Atom / Atom.com - Marketplace (formerly Squadhelp)

[JudgeMind]

Hey Folks,

I've just started using squadhelp.com to list some of my brandable. So far I have 76 domains listed, there is no fee to list. I've had some decent action so far in the way of interested buyers but no sales as of yet. I've only been with them for 1 week now.

A bit of a summary review of SquadHelp:

PROS

• No Listing fee
• No Logo design fee
• Ability to submit your names to end users holding naming contests
• Ability to chat directly or send a message directly to end users.
• Stats of your marketplace domains are shown in the marketplace dashboard.
• Their customer service and support has been great, 24hr a day chat.
• Ability to increase or decrease the list price of your domains or to show a discount. You can decrease or increase the price yourself by $200. If you want to lower more, you can contact support.
• End users can shortlist your domains before they make a decision on which they want to purchase. The number of shortlists is shown in you marketplace dashboard.
• When you submit your names you get to set the price you wish to get. Because their commissions are high I recommend listing at a higher price to offset the commission costs.
• Their landing pages are fairly basic but they work. Because the marketplace is fairly new, I'm sure we will see style improvements in the future.
• One thing I really like is they accept multiple extensions. I have listed .co and .io along with .com
• Each seller gets a direct link to their marketplace portfolio, HERES MY PORTFOLIO. It is handy if your trying to p[promote your portfolio through social media.
• I like that their marketplace doesn't have tens of thousands domain listings like BB. They are fairly strict on the domains they accept to list and so this helps keep the number of domains in the marketplace down and gets your listings more exposure.

CONS

• Their commissions are very high, depending on the domain name they are usually between 30% and 35%. However, there are no listing fees, no logo design fees, so in the end their commission is very similar to brand buckets.
• Their logos are not top quality, in fact I requested to have some of my logos remade.
• I think they have a big backlog of logos to design, the wait time for logo design has been around 1 week, but your names are still listed while the logos are being designed.
• After your names are accepted you need to agree to their commission rate, at this point you also need to apply your own keywords, descriptions etc. I found this was very time consuming.

 

[Rhinnnn]

So this happened:

"squadhelp.com uses an invalid security certificate. The certificate expired on February 28, 2020, 6:06:41 AM GMT+2. The current time is February 28, 2020, 6:27 AM."

Edit: It's been fixed.

Thankfully, most browsers allert users not to visit the site while it's not secured.

 

[JudgeMind]

Last week I was blessed with another sale at Squadhelp which has now moved Squadhelp back to the top performing brandable marketplace which I am selling at. The performance of Squadhelp over the past few weeks has been inline with my expectations and hope to see this continue. I should add that I’ve reduced a large number of my names for sale to a listed price under $2,000. Seems the sweet spot in the short term has been $1599-$1999.

Looking forward to sharing more details of February’s sales in the completed sales thread.

 

[ArielT]

Last week I was blessed with another sale at Squadhelp which has now moved Squadhelp back to the top performing brandable marketplace which I am selling at. The performance of Squadhelp over the past few weeks has been inline with my expectations and hope to see this continue. I should add that I’ve reduced a large number of my names for sale to a listed price under $2,000. Seems the sweet spot in the short term has been $1599-$1999.

Looking forward to sharing more details of February’s sales in the completed sales thread.

Thinking the same about pricing, of course there are name that should be higher

Also I noticed the common ending in price of 99. It seems that I should do the same

And, have you been mostly submitting the names yourself or buying existing premiums? it seems that they are being more selectives nowadays

 

[JudgeMind]

I suggest if you have a smaller portfolio to list higher. I have 334 names, so I need the sales to sustain my portfolio and recover investments. I submit my own registrations mostly.

 

[ALDaisy1]

Has anyone had any sales through the new syndication feature so far? I have had one sale via Afternic that was completed today.

 

[Ostrados]

Has anyone had any sales through the new syndication feature so far? I have had one sale via Afternic that was completed today.

congrats..
So you sold SH domain via Afternic?

 

[ALDaisy1]

congrats..
So you sold SH domain via Afternic?

Yes, it was a name that had been listed with SH since May of 2018. I dropped the price about $200 in January, so that may be a contributing factor, as well.

 

[Domain Monk]

300 names still waiting for single sale is update

 

[ArielT]

300 names still waiting for single sale is update

Since when and all of them premiums? (courious)

 

[Domain Monk]

november 2019 most of them

 

[rayman617]

I'm new to Squad Help and just got my first approved premium listing which is now in active status awaiting a logo design. Does it take time for the domain to index and appear on the marketplace or do you need likes and shortlist adds to have it move up and display? I know you can also buy boosts with SH coins but can you also have it naturally and gradually move up?

 

[Ostrados]

300 names still waiting for single sale is update

Check your prices, maybe you are pricing your domains high?

 

[Domain Monk]

Check your prices, maybe you are pricing your domains high?

Normal standard prices 1800 to 3000

 

[ecomslice]

They flooded the hell out of a market place with rarely typed in names, so now you have end users needing to see your domain in a sea of nearly 40 THOUSAND.

good luck !

 

[Rhinnnn]

so now you have end users needing to see your domain in a sea of nearly 40 THOUSAND.

Actually 32,414 names as I type this. But yes, still a high number.

 

[Yusupbabay]

@ecomslice There is no preference given to any domains. The domains are randomly assigned to Logo designers, and sometimes one Logo designer may have more logos in their queue, which can cause a slight delay in designing them. We will be launching a very different approach to Logo design in the next few days, which will allow logo designers from our creative community to begin designing logos for Marketplace domains. This will further cut down the time taken to create logos and improve the quality of the Logos. Our goal is to have logos published for all domains within 48 hours or less.

Hi @GrantP
bumpsie.com, teccas.com, zelono.com, is a premium domain in SH which was approved on January 21, 2020, to this day the logo creation has not been completed, I have twice contacted this SH staff first on 2 February 2020 and second on 19 February 2020 The answer in the logo creation queue

best regards

 

[capybara]

bumpsie.com

The voice stumbles and says dotcom twice...

 

[GrantP]

bumpsie.com, teccas.com, zelono.com, is a premium domain in SH which was approved on January 21, 2020, to this day the logo creation has not been completed, I have twice contacted this SH staff first on 2 February 2020 and second on 19 February 2020 The answer in the logo creation queue

Sorry about the delay. Let me check with the team because 30+ days for a Logo design is unacceptable. There must be some glitch which has caused this issue.

 

[GrantP]

300 names still waiting for single sale is update

@BrandKart, if you listed your domains in November, it might still be a bit early to start seeing sales. However it is always a good idea to be proactive and ensure that your portfolio is fully optimized for discovery.

The following 4 techniques can lead to almost 4X increase in visibility to the relevant buyers, and therefore a significantly higher probability of a sale. Full article is available here.

1. Use Proper Capitalization

Our search algorithm automatically extracts keywords from your names. For example, if you submit the name: “Top/Acumen.com”, the name will be searchable for both the keywords “Top” and “Acumen”. However, if you submit the same name as “Top/acumen.com”, it will not come up in search results if someone searches for “Acumen” as a keyword.

This is because our search algorithm only matches inside words when they are capitalized. This is to avoid any "false positives". For example we do not want "Top/Acumen.com" to show in search results when someone searches for the word "Men" but we do want it to appear when you search for Top or Acumen.


2. Add Root Words for your Domains

Our AI algorithm recommends names to customers based upon several factors. One of the important factors it considers is the underlying root words. For example, if a customer explores the domain "Peak/Finity.com", our AI algorithm makes the following recommendations to the customer:



As you can see, many of these names are based upon root words such as "Peak", "Infinity", "Surge" etc.

Therefore, we recommend adding 2 or 3 root words for each domain to "train" our AI algorithm about what words the name is based upon. It will also improve the discovery of the domain when a potential customer searches for any variations of those root words.

3. Add a Primary Category and Possible Uses

In order to further enhance visibility, we recommend selecting a primary category and up-to three possible uses for each domain that you have listed. Proper tagging allows the name to be associated with the right context. For example, if we know that a customer is interested in "Beauty" related names, our algorithm will prioritize other names which are tagged with the Beauty category.

When categories align correctly with each of your listed domains, your domains are much more likely to get discovered by customers.

4. Add a compelling description

Including a good description, along with a few popular, relevant industry keywords will improve your domain’s overall visibility in search results. Compelling descriptions increase the amount of shortlists a name receives, which will also increase the name’s visibility.

Match the description to the name style. Fun names can have playful and fun descriptions. Sophisticated names will do best with professional and classy descriptions. While emotionally powerful names should strive to expand on the emotion already elicited in the name. Here are some examples of some descriptions that incorporate our best practices:

If your portfolio is generating less sales compared to the website average, the first step is to ensure that all above best practices have been followed. There are also other techniques available such as Boosting etc however you should only consider additional methods once the above steps have been consistently followed across the portfolio.

 

[NameWell]

Hi @GrantP
bumpsie.com, teccas.com, zelono.com, is a premium domain in SH which was approved on January 21, 2020, to this day the logo creation has not been completed, I have twice contacted this SH staff first on 2 February 2020 and second on 19 February 2020 The answer in the logo creation queue

best regards

Show attachment 146568

I had this issue too in the past (a few times, actually). Now I'm having another time frame related issue - my domain name submitted for a second review on December 18th hasn't been reviewed yet. I don't know what is an acceptable time frame for domain reviews, but 77 days feel a bit too long.

 

[GrantP]

I had this issue too in the past (a few times). Now I'm having another time frame related issue - my domain name submitted for review on December 18th hasn't been reviewed yet. I don't know what is an acceptable time frame for domain reviews, but 77 days feel a bit too long.

You are absolutely right. 77 days for a second review is way too long. Anything that takes more than 2-3 weeks for any kind of review should not be acceptable by any standard.

While this is not an excuse, lately the submission volume to the Marketplace has been extremely high, which is causing the second review requests to fall behind. We are aware of this issue, and are working on finding ways to improve this timeline. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

 

[NameWell]

You are absolutely right. 77 days for a second review is way too long. Anything that takes more than 2-3 weeks for any kind of review should not be acceptable by any standard.

While this is not an excuse, lately the submission volume to the Marketplace has been extremely high, which is causing the second review requests to fall behind. We are aware of this issue, and are working on finding ways to improve this timeline. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

@Grant, thank you for your response. I'm glad to hear that your team is aware of the issue and that you are working on finding ways to improve this timeline.

 

[Yusupbabay]

Sorry about the delay. Let me check with the team because 30+ days for a Logo design is unacceptable. There must be some glitch which has caused this issue.

Hi @GrantP
thank you for your response, hopefully SH will continue to grow

 

[Recons.Com]

@GrantP

After an eternity, SH finally sold 1 name on Feb 11. I am appalled by what has been happening since with complete lack of communication. First, there was no option for me to submit the auth code that was requested. I was told it is a glitch and I can submit it in chat, which I did promptly. Then it took multiple reminders and asking just to get info why transfer is not happening and finally after 16 (!) days, on Feb 27 the name was confirmed by SH as moved and transaction complete. I immediately requested the payment. It normally takes from there for BB, BP few minutes to transfer the money. But SH has been sitting on funds since then, now almost a week since the transfer and a month since the sale. Yesteday, I asked in the chat what is happening.

Here is their response

"Thank you for reaching out to us. We’re still waiting an update for this from our team. As soon as we have an information from them, we will notify you right away. Thank you for your patience on this."

I wrote that I am not patient with this anymore and want the response right away and ... radio silence since.

This is completely disgusting and unprofessional. You know a platform is on its downward spiral, when it starts holding to its partners' money (((

 

[JudgeMind]

I strongly feel that this process needs to be better streamlined. It is just as important for the buyer to receive their name promptly as it is for seller to receive their payout promptly. Perhaps sh could add the preferred registrar choice at checkout for the buyer. Then the name can be transferred in a timely manner. It seems that Squadhelp waits until checkout is completed to find out from the buyer where they want the name transferred to. I’m dealing with this now, it’s been a week since the name sold and still no direction from the buyer or from Squadhelp where it should be transferred. So I’m just sitting and waiting.