Back in 2011, I think that was around when Epik.com announced it’s dropcatching service, I had purchased one credit for $59 to see how well the service worked.
I have attempted 12 different times to use my backorder credit, that you must pay for in advance before even catching the domain. (dumb, I know)
Not knowing how “good” the service would be at grabbing expired domain names, my first backorder was for the expired domain: Frap.com . I placed the order on 12/13/2011 and the domain dropped on 12/16/2011. Missed.
Not a big deal, it was a nice domain and I’m sure a lot of orders were placed on the domain with other services.
My next attempt to use my backorder credit came on 2/5/2012 when I placed an order for: ePhoto.com Missed. Again, nice domain but you never know who could grab it.
2/20/2012 I gave Huxe.com a shot, Missed.
Ok, I want to use up this credit… So I put in an order for a 5L that shouldn’t have a lot of attention, this is still early 2012. I placed an order for Zonky.com, Missed.
The next day, I got Risky and backordered RiskyBusiness.com Missed.
3 days later I tried to burn up this credit that is being a pain to use up on, Skour.com . I figured bye-bye credit… nope, Missed!
7 days later I tried again, this time on Jumpo.com . Missed!!
7 days later after I lost my disgust that these things never work, I tried for the domain FirstAccess.com . Come on baby… Missed!
I’m starting to wonder if Rob is trying to hand register domains as they drop, but I check and Epik does own a registrar.
The next day I try for iple.com, Missed!
I take a break until August because I’m thinking it’s simply a lost cause. On August 6, 2012 I place my backorder credit on BlogThemes.com which dropped 4/8/2012, Missed!
I take a 2 year break until June 5, 2014 until I try again and this time I want this credit used up because I almost forgot about it! I’m sick of trying. I place a backorder for Dollarz.com . Nobody is going to go for this one, so I figure I’m good to burn it up. Missed? What?
I must be doing something wrong? So I place a backorder really early, almost a full month before a domain is going to drop. On June 17, 2014 I place a backorder for Dronie.com. The domain drops on July 18, 2014 and you guessed it, Missed!
So, as you can see, Epik.com backordering service has not been good to me. I think I gave it a fair shakedown, with a couple “good” domains, some “okay” domains and a few “crappy” domains… all have missed!
The good news, Fat-2-Fit.com was grabbed likely with a backorder by a customer on 7/22/14 on the drop! Tribuu.com was also likely grabbed with a backorder! Yes, there were a few other ones as well but most are hard to tell if they were backordered, registered etc.
I’d stick with NameJet.com, SnapNames.com and DropCatch.com!
I fully agree with you. One of the poor BO companies I have worked with in terms of catching ratio. These days they charge $199 in advance with still zero success rate. Overall, they got much worse when the success rate remains same and they charge you even more!
if anyone at this point in the game doesn’t realize that rob monster is an incompetent cheesy lowlife scumbag… well… this was not meant to be slanderous… it should more likely considered showering him with undue praise. JMO… other opinions may differ.
Dropcatching is a very hard business to be good in. Even the small private drop clubs have dozens of registrars and they’re constantly tweaking things every day to increase their efficiency. With just a single registrar, dropcaching anything decent is near impossible, it really comes down to luck. Last I checked, Snapnames had well over a hundred registrars, and Pool had close to 100 before they started to sell them off. The domains you listed would be considered competitive, so I’m not surprised at the results.
I agree Luc, very competitive market! I think Epik has more than 1 registrar correct?
Pool.com sold our domains last year (9 months ago) and they did not send our payment.
We sent them many emails but they did not send our payment…
Then we told them please add that payment to our Pool.com account as a credit.
And then they added our sold domains as a credit to our Pool.com account.
And…
We backordered 2449 domains until now… Pool.com missed all…
So we dont know how we can use our credit with Pool.com
For truly exceptional names one probably should backorder at Namejet & Snapnames. One thing I never liked about Snapnames is that if you use them enough you end up with domains at maybe a dozen different registrars that you only have one or two domains at. So then you end up with passwords you don’t remember, platforms you aren’t familiar with and a hassle trying to consolidate into your main registrar. With both Namejet and Snapnames a backorder can signal other investors that a domain is worth backordering as well so you have to wait till the last minute to minimize the likelihood of finding yourself in an auction where your wanted domain gets bid up to hundreds of dollars or higher. I have used Name.com for some backorders. True they get beat sometimes but at least I can backorder days in advance without other potential bidders knowing. As well, backorders are $50 and I can manage domain servers or forwarding or renewals from one platform.
Epik charged me for online stores that soon were banned by google (duplicate content?) …….. never again will i deal with these people and would suggest everyone who doesn’t like to lose money or get ripped off do the same.
I usually try any service that beats me to a drop… In my opinion a great name merits orders placed at as many platforms/services as you budget allows. For a LLLL or better one should have at least 5 different parties attempting to reg as it drops.
Generally, I just use my registrar as they give a service priority based on my overall account.
Cheers 🙂