horses for courses
The objective for any dropcatcher, new to the game or established, is surely to make return on their effort and investment. This means catching domains that have some market value. The finely tuned systems of the top catchers will almost always take the best domains dropping on any given day, and consistent performance at this level is never going to be available for a few hundred pounds per month rental.
There are a few public systems that enable Tagholders to just plug in and start catching. With a good strategy they can regularly catch names in the £xx to low £x,xxx range. But this is not achieved simply by choosing the fastest system, there are other factors.
Do you try to catch one domain at a time or run a small list?
Is it better to have more frequent catches of low value domains or occasional catches of higher value domains?
An even spread of catching resources across each 24 period is probably the worst strategy, considering the limitless permutations possible for varying query rates.
It is a bit like horse racing. The best horses and experienced jockeys will win most of the time, but they can be beaten by outsiders. Successful dropcatching on a small budget requires careful selection of domains, which are within reach of the system being used. For a particluar horse, a trainer will try to find a race that offers the best chance of a win, horses for courses.
Profitable dropcatching requires a significant amount of time, knowledge and investment. It is possible to write a custom script at the outset but for most newcomers renting a tried and tested system is likely to be the best option. The two obvious contenders would be Dropsystem and Caught, although I believe the latter may soon be closed to new customers. From experience I would recommend both of these as offering good service and support.
Droppr is a new system from a reliable stable, and has shown promising early results. It has a simple mode to get started but if you are after an array of advanced features this system is well worth considering. A recent catch sold for £x,xxx which easily covers 12 months rental and more.
The three systems mentioned are offered at a fixed monthly rate without a contract, so the cost to try one is no more than the rental for one month. A one-off setup fee may be required. They enable an easy low cost entry into dropcatching, and although details are not disclosed I believe that after an initial trial they retain many customers indefinitely.
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