Have you ever looked at a domain name as your brand or investment? Maybe it’s something you’ve been watching for years. Finally, domain names are put up for auction or closeouts, only to miss the opportunity to acquire them because you were too busy doing other things.
Is it familiar? It hurts, right? Especially if you see the domain being resold for a healthy profit months later.
With quality domain names popping up on closeout lists every day, anything you can do to stay ahead of the line to buy a domain is beneficial. Even better, what if you could automate the buying process and get out of the way of getting a great domain?
One of the most requested features of GoDaddy Auctions is the publicly available GoDaddy Auctions API that automates the domain name buying process.
Thanks to the hard work of the GoDaddy Auctions team, you can now purchase Closeout domain names using the GoDaddy Auctions API.
Closeouts, expiring domain names that are available for immediate purchase, start at $50 and drop to $5 in five days if there are no buyers.
These domain names are particularly popular with domain investors and offer a healthy return on investment due to their relatively low acquisition costs.
However, tracking and buying Closeout listings takes a lot of work, especially if you want to get a Closeout domain at a certain price.
Fortunately, the GoDaddy Auctions API can automate much of this for you.
Advantages of APIs
What are the benefits of purchasing a closeout listing using the GoDaddy Auctions API?
Whether you’re a frequent or infrequent buyer, the API can save you a lot of time, especially when manually checking closeout prices.
Let’s say you have identified a domain name that you want to purchase. However, as a business model, it makes more sense to get the domain name for $11 instead of the closing listing starting price of $50.
Using the API, you can configure your system to automatically check if the price drops to $11 on day 4 of your closeout listing. If the domain name is available for $11, API access will automatically purchase the domain using your Express Checkout payment method.
The API also allows you to focus more on your investment activities. First, with the API, you spend more time searching for domains to acquire instead of regularly checking the closeout price.
The API then requires an objective consideration of the value of all domain names to pre-populate the proposed purchase price.
If you would like to purchase a closeout list using the API, please follow the steps below.
How to make a closeout purchase using the GoDaddy Auctions API
To make the API work, we recommend developing your own script and following the steps below.
Get API Key
To start using the API, you need to get an API key.
- go to https://developer.godaddy.com/keys
- Click Create new API key.
- A box will appear. Name your API key, if desired. Make sure the Production checkbox is selected and click Next. (Use the “ote” key if you want to test the API first. You’ll need the Production API key when you’re ready to use the API.)
- You will see your API key and secret key. Make a note of the key.
Using the GoDaddy Auctions API
The two API calls required to purchase a Closeout domain name are: Estimated closeout domain price and InstantPurchaseCloseoutDomain. These are the only two API calls exposed at this time.
For more information and detailed documentation on using the GoDaddy Auctions API, please visit our website. Developer portal.
If you are unsure how to use the GoDaddy Auctions API, please consult your third party developer. However, it is important to be careful to never share sensitive information such as GoDaddy account usernames, customer IDs and passwords.
Update payment information
Before using the GoDaddy Auctions API, you should also ensure that your default payment method is saved so that you can complete your closeout auction purchase. Here’s how to make sure your default payment method is saved:
- This link will take you to the Payment Methods page.
- Sign in to your GoDaddy account when prompted
- next to your preferred payment method.[編集]Click (if you haven’t added a payment method yet, click[支払い方法を追加]Click).
- Toggle the switch on under Express Checkout defaults.
At this time, the GoDaddy Auctions API is open for closeout listings. The development team is actively working to provide broad access to all GoDaddy auction listings via API.