My journey with BrandBucket (and why I'm leaving them)

BrandVenue · Jul 14, 2018

I have joined BB in the beginning of 2016. Started with only a less than 15 names just to give it a try. Within a couple months I sold one domain (May 2016 to be exact). After that sale I took BrandBucket seriously and listed 250+ names over the years, mostly hand registered domains. That was the time when BB acceptance rate was only around 20%. So I had to submit 100 domains to get 20 of them approved. Unlike now that was the time when submitting unregistered domains wasn't allowed.

For almost a year I had no sale so I sold some of my hand registered domains to other BB sellers here at Namepros. Mostly because I was not getting my 2nd sale, renewals were coming due, I wasn't sure what my next move would be if I didn't have another sale.

My 2nd sale came exactly 1 year after my first sale. After my 2nd sale I have been regularly selling one domain every month or two on BB. With each of these sale I came to realize the importance of quality over quantity. Because on BrandBucket I was only selling the names I bought from auctions. But my portfolio was filled with so many hand registered names. I wasn't so lucky to sell a single hand registered domain there.

For this reason I had changed my strategy. With the profits of each sale I bought domains from auctions. I sold off nearly all my hand registered domains from my BB portfolio to other BB sellers, kept only a few which I really like and filled my portfolio with domains bought from auctions.

Currently I have 138 domains and 70%-80% of those are domains bought for XX, XXX and XXXX figures from auctions. I have stopped hand registering domains long time ago.

Total sold : 8 domains
Total Revenue: $26K (average $3.2K)
Total Net proceeds: $18.3K (average $2.2K)

My dashboard says 3.82% sell through rate, with being top 13% of sellers.

I consider myself pretty successful on BB. But despite that I have decided to leave BB. Why?

Over my journey I have watched BB inventory grow from 20K+ domains to 50K+ domains. But quality of the names did not grow with the same pace. Nowadays BB accepts every kind of domains which would have never been accepted in 2015/16.

At first it was good to repeat last letter of a domain like Domainn , then they started to accept repeated letters anywhere on the word like

and

.

Even though at this point I thought they wouldn't approve repeating first letter of a domain, but after seeing

it's clear that in upcoming days we will see more of this kind first letter repeated domains.

I knew BB only publish pronounceable 4 letter domains but

?

I thought removing one vowel like Tunnl (I've sold this one on BB) instead of Tunnel was good but removing 3 vowel?

And the last one which I saw today is

in the description it says - A clever spelling of "outsourced". The domain is Out/Soursd, S not C. if it was OutSourcd I'd understand why BB accepted it - they removed the last vowel of correct spelling OutSourced but why would they accept or publish a domain like Out/Soursd?

After seeing this name I have said myself enough is enough. I can't have my domains, most of which were bought from auctions for substantial amount of money compete with these kind of names. One thing is clear BB is ignoring quality issue, they now believe in quantity over quality which is against my point of view. So I've decided to leave BrandBucket.

When they were getting good number of sales they would highlight that in their newsletters, but they've stopped publishing any kind of sale related info which suggests their sale rate also dropping.

I did not have any intention to go against any other BB sellers (especially those whose domains I've mentioned here). I only blame BB for their decision to move to quantity over quality strategy. I am not saying these domains I've mentioned here won't sell, they might sell. But BB has proved that we may see more unpronounceable 4 letter domains (even CHIPS too) in future, we may see more first letter repeated domains in future, we may also see more domains like

in future.

All these suggests BB inventory will grow rapidly in the future and my small portfolio of domains will be like a small water drop of a ocean, chances of selling a name there through buyer using search option doesn't look bright anymore.

I've sent them 30 days notice to remove my names. It's been a good journey.

MapleDots · Jul 18, 2018

I only have three solutions here....

Landers

Landers

Landers

Make your own landers and make sure you have a link to all your domains on each landing page.
I sell almost exclusively from my landers and pay no commissions. Heck I even have my own credit card machine to cut out the middle man.

Doing it by yourself is the way to go for me

Name Trader · Jul 18, 2018

nametaster said:
How is Namerific a "graveyard?" They keep accepting new names and are pretty fast at filtering the good from the bad. Just visit the site to see each one they add each day. They also show which ones they've recently sold. If there's one that I personally find to be a graveyard, it's Brandroot. Brandroot does not even let you create an account right now. I read in another thread that they have a waiting list of several months before sellers get notified of their account status. Like, lol. As if they're the only game in town. If they're "too busy" to accept your domains, try their competitors. Namerific will let you know whether or not they accept your domains. Aside from brandBucket and Namerific, Brandpa is also active in accepting sellers and their domains. Here's my thorough review of the Big 3: nametaster.com (check the blog). yes, my site is still a draft until I get something better...

You were quoting me.But it wasn't me that said that. I think it was @Ogunyinka Francis

anantj · Jul 19, 2018

nametaster said:
How is Namerific a "graveyard?" They keep accepting new names and are pretty fast at filtering the good from the bad. Just visit the site to see each one they add each day. They also show which ones they've recently sold. If there's one that I personally find to be a graveyard, it's Brandroot. Brandroot does not even let you create an account right now. I read in another thread that they have a waiting list of several months before sellers get notified of their account status. Like, lol. As if they're the only game in town. If they're "too busy" to accept your domains, try their competitors. Namerific will let you know whether or not they accept your domains. Aside from brandBucket and Namerific, Brandpa is also active in accepting sellers and their domains. Here's my thorough review of the Big 3: nametaster.com (check the blog). yes, my site is still a draft until I get something better...

BR also has the worst attitude. The owner is here on NP I think and just don't get a good feeling interacting with him (whatever limited interaction I've had with him previously)

anantj · Jul 19, 2018

MapleDots said:
I only have three solutions here....

Landers

Landers

Landers

Make your own landers and make sure you have a link to all your domains on each landing page.
I sell almost exclusively from my landers and pay no commissions. Heck I even have my own credit card machine to cut out the middle man.

Doing it by yourself is the way to go for me

The major advantage that Brandable Marketplaces bring us is discoverability. The probability of users discovering a brandable domain by typing in the domain name is quite low.

DOHAN · Sep 10, 2018

stub said:
You were quoting me.But it wasn't me that said that. I think it was @Ogunyinka Francis

My bad, thanks.

Name Trader · Sep 16, 2018

Once you place a domain with BrandBucket. You are stuck with that domain with BrandBucket forever more. You cannot sell the domain outside of BrandBucket, except if you sell it to another BrandBucket member in good standing.. Whether the buyer is in good standing or not requires quite high standards of loyalty. So you are pretty much stuck with the domain, unless you can find a buyer by BrandBucket's determination of the meaning of "in good standing". You cannot transfer any domain without losing :"in good standing" points. Which requires you basically to add somewhere like 5 times the number of domains if you have removed all your domains, in order to get your good standing rating again. BrandBucket may be be biggest Brandable Marketplace. But they are by far the worst market tying you to them and double penalizing if you sell outside of their market. Their website search results have been proved to to favor certain individuals, commissions are pretty much the worst in the industry, even the logos are extremely expensive. You cannot set your own prices (only within 20% of their set price).

I wonder why the run of the mill domainer would ever want to use them when they can forward the domain to their own website and pocket a whole lot of change for themselves. I'm sure those who get favoritism with BrandBucket's website searches won't complain because their domains would go higher up the search results, presumably meaning more sales.

farouk20 · Sep 16, 2018

@stub i thought you were enthusiastic to be back with bb.

How many names do you have now on bb and what's your sales stat if you don't mind.

Keith DeBoer · Sep 16, 2018

Stub, I appreciate your feelings and views. Every market place has its good and bad points. Domainers should choose the marketplace(s) that best suit their needs. In some cases that means using multiple marketplaces and/or landing pages via Efty etc.

BB does require exclusivity for their listings just like BrandRoot and Brandpa. However, any seller can remove a domain(s) from BB by giving 30 days notice.

Furquan · Sep 16, 2018

@stub

"Good Standing" ain't be a problem for anyone. You just need to mail BB & they get your purchased name in your account.

Furquan · Sep 16, 2018

Keith DeBoer said:
BB does require exclusivity for their listings just like BrandRoot and Brandpa. However, any seller can remove a domain(s) from BB by giving 30 days notice.

@Radu054 I think you asked this question in Chat.

JimJammy · Sep 16, 2018

@stub Good standing is a lot easier if you are on the Growth Progam. From the FAQs.

Q: I’ve heard about accounts needing to be in “Good Standing” to have access to certain benefits and features. What does that mean?
A: Our active and committed sellers do two things successfully: 1) publish their domains that are submitted and approved, and 2) keep their domains at BrandBucket. The last two circles on the dashboard reflect these statistics. You need to have an A or B score in BOTH of these circles to be in “Good Standing”.

Here's mine. Note how the first metric (listing accepted names) is disabled because I'm on the growth program. I think you'd have to remove a lot of names to fall to a C in the last metric, check your dashboard.

Name Trader · Sep 17, 2018

Keith DeBoer said:
Stub, I appreciate your feelings and views. Every market place has its good and bad points. Domainers should choose the marketplace(s) that best suit their needs. In some cases that means using multiple marketplaces and/or landing pages via Efty etc.

BB does require exclusivity for their listings just like BrandRoot and Brandpa. However, any seller can remove a domain(s) from BB by giving 30 days notice.

Hi Keith,

Sure they can. But every domain you remove from BB giving 30 days notice still counts negatively against their "in good standing ratio" They were very helpful in telling me that after 30 days (as you were above) I could remove my domains, which I did. But not once did they ever mention to me that it would make it impossible to use them ever again.I assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that I'd fulfilled all my obligations, when I terminated my domains by giving my 30 days notice, and would be welcomed back at any time. I'd start from scratch again since I'd followed all the rules. BUT THIS WAS NOT THE CASE.

However. If the website searched results are still so unfairly biased against us "small guys". I'm not sure I really would want to come back.

Also because I'm basically "blackballed" I cannot buy any BB domains from others sellers, even if I intend to leave them on BB. I really think there is some very twisted thinking going on. At the very least it is deceitful.

Name Trader · Sep 17, 2018

Furquah said:
@stub

"Good Standing" ain't be a problem for anyone. You just need to mail BB & they get your purchased name in your account.

I don't know what planet you are living on. But it's different to mine

Name Trader · Sep 17, 2018

JimJammy said:
@stub Good standing is a lot easier if you are on the Growth Progam. From the FAQs.

Q: I’ve heard about accounts needing to be in “Good Standing” to have access to certain benefits and features. What does that mean?
A: Our active and committed sellers do two things successfully: 1) publish their domains that are submitted and approved, and 2) keep their domains at BrandBucket. The last two circles on the dashboard reflect these statistics. You need to have an A or B score in BOTH of these circles to be in “Good Standing”.

You can reach a not in good standing very easily. AND IT STAYS LIKE THAT FOR ETERNITY. The way the in good standing is calculated means you have to at least add many, many more domains than you originally deleted. It's a complicated calculation (for which I would like to see the actual calculation).[/QUOTE]

karmaco · Sep 17, 2018

Gonna have to agree with @stub on the ridiculousness of your standing going to F if you remove YOUR names following the give us 30 day notice rule.

This does two things:sever all possibility of future business ties and if you think about it no one has any real incentive for giving that notice now do they?

I realize Brandroot is the same or worse on this subject. Don’t know if they have this very unsavory term “good standing”.Thank God Brandpa doesn’t have that yet. No one likes to be judged like that. They should be treating their sellers like the valuable commodities that they are.

If everyone removed their names their would be no brandable sites. Ponder that.

Furquan · Sep 17, 2018

stub said:
I don't know what planet you are living on. But it's different to mine

I am from La carta the ricoius

JimJammy · Sep 18, 2018

stub said:
Hi Keith,

Sure they can. But every domain you remove from BB giving 30 days notice still counts negatively against their "in good standing ratio" They were very helpful in telling me that after 30 days (as you were above) I could remove my domains, which I did. But not once did they ever mention to me that it would make it impossible to use them ever again.I assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that I'd fulfilled all my obligations, when I terminated my domains by giving my 30 days notice, and would be welcomed back at any time. I'd start from scratch again since I'd followed all the rules. BUT THIS WAS NOT THE CASE.

However. If the website searched results are still so unfairly biased against us "small guys". I'm not sure I really would want to come back.

Also because I'm basically "blackballed" I cannot buy any BB domains from others sellers, even if I intend to leave them on BB. I really think there is some very twisted thinking going on. At the very least it is deceitful.

So let me get this straight... You added your names to BB, they spent countless hours writing your descriptions, paying a logo designer to create a logo for you (if the logo designer chose that option) and then promoting those names in social media and other outlets on your behalf... and then you removed your names.

Now you want to start afresh and expect to have the same privileges and rights as those of us that haven't wasted their time and resources?

I think the question here is, what planet are YOU on?!

If you give them 30 days notice, your account stays open and you have the ability to come back, if you add your names again your score will return to what it was.

If you don't give them 30 days notice they close your account.

Name Trader · Sep 18, 2018

JimJammy said:
If you give them 30 days notice, your account stays open and you have the ability to come back, if you add your names again your score will return to what it was.

If you don't give them 30 days notice they close your account.

It ain't that simple. It's a complicated calculation. If I understood it correctly, I'd have to add between 4-5 TIMES more than my original domains I deleted. I'd hope @Keith DeBoer would provide a simple calculation which I could understand.

frank-germany · Sep 18, 2018

stub said:
But what they don't tell you is that it would screw-up your "in good standing" ratio so badly, that it is now impossible for me to buy BB listed names any longer on NP. Because my "in good standing" is now a thing of the past, for my account, at least.

I cancel all my names at BB within 30 days notice as well
now having a "in good standing" wich is no good no more

after me asking what to do about it
they told me I have to relist all my names with them

that alone is reason enough to kick them where it hurts

I have not done anything against any of their rules
didn't know leaving is not allowed

my blood boils when I think of it

Name Trader · Sep 18, 2018

frank-germany said:
I cancel all my names at BB within 30 days notice as well
now having a "in good standing" wich is no good no more

after me asking what to do about it
they told me I have to relist all my names with them

that alone is reason enough to kick them where it hurts

I have not done anything against any of their rules
didn't know leaving is not allowed

my blood boils when I think of it

Hi Frank,

I'm sorry to hear you have befallen the same bs as me.

But I would also like to add that their website search results are also screwed up to the point that they 'aint fair. They favor their big customers over better search results available from their smaller customers.

JimJammy · Sep 18, 2018

stub said:
It ain't that simple. It's a complicated calculation. If I understood it correctly, I'd have to add between 4-5 TIMES more than my original domains I deleted. I'd hope @Keith DeBoer would provide a simple calculation which I could understand.

A complicated calculation? LOL. It's clearly just a percentage. I'm sure @Keith DeBoer will provide that simple calculation for you.

@frank-germany Brandroot bans people that leave. Brandpa bans people that leave.

I don't want either of you back, you've both wasted BB's time and resources, that means you've wasted my time and resources, and every other BB sellers time and resources. Time and resources that could have been spent on our names. My blood boils when I think about BB allowing you back.

Brandbucket are being massively generous allowing you to return, if you relist your names you are back in good standing, if you don't then you have to work your way back into good standing. And you are whining about this? Unbelievable!

frank-germany · Sep 18, 2018

JimJammy said:
So let me get this straight... You added your names to BB, they spent countless hours writing your descriptions, paying a logo designer to create a logo for you (if the logo designer chose that option) and then promoting those names in social media and other outlets on your behalf... and then you removed your names.

1) did they spend countless hours of describing my name????
- I work quicker I'd like to say at least -

I myself wasted hundreds of hours to find domains
that are suitable to BB and
spend thousands of dollars to register them
countless hours to submit them into that 1 domain per copy and paste system
only to get disapproved

don't want know where you live.
but you sound very sarcastic to me

2) did they actually pay a logo designer?
guess no
as far as I know they are paid when the domain sells with the help of their logo

3) they promote the names?????
my domains traffic promotes w/o me getting paid their other domain names

in the end they earn 30%

you are kidding aren't you?

frank-germany · Sep 18, 2018

JimJammy said:
A complicated calculation? LOL. It's clearly just a percentage. I'm sure @Keith DeBoer will provide that simple calculation for you.

@frank-germany Brandroot bans people that leave. Brandpa bans people that leave.

I don't want either of you back, you've both wasted BB's time and resources, that means you've wasted my time and resources, and every other BB sellers time and resources. Time and resources that could have been spent on our names. My blood boils when I think about BB allowing you back.

Brandbucket are being massively generous allowing you to return, if you relist your names you are back in good standing, if you don't then you have to work your way back into good standing. And you are whining about this? Unbelievable!

wow

may be I should ignore you ***

frank-germany · Sep 18, 2018

JimJammy said:
@frank-germany Brandroot bans people that leave. Brandpa bans people that leave.

I don't care I don't use them

JimJammy said:
@frank-germany

I don't want either of you back, you've both wasted BB's time and resources, that means you've wasted my time and resources, and every other BB sellers time and resources. Time and resources that could have been spent on our names. My blood boils when I think about BB allowing you back.

How could I have wasted your time @JimJammy ?
what did you do for me????

How did I waiste time of other BB sellers ?
how could I do so?

Furquan · Sep 18, 2018

I don't know why ppl are here doing countless post about Brandbucket which they decided to leave.

C'mon guys, You chooses to leave a place and now you are arguing with people who has good ROI & that's said they are not even favourite.

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