information New Afternic & GoDaddy Commission and Pricing Structure

[Nitindomains]

Received the following mail just minutes back:-

Hello Member,

Good news! We’ve made it easier for you to list your domain in one place and reach a broader audience of buyers to increase your sales velocity and income.

How are we making things simpler?
• Reduce time spent in pending review, domains are listed immediately after passing the required integrity checks
• Reducing commissions on higher-priced sales to increase your earnings
• Lowering minimum sales price and minimum offer amounts so you can list more domains and earn more money

We’re also taking the guesswork out of promoting your domains. Domains with fast-transfer enabled are promoted through the Afternic Premium Network automatically. Domains without fast-transfer are placed in the Afternic Standard Network.

Know that you can always list a domain without fast-transfer and then enable fast-transfer later. When you do, it jumps from the Standard Network to the Premium Network, which includes 8 of the top 10 registrars, gives you the broadest reach, and exposes your domain to over 75 million monthly search queries.

We also want our fees to be simple and straightforward, so they’re now based on your domain sale price. The three commission tiers look like this:
Sale price of domain >>> Commission fees
$0-$5,000 >>> 20% ($15 minimum)
$5,000-$25,000 >>> $1,000 +15% of amount over $5k
$25,000+ >>> $4,000 + 10% of amount over $25k

To help you list and sell more domains inventory, we lowered our minimum sales prices. The buy now minimum is only $50 (versus $250), and the minimum offer amount decreases to only $20 (from $250).

These changes take place Early April new listings. In the next [3-4] weeks, we’re converting existing listings over.


In a Separate mail notifying the change in Pricing Structure @ GD Aftermarket, the mail states the following:-

Please note we're setting a minimum of $50 for Buy-It-Now Auctions and $100 for Premium listings. We're also setting a $20 minimum listing price for 7-Day Auctions and Offer/Counter-Offer domain listings.

Along with the changes to new listings moving forward, we'll be converting existing listings over to the new system over the next 3 to 4 weeks for an early April launch.

• If your domain is below the new minimum offer price, we'll bump the minimum offer up to $20 for 7-Day Auctions and Offer/Counter-Offer listings.
• If you have a Buy-It-Now Auction listing priced below $50, we'll switch it to an Offer/Counter-Offer listing with a minimum price of $20.
• If you have a domain that's listed as both a Premium Domain and a Buy-It-Now Auction, we'll consolidate it and use the higher of your two price points.

If you don't want us to change your listing prices automatically, simply update your domain pricing manually before March 31st, and it will default to the new listing rules when we roll out the new structure.

 

[Azwan Asban]

The funny thing is why everyone still talking about flippa in this thread?
:p

 

[thekiller]

I have sold few domains there, mostly under $1000/domain. But this move will screw sellers like me. $200 commission out of $1000? No way!

 

[Jeffrey]

I was surprised with the email. I just increased my prices as well.

 

[ramkumaritrvs]

This awesome update forced me to stop renewing their marketplace. i don't want to list anything with them.

If buyer is serious about his domain requirement, surely he will dig more to get it (via whois, sedo etc.,).

 

[Nitindomains]

The funny thing is why everyone still talking about flippa in this thread?
:P

Discussions about flippa are uncalled for...perhaps that's some Marketing. :p

 

[kawalsukhi]

So much increase!! Its bad!

 

[timestamp]

I actually like this increase. I don't feel bad any more for using .99 codes. Which would you like more: % stays the same or no more gd codes?
No one b1tches about brandable marketplaces and their 30%. It' like they are in union.

 

[DANEYAL]

Prices are not reflecting what they are giving us in return. Godaddy should raise their standard of auction as well, specially the interface & the whole selling & marketing thing need to get a better interface imo.
I am pretty sure, this price re-structuring is not a recommended business approach for these market places. Need a better marketing & decision making fellow there in that regard.

 

[johname]

If someone wants to buy a domain, they will find you.

The problem is there are people that browse what's available through Godaddy. Not looking for just one specific domain. Now this significant resource is not available to you if you pull your domains.

The answer generally is to pass all/half the cost to the buyer.

Godaddy feels your sale is mostly because of their platform, market place and search. And they can jack up the price. Plus soon they will be a publicly traded company with share holders expecting their profits to go up each quarter. Nothing but higher fees ahead until they figure out they are actually losing money, market share.

It's a good time to be a business with an alternative sales platform.

 

[DomainVP]

The problem is there are people that browse what's available through Godaddy. Not looking for just one specific domain.

You are right Johname, I also feel that you can find those people with end user research.

It may add a 3 month curve to a sale, but keeping as much profits in house is always more attractive to me.

Whenever I would look for a name on GoDaddy, as a non-domainer, if it were taken I would then visit the site to see what they did with 'my domain idea'. At that point you may find a 'for sale' / 'make offer', and that's the point of sale I am looking for.

Everyone has their own preference, mine is just another perspective.

 

[FlippaDomains]

Well I am trying to do that for a couple of days now - to connect with your support - but no answer yet.

I just wrote you back. Sorry for the short delay.

The funny thing is why everyone still talking about flippa in this thread?
:P

That was my bad -- I just wanted to emphasize the simplicity of our commission structure, but I realize now it was probably uncalled for promotion...I'll stop

Discussions about flippa are uncalled for...perhaps that's some Marketing. :P

Yeah, I'm done

 

[lennco]

Plus soon they will be a publicly traded company with share holders expecting their profits to go up each quarter. Nothing but higher fees ahead until they figure out they are actually losing money, market share.

I guess they gotta pay back that $1.5 billion in debt they are carrying somehow, or should I say we the customer will be paying it back

 

[Name Trader]

They used to proudly say they were one of the cheapest platforms. What are they going to say now? They are still cheaper than the brandable marketplaces?

 

[carob]

Whenever I would look for a name on GoDaddy, as a non-domainer, if it were taken I would then visit the site to see what they did with 'my domain idea'.

Not me.

Before I got interested in domains as a business it never occurred to me you could somehow get a domain that was already registered, and I never went to sites to see what use had been made of a taken domain - I just put another name in the searchbox on Godaddy and kept going till I found something free.

So I do think for many domains and non-savvy customers it helps to get the domain in front of them when they search for domains at registrars.

 

[Name Trader]

Not me.

Before I got interested in domains as a business it never occurred to me you could somehow get a domain that was already registered, and I never went to sites to see what use had been made of a taken domain - I just put another name in the searchbox on Godaddy and kept going till I found something free.

So I do think for many domains and non-savvy customers it helps to get the domain in front of them when they search for domains at registrars.

So GoDaddy Premium Listings should be a must?

 

[carob]

So GoDaddy Premium Listings should be a must?

Afternic and Sedo MLS both put your names on display at registrars - not sure of any overlap.

Obviously for a top domain at top dollar an end-user has the motivation and probably the savvy to find you, but for other domains I am not sure. Possibly puttting For Sale in the Whois helps, and if you do your own site you could have custom DNS visible in the Whois, such as NS1.youcanbuythisdomainnow.com.

 

[Name Trader]

For Afternic read GoDaddy. You were saying that as a non-domainer you would just search and search on GoDaddy. Then surely we all need GoDaddy Premium Listings to get our domains in front of the eyes of end-users.

 

[Joe Styler]

Hi everyone. Thanks for the feedback on the commission changes that are planned. There are many reasons for this but the main driving force is feedback from customers and an effort to help improve the marketplace so that more sales can happen for the domain investor. In the cases of our highest sales velocity channels (the places we sell the most names the fastest for our customers) we lowered commissions. So GoDaddy premium listings and Afternic Premium promotion are both being lowered.

I will post what I put in reply to Abdul's blog comments below. I think it helps explain the reasoning behind the changes in part, although I could go on for pages and explain where we are going and how this is part of a bigger foundational move to help sellers improve their return on investment.

I appreciate that the commission fees are a bit confusing, but we created them in an effort to charge less for higher value sales vs. a flat commission structure. We are planning on releasing an inline commission calculator shortly after we release the new changes. In many cases you will see that commissions have gone down instead of up. For example our premium domain name sales channel currently has the highest rate of sales for our sellers and we charge a flat 30% commission. Afternic currently charges a flat 20% on the premium promotion level sales which also provide the highest sale rate. There will now be a lower fee for any sales over $5k on that channel and a lower fee for any sales on GoDaddy premium domains.

We made the changes based on customer feedback and in an effort to help drive more sales for our customers, while making it easier to manage their portfolios. I really think once this gets rolling over the next few months and some planned enhancements are added on that this will be a great help for the domain investor looking to sell a domain.

The goal of this change wasn’t to raise commissions but to flatten them across Afternic and GoDaddy in all the various listing possibilities that currently exist. This will allow us to do several important things to help sellers:
-Managing domains is simpler. Whether you have 50 or 5,0000 names we all know how much of a chore it can be to list your names on several venues for sale to make sure you are reaching all your potential buyers. Opting in to all the channels and setting various price points depending on what you would like to net as a result of the sale is time consuming enough but add in adjusting prices on existing listings or removing names and you can see how things really can add up.
The commission change is part of a plan to allow you to list in one place and have your name show up in the best way possible in front of potentially millions of buyers on a regular basis. In the near future we will work behind the scenes to get your name out in front of as many people as possible throughout the entire Afternic network and all you will need to do is set one price in one place, not the 4 commission structures currently in place and three listing places you need to list at and update.
-Selling names will be more effective. By flattening commissions we can more easily feed your names to partner registrars through Afternic and check to make sure your names show up in the best possible sales channels which will result in higher sales opportunities and conversions for you as a seller than the current listing process. Again this will be done by us automatically after you set a price on your domain when you list it for sale.
A good example of this a way we will help optimize your sales opportunities is as follows. Say you buy a domain that just dropped or win an expiring domain auction. The name will have a 60 day ICANN transfer lock on it which will not allow it to fast transfer and that precludes it from being listed in a couple sales channels. Currently you simply cannot list the names for 60 days if you choose those settings when trying to list the domain. The new plan would be to have you set it for sale and then we would list the domain name for sale on any channel we have that allows for a domain push or account change rather than a transfer and then after 60 days get the process rolling automatically for your name to be opted into the wider network. This would give most people a substantial amount of time where they can have their names listed for sale compared to the current listing processes. It also makes it easier to manage for people doing this already manually in that you no longer have to keep track of which names can be listed where and how on your own, we will check and automatically provide the maximum exposure we can for your names.
We are also doing away with the requirement to have an auctions membership to list a domain name for sale so that once you list a name it can be automatically listed for sale in auctions as well as premium regardless of your membership. This is going to cost us money and save you money but the goal is trying to help you get your name presented in as many places as possible with as little management on your part as possible freeing up more of your time while guaranteeing that your name is presented to every possible buyer we can get it in front of on over 100 partners with over 75 million searches a month.
My response is getting to be too long so I will cut it short but I am really excited about the changes that in many cases will bring lower fees for our customers and add more sales opportunities. We are doing this in an effort to help sellers maximize their sales opportunities. If there is anything I can do to help anyone with their sales please feel free to reach out. jstyler at godaddy

 

[carob]

We are planning on releasing an inline commission calculator shortly after we release the new changes.

Thanks, would be nice if it even worked with a simple slider so you don't have to even enter numbers. I think as a graphic it will be a lot clearer to people what is happening.

 

[tomcarl]

There are many reasons for this but the main driving force is feedback from customers and an effort to help improve the marketplace so that more sales can happen for the domain investor.

Joe, you're reading the feedback right here, the leading forum for domain investors, no one is happy with a sudden 10%, 15%, 35% fee increase even though your company lowered commissions for the Featured listings format down to the industry standard of 20% - Which is still 5-10% higher than several of your competing marketplaces.

Unfortunately, I cannot thank you for providing a calculator for how much more of my sales are deducted. I'm greatly disappointed by your company's decision to do this. I've been a loyal client of GoDaddy for several years and will now have to change my business model because I cannot afford to minimize my margins for no good reason.

If I sell a domain at auction for $5K, I will now only be receiving $3250 of my $5,000 domain, where I formerly would've received $4500 - That Hurts! I cannot afford this increase if I buy a domain for $2-4K and intend to resell for $5K+

While I understand one of the driving formats for sales on GD are Featured Listings, your auction marketplace is no less significant in sales activity by comparison, the numbers simply do not work anymore for it to be worthwhile to try to turn a profit on your marketplace with liquid/premium domains.

 

[Shimmy]

I hate it when a salespeople try to twist prices around to pretend prices are better. Come on Godaddy you are talking to other salespeople here, don't attempt to spin things. Nobody cares about your old Afternic fees. The only thing that matters is you changed a 10% fee to a 20% fee and claim it's cheaper

 

[Joe Styler]

Hi Tom,
The maximum you would now pay would be 20% no matter where your name sells across Afternic or Godaddy. Meaning if you list at Afternic and the listings are sent to Register.com or Enom, or Network Solutions etc, to appear on their domain searches you would still pay 20% max. Currently on Afternic that is a 20% flat rate. On GoDaddy the premium channel is now 30%. With the new system the more your name sells for the lower the commission rate becomes. We went through several models when trying to key in on the right commission and while a flat commission was easier to understand it cost sellers more so we went with this approach.

Again the main thrust behind leveling the commissions is to allow us to promote your names better and have an easier time listing and managing them. A few examples of the new commission below may help clear things up a bit.

If I sell a domain for 3,500 now on AN premium it costs me 20% or $700, on GoDaddy auctions it cost me 10% or $350, and on GD premium it costs me 30% or $1,050. Under the new commission at each place it costs me 20% or $700 no matter where it sells.

If I sold a domain name for $7k now it would cost me 20% on Afternic Premium or $1,400. 10% on GD auctions or $700 and 30% on GD premium or $2,100. On the new commission it would cost me 20% on the first $5k and 15% on the next $2k (to equal the $7k total) bringing the new total commission to $1,300 - 20% of $5k is $1k + 15% of $2k is $300. This is less than the current AN commission and GD premium commission being charged.

If a name sold for $50k the current AN commission would be $10k and GD premium would be $15k and GD auctions would be $5k. The new commission would be $6,500. 20% of the first $5k is $1k, 15% of the next $20k is $3k, and then 10% of the remaining $25k which is $2,500 for a total of $6,500.

The premium name and AN premium promotion channels have a much higher sales rate than the GD auctions and AN expanded network. With this change we will have the ability to promote your domains in front of more people, more efficiently and effectively for you and on the tests we have conducted show that sales for customers names will increase as a result which is great for everyone.

What we are really trying to do is make things less complex by having less places for a domainer to manage their listings and maximize sales for customers using our platform by giving them maximum exposure.

 

[Shimmy]

You keep talking about Afternic, nobody cares about Afternic. You changed a 10% fee to a 20% fee on Godaddy, that's the only thing that matters, stop talking about Afternic already

 

[JB Lions]

There are many reasons for this but the main driving force is feedback from customers and an effort to help improve the marketplace so that more sales can happen for the domain investor.

Here's the problem with that. This feedback you're talking about is feedback nobody can actually see, so we wouldn't know if it's true. Put up a poll here, and let's see public feedback and let's see if it matches your changes.

The comment about lowering from 30% to 20%, well 30% was always ridiculous. You just lowered it to the top of what it should ever be. Nobody should ever be paying over 20% because these places don't exist without our domains.

And there is no way you have more sales over $5,000 than under $5,000. So you doubled the percentage on that. And there's no way you had customers say let's go from an easy to understand 10% still shown here - https://auctions.godaddy.com/trpPricing.aspx

to different tiers, making it more difficult. You know it's more difficult because you're going to be "releasing an inline commission calculator"

Also, you'll be losing some business with this move. What I posted earlier about having my For Sale links on my parked pages going to Sedo and I was thinking of changing that to GoDaddy because it was only 10%. So now with the move, you became less competitive, you just gave me no reason to make a change and send the sales in your direction.

 

[Name Trader]

@Joe Styler - If I understand you correctly. It's going to cost the same for a regular GoDaddy listing 20% as it does for a Premium Listing which is distributed to your partners 20%. Is that correct?. When does this prices come into effect?