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services BrandBucket's Michael Krell Resigns

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Silentptnr

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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I legitimately think there might be more people pretending to be women, than actual women, on here.
Interesting, yes this may very well be. I can usually tell with some of the profile pics, they appear to be
just random ones found on the internet. Maybe they feel it makes them more approachable.
 
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Yes, I pretty much ignore profile pics other than for amusement.

So, personally, I have no opinion of MK. I don't know him at all. It does seem highly unusual that a company would allow it's employees to compete with customers and be given an advantage of any kind.

I do hope that this change is good for all three. BB, MK and paying customers.

If in fact there was impropriety, the blame would land squarely on the owner, who I have met in person.

It's fair here for any member to express their opinion. I hand out Thank You's because I love being a part of informative conversations between individuals with different opinions, experiences, and different backgrounds. I leave the feelings and the door and read even criticisms, objectively.

I just love this business.
 
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I have never posted anything but what I see is factual. Prove me wrong with screen shots and whois data, and I will eat my words and apologize!

The BB thread had some posts awhile that search was improved, and above I demonstrated in 5 minutes it remains skewed with one example. If you were to invest your time to examine whois on a bunch of keywords and post that data here proving otherwise, I am all ears. That would be more productive than accusing people of being jealous. Research who owns the top names in search, its almost like Adwords, paid advertising above organic results. In fact, its like SEO gaming. The skewed and favored management of a company to a small close knit group of people there and here on NP that own a bunch of names will defend this to no end. I think those people should all be members of the BB club, which would actually be better for them : less inventory and sellers = less competitors. Then the remaining sellers defect to other markets.

I come from an industry of professionals, not a company run by some school teacher or language major. Sales organizations if done correctly are designed to work to eliminate conflicts of interest. Inside sales support outside sales. Inside sales dont take sales away from their resellers, or they lose their resellers and get a black eye from all peer resellers who talk among themselves as on this forum, and boycott the principal. Clearly that sort of education in business management was lacking at this marketplace. I have seen lines always drawn clearly with business owners or corporations choosing between inside sales or outside sales forces. You can’t have it both ways, or what has happened here and exposed occurs to tarnish resellers / outside sellers confidence with insiders. There are sellers with a few names with “Tech” in them that deserve 1st page position. Why are they on page 8? Maybe I should post all the pages of screen shots here, I still have them. Meanwhile that name Xefeo or whatever was glaringly at me- front row center. The best seat in the house. Prime real estate.

I have no horse in this race, I removed my names from BB and in fact they keep getting purchased by others. I don’t really care, I hope they sell to an end user someday, and hope that the reseller makes ton’s of money.

But the fact remains that a worldwide independent marketplace is needed. No godaddy, no afternic, no sedo, no namejet, no commissions - a craigslists sort of free and open market place with no leaders, no sponsors, no bloggers, no kickbacks - a domainer marketplace to sell to end users. Cut out the middlemen. Cut out the brokers. Direct sales domainer to end user. A co-op even. The market is all fragmented with separate landing pages in parking services instead of one central marketplace for end users, they go to Godaddy because they are the most well known.
BRAVO!(y)
 
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It does seem highly unusual that a company would allow it's employees to compete with customers and be given an advantage of any kind.
I'd probably be the last person that you'd expect to defend them, but in all fairness the business started out as a way for Margot to sell her own domains. In the beginning there were no third parties selling on BB, so insiders selling their inventory was somewhat of a legacy. I still think the business would have been a better proposition (and perhaps would have found a buyer - who knows?) had all inventory been from third parties. Any due diligence by potential buyers would have flagged the insider issue very quickly, and surely would have been a sticking point in any possible sale.
If in fact there was impropriety, the blame would land squarely on the owner, who I have met in person.
Define "impropriety". Greed is a very human trait, but not sure you could call it "improper".

If you really want to see behind the curtain you just need to add WHOIS data over the search results. I'm sure someone could build a nice little browser plugin that added this data. Sellers could then see not only what names appear in what order, but also who owns many of those names. Of course, the use of WHOIS privacy by some insiders was merely coincidental, and in no way an indication that there may be something worth hiding...
 
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I'd probably be the last person that you'd expect to defend them, but in all fairness the business started out as a way for Margot to sell her own domains. In the beginning there were no third parties selling on BB, so insiders selling their inventory was somewhat of a legacy. I still think the business would have been a better proposition (and perhaps would have found a buyer - who knows?) had all inventory been from third parties. Any due diligence by potential buyers would have flagged the insider issue very quickly, and surely would have been a sticking point in any possible sale.

Define "impropriety". Greed is a very human trait, but not sure you could call it "improper".

If you really want to see behind the curtain you just need to add WHOIS data over the search results. I'm sure someone could build a nice little browser plugin that added this data. Sellers could then see not only what names appear in what order, but also who owns many of those names. Of course, the use of WHOIS privacy by some insiders was merely coincidental, and in no way an indication that there may be something worth hiding...
Interesting background info. Pretty cool.

I wasn't making any accusations. As far as impropriety, I was referring to the possibility of purposely promoting an employees domains above paying customers that are unaware and without some kind of disclosure. Essentially using the credibility gained from size and revenue from the domains submitted by paying customers to increase their own domain sales as the priority.

That's all I was saying.
 
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Interesting background info. Pretty cool.

I wasn't making any accusations. As far as impropriety, I was referring to the possibility of purposely promoting an employees domains above paying customers that are unaware and without some kind of disclosure. Essentially using the credibility gained from size and revenue from the domains submitted by paying customers to increase their own domain sales as the priority.

That's all I was saying.

Remember this thread?
https://www.namepros.com/threads/rant-to-brand-bucket.1025221/#post-6212613
 
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The link doesn't work for me. What was it about?
I just tried it again, works. The search included all posts by the subject person in this thread and evidently left, MIA, gone.
 
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Link must require some cookie info. Also errors for me.
 
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I wasn't making any accusations.
I wasn't suggesting that, so sorry. Just trying to add a little context. At the end of the day BB are free to run their market they like, do long as no less are broken.
 
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I hope Mr. Krell finds success, and happiness in his future endeavors.

I'd probably be the last person that you'd expect to defend them

I feel the same way. Yet, this odd departure doesn't seem like a happy ending. Despite my criticism, it always appeared he maintained his professionalism.

If you really want to see behind the curtain you just need to add WHOIS data over the search results. I'm sure someone could build a nice little browser plugin that added this data. Sellers could then see not only what names appear in what order, but also who owns many of those names. Of course, the use of WHOIS privacy by some insiders was merely coincidental, and in no way an indication that there may be something worth hiding...

That could be a very helpful plugin.

I would hope BB issued keyword search results per domain within the seller dashboard. ie If the description is tagged 'tech' then show what page / position the domain appears with a tech search. eg Xefio = page position 3 (on page 1 for search tech)

When I ran a few audits for their top search keywords, I scraped all domains for a few keyword search, notated the positioning, and ran bulk WHOIS. I will look on an old hard drive to see if I can recover those searches, and will possibly post them. I say this in hopes of helping transparency. I think I read in this thread that I audited all the search, which isn't true. And I understand how that could have been lost in translation. So rather than anybody relying on my opinion of a few keyword audtis, I think it might be best if everyone saw for themselves. I would venture to say the results aren't as bad as some people think, but they aren't as good as others may think. As It appears there is a gap between BB naysayers opinion, and what BB yaysayers opinion; a little like the gap between far left and far right politics.


That's odd. I hope everything is OK.

upload_2018-1-30_2-21-47.png
 
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I hope Mr. Krell finds success, and happiness in his future endeavors.



I feel the same way. Yet, this odd departure doesn't seem like a happy ending. Despite my criticism, it always appeared he maintained his professionalism.



That could be a very helpful plugin.

I would hope BB issued keyword search results per domain within the seller dashboard. ie If the description is tagged 'tech' then show what page / position the domain appears with a tech search. eg Xefio = page position 3 (on page 1 for search tech)

When I ran a few audits for their top search keywords, I scraped all domains for a few keyword search, notated the positioning, and ran bulk WHOIS. I will look on an old hard drive to see if I can recover those searches, and will possibly post them. I say this in hopes of helping transparency. I think I read in this thread that I audited all the search, which isn't true. And I understand how that could have been lost in translation. So rather than anybody relying on my opinion of a few keyword audtis, I think it might be best if everyone saw for themselves. I would venture to say the results aren't as bad as some people think, but they aren't as good as others may think. As It appears there is a gap between BB naysayers opinion, and what BB yaysayers opinion; a little like the gap between far left and far right politics.



That's odd. I hope everything is OK.

Show attachment 79350

I understand he is/was a public figure but by changing his user name and removing his profile he is indicating the need/desire for privacy. For some reason he has decided enough is enough (been there) and is trying to keep to himself. Sometimes we have to respect the need/desire for privacy and have to allow members to attain this if they so wish.

By removing his profile he is clearly indicating that. I personally wish him well in his new endeavors and I think it's an invasion of his privacy to take this any further. There is a limit as to how much we can and should pursue our quest for knowledge about a subject when the member is clearly indicating a desire to be left alone.

@Grilled your response above shows compassion for a fellow member and personally think other members should do the same. Wish him well, and go on with what we do best, buying and selling domains. As a domainer we should never burn our bridges, this guy may be the next ceo of a big registrar or something and I much prefer he come back and feel comfortable participating than having to defend himself.

Just my opinion...
 
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I understand he is/was a public figure but by changing his user name and removing his profile he is indicating the need/desire for privacy. For some reason he has decided enough is enough (been there) and is trying to keep to himself. Sometimes we have to respect the need/desire for privacy and have to allow members to attain this if they so wish.

By removing his profile he is clearly indicating that. I personally wish him well in his new endeavors and I think it's an invasion of his privacy to take this any further. There is a limit as to how much we can and should pursue our quest for knowledge about a subject when the member is clearly indicating a desire to be left alone.

👍 agree 💯
 
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Such a critical time now for two-word brandable domainers.

The critical issue is a design one. Like it or not, BrandBucket is the most innovative design issue solution to date imo.

Yes, they make money for their own portfolios.

So what? As long as your sales rate is ahead of other platforms, then it's logical to still point with them. It's just a simple business decision with absolutely no emotion.

But they must continue to outsell the other platforms. It's right on the dividing line and it's been that way for some time.

With Michael resigning, it certainly shakes things up, a huge amount of design changes have just been put through. He still has thousands of names on the platform so he's still there.

I must say I am scratching my head at the homepage. It seems like a long time since the beautiful green grass on the homepage (and yes I get that's probably distracting).

The heat is on.
 
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I understand he is/was a public figure but by changing his user name and removing his profile he is indicating the need/desire for privacy. For some reason he has decided enough is enough (been there) and is trying to keep to himself. Sometimes we have to respect the need/desire for privacy and have to allow members to attain this if they so wish.

By removing his profile he is clearly indicating that. I personally wish him well in his new endeavors and I think it's an invasion of his privacy to take this any further. There is a limit as to how much we can and should pursue our quest for knowledge about a subject when the member is clearly indicating a desire to be left alone.

@Grilled your response above shows compassion for a fellow member and personally think other members should do the same. Wish him well, and go on with what we do best, buying and selling domains. As a domainer we should never burn our bridges, this guy may be the next ceo of a big registrar or something and I much prefer he come back and feel comfortable participating than having to defend himself.

Just my opinion...
You don't get it do you? This guy MK came on here time after time pumping BB. Do you have any idea how much money he potentially cost new domainers? I certainly don't wish him any ill will be who cares if you burn a bridge with this guy - my guess is it could be a money saving move to do so.
 
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Send them in a 30 day notice via email, then change nameservers at the end of 30 days.

I've just sent that email. I'm withdrawing all my domains. It's no wonder none have sold with such bias in their search results. I've never been a fan or critic of their platform. I've also never sold a domain there. Thanks for your example of the TECH domain plight @offthehandle. That truely was shocking. It stunned me into the action I have taken. You can fool me once.....
 
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I'd agree with @offthehandle that xef//io is a very poor choice for the first line for this query.

However I would say it is tech related as "io" is very much identified with the tech sector, it just should not be so high in the ranking.

That's just my subjective opinion. Someone else could have a different view, obviously BB do.

But the central problem is there are too many domains on the page.
 
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xef//io is a very poor choice for the first line for this query.

However I would say it is tech related as "io" is very much identified with the tech sector, it just should not be so high in the ranking.

[Copied from a previous post...] Please keep comments constructive

What designates Xefio to be in optimum positioning for bb search 'tech'?

93976_621449b1a331dd39dcd361e4587de15a.png


And what determines Xefio to have category tag of Technology, when the below CVCio.com, doesn't tag the 'Technology' category in the description?

93974_10fae0b050171143ad854d077a358fb5.png
 
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[Copied from a previous post...] Please keep comments constructive

What designates Xefio to be in optimum positioning for bb search 'tech'?

93976_621449b1a331dd39dcd361e4587de15a.png


And what determines Xefio to have category tag of Technology, when the below CVCio.com, doesn't tag the 'Technology' category in the description?

93974_10fae0b050171143ad854d077a358fb5.png

Well let me see @Grilled ... um ...precisely zerio I'd say!
 
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Well let me see @Grilled ... um ...precisely zerio I'd say!

Not 100% what you're trying to say here. [lost in translation]

What I was getting at ...

Was Xef tagged with technology because it was a CVCio.com?

If so, why doesn't Zer have the technology category tag?

My opinion: Tag ALL CVCio.com with technology category.

Then, if you want to get knit picky, audit the search ranking of all CVCio.com, and question the ranking. If all checks out, then this case is closed. Move to the next string.

Auditing tags is a huge task. But some of it can be partially automated by designating pattern strings in short domains.

The debate is brandables are subjective. So one might argue Xef is more fit for technology than Zer. Pattern domains are more/less subjective. So if you deem short domains ending in io.com are good for technology category tag, then why not tag all domains ending in io.com with technology category?
 
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I would think when you do a keyword search the corresponding direct match keywords would come up first, then the brandable stuff under it.

Keyword: AUTO

Domain that came up on the top 2 lines: TopStreet.com


Keyword: PRINTER

Domain that came up on top line: SameKind.com
 
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