BrandRoot Experience...

@Brandroot

Clearly something weird is happening with your platform.

One example: I made exact search for my listed names on your platform (letter for letter) and they did not come up. Instead, bunch of other names came, including some listings being shown twice next to each other (orangic).

Of course, you also would expect, like on BB, that searching part of the word would turn up your listing, but with BR, if it cannot return the exact search one, the partial, sure, returns anything but the name.

JudgeMind said:

Anyone here selling any names on brandroot? Wondering if more sales would come from their marketplace having far less listed domains then brand bucket

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Frankly, I had similar expectations. So far, however, hasn't happened.

I had 2 sales with around 55 names with BB and 0 sales with around 110 names at BR.

And yet, no response from @Brandroot

While even the standard wordpress installation has the search feature that can handle this.

Another thing I don't understand why BR does what it does is its newsletters.

It sends a newsletter with a single new name and calls it "check out this awesome new name" and then with that awesome new name (by the way, how does one get picket up for this?) they then promote the same spotlight names over and over. I won't be surprised if the subscribers ignore these mails more and more.

Just for comparison, BB newsletter gives equal exposure to all new listings and it is worth looking through the email (not the setup of 1 name + the same old paid listings).

And the much advertised brandylitics feature is still not activated.

BR is too focused on promoting paid listings, forgetting that even regular listings are also "paid" and also they get to keep $500-1000 or more per name on those regular listings.

Hi @Recons.Com,

Thank you for pointing out the search issues. It is not supposed to be doing this. With several recent speed optimization updates it looks like this may have been affected in some way. It has been reported and will be fixed shortly.

The newsletter is not like what BB sends out and these newsletters are not just for featured names. They are mostly purely random and each newsletter is targeted to subscribers of that names categories, so they are targeted unlike BB's (BB's goes out to all subs, which we are also working to do as well.) Our open rate is quite high on these emails and are not decreasing.

Brandlytics is a huge project, which is probably why BB still has no such feature. If you received the last email update we explained where we were at on this. All listings are now organized according to their "Namescore," not from newest to oldest. Names that prove to be consistently good are rewarded by appearing higher in listings. Every listing earns their listing placement and this is constantly analyzed and regenerated. So now that we have all the data being collected we are working on the design implementation for seller accounts. We also had a few other updates going on like the new sidebar that features sellers with completed account settings (which is now live).

"BR is too focused on promoting paid listings" - Sorry, but this is simply not true and not really too sure what you mean.

Sorry for the response delay, I am not on Namepros everyday. It would be faster to reach me via the contact page on Brandroot for issues you need addressed quickly.

"Names that prove to be consistently good "

How can a name be "consistently good"? It either sells or it doesn't.

WebInceptions said:

"Names that prove to be consistently good "

How can a name be "consistently good"? It either sells or it doesn't.

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Consistently viewed/inquired on? It's about the likelihood of a sale, no?

WebInceptions said:

"Names that prove to be consistently good "

How can a name be "consistently good"? It either sells or it doesn't.

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A name can be consistently good by receiving consistent amounts of attention, showing signs that interest is building and a sale may be imminent. We measure more than 10 different events on every name. These clues offer insight into a name's desirability.

Brandroot said:

A name can be consistently good by receiving consistent amounts of attention, showing signs that interest is building and a sale may be imminent. We measure more than 10 different events on every name. These clues offer insight into a name's desirability.

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That doesn't seem to be a good measure. Sedo shows how many times the domain was viewed, and it has no relationship to an actual sale. Often people are just looking for something that is cheap. I've had domains that sell with zero inquiries in 15 years, and I've had others that queries and lowball offers almost monthly and don't sell.

WebInceptions said:

That doesn't seem to be a good measure. Sedo shows how many times the domain was viewed, and it has no relationship to an actual sale. Often people are just looking for something that is cheap. I've had domains that sell with zero inquiries in 15 years, and I've had others that queries and lowball offers almost monthly and don't sell.

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What doesn't seem like a good measure? I didn't mention anything about the number of times the domain was viewed. We also have a search-by-price option if they want something lower priced. Keyword search and price search are unchanged.

I also didn't say the domain is removed from listing if it's not popular, it simply does not appear as high. If your 15 year old domain had been on our site (under the old model) it would be on the last page anyway because of how old the listing was. This new model actually gives your old domain a better chance because it is always being tested for appeal and repositioned accordingly. We sold several old domains because of this new update.

JudgeMind said:

Anyone here selling any names on brandroot? Wondering if more sales would come from their marketplace having far less listed domains then brand bucket

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No sale here but I only have a small number of names listed so far. They have a "Recently Sold Names" section on the homepage and I see names being sold everyday so i think at least some of the folks sell some.

Received an offer for one of the names a few days back, countered a bit but then I haven't heard anything back. (Not sure how this offer/counteroffer thing actually works at BR)
I'll post in here if I'll close the sale.

loredan said:

No sale here but I only have a small number of names listed so far. They have a "Recently Sold Names" section on the homepage and I see names being sold everyday so i think at least some of the folks sell some.

Received an offer for one of the names a few days back, countered a bit but then I haven't heard anything back. (Not sure how this offer/counteroffer thing actually works at BR)
I'll post in here if I'll close the sale.

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Sorry, we haven't heard back on your counteroffer yet. When offers come in they are a lot of time because of an impulsive interest, so we need to close very quickly to get the sale. A few seller have entrusted us with negotiation power for this very reason, to avoid the wait of hearing back from them.

Brandroot said:

Sorry, we haven't heard back on your counteroffer yet. When offers come in they are a lot of time because of an impulsive interest, so we need to close very quickly to get the sale. A few seller have entrusted us with negotiation power for this very reason, to avoid the wait of hearing back from them.

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No need to say sorry, Michael - no critics intended at all - I was just sharing my experience with the community, that's all. I understand how offers/counteroffers generally work but i was wondering if the buyer has a limited amount of time to reply, let's say 48 hours, 7 days, 30 days, etc... at BR similar to Sedo and other platforms.

I think that entrusting you with negotiation power is actually a very good idea and might help closing sales quickly, I'd support this anytime. A good idea would be to allow sellers to add a floor price when they submit the listing details and tick some sort of box where they agree to allow BR to negotiate on their behalf?

Another great thing which I would implement if I would be you are monthly payment plans. Sometimes startups won't spend $3k for a name upfront but they wouldn't mind paying $250 per month...just my 2c

I tried opening a BR account in early 2016 but they told me they were only accepting committed BR sellers. The only way they'll open an account for me is if I were to transfer all my names from BrandBucket to BrandRoot. I didn't think that was right since I see many sellers have accounts at both sites so I just stayed with BrandBucket.

I had a question, do you get an answer if your application is rejected as well or just if you're accepted ?

PSA: Make sure you stay current with your BrandRoot portfolio or else your account will be closed.

I responded 7 minuted later...

40 minutes later...

Mind you -- the domain in question was caught by DropCatch for HugeDomains on 3/14/2017

(I'm not trying to deflect blame to BR as it was my responsibility to keep my portfolio current. Just stating my experience)

Between the domains expiration and now - I received countless emails stating my domains risk removal as it's not forwarding properly -- yet they were never removed.

Grilled said:

PSA: Make sure you stay current with your BrandRoot portfolio or else your account will be closed.

Show attachment 62506

I responded 7 minuted later...

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40 minutes later...
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Mind you -- the domain in question was caught by DropCatch for HugeDomains on 3/14/2017

(I'm not trying to deflect blame to BR as it was my responsibility to keep my portfolio current. Just stating my experience)

Between the domains expiration and now - I received countless emails stating my domains risk removal as it's not forwarding properly -- yet they were never removed.

Show attachment 62509

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No big deal. Brandroot is second tier anyway.

L2 Media said:

No big deal. Brandroot is second tier anyway.

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I'm really not trying to bash anyone today. Actions / Inactions have consequences.

Grilled said:

(I'm not trying to deflect blame to BR as it was my responsibility to keep my portfolio current. Just stating my experience)

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BUT -- If I were to deflect blame onto BrandRootd -- I would question why they send out months worth of domain not forwarding properly warnings, without taking actions themselves. Or, prior to emailing me a low ball offer (like all my other BrandRood sales have been) they could have typed the domain in the URL to verify the domain can't be negotiated. Just saying, it's better to be proactive than reactive. (Competent marketplaces like BrandBucket have their buyers best interest in mind by only supplying domains they know they can provide. They do this by auto removing domains no longer forwarded for less than a week. This way, they don't upset sellers AND they don't have a Qoni.com fiasco on their hands)

Speaking of the Qoni.com fiasco - it's seems like you're asking for it to happen to you again by failing to keep up with marketplace inventory. There comes a point where you (as a marketplace) need to accept responsibility rather than blaming everything on your sellers. I say this with confidence after reviewing all BrandRood published domains not forwarded to BrandRood...

SleekOwl.com has a LIVE BIN on BrandRood right now of $1404: brandroot.com/names/sleekowl


Yet - SleekOwl.com has been owned by and forwarded to HugeDomains since September 27th, 2015!

Let's see if you can figure out how to use WHOIS and uncover the other live published BrandRood domains that forward to HugeDomains / others.

Perhaps you're wondering why Modelosa.com isn't forwarding properly to BrandRood? Check your nameservers...



What happens if somebody buys Sawona.com from brandroot.com/names/sawona for $990??



Will you buy it from BrandBucket for more? (currently redirects to BrandBucket )


Lastly, I still own domains that are live on BrandRood that weren't in my BrandRood account. Being that I am no longer welcome to sell on BrandRood anymore, it'll be an interesting bridge to cross if a buyer ever hits BIN on one of my domains.

Grilled said:

Actions / Inactions have consequences

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BR must have read the above post and finally decided to take action into their own hands. (Well done - but there's still more work to be done. They haven't caught them all ) (Hint: check domains owned by registrants who aren't BR sellers)

When I took inventory of their marketplace earlier this week, there were 17,307 domains published. (this number includes previously "sold" domains)

Today, after taking note that BR no longer has HugeDomains / BrandBucket names published, there are 17,155 domains. 152 +/- domains removed (assuming they deleted other sellers accounts who had let BR domains lapse and end up in competitors hands)

WebInceptions said:

It finally happened... after a year with 8 domains at BrandBucket, I sold one in the low $2,xxx range. I also sold one I bought for listing on BB, but they rejected it so I kept 100% of the $1,500 on that one.

I'm a bit more optimistic about these now!

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Congrats on your sale! Where did it happened? You talk about BB but this is the BR thread!

I also sold two names lately at Brandroot!

The real question is, does anyone care?

creataweb said:

The real question is, does anyone care?

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Lol seriously.

other marketplace had launched its seller's dashboard (with information of how many time your name was seen, clicked, made as favorite, etc). When will BR do the same?

Rizki said:

other marketplace had launched its seller's dashboard (with information of how many time your name was seen, clicked, made as favorite, etc). When will BR do the same?

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We did this a long time ago, probably before any of the other marketplaces did. If you have an account with us we sent an email about it many months ago.

Hey there fellow NPers,
People who knows me here or outside this community knows that I'm not an antagonist nor do I see the point on wasting time and energy going into disputes or anything alike.

I'm a thou a true believer in sharing thoughts and experiences with the community, that way we can all learn from eachter and grow together.

I'm here just to express in a few words my deepest disappointment with @Brandroot or to be more precise with Michael Rader.

From a tech standpoint the platform is quite good, clean & easy UI with innovative and useful features.

However, all I want to say is...heads-up dear fellow domainers, even if you sold domains with BR before and you decide at some point that you want to unpublish some of your domains for good and pertinent reasons, there is a high chance that the access to your account will be suspended and you'll also might end up having your domains unpublished, of course with no possibility to get refund of your listing fees.

Take care and always learn from others experiences! ✌