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domains Some registrars continue to markup your domains without your permission

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equity78

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Registrars are still marking up our domains without authority of any legal right to do so. So two years ago I wrote about a topic that had bothered me for years and Andrew at DNW had brought it up in a post and that got me to finally take the time to address the situation. Many if not most domainers add their names to Sedo and Afternic who in turn work with their distribution networks to … [Read more...]
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
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The discussion is picking up on the post at TheDomains, John Berryhill has taken some time to give insight. Certainly seems like there needs to be a better solution, to keep from people having their domain names marked up.
 
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I have mentioned this to GoDaddy/Afternic many times in the past, and it is still happening.
I was not happy with it then and am not happy with it now.

I talked to my account executive about it today regarding Afternic listings.
If they are going to allow this, then they need to allow sellers a way to opt-out.

I am not interested in doing business with registrars like Name.com, Epik, and any others that might be doing this.

Brad
 
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Just use Epik, Dan or Efty. Problem solved.
 
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Yes, I have first noticed it long ago.
I guess it is the registrars way to make an high profit easily.
Though I'm not sure if anything can be done legally because of current agreements.
 
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Thanks for writing this, my domain surge/ advisor .com is listed for $2988 in Afternic and sedo. Few days ago I was searching in epik and found out that the domain is priced at $3436. I thought maybe previous owner priced it. Now I understand why I was seeing this.
 
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I have mentioned this to GoDaddy/Afternic many times in the past, and it is still happening.
I was not happy with it then and am not happy with it now.

I talked to my account executive about it today regarding Afternic listings.
If they are going to allow this, then they need to allow sellers a way to opt-out.

I am not interested in doing business with registrars like Name.com, Epik, and any others that might be doing this.

Brad

Well Bob Mountain said two years ago we can opt out of the markup registrars it will be interesting to see how they do that?

Select partners are testing markups on Afternic domain names. There hasn’t been a fundamental shift, we’re just working with some of our partners at their request. If you would like to have your names removed from being listed at these markup resellers, please contact Afternic customer service.
 
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The Raymond Hackney post and comments following it are worth reading. John Berryhill is both astute and hilarious on the subject of markups and discounts…

Anyway, I could have sworn it was mentioned in Afternic’s premium network terms, because I’ve always been aware of the markup practice by many of the partner registrars. Maybe it was just talked about openly by Joe Styler or something.
 
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The Raymond Hackney post and comments following it are worth reading. John Berryhill is both astute and hilarious on the subject of markups and discounts…

Anyway, I could have sworn it was mentioned in Afternic’s premium network terms, because I’ve always been aware of the markup practice by many of the partner registrars. Maybe it was just talked about openly by Joe Styler or something.

No nothing about markup

FAST TRANSFER TERMS OF SERVICE FOR AFTERNIC SELLERS
By offering one or more domain names that seller owns for sale via Fast Transfer (each, a "Listed Domain"), seller signifies its agreement to the applicable Fast Transfer Terms of Service in addition to our Membership Agreement, available at: www.afternic.com/agreement.php, and incorporated herein by reference.

Please review these terms carefully. Some Fast Transfers are e-commerce only, without sales assistance or guidance, and these terms contain important rights and responsibilities for Afternic sellers who use Fast Transfer. To the extent that these terms of service conflict with our Membership Agreement, the conflicting terms here shall supersede the Membership Agreement but only with respect to Fast Transfers and only to the extent of such conflict.

A. Prerequisites to Use Fast Transfer Process

  1. Seller must be an Afternic member. The terms of the Afternic Membership Agreement apply to all Fast Transfer transactions. To become a member, and participate in Fast Transfer, seller must join Afternic. The new user registration page is available at: https://www.afternic.com/join.php.
  2. Seller must enroll in the Afternic DLS Premium Promotion service. For information on enrolling, go to the DLS Premium Promotion page. Specific terms related to Fast Transfer may be found at that internet address. Seller must enroll and accept the terms before seller can sell a Listed Domain via Fast Transfer.
  3. Seller must register each Listed Domain with one of our Fast Transfer partners or, seller may transfer the Listed Domain to one of our Fast Transfer partners now. It must be registered with an Fast Transfer partner before seller is permitted to list a domain under the Fast Transfer process. A list of Fast Transfer partners is available at: DLS Premium Promotion page.
  4. Seller must provide Afternic a Buy Now Price. Fast Transfer is primarily an e-commerce transaction, and may not involve the assistance of a salesperson. Seller must provide Afternic pricing information in advance. If seller does not supply a Buy Now Price and a Minimum Offer, the posting will either fail, or seller will experience a delay in having a Listed Domain posted for sale. Seller's name may be listed only after seller has provided Afternic a Buy Now Price and Afternic has taken reasonable steps to ensure the validity of the Listed Name.
  5. Seller must provide Afternic prompt notice. Until seller notifies Afternic that a seller has sold the Listed Name(s) outside the scope of the Fast Transfer partners and/or process, Afternic and its Fast Transfer partners shall retain the right to sell the seller's Listed Name(s) until seller confirms that Afternic is in receipt of seller's notification.
B. Additional Fast Transfer Terms and Conditions for Sellers

  1. Seller acknowledges and agrees that Afternic has the right to verify any proposed Listed Domain sale transaction or the underlying registration of such Listed Domain. Verification may delay the posting of a Listed Domain. Afternic, as a regular practice, will verify all proposed Listed Domains with a listing price of $10,000 USD or more. By posting a Listed Domain with a Sale Price equal to or exceeding $10,000 USD, seller agrees that a reasonable verification delay may occur.
  2. Afternic reserves the right to withhold from posting a Listed Domain for any reason.
  3. Seller specifically authorizes and directs Afternic to sell a Listed Domain for the Buy Now Price at any time.
  4. Seller makes the following representations and warranties to Afternic:
    1. Seller represents and warrants that it is in fact the legal registrant and owner of each of its Listed Names, each free and clear of any encumbrances, liens of any nature, including third party intellectual property claims or registration fees due the Transferring Registrar (other than those created by the applicable registration agreement) ("Liens");
    2. Seller hereby authorizes and legally empowers Afternic to offer each Listed Name for sale via Fast Transfer, and upon completion of the sale, seller shall pass good and marketable title to buyer free and clear of any Liens;
    3. each Sold Domain shall be immediately transferable from the Transferring Registrar, without restriction; and
    4. Seller has no actual knowledge that any Listed Domain is the subject of an intellectual property claim of any third party.
    Seller acknowledges that Afternic is relying upon these representations in offering the Listed Domain for sale via Fast Transfer.

  5. Seller is prohibited from rejecting/cancelling a completed sale to a buyer once a buyer commits to the purchase of a Listed Domain by clicking the 'confirmation' button on the Afternic, BuyDomains or Reseller/Partner site.
  6. Seller may change the Buy Now Price at any time; provided however, seller understands and agrees that by changing the Buy Now Price, the Listed Domain(s) is subject to a new valuation by Afternic. In addition, due to the nature of e-commerce and the internet, Afternic is unable to guarantee that any change to the Buy Now Price shall be published on Afternic and its reseller sites before an offer is received. Seller is obligated to complete a transaction with a confirmed buyer for the posted price even if seller tried to increase the Buy Now Price prior to the time of the purchase.
  7. Seller understands and agrees that the Listed Domain may, at Afternic’s discretion, be made available to Afternic's Fast Transfer reseller partners. Afternic does not warrant or guarantee that a specific Listed Domain will be displayed or offered for sale by a particular Reseller Partner.
  8. Seller shall pay Afternic the applicable commission according to the fee schedule available at http://www.AFTERNIC.COM/fees.php. Sales are not final until seven (7) days after the transaction has been completed.
  9. Seller specifically authorizes and directs Afternic to act as its Designated Agent when a Listed Domain sells. As Designated Agent, Afternic will facilitate the transfer and change of domain name contact information for the Sold Domain. As such, Seller grants Afternic the power to explicitly consent to the material change of registrant contact information in order to facilitate immediate transfer of the Sold Domain.
  10. Buyer specifically authorizes and directs Afternic to act as its Designated Agent. As Designated Agent, Afternic will facilitate the transfer and change of domain name contact information for the Purchased Domain. As such, Buyer grants Afternic the power to explicitly consent to the material change of registrant contact information to facilitate immediate transfer of the Purchased Domain.
 
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Well Bob Mountain said two years ago we can opt out of the markup registrars it will be interesting to see how they do that?

Select partners are testing markups on Afternic domain names. There hasn’t been a fundamental shift, we’re just working with some of our partners at their request. If you would like to have your names removed from being listed at these markup resellers, please contact Afternic customer service.

I talked to my account executive @ GoDaddy about this specific issue yesterday regarding Afternic listings and was told that he was not aware of a way you could manually opt out of specific registrars.

If that is not true, I would like someone from GoDaddy to correct this as I would like to opt-out of registrars that do this.

Brad
 
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Just use Epik, Dan or Efty. Problem solved.

How is that comment in any way related to this article?
It seems like a complete non sequitur response.

Brad
 
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I talked to my account executive @ GoDaddy about this specific issue yesterday regarding Afternic listings and was told that he was not aware of a way you could manually opt out of specific registrars.

If that is not true, I would like someone from GoDaddy to correct this as I would like to opt-out of registrars that do this.

Brad

Brad, check out Joe Styler on TheDomains he just posted saying you can along with their rationale.
 
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Brad, check out Joe Styler on TheDomains he just posted saying you can along with their rationale.

Thanks. It seems like there might not be great communication on this issue @ GoDaddy/Afternic.

I will go ahead and opt-out of the registrars that are doing this.

Brad
 
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In the blog post above, @Rob Monster explained why he feels that the increased prices are OK (Epic dot com registrar case), so one would guess that other registrars (at least bigrock and tucows - this is what I remember from my checks some time ago, maybe other registrars as well) should have similar reasons to do what they are doing (domains markup). To have better picture, maybe @Dynadot (who never increased network prices) and @namesilo (who used to offer sedo/afternic domains with extra markup, but stopped this practice some time ago) can enlighten us - how is it possible for them to sell afternic/sedo domains without increasing the original prices?

As a side note, there are always different sides in any story. I am aware of at least one registrar who paid (or maybe still pays) ~$100 bounty per each new customer, to a webmaster and/or domain distribution network - if appropriate tracking link was used and if the customer (including of a single premium aftermarket domain) was indeed a new customer of said registrar. A good alternative to ppc links. Why not. It worked. This particular registrar was looking to increase their customers base and distributed its marketing budget accordingly. Imho, this is how the things should work...
 
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Thanks for writing this, my domain surge/ advisor .com is listed for $2988 in Afternic and sedo. Few days ago I was searching in epik and found out that the domain is priced at $3436. I thought maybe previous owner priced it. Now I understand why I was seeing this.

Just list the domain in Epik. You have an Epik account. The price it is showing now is the price from the MLS with markup. If you have the domain in the Epik marketplace, it shows your price. It is free. Everyone should do it. No-brainer.

If you need help bulk loading prices, just use our CSV import template. It is in the footer of the MyDomains tab of your Epik control panel. See here::

upload_2019-9-18_13-24-43.png


Or just export your prices from any marketplace and send them to us and we'll take care of it. No charge.
 
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In the blog post above, @Rob Monster explained why he feels that the increased prices are OK (Epic dot com registrar case), so one would guess that other registrars (at least bigrock and tucows - this is what I remember from my checks some time ago, maybe other registrars as well) should have similar reasons to do what they are doing (domains markup). To have better picture, maybe @Dynadot (who never increased network prices) and @namesilo (who used to offer sedo/afternic domains with extra markup, but stopped this practice some time ago) can enlighten us - how is it possible for them to sell afternic/sedo domains without increasing the original prices?
We added Sedo and Afternic as aftermarket partners to help our customers buy and sell domains, so we simply decided to pass along the pricing we receive from our partners without an additional markup.
 
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