4 Negativities Resulting from GoDaddy Search Domain Page

+1

I don't agree actually. Sure, it's not in a domainers best interest.

But what about end-users/people trying to register a domain? A registrar should always cater to them at first and in the best way possible.

That doesn't necessarily mean pushing aftermarket domains. I know they make a lot of money from the aftermarket but the average guy trying to get a domain really shouldn't be bothered with premiums, auctions etc.

If you want to sell domains, create landers, list them and promote them but if you rely on GoDaddy you're doing it wrong.

NameDeck said:

I don't agree actually. Sure, it's not in a domainers best interest.

But what about end-users/people trying to register a domain? A registrar should always cater to them at first and in the best way possible.

That doesn't necessarily mean pushing aftermarket domains. I know they make a lot of money from the aftermarket but the average guy trying to get a domain really shouldn't be bothered with premiums, auctions etc.

If you want to sell domains, create landers, list them and promote them but if you rely on GoDaddy you're doing it wrong.

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it is extremely contrary to domainers interest. Of course, landing pages are good however less and less people are typing in domains in their browser with the extension vs the past for various reasons. Thus I believe a typical end-user will often use Godaddy to check availability and possibly may not first type-in the name.

P.S. The names I tested should not be Premium auctions. In fact, I do not recall ever setting them up even as basic auctions let alone premium, unless I am missing something, entirely possible as have not been actively using GD for very long.

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You might get the best answers from @Joe Styler and @Paul Nicks ..

However I suspect the biggest roadblock is that potential buyers need to have a GoDaddy Auctions membership ($5/yr .. which I'm assuming they charge to keep out a lot of fake and shill bidding).

There's also the fact that if they make a bid in an ongoing auction .. then they might lose interest and not return .. or find a different domain elsewhere. Effectively also losing all the potential upsells like hosting, email, etc

However .. that being said .. if their search was exactly your domain .. then I'd definitely think the issues mentioned above would be something they should change simply because it's exactly what the client wants and the domain is available.


@NameDeck .. I do understand what you're trying to say in that it's in the registrar's interest to give clients as simple a path as possible to acquisition .. and if it was just a "we recommend" domain then I would indeed agree ... however .. if the potential client actually searched for the exact domain .. then I think getting the client to exactly what they want takes priority .. even if there's an extra hoop or two they'd need to jump through.

Obviously .. at the end of the day there's also the fact that nGTL's make significantly more profit in the long term for registrars than .com's ... that's likely at least part of their equation.

I asked the OP to send me an example of a domain I could use to look this up. I have not seen or heard of the - not up for bidding language. I would like to see this happen and track it down.

Joe Styler said:

I asked the OP to send me an example of a domain I could use to look this up. I have not seen or heard of the - not up for bidding language. I would like to see this happen and track it down.

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Just did the same before I saw this thread. Our auctions listings show a "place bid" link and no language denigrating the auction process that I can see. Of course our marketing team does all sorts of tests without always telling us, so it's not out of the realm of possibility, I just don't see it.

GD is in the customer acquisition and retention business. They do that part great and correct for their benefit, that’s why. They are beholden to Wallstreet and growth. Nobody else I know sends out 12 follow up emails nagging you to renew names or services you drop or cancel.

They are not in the business of selling secondary market domains, they are in the NewGtld business.

Type in the name and all the “alternatives” come up. Even of you specifically entered the dot com. It confuses customers into believing they should build on a .online or .whatever. Is that best of the customer? It depends. Since most businesses fail statistically in first 5 years, well maybe $10-$50 for a short domain is a better investment. The risk is that they are successul and have to pay much more $$$ in a few years if they approach the one word .com registrant AFTER they built their name on another non legacy extension. That is the failure to educate the customer part.

Your Afternic listed name will show up on GD if price is listed plus the prospective customer is barraged with a full screen of lower priced, distracting and confusing list of alternate gtlds. Its the customers choice.

If GD didnt display all the alternatives, they risk the customer leaving and abandoning the screen.

Paul Nicks said:

Just did the same before I saw this thread. Our auctions listings show a "place bid" link and no language denigrating the auction process that I can see. Of course our marketing team does all sorts of tests without always telling us, so it's not out of the realm of possibility, I just don't see it.

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Go to that (making sure you are NOT logged-in) totally random example, not my name. If logged-in you will see something else for some odd reason?

https://www.godaddy.com/domains/sea...mskey=1dom_03_godaddyb&domainToCheck=oame.com

I edited the above due to an error with the url.

thanks @namemarket for the heads up. Our marketing team knows about this view and has plans on moving it to our newer search (the one from main GoDaddy page). You only see this older view when you have a promo code like a $.99 offer associated with your session so it's a pretty small slice of traffic overall that sees it.

Wow it does say not up for a bidding war.

Paul Nicks said:

thanks @namemarket for the heads up. Our marketing team knows about this view and has plans on moving it to our newer search (the one from main GoDaddy page). You only see this older view when you have a promo code like a $.99 offer associated with your session so it's a pretty small slice of traffic overall that sees it.

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I didn't have a .99 offer associated and I was not logged in. What do you mean move to newer search? There should be no search where you disparage your other clients who you make money off their inventory through commission.

equity78 said:

I didn't have a .99 offer associated and I was not logged in. What do you mean move to newer search? There should be no search where you disparage your other clients who you make money off their inventory through commission.

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That view only shows when there is a promo code or some other offer associated with your session. This would most likely be through a querystring in the url (&ISC=...).

How do I get a $ .99 promo code?

When you're not logged it they will always add the .99 offer to your session. I guess that's why it only shows when you're not logged in or never used their promo.

It's also showing in other languages btw.

Paul Nicks said:

That view only shows when there is a promo code or some other offer associated with your session. This would most likely be through a querystring in the url (&ISC=...).

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I have no promo code entered (at least not deliberately), am not logged in to my GD account, and it shows up for me with the "Not up for bidding war." I agree that the wording for that is unfortunate. Even if it was toned down to something like "Click here to go to auction page, or if flexible on alternative names consider one of these..."

Bob Hawkes said:

I agree that the wording for that is unfortunate. Even if it was toned down to something like "Click here to go to auction page, or if flexible on alternative names consider one of these..."

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I agree. On the dutch site it says:
"Sorry, oame/com is alleen beschikbaar bij veilingen.
Wil je niet bieden? Wat vind je dan van deze?"

Loosely translated:
"sorry, oame/com can only be purchased through auction.
Don't want to make an offer? What do you think about these?"

Ategy.com said:

@NameDeck .. I do understand what you're trying to say in that it's in the registrar's interest to give clients as simple a path as possible to acquisition .. and if it was just a "we recommend" domain then I would indeed agree ... however .. if the potential client actually searched for the exact domain .. then I think getting the client to exactly what they want takes priority .. even if there's an extra hoop or two they'd need to jump through.

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True. I agree some companies/people wouldn't mind the additional steps to acquire a domain. Especially big companies with the money to spend. But what percentage of the customer base do they represent? I can only guess but logically the majority of a registars clients would be the average private person and small to midsized businesses. Not taking into account some domainer focused registars ofcourse.

This client base (in my experience) hardly even grasps the concept of what a domain actually is, let alone understand why they suddenly get quoted 10K (for instance) when they searched for their name on GD who is promoting 0.99 .coms. For them a simple "sorry, your domain is already taken" would suffice. Heck, their entire 'online presence' budget is probably a couple of K at most.

Any company/client that understands domains and has money to spend will know were to find aftermarket domains anyway. For them it would make sense... but what decent sized company would actually use GD to check for a domain?

Anyway, nuff said cos I'm getting a bit offtopic

Ategy.com said:

Obviously .. at the end of the day there's also the fact that nGTL's make significantly more profit in the long term for registrars than .com's ... that's likely at least part of their equation.

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Interesting. I never looked at it from this perspective. I guess you're right, looking at the numbers. Thanks!

Free advertising to OAME.com domain is listed with a BIN, no need for a bidding war, you can just buy it at BIN, that BIN should show up under the search landing, not the spiel about a biddint war, which would deter any buyer.

There is still confusion to this day where buyers see these fixed make offer/counter offer listings, and keep thinking it is an auction.

ie) Conversation from a user saying there is 38 days left in the auction, I see the current price is $20, if I pay $25 can I just buy it now? This is for a listing that has a make offer with a minimum offer of $20, this is what time after time consumers keep coming back to, and thinking they are in an auction format, but it is really a make offer listing format with a minimum offer amount.

Hey all, we made a quick wording fix on that page. The current dev plan is to change the page entirely to conform with our main search results page, but that'll take a bit longer.