suspicious" bids at
other registrars push the selling price up close to their maximum
bid price. All we can say is that very few of our auctions go for
the "max bid" price. With the exception of domains which get pushed into
post-reg auctions, it is more common for a domain with a $200 bid on it
to be sold to the winner for $50 than any higher price. We also provide
a full bid history (not that it would be of any help if we
were cheating).
This TBR system is a work in progress. As of May 2006 there seem to be
six "registrars" that compete seriously (e.g. with pools of registrars)
in the TBR game. In terms of number of domains registered, we were
the most successful TBR registrar in 2004 and 2005. It is not yet
clear who will get that title for 2006, and with this auction
system we are shifting toward targeting the more valuable
domains (which are obviously
harder to get).
Suggestions?
Please! Help us make this system work better for everyone.
E-mail feedback and suggestions to domains at baremetal.com!
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