Full auction data now available.

Responding to requests from customers to show complete auction history in order to check for auctions against bidder halvarez, Snapnames has updated the system with complete data. Company spokesperson Mason Cole wrote:

There has been quite a bit of back-and-forth on your blog and other places about access to SnapNames bidding and order history. The truncated system, which limits view to the 24 months prior to whatever date the lookup is being performed, has been in place for the past four years, since June 2005. This was not changed recently or in response to the recent announcement.

That aside, to make sure no one thinks there’s an attempt to shield data, SnapNames technical staff has adjusted the existing system so order and bid histories are available back to August 2004, when auctioning began on the SnapNames system.

In other words, the bid history has only shown 24 months since the middle of June 2005. A number of people assumed this was a recent change, perhaps because they had never tried to look up data from so long ago.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

Review and rate domain name parking companies at Parking Judge.

Related posts:

1. SnapNames Opens Submissions for SnapNames Live Auction
2. SnapNames to auction off non-expiring domains
3. SnapNames Live Auction Enters Day 2

Full auction data now available.

Responding to requests from customers to show complete auction history in order to check for auctions against bidder halvarez, Snapnames has updated the system with complete data. Company spokesperson Mason Cole wrote:

There has been quite a bit of back-and-forth on your blog and other places about access to SnapNames bidding and order history. The truncated system, which limits view to the 24 months prior to whatever date the lookup is being performed, has been in place for the past four years, since June 2005. This was not changed recently or in response to the recent announcement.

That aside, to make sure no one thinks there’s an attempt to shield data, SnapNames technical staff has adjusted the existing system so order and bid histories are available back to August 2004, when auctioning began on the SnapNames system.

In other words, the bid history has only shown 24 months since the middle of June 2005. A number of people assumed this was a recent change, perhaps because they had never tried to look up data from so long ago.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

Review and rate domain name parking companies at Parking Judge.

Related posts:

1. SnapNames Opens Submissions for SnapNames Live Auction
2. SnapNames to auction off non-expiring domains
3. SnapNames Live Auction Enters Day 2

TechCrunch article questions Snap’s rebate requirements.

Given the bad taste Michael Arrington’s has in his mouth from his time in the domain name industry, he’s laying down the heat on Snapnames and its bidding scandal. Today he wrote a second article about the scandal, saying that SnapNames’ request that customers sign a waiver to get their rebate is not right.

I understand where he’s coming from, but I also see why SnapNames is requesting this. When you are part of a class action you always agree that the rebate or other compensation you get as a result is your only settlement, and waive rights to sue. Granted, this isn’t a class action and all we have is SnapNames’ story. So you might want to think about what happens if more issues come to light after you’ve signed the agreement.

I also want to clarify a couple things that Arrington discusses in his article.

1. The deletion of account history doesn’t seem to be related to the scandal. A number of people have reported that their account history at SnapNames prior to 2007 has been deleted. This is true, but old account data was archived long before this scandal. Given the events of the past week, I do think SnapNames should re-enable it. I’ve sent them a note asking for their position on it. [Update: I missed this post on DNN, which links to a forum post in which SnapNames does say it will bring back the entire account history. As I suspected, only showing two years worth of data is not a recent change. According to the post, Snap has only showed two years worth of data for the past four years.]

2. SnapNames did disclose the exact amount of revenue it gained from the nefarious bidding.

In today’s article, Arrington wrote:

SnapNames said only about 5% of total auctions were affected, but this is misleading. The top domains make up a substantial proportion of total revenue. So that 5% could easily have accounted for, say, much more than 50% of revenue. SnapNames was careful not to disclose the total dollar amounts involved, or even what percentage of overall auction revenue was affected.

In fact, they did release the actual amount of revenue, stating “The incremental revenue from the bidding represented approximately one percent of SnapNames auction revenues since 2005.”

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

Review and rate domain name parking companies at Parking Judge.

Related posts:

1. Poll: How SnapNames Scandal Affects You
2. SnapNames Reinstates Auction History Back to 2004
3. SnapNames Employee Bid in Domain Auctions, Cleanup in Progress