information Afternic Update

[Joe Styler]

There are several threads ongoing about Afternic so it was easier to start a new one here with the big picture of what is going on. A few weeks ago we had a major release which did away with the escrow process on Afternic and started a new service called Transaction Assurance. There are several main reasons why we did it, two of the big ones being:
1. Compliance - We are not an escrow company and using this new flow allows us to be compliant to all laws in the areas we operate which is very important for everyone.
2. Ease of use - Much of what we have done over the past 2 years around the Aftermarket is being done to reduce overall friction for the buyer and seller to allow domains to move to buyers easier and make managing your domains for sale easier.

There are other reasons for doing this which tie into a bigger picture of other projects we have in line for the coming year or so which also allow for better sales for our sellers such as faster payment times and more International payment options as well as better/easier domain management and some bigger improvements that have been asked for by customers for a while.

The project was not rushed or left untested. In fact we put in over 8 man years of labor on it and did extensive testing. Part of the project involved us integrating with two 3rd party providers to help with International payments and communications. These are big name companies with a track record of success and utilizing their tools behind the scenes will help everyone in the long run to be able to sell more domains easier.

Obviously things have not gone as well as we would have liked, but we are actively working on resolving the issues around communication and payments. We have had meetings at the highest levels to take care of this as a very high priority. As of today we believe most email communication issue are resolved.

We are not only meeting about things we are actively deploying new code and changes and other teams are working to manually jump in and help out so we can get answers for our customers and make sure they are being paid. I personally saw many people working late nights and over the weekends doing what they could to keep improving the processes because our customers are very important to us. We have a good team who have all pulled together to try and help it is not just me on the forum answering questions I couldn't do it without the help of our Aftermarket teams.

I think we are very close to having a smoothly operating process again with a better ultimate process for the future which will allow you to grow with us and continue to sell domains at a better rate of return. Thank you for your patience and for being a customer.

If you are waiting for payment the #1 thing I have seen resolve this the fastest is to login to your Afternic account and go to your payment settings. Make sure that you have a payment set up as a default option and that is correct. We migrated all the old payment information into the new system. If you are in doubt or cannot find a way to select a default payment option it is faster to create a new payment method (even using the same info you already have) and select that new payment method as your default. Doing this will tell the system to try and pay you for any outstanding balance you are owed.

 

[CircusMaximus]

I talked with the support team. They said your payment information is bad we tried to pay it many times and it errors out in the logs. You need to create a new payment method and make it your default and we will process the payment again.

I've been receiving payment from Afternic to the same PayPal address for 12 years and no problem. I've made that same PayPal address my default and the system said it was done successfully. It is NOT bad.

Today I received this message From Afternic support:

"We can confirm that they default payee you have set up in your account is PayPal. Due to a system update the info that it is set to wire is being shown even after the info has been updated.

Regards,

Jess L.
Afternic Support"

I assume the above support message means it's okay. Can you please update the status.

 

[bluebox]

I wonder what exactly are we paying 20% commission for?
Clearly it's not for the fast, stress-free transaction.

I sold a name on 27th and still waiting for payment (scheduled on the 6th of May).

 

[simmplex]

@Joe Styler

You are really professional and kind on keeping on responding on Afternic feedbacks.
Please make sure to bring in a supporting tickets numbering and tracking system,
your support of service at afternic.com just do not reply some emails.
Thank you very much!

 

[SuperBrander]

@Joe Styler Perhaps you could help me as well. My payment profile decided that I'm a corporation in the tax exemption part and refuses to uncheck that box (I'm not tax exempt but the system keeps saving me as tax exempt). I tried opening new payment profiles, but they also save me as tax exempt as a corporation. My paypal worked fine in the past till you guys made the recent changes. I talked with an Afternic rep over the phone about a week ago. She saw that there was a problem and told me it would be looked at and taken care of. Nothing has been done since then. I tried calling again and was left on hold for around 40 minutes. Nobody answered so I finally had to give up on the call. I'd appreciate it if this matter could be straightened out as soon as possible. Thanks.

 

[Premiums]

Hi Joe,

I'm still waiting to be paid for 16 domain sales stretching back to mid April. All of these are way behind due.

Support tells me to make PayPal my default, which I've done successfully, but no matter what I do each domain sales page still shows 'Non-US Wire' as the payment method.

An example domain is 'excellentcompany.com'.

Any updates? What did you do to fix it?

Thank you.

 

[CircusMaximus]

Any updates? What did you do to fix it?

Thank you.

Not yet. I'll make another attempt to update the default payment details of PayPal. I've already done that 4-5 times, and had the Afternic form tell me that the details are correct, yet still their payment system can't process the funds. They haven't been able to give a precise reason for the failure, so it could be anything from a missing comma to an incorrect classification of my 'limited' company to something else. Who knows!

If it doesn't work this week, I'll make 'non-US wire transfer' the default, so long as they aggregate the payment. Knowing how godaddy work (and it's their 'automated' systems that are causing all the problems), they may well send 17 separate wires, each attracting a separate bank fee. That's my concern.

 

[CircusMaximus]

Following on from my previous post, the latest Afternic support message I have is as follows:

"There are 2 separate issue here. #1 Regardless of what payment method you have selected in your international payee account the listings themselves will say "'non-US wire" that is being worked on. #2 there does appear to be some disconnect with your Payee account despite the fact that you have entered valid information. I have been advised that you will need to create another payee account in order to resolve this issue.

1. login to Afternic.com
2. On the left menu, click on " Account"
3. Scroll down to the header that reads "Domain Sale Payments from Afternic" and click "edit".
4. Click on "Add new payment method" .
5. Be sure to check the box that says "Make This my Default Payment".
6. Complete the required info and choose your desired method."

This seems to mean that I can't use my current PayPal account. This is despite the fact that I've used it for the past 12 years without a problem, on afternic, and for various other transactions (just received a Sedo payment today!). I don't have another PayPal account as yet. You'd think the tech guys could have identified what the 'disconnect' is, as I presume I'm not the only afternic client who has this problem.

 

[EmotiveDomains]

My payout date was set for the 9th of May, but still no sign of payment or support fixing the issue. I've added a new default payment method, which is identical to my previous one as I only want to use PayPal. Emailed support last week, but no reply so far.

 

[renatof]

Accompanying here the post hahaha

 

[bluebox]

Namesilo's marketplace - 7.5% commission - name sold on 10th and money are already in my paypal account.
Afternic - 20% commission - sold on 26th of April - payment scheduled on 6th, will arrive...? who knows

I sent message to their non-existent support but like everyone else I was ignored.

That's the most infuriating thing. Not only it take ages but they won't even spend 15 seconds to say "sorry, are working on it".

When will I get my money? - June? 2018? Never?

 

[EmotiveDomains]

My payout date was set for the 9th of May, but still no sign of payment or support fixing the issue. I've added a new default payment method, which is identical to my previous one as I only want to use PayPal. Emailed support last week, but no reply so far.

Got my payment via PayPal today. Perhaps it was me creating a new default payment method that was the same as my original that finally triggered its release.

 

[Premiums]

 

[Premiums]

I am using Google Chrome Version 58.0.3029.110 (64-bit)

Dear Afternic, please fix your site

 

[CircusMaximus]

Good news indeed.

I have now received two bulk payments into my default paypal address that accounts for nine of the 17 domain sales that were outstanding.

The payment system now appears to be working correctly, and the disconnect with my default PP payment has been reconnected.

Hallelujah

 

[anantj]

Show attachment 58708

I am using Google Chrome Version 58.0.3029.110 (64-bit)

Show attachment 58709

Dear Afternic, please fix your site

I've seen this as well and I'm on the absolutely latest version of the browser (Chrome, Safari and firefox)

 

[Premiums]

GOSH pmnt rcvd

 

[Melmeling]

@Joe Styler

I can't set up to afternic.com payment info of webpage error.

I think caused by duplication of godaddy payee information.

I used both ( GD and Afternic ) and set same paypal account.

Support center does not reply my email.

Please Check PM.

 

[canswift]

If you are waiting for payment the #1 thing I have seen resolve this the fastest is to login to your Afternic account and go to your payment settings. Make sure that you have a payment set up as a default option and that is correct. We migrated all the old payment information into the new system. If you are in doubt or cannot find a way to select a default payment option it is faster to create a new payment method (even using the same info you already have) and select that new payment method as your default. Doing this will tell the system to try and pay you for any outstanding balance you are owed.

Hello @Joe Styler - As an International (Canadian) Afternic customer, I can assure you that the old payment information was NOT migrated into the new system. Not for Afternic Sales at any rate (the defaults still look to be in place for Afternic Parking).

I have two sales payments due (one past due and one due now). I have already received the auto-email from Afternic, "We'd love to pay you but we don't know how.." . I have used Paypal for Afternic payments for several years and my GD account is also set up as Paypal.

Like the above NP member @Melmeling, I continue to get webpage errors or non-existent or non-editable webpages when I try and re-set the default Paypal payment method (or set any payment method). Whatever I do, my account payment options for the two recent sales still show as "Non-US-Wire", which is profoundly annoying, as this is an option I have never set.

Emails to Afternic support go unanswered (3 days and waiting) and I am thoroughly fed-up. Could you advise what I should try now? Thanks.

 

[Joe Styler]

Hello @Joe Styler - As an International (Canadian) Afternic customer, I can assure you that the old payment information was NOT migrated into the new system. Not for Afternic Sales at any rate (the defaults still look to be in place for Afternic Parking).

I have two sales payments due (one past due and one due now). I have already received the auto-email from Afternic, "We'd love to pay you but we don't know how.." . I have used Paypal for Afternic payments for several years and my GD account is also set up as Paypal.

Like the above NP member @Melmeling, I continue to get webpage errors or non-existent or non-editable webpages when I try and re-set the default Paypal payment method (or set any payment method). Whatever I do, my account payment options for the two recent sales still show as "Non-US-Wire", which is profoundly annoying, as this is an option I have never set.

Emails to Afternic support go unanswered (3 days and waiting) and I am thoroughly fed-up. Could you advise what I should try now? Thanks.

You can send me a pm with the information such as the domain name or your afternic user name.

 

[Templr]

Since your update I had a sale and can only say it has been painful.

All of my Afternic sales have been quite small, and have been via PayPal, and I expected this latest transaction to be the same, but for some reason I was asked to set up a default payment? Afternic wanted me to set up a wire transfer so I did and there was a HUGE miss communication issue with many staff (I'm in the UK, email only) with mail being sent back and forth it took over 3 WEEKS to get things processed.

 

[stewmath]

Since your update I had a sale and can only say it has been painful.

All of my Afternic sales have been quite small, and have been via PayPal, and I expected this latest transaction to be the same, but for some reason I was asked to set up a default payment? Afternic wanted me to set up a wire transfer so I did and there was a HUGE miss communication issue with many staff (I'm in the UK, email only) with mail being sent back and forth it took over 3 WEEKS to get things processed.

You can phone them, im in the uk too

Big tip for you. Install viber on your phone and you can call the 1-800 toll free numbers for free using viber out

 

[SpareDomains]

The top three things that annoy me with Afternic...

1) Add hundreds of domains to your account most go through and get listed. The handful that go to pending verification will literally stay that way for many months unless you email giving the impression that not enough employees are at Afternic to do their job in a timely matter. You wan't 20% do your job.

2) Why does every request I receive on make offer domains state the buyer is interested but not ready to make an offer yet. The form at Afternic requests an offer, the form at GoDaddy requests an offer so there should be an initial offer you received. Gives the impression your hiding that offer requesting the domainer price and then pocketing the difference if the domainers price is lower than the initial offer you received. Pass the initial offer along. Can see if someone called in you might not have an offer but 100% come to me like this and 100% of the interested parties didn't call in. Negotiations begin with an offer so let's have it. If there is no offer then let me know when there is one.

3) I get a GoDaddy transfer request at 11 P.M. at night giving the impression that someone is trying to jack my domain. Only reason I know it's pending sale is because I logged into Afternic and saw that. Shouldn't have to log in to see domains sold as domainers use more than 1 venue to sell domains. Makes sense to send an email from Afternic first stating "Congratulations your domain has sold be on the lookout for the transfer request" so I don't freak thinking I'm getting domain jacked. So zero communication that it sold, zero communication on any price requests as well, is it a go, did they pass, did they submit a counter, feel that if they were 90% there on my price and I was willing to come down the sale would never happen as their is literally zero communication and by the time I would receive any communication the buyer would have moved on.

Majority of my sales over the last 14 years have been direct by myself and honestly debated removing my domains from Afternic as I wrap deals complete in days. Don't get that time frame with any other market especially Afternic as total communication is lacking.

 

[anantj]

2) Why does every request I receive on make offer domains state the buyer is interested but not ready to make an offer yet. The form at Afternic requests an offer, the form at GoDaddy requests an offer so there should be an initial offer you received. Gives the impression your hiding that offer requesting the domainer price and then pocketing the difference if the domainers price is lower than the initial offer you received. Pass the initial offer along. Can see if someone called in you might not have an offer but 100% come to me like this and 100% of the interested parties didn't call in. Negotiations begin with an offer so let's have it. If there is no offer then let me know when there is one.

This irks me a lot too! I have no idea what is the meaning of Make Offer if we HAVE to add a price... So far, I've never been displayed a buyer offer on Afternic. @Joe Styler Can you shed some light on how Make Offer works on Afternic?

 

[Haykay2005]

The top three things that annoy me with Afternic...

1) Add hundreds of domains to your account most go through and get listed. The handful that go to pending verification will literally stay that way for many months unless you email giving the impression that not enough employees are at Afternic to do their job in a timely matter. You wan't 20% do your job.

2) Why does every request I receive on make offer domains state the buyer is interested but not ready to make an offer yet. The form at Afternic requests an offer, the form at GoDaddy requests an offer so there should be an initial offer you received. Gives the impression your hiding that offer requesting the domainer price and then pocketing the difference if the domainers price is lower than the initial offer you received. Pass the initial offer along. Can see if someone called in you might not have an offer but 100% come to me like this and 100% of the interested parties didn't call in. Negotiations begin with an offer so let's have it. If there is no offer then let me know when there is one.

3) I get a GoDaddy transfer request at 11 P.M. at night giving the impression that someone is trying to jack my domain. Only reason I know it's pending sale is because I logged into Afternic and saw that. Shouldn't have to log in to see domains sold as domainers use more than 1 venue to sell domains. Makes sense to send an email from Afternic first stating "Congratulations your domain has sold be on the lookout for the transfer request" so I don't freak thinking I'm getting domain jacked. So zero communication that it sold, zero communication on any price requests as well, is it a go, did they pass, did they submit a counter, feel that if they were 90% there on my price and I was willing to come down the sale would never happen as their is literally zero communication and by the time I would receive any communication the buyer would have moved on.

Majority of my sales over the last 14 years have been direct by myself and honestly debated removing my domains from Afternic as I wrap deals complete in days. Don't get that time frame with any other market especially Afternic as total communication is lacking.

A good point raised here. Your make offer is useless if you are forcing us to put a BIN. I received a price request 3 days and I was force to place a bin. Up till now I don't know the position of the deal. Am just left in the dark. Every sales lead start with an offer. Telling us someone is interested but cannot buy due to the missing BIN is FRAUDULENT
We should have an idea of what the person is willing to pay. With that, I will know how to fix my price
Am very disappointed afternic is involved in this mess. How do you justify the huge commission you are collecting on deals? That is fraud mehn
It's possible you have received higher a BIN than you are disclosing on names. I can't trust you because you are not transparent enough to be trusted.

 

[bluebox]

I don't think there's any support left at Afternic anymore.
It's been a week since I contacted them to remove names I want to add to my account and still nothing.
If domain drops and registration date is later than date of adding by previous owner it should be added automatically - you can send email to whois email like at Godaddy marketplace.
In fact you should do this to every name that goes into "review" - I mean we all know there no review at all, it's stuck in that state for months/years.

Biggest commission and the worst service/support - a typical "too big to fail" company.