Dynadot

Alter.com Marketplace

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Deven Patel

Founder, Alter.comEstablished Member
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Hi all,

I wanted to introduce a new premium domain marketplace we just launched called Alter. I would love to hear your thoughts! As the world’s largest community of domainers, your feedback would be invaluable.

Let me introduce myself. Although I’m new to NamePros, I’ve been around the block. I’ve been buying and selling domains for my own startup ideas for over 20 years. As a serial entrepreneur, I founded a number of startups across various industries like marketing, web hosting, social networking, blogging, and SaaS. This experience has helped me understand how indispensable a brand name is to a business.

Most new entrepreneurs don’t think twice about their company name. Our goal is to change that! A brand name literally has the power to make or break their business. This is more true today than ever before now that there are countless alternatives to every product or service imaginable. Sure, every business may have their own world-changing differentiator but from the outside they all look the same at which point the main differentiator ends up becoming their brand name. In a world full of distractions, we no longer have the attention span to thoroughly research what we buy so we rely on our emotions. This is why large businesses like Apple and Amazon spend billions on their “brand” alone because they understand that customer perception is everything.

Anyway, I noticed that most marketplaces that exist today are focused more on the seller rather than the buyer. Our goal is to reverse the equation and prioritize buyers because I think they are the key to success in any industry. The domain industry is no exception. Without buyers, there’s no money. This is why we’ve made it our mission to help entrepreneurs succeed!

And what’s with the 30-35% commission rate most of these marketplaces are charging? Unless they’re doing more work than a human broker, I don’t think anything over the industry average of 15-20% is warranted. We’re changing that. Alter has one of the lowest rates in the industry, an all-inclusive 10% commission fee when a name sells. There are no other fees or restrictions.

What do you think? Are we on the right track or barking up the wrong tree?

Deven
This was a promoted post.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
In Germany - .DE is king, in Australia - .com.au, in UK - .co.uk etc.
Please remove this unnecessary comparison or add individual option in Account settings to hide it.

Good point. Listing ccTLDs could be improved a bit. I'm thinking of the "Ideas" field, which is currently entirely focused on English terms. And the "How to pronounce" option, which doesn't work well with foreign names.
 
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Yes, it is better to make all these fields optional, who needs them.
From my experience, the simpler lander - the better, don't overload the buyer's head.
 
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Yes, it is better to make all these fields optional, who needs them.
From my experience, the simpler lander - the better, don't overload the buyer's head.

I think Alter uses all this information for external marketing of your domain, so it's useful.
 
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I need just simple, fast and reliable lander (with 100% uptime).
And quality domains don't require any special marketing.
The more you demonstrate your willingness to sell it - the weaker your position in negotiations and the worse final results.
 
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I need just simple, fast and reliable lander (with 100% uptime).
And quality domains don't require any special marketing.
The more you demonstrate your willingness to sell it - the weaker your position in negotiations and the worse final results.

I like the distribution and remarketing Alter is doing. More eyeballs is good.
 
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No problems - if you like it.
I have another opinion and experience.
That's why I want to disable all unnecessary fields/elements, opt-out must be provided definitely.
 
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In Germany - .DE is king, in Australia - .com.au, in UK - .co.uk etc.

Good point. Description updated again.

Good point. Listing ccTLDs could be improved a bit. I'm thinking of the "Ideas" field, which is currently entirely focused on English terms. And the "How to pronounce" option, which doesn't work well with foreign names.

All those fields should be editable so feel free to improve them to your heart's content. Regarding pronunciation, that's a hard one since it's completely automated but we do have something on our roadmap that may help.

Yes, it is better to make all these fields optional, who needs them.
From my experience, the simpler lander - the better, don't overload the buyer's head.

Agreed, in most cases simple is always better. Majority of the buyers who already know which domain they want don't need the additional content. However, there are a number of people who are still undecided when they're looking for names. The additional content is intended to help convert those people.

And quality domains don't require any special marketing.

As @Future Sensors pointed out, the whole point of it is to reach as many potential buyers as possible even ones that never considered your name in the first place. What's wrong with increasing your chances of a sale? Even companies that sell world renowned products have marketing departments.

The more you demonstrate your willingness to sell it - the weaker your position in negotiations and the worse final results.

When it comes to negotiations, you're right. But we're talking about landing pages here. By that logic, the fact that you're even using a landing page technically discloses your willingness to sell the name. ;)

In all seriousness, I think you're worrying too much about any of this negatively impacting your sales. All in all, these additional marketing efforts help way more than they hurt. At the end of the day, we only make money when you do so our interests are aligned. And as always, if you have any feedback on how we can improve our marketplace even further then please don't hesitate to share your thoughts. It would be much appreciated!
 
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All those fields should be editable so feel free to improve them to your heart's content.

I tried this. It's only partly true. For example, the Dutch word for shop is winkel, but I'm only allowed to enter descriptions ending with English terms like shop. I like to enter Dutch terms all the way in the Ideas field.

Screenshot_20210929-025016_Chrome.jpg
 
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I tried this. It's only partly true. For example, the Dutch word for shop is winkel, but I'm only allowed to enter descriptions ending with shop. I like to enter Dutch terms all yhe way in the Ideas field.

Ah, I see what you mean now. We added that restriction to prevent spam and keep the landing pages looking tidy. It seems like you essentially want a way to translate the text into other languages. We'll add that to our roadmap. :)
 
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Ah, I see what you mean now. We added that restriction to prevent spam and keep the landing pages looking tidy. It seems like you essentially want a way to translate the text into other languages. We'll add that to our roadmap. :)

Yes, it makes sense to list the native Dutch search terms in those fields. Thanks.

In general for the Ideas field, it would be handy to see an overview of all suffixes that are possible, while editing the field. Or have some other way of inspiration.
 
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Btw, I'm also listing DutchWord.com domains. Most of my listings are in English though.
 
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Only the domain. The logo is included as a complimentary item. Most buyers end up using their own logos anyway that fit their own vision of what they're looking to do with their business. The logos are primarily used to enhance the sales process and improve STR (i.e. it's a marketing tool).

All the time and/or money spent by the seller making or buying the logo and it doesn't even reflect on the seller invoice? That's harsh. It doesn't matter if the buyer uses their own logo in the end, the fact is that the logo is transferred all the way from seller > Alter > buyer.

There's just too much domainer-hating going on now. When questioned by payment companies, declaring that the funds were obtained via domain sales alone may result in account suspensions/restrictions depending on one's luck, but declare the sale as a "branding package" or "website" and suddenly it's all ok. So I'm suggesting to add the logo as another item or part of the domain bundle in the seller invoice please (only for names with seller's own logo).
 
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Ah, I see what you mean now. We added that restriction to prevent spam and keep the landing pages looking tidy. It seems like you essentially want a way to translate the text into other languages. We'll add that to our roadmap. :)

And translating the whole Alter website into other languages (multi-language website) would be useful because:
1) you would attract more sellers, for example a seller with mostly .de domain names needs the website in German, so if you translated the Alter website to German, then it would attract the sellers with the .de names,
2) you would capture the international traffic more effectively.
 
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In a world full of distractions, logos help your names stand out from the crowd. Think of them as camel casing on steroids. Or if you prefer, put yourself in the buyer's shoes and take a look at our listings. IMO, this logo-based browsing experience is 100X better than looking at a boring list of text links at other marketplaces. Wouldn't you agree?

Oh yeah, I definitely believe a logo could make a (significant) difference, and someone who wouldn't consider or may even overlook a certain name when written may see great potential when it's visualized as a brand, I just wondered if anyone had any stats or experience to confirm it. Thanks for the answers.
 
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Sold 3 domains in Alter this week. Your team was very helpful @Deven Patel. Thank you.

Worlds.xyz sold for 6000 usd
Objects.xyz sold for 6000 usd
Funded.xyz sold for 2500 usd
 
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@Deven Patel
I like Alrter, I have uploaded all my domains and they have all been accepted, but
I think you should include the strict results instead of broad result as search default option to avoid results not related to the keyword, Keep in mind that the user when doing a search first looks for strict results.

Example :Search result like blockchain.. return 90% domains not related with blockchain.
 
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Yes, ExactMatch.TLD results must be on top.
Not variations.
 
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Hi,

How does categories work?

I see that we can add up to 3, but I see some domains appear on first page for more than 3 categories.
 
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I see that we can add up to 3, but I see some domains appear on first page for more than 3 categories.

Alter staff may choose more than three categories. Sellers are not allowed to choose more.
 
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And translating the whole Alter website into other languages (multi-language website) would be useful

Agreed. This is already on our roadmap. :)

I think you should include the strict results instead of broad result as search default option to avoid results not related to the keyword, Keep in mind that the user when doing a search first looks for strict results.

Example :Search result like blockchain.. return 90% domains not related with blockchain.

Thanks for your support and the feedback!

Most search results should already be related to the keyword the buyer is searching for. Just because the exact keyword isn't part of the domain doesn't mean it can't be used for a business in that industry.

Here are the current results for the keyword "blockchain":

Broad Match: https://alter.com/names?q=blockchain
Strict Match: https://alter.com/names?q=blockchain&placement=contains

If a buyer is looking to name a blockchain company, wouldn't results from the broad match be more appealing than the strict match?

And of course, if any of those names in strict match are quality names then they would be shown at the top. For example, see results for the keywords tech and health. In the latter, should "Nursor" be disqualified just because it doesn't contain the word "health"?

With our current approach we take the search experience to the next level by helping buyers find relevant names that may not contain the actual keyword but can still be used for their business (i.e. the brandable/made-up names). This way both types of names receive equal treatment.

Yes, ExactMatch.TLD results must be on top.

They already are. See results for the keywords ultimate, mentor, farmer, and recruiting for example.

Hi,

How does categories work?

I see that we can add up to 3, but I see some domains appear on first page for more than 3 categories.

Alter staff may choose more than three categories. Sellers are not allowed to choose more.

Actually, even we can't choose more keywords moving forward. The ones with more are from the past when we used to review names manually during a time when we had very little inventory.

We only allow a limited number of keywords/ideas/categories to prevent keyword stuffing. This restriction helps keep listing quality high because it'll force us to think hard about the keywords/ideas/categories that accurately describe the name.

Sold 3 domains in Alter this week. Your team was very helpful @Deven Patel. Thank you.

Worlds.xyz sold for 6000 usd
Objects.xyz sold for 6000 usd
Funded.xyz sold for 2500 usd

Wow! Congrats on the continued success and thanks for your support. It's much appreciated. :)
 
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Thanks for you reply.

Most search results should already be related to the keyword the buyer is searching for. Just because the exact keyword isn't part of the domain doesn't mean it can't be used for a business in that industry.

Lets say i am an buyer, i come to you website an i make a search for crypto and blockchain ...what I get is practically the same repeated domains in both results...these results practically do not contain the word I was looking for..

Then I think, they don't have enough domains with "crypto" and "blockchain" keywords .. so bye.

- but wait, actually there are domains with these words but you algorithm has changed my search, push results I haven't asked for...." Just because the exact keyword isn't part of the domain doesn't mean it can't be used for a business in that industry. ".. who decide that?...why Blockchain+ ...is less indicated than "Brandable" if I am doing a search for the keyword (Blockchain)...

Is like search for an Nissan or Honda cars and get result for Toyota...wait .. they don't have Nissan?
 
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Lets say i am an buyer

Rest assured that everything we do prioritizes buyers. In fact, I made this point clear in the first post of this thread. From the beginning, our mission has always been to help entrepreneurs succeed. :)

I really appreciate your thoughts but it seems like you may have missed my point so let me try to clarify.

i come to you website an i make a search for crypto and blockchain ...what I get is practically the same repeated domains in both results...these results practically do not contain the word I was looking for..

Correct. This is how it's intended to work. Whether the buyer searches for "crypto" or "blockchain", they're essentially looking for a name for the same business. The only reason people have to use 20 search terms to find the right name at other marketplaces is because those places aren't innovative enough to give buyers what they want in one shot (i.e. it's the archaic Yahoo directory listing approach).

The average attention span of a website visitor today is less than 7 seconds. This means if we don't capture the buyer's attention within that timeframe then they'll bounce. This translates into buyers typically performing a single search and if they don't see what they like right away then they'll leave.

Unless they're super committed, they're not going to sit there and try every synonym or closely related word that they can think of. So just like Google's search algorithm, we've developed a smarter and simpler approach that gets the job done more efficiently while improving the buyer experience.

Again, here are the current results for the keyword "blockchain":

Broad Match: https://alter.com/names?q=blockchain
Strict Match: https://alter.com/names?q=blockchain&placement=contains

As a buyer, which results would you find more useful for your new blockchain company? Names like "Coinaco/com" and "Blockella/com" (broad match) OR names like "BlockChain-Z/com" or "Blockchainbank/one" (strict match)? Please be honest with yourself.

Then I think, they don't have enough domains with "crypto" and "blockchain" keywords .. so bye.

Correct. If we had enough quality names for those keywords, they would appear at the top even with broad match. The reason you don't see a lot of the names from strict match at the top is because they're low quality compared to what is actually shown right now.

but wait, actually there are domains with these words but you algorithm has changed my search, push results I haven't asked for...." Just because the exact keyword isn't part of the domain doesn't mean it can't be used for a business in that industry. ".. who decide that?

Buyers decide that. A lot of those results are pushed down because they're low quality. Even with strict match, most buyers wouldn't want them. The whole point of this is to show buyers what they're most likely to buy (i.e. improving their experience and increasing the probability of a sale).

Our smart search algorithm uses a number of factors to rank names based on buyer feedback. Everything from the domain's extension, length, price, brandability, popularity, and more is used to determine its rank. Just like the Google search algorithm, we continually adjust our algorithm over time based on buyer feedback to ensure an optimal experience and high STR. This means high quality names will continue to thrive while giving new listings an equal opportunity (just like SEO).

Also, note that it can often take a few days or weeks before a name finds it's true position in the results because the algo is continuously collecting and assessing new data for each individual name.

Is like search for an Nissan or Honda cars and get result for Toyota...wait .. they don't have Nissan?

That's not a great analogy. A better analogy would be if the buyer is looking to name their next car company, the results should show "Nissan", "Honda", and "Toyota" at the top rather than low quality names like "CarCompanySite", "MyCar100", and "Car-Me-Now" just because they contain the word "car".

Anyway, you shouldn't have to worry about your names not showing at the top even with broad match. If they're quality names, they will be shown. For example, see results for the keywords tech. Note how almost the entire top half of the page is full of names with the word "tech" in them. If they're not quality names, that's a different problem and I'm afraid no marketplace will be able to help you there.

Again, I truly appreciate your thoughts. If you or anyone else reading this post still thinks this is the wrong approach then please continue to share your feedback. As witnessed in the past, we have no problem changing our approach if it produces better results. Performance over pride! :)
 
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alter supports ppc landing pages just like dan integrates bodis?
 
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Yes, it is better to make all these fields optional, who needs them.
From my experience, the simpler lander - the better, don't overload the buyer's head.
Your system doesn't allow to remove all these keywords and ideas.
Also I don't need their autogeneration at all.

Categorization is not necessary as well.
It never worked @Sedo - and just waste of time.
 
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