Drop Catching Script
By Michael Sumner • Feb 6th, 2009 • Category: Domain InvestingYesterday I showed you how to create a bulk availability checker using the power of WHOIS. Today I’d like to follow that up with another interesting use of your new found WHOIS knowledge: catching drops. Before you get too excited, no… this script will not allow you to compete with NameJet, SnapNames, or Pool. But yes, it will allow you to stomp all over people who try to register domain names by hand during the drop.
The way it works is simple, it loops through checking the domains in your list until it finds one that has dropped. When one of the domain names expires, it logs you in to Dynadot and adds the domain to your shopping cart. Then it quickly checks you out and completes the purchase, and then removes it from the list of domains it is checking. It keeps going until all the domains have dropped. It checks the domains sequentially, so the more you add to the list the less frequently it checks each one. Depending on how good your server is, it should be able to check a domain every 1/5th of a second. That means if you have one domain in your list it will check it five times per second. If you have five domains in your list it will check each domain once per second.
One neat thing about this script is that it does not require you to qualify for Dynadot’s bulk pricing and have access to their API. All you need is a Dynadot user name and password, and the script does the rest for you. However, it is not able to buy domains using the credit card you have on file. You must add account credits for this to work.
Instructions
- Sign up for an account at Dynadot and add some account credits.
- Go to http://dnmedia.com/drop_catch.php and copy/paste the code into your favorite text editor.
- Edit the Dynadot user name and password at the top (leave the quotes though).
- Save the file locally as “drop_catch.php”.
- Open up a new Notepad file, and enter in the domains you want to catch, one on each line.
- Save the file locally as “drops.txt”.
- Upload both files to your server in the same directory.
Now here is where the instructions could go one of two ways. If you have access to set up Cron jobs on your server, set one up to run this script at 2pm EST (GMT -5). If not, you’re going to have to run the script manually at the designated time by visiting it in your browser. As with the bulk availability checker, you need to make sure the max execution time for scripts on your server is set to 0 (zero) so the script doesn’t time out. If you set it up as a Cron job, most servers ignore the max execution time so don’t worry about that.
Each day you want to try and catch an expiring domain, you have to create a new “drops.txt” file and upload it.
TIP: Check NameJet and SnapNames to see if each domain you chose already has bids. If it does, don’t bother adding it to the list because you won’t get it anyway, and the script will waste valuable time checking something you have no chance at.
Why am I giving you such a valuable tool for free?
Because I have a faster one so you having success isn’t going to affect me 
As always, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. Enjoy!
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Michael Sumner
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nice.
But how can you have a faster one?
you did not insert a delay in the script you are sharing? lol
(I have not had a good look at it yet)
Anyway,
TFS (thanks for sharing)
Ritz
Correct, I didn’t insert any delays. The one we have is written in C# .net, is multi-threaded, and we have access to a number of registrar APIs. The one I provided here is about as fast as you can get without having to spend money.
Finally someone to share this info. Thank you very much. I’ll become follower of your feed if you continue to share so valuable information.
Thanks again!
Would you be able to set this up for me ? I have a dynadot account. But I’m a noob setting it up.
Nice, but is the domain of any value if there is no bids on it on the snapauctions?
@MD – Something like this is perfect for domains worth $70 and under in the wholesale market. Because the drop auction sites have minimum bids at 8-10 times reg fee, their customers will often not bid on decent drops. I’ll buy something for $8 that is worth $50 in the reseller market all day long, do that six or seven times a day and you’re making a decent living for yourself.
@Charley – Don’t be intimidated by it being a script. Read over the directions, it is very simple. You click a link, copy/paste, enter your user name and password, create another text file, and upload them. That said, if you still need some help setting it up, shoot me an email and we’ll talk.
@DNUse – My pleasure, glad you found it useful.
I thought Dynadot only allows 1 thread, anything over and they ban you for 10 minutes?
I’m not sure about the single log in thing, but I know they ban you temporarily if you log in and out too many times in a short period. Either way, I wrote the script to log you in only once and maintain that session as the script progresses. If you’re already logged in it won’t make another attempt. If you think they don’t let you log in twice, I guess I would stay away from your Dynadot account while the script is running. Or you could create a second Dynadot account just for the script, and when it catches domains just push them to your main account. Then you could still feel comfortable working with your main account while the script is running.
Thanks for the message Michael.
Do I need to have a hosting provider to do this ?
Yeah the script is slower because it do all the thing through the dynadot.com it doesn’t ping the Verisign servers directly.
Can you share you faster script for some profit?! Mail me if you are interested.
Thanks
@Charley – Yes, you need a host that can run PHP, which usually means it’ll be a Linux server, not a Windows one. I recommend using HostGator. I use them for my hosting, and their servers are affordable and fast.
@DNUses – Well, just about everyone doing drop catching uses their registrar’s reseller account API. However, most of them require that you spend at least $500 a year to give you access to it, including Dynadot. It would be faster if it used an API, like our private one does, but that requires more money. I wanted this script to be as accessible as possible. Regarding directly pinging the registry, only accredited registrars can do that, and it is extremely fast. However, to become an accredited registrar is extremely, extremely expensive and only the upper echelon of the domaining community can afford that.
If anyone has access to an API andt wants me to re-write the script to use it, shoot me an email. I’ll be happy to oblige (for a fee).
Does this mean if I can get permission from registrars to provide me access to the registry, I can grab .com, .net, .info, etc ?
Registrars can’t let you use their direct access to the registry, you have to go through the registrar either using their web site or their API.
So your tool is to access the Dynadot API ?
No, I wrote my own code that mimics the process of buying a domain at Dynadot through your browser. It logs you in, searches for the domain, and if it finds that it is available it buys it. The Dynadot API is limited to customers who spend $500/year, which is why I didn’t want to write this script using their API.
Thanks Michael.
Will it work on a dynamic IP ?
Yes, it’ll work fine with a dynamic IP address.
did you say this will only work on computers equipped with Linux?
Also, I’m kind of confused, how exactly do you upload files to a directory?? Thanks!
It works on computers equipped with PHP that have CURL installed and support for SSL, PHP can run on several different operating systems though. If you have no idea what I just said, I would recommend getting a hosting account at HostGator. It is really cheap, and the script will work out of the box. I can even give you step-by-step instructions to set it up, because it is what I use for hosting.
To upload files to a directory you should use an FTP program (assuming you aren’t trying to run this on your home computer). HostGator also has a web-based file manager that allows you to easily upload the script without installing any software on your computer.
thanks for the help; I’m going to try and use this script.
Is it possible to do this using eNom instead of dynadot??
Sure, it’s possible, but a lot of the code would need to be re-written.
i need a script that will work with my registrars API. Could you do one for me ( ofcourse for a fee) ?
let me know.