Drop.com.au the Australian drop catching service for com.au and .net.au domains just announced two major changes to their bidding platform. Extended bidding time to stop snipe bidding and hidden bids on all domains that you are not participating in.
This is great news as it was always a big rates to place bids in the last few seconds only to lose the domain, one that you would have bid more on, if you had the extra time. I feel that this will really increase drop’s daily takings and is a good move.
To read the full notification from drop.com.au here.
Welcome to an overview of the new Drop auction platform and user interface.
The new auction platform has been designed to provide a more even playing field to our customers, by
a) deterring snipe bidding, and
b) alleviating concerns that bidders may have regarding “early” bidding and the subsequent potential to highlight domains to their competitors.
There are two major changes to the auction experience:
1. Extended Auctions
The new auction features extended auction periods, designed to minimize any benefit previously gained from last second bidding or “snipe bidding”.
IMPORTANT: The Drop.com.au auction now ends at 10:10AM AEST. Where any domain receives a bid in the last 30 seconds the auction will be extended a further 5 minutes. A domain auction may be extended up to 4 times until the final extended auction close at 10:30AM AEST.
2. Hidden Bids
For bidders in expiring or drop domain auctions it has always been a concern that an early bid may “flag” a domain as being of value and highlight the domain to a competitor. The new auction platform hides all bids unless you are actively involved in that domain auction. People will no longer be able to benefit from your hard work and reseacrh. Place your Proxy Bids at any time no longer fear being away from your computer at auction close time. You’ll only be able to see bids on a domain auction if after placing a bid, your bid is either the highest bid, or increases the previous bid if a proxy bid is in place. If your bid is below the current bid you will be notified that your bid is too low.
We have also taken this opportunity to include very useful watchlist and filter features as well as a number of interface upgrades. More details are included in the Auction Help section below.
Auction Help
Use the following legend to help you understand all the visual aids and auction symbols.
GREEN – This colour indicates that you currently hold the winning bid. Where two bids are of equal value the winner is the first bid placed.
RED – This colour indicates that you no longer hold the winning bid. You must update your proxy amount to win the auction.
ORANGE – This colour indicates change. It appears and briefly flashes whenever there are auction updates submitted by any participants.
GREY -This colour is used for any domain row where you are not participating and have not submitted any valid bids.
“Current Bid” Column
This column lists the current winning amount for each domain row (you can only! see this amount if you are participating in the domain auction).
“Proxy Bid” Column
The automatic bidding system will update the bid on your behalf according to the pre-set maximum bid entry you submitted. Simply decide how much you are prepared to pay for the domain, submit your maximum bid amount value and our online auction system ensures that a winning bid is placed up to your preset maximum.
“Result” Column
OPEN – The auction is open to members for bids.
WINNING BID – The bid you submitted is the highest winning bid.
CAUGHT – Our software successfully registered this domain.
EXTENDED – Bidding has been extended on this domain.
CLOSED – Bidding has closed for this domain.
NOT CAUGHT – Our software did NOT successfully re! gister this domain.
DROP ZONE – Th! is is th e period of the day when the registry is scheduled to purge the expired domains from the .au registry. Domains are purged at a random time between the hours of 10:30AM and 5:00PM (AEST), on business days only and NOT on weekends or Australian national public holidays. When this status is displayed, the auction has closed and we are actively trying to catch the domains as they are released.
NB: Unless you are participating in a specific auction your will only be able to see the OPEN, CLOSED and CAUGHT results.
Proxy bid field.
This field is used to place your proxy (or maximum) bid. The auction system ensures that a winning bid is placed up to your proxy value.
Fixed bid field.
Placing a proxy bid automatically increments your bid up until your maximum proxy value. By entering a bid in the “Fixed Bid” field, you can directly place a fixed “jump” bid along with your normal proxy. I.e. If you placed a proxy bid of $200 and a successful fixed bid of $75 the new displayed bid price will be $75.
Next bid increment.
Sets the bid to the next possible bid increment.
You can also hold modifier keys while clicking for larger increments: Shift [x10], Alt [x50] and Control (Command on Mac) [x100].
Place bid.
Sends your bid for that lot to the auction system for processing. You will be informed if your bid was successful or not.
Watchlist toggle.
Allows you to toggle the inclusion/exclusion of an auction lot in your watchlist.
The first time you attempt to place a bid, the lot will be automatically watched. This button will allow you to disable and re-enable that watch.
A watchlist is a small list of domains you want to monitor at all times and appears in the right navigation window. You can also filter the main auction view by watchlist domains.
When changes occur to a domain in your watched list, it will move to the top of the watchlist so you can monitor those domains that are changing by watching just the top portion of the list.
Filters.
A number of predefined filters allow you to change the display options.
Everything – Removes all filters.
! Watched lots – Shows only those lots which are ! being wa tched.
Participating – Shows only those lots which you have bid on, regardless of win status.
Winning and Won – Displays only those lots which you are currently winning or that you have won.
Not Winning – Displays only those lots which you have bid on, but are not currently winning.
Uncommitted – Displays lots for which you have typed in a bid, but not submitted yet.
Custom – Features an expanded filter set including…
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