Afternic - Official Thread

[GoDaddy]

Hello NamePros!
By popular demand, we have launched a dedicated feedback thread for Afternic, the GoDaddy-owned domain name marketplace.

We have created this thread as a way for you to tell us what works, what doesn't work, and what features you'd like to see at Afternic (please be constructive with your feedback). We're looking forward to hearing from the domain investment community to help us shape the future of Afternic.

We will also be sharing Afternic product updates in this thread.

Please note that this thread is not meant for support. Please email our support team at [email protected] for assistance.

 

[Mister Funsky]

I've worked with some of the best brokers and I've worked with one in particular that did not seem to have basic understanding of how domains are priced.

(Edited: UPDATE at bottom)

It happened again!

The one broker I had the earlier issue with got another lead...and this one did not sell as well. It was almost an immediate response, within 1 minute, "Buyer indicated the domain was priced outside of what they wanted to spend". He did not have enough time to contact buyer with numbers...he obviously knew ahead of time what their max would be...why would they not tell me what that number was?!?!

UPDATE: It seems, based on what broker said, he thought he let me know their max...but that information never made it to me.

 

[End Game]

Can we not get stat visitor views, for our domains listed for sale on Afternic?

 

[GoDaddy]

Can we not get stat visitor views, for our domains listed for sale on Afternic?

Hi @End Game,
That's not available at the moment, but it's something we've had a lot of requests for, and we're working hard to bring visitor stats to Afternic domains soon. We'll share the update here once it has been rolled out.

 

[DrJacoby]

Can we not get stat visitor views, for our domains listed for sale on Afternic?

You already not have visitor stats.

 

[Dane]

Is it possible to request that a particular Afternic sales rep not work our leads? If so, how? Thanks.

 

[End Game]

Hi @End Game,
That's not available at the moment, but it's something we've had a lot of requests for, and we're working hard to bring visitor stats to Afternic domains soon. We'll share the update here once it has been rolled out.

OK thanks. The sooner the better. I have all of my 800 old domains listed at Afternic, but also listed with Dan and parked at Dan, because they show the traffic numbers.

My newer domains I listed at Dan first, so to list on Afternic too, I'll have to change DNS to afternic & verify. After that the domains will be listed on both, but I will change the DNS back to Dan, only to get my real time visits. It's the main tool on how I manage my selling price.

 

[Garet]

Slow pay record...

I've generally found that Afternic pays promptly. Yes, I've had exceptions. Most of those have felt like ones that slipped through the cracks as things do with that platform. I don't think that the moves between beta and 2.0 are helping in general with stability or reliability. I find that some things work better with beta and others with original.

I currently have a sale from October 18. I received transfer completed notice from Afternic on October 19.

Today I am told, "We will work on releasing the funds as soon as we can."

The bar is set too low.

 

[GoDaddy]

Is it possible to request that a particular Afternic sales rep not work our leads? If so, how? Thanks.

Hi @Dane,
Thanks for your feedback. Leads are distributed evenly across the entire brokerage team. The team has the same training and the same tools - picking individual brokers is not something we allow, but if you have feedback about brokers you're assigned, you can get in touch with our teams through: https://www.afternic.com/contact-afternic

 

[GoDaddy]

Slow pay record...

I've generally found that Afternic pays promptly. Yes, I've had exceptions. Most of those have felt like ones that slipped through the cracks as things do with that platform. I don't think that the moves between beta and 2.0 are helping in general with stability or reliability. I find that some things work better with beta and others with original.

I currently have a sale from October 18. I received transfer completed notice from Afternic on October 19.

Today I am told, "We will work on releasing the funds as soon as we can."

The bar is set too low.

Hi @Garet
Thanks for sharing. Please continue to work with our Transaction Assurance department, but we will DM you for additional information so that we can monitor this.

 

[Springs77]

@GoDaddy

Will we ever be able to change the letter casing for our landers at Afternic ? (domainname.com ---> DomainName.com). Supposedly this can have a real effect on sell-thru rates.

 

[capybara]

Its great we have more details and transparency about the customer interaction at Afternic recently. But it would be nice if it is developed even further, and we could read the emails/calls logs (understandably with personal/contact details edited out). It seems that many people have concerns and questions about the brokers' work with their domain names.

 

[Dane]

It seems that many people have concerns and questions about the brokers' work with their domain names.

Yes.

 

[Future Sensors]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1724718189328695475

 

[Dane]

...it would be nice if it is developed even further, and we could read the emails/calls logs (understandably with personal/contact details edited out). It seems that many people have concerns and questions about the brokers' work with their domain names.

I got tired of not knowing anything about the leads except for Stalled or Confused... and I have no way of knowing if using Afternic's brokers is helping or hurting sales... so I changed most of my listings to "Buy It Now" instead of "Request Price." I really wish there was a way for potential buyers to contact us directly, without us having to pay a ridiculous commission of 25% by changing the DNS. A "Contact Seller" button on the sales lander would be awesome. Just keep all buyer contact info hidden from the seller and keep all communications via an internal chat system.

 

[Embrand]

I got tired of not knowing anything about the leads except for Stalled or Confused... and I have no way of knowing if using Afternic's brokers is helping or hurting sales... so I changed most of my listings to "Buy It Now" instead of "Request Price." I really wish there was a way for potential buyers to contact us directly, without us having to pay a ridiculous commission of 25% by changing the DNS. A "Contact Seller" button on the sales lander would be awesome. Just keep all buyer contact info hidden from the seller and keep all communications via an internal chat system.

I use BIN for all my names, and the floor price is the same as the BIN. Yet I still have brokers dealing with leads in my account even though I don't use Afternic landers... I guess this happens when buyers call GoDaddy to discuss the name?

 

[Dane]

I use BIN for all my names, and the floor price is the same as the BIN. Yet I still have brokers dealing with leads in my account even though I don't use Afternic landers... I guess this happens when buyers call GoDaddy to discuss the name?

Which landers are you using?

 

[Embrand]

Which landers are you using?

These are my BrandBucket names that must use BrandBucket landers, but sellers are allowed to list the names at Afternic with a price equal to or higher than at BrandBucket

 

[Dane]

These are my BrandBucket names that must use BrandBucket landers, but sellers are allowed to list the names at Afternic with a price equal to or higher than at BrandBucket

I see. Thanks.

I'm wondering about maybe going back to Dan landers instead of Afternic. Gotta give it some thought.

 

[phaethon]

I got tired of not knowing anything about the leads except for Stalled or Confused... and I have no way of knowing if using Afternic's brokers is helping or hurting sales... so I changed most of my listings to "Buy It Now" instead of "Request Price." I really wish there was a way for potential buyers to contact us directly, without us having to pay a ridiculous commission of 25% by changing the DNS. A "Contact Seller" button on the sales lander would be awesome. Just keep all buyer contact info hidden from the seller and keep all communications via an internal chat system.

Same here, I would guess this type of form doesn't provide any indication of the domain's price. The average end user thinks they will buy a domain for 20 bucks max. Still, there is some engagement which is positive. Some end users -probably 5%- will have the budget to move forward.
I had only two sales using this form, the rest came from the premium network. I would guess some end users might buy later, as the AN agents chase them for months.
Lastly, I never had any sort of traction on Dan. No interest, no offers, no sales of course.I mean nothing at all. I don't use Dan's landers. Same on Sedo. Nothing at all. Plenty of enquiries on AN and some good sales.

 

[End Game]

I see. Thanks.

I'm wondering about maybe going back to Dan landers instead of Afternic. Gotta give it some thought.

I noticed when I bought my last 25-30 domains and uploaded to Dan, they don't upload to Afternic, like in the past. So this weekend, I moved those domains back over to Afternic and verified each and used their name servers. I like Afternic and have had more sales with them, but hate they don't list visitor numbers for us to use...like Dan does. Even when my names are listed with Dan name servers, I've had sales from Afternic salesmen. I do think Afternic may get more leads and they pursue them, than natural type ins on Dan. I'm still researching and think Afternic and Dan are becoming more alike with time. I list almost all of my names "buy now".

 

[GoDaddy]

@GoDaddy

Will we ever be able to change the letter casing for our landers at Afternic ? (domainname.com ---> DomainName.com). Supposedly this can have a real effect on sell-thru rates.

Hi @Springs77,
We've tested this in the past and from our tests, we didn't see a real increase in STR. We may revisit this in the future, though.

 

[GoDaddy]

Its great we have more details and transparency about the customer interaction at Afternic recently. But it would be nice if it is developed even further, and we could read the emails/calls logs (understandably with personal/contact details edited out). It seems that many people have concerns and questions about the brokers' work with their domain names.

Hi @capybara,
Your point of view is appreciated. We love the additional transparency that you get with the Lead Center. Afternic's highly trained team of brokers work on your behalf to close sales for you. The brokerage service lets our brokers call, email, and follow-up with buyers on a regular basis, allowing you to spend more time on other aspects of your portfolio management. We don't have plans to give additional insights in the Lead Center at this time.

@Dane, Stalled leads are those where the potential buyer hasn't responded, or negotiations haven't progressed. These leads aren't fully closed since our brokers can follow up in the future. Confused leads usually come from visitors to your landing page that fill out their details, then either don't complete the second page, or they click "No" to cancel their inquiry.

 

[tonyk2000]

We've tested this in the past and from our tests, we didn't see a real increase in STR. We may revisit this in the future, though.

Not surprising. A few years ago GD indeed showed domains with letter casing, but it was determined automatically. With a lot of errors. Such as (made up example): expertsexchange(.com) presented as ExpertSexChange, while it should be ExpertsExchange. What we are speaking about now is seller-submitted manually set casing, which should be free of such errors.

 

[End Game]

Hi @Springs77,
We've tested this in the past and from our tests, we didn't see a real increase in STR. We may revisit this in the future, though.

It's just common sense. Just look at the best pro domainers & brokers in the world. They all do the letter casing.
They wouldn't do it, if it didn't help their sales. Seems it would be so easy for us to do. Thanks

 

[Dane]

@GoDaddy ...
On the "Buy It Now" landing page on Mobile (at least on MY phone) the domain name and the price often overlap each other, underneath where it says "Buy Now." This makes it difficult to see the price. Would it be possible to put these 2 fields on separate lines? Domain name on one line, Price on the other? Maybe center both fields in the middle of the page? I feel like it would be a lot easier to see the price on names that are not short in length.