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I've had about 3 weeks so far with very low Afternic sales, which was quite odd. I've finally untangled it.
Here is what I've found and concluded so far (note, for domains I want to clear next):
- The $299 price point has pretty much stopped for me during August. Yes I have a ton of those so it was quite odd.
I believe there are 2 factors at play here, either 1) summer slump and more importantly, 2) price push by buyers. OR both.
It seems that our buyers have spent hard lately - so they could still spare 2 benjamins
on a domain but not more, God forbid that. This IS good to know. Noted.
Edit: I suspect this will change during September and later as more money will be available in the average Joe's pocket.
- The $199 price point is now working well. I have reasons to suspect that it previously stopping working was not an systemic thing (which I thought, wrongly) but rather that I've selected only the worst names in my list and unsurprisingly they did not sell. Also $299 was not selling much recently for me, but see above point why. (expecting changes next).
- The $199 price point IS still syndicated among Afternic partners. This is important. Or at least for me, test yours.
I've used Name.com and Namecheap.com for this, as these partners also show domain price in their listings. My domains show alright there, even at $199.
It depends on the actual search system if it's not an exact match, so users will be presented with that as an option. I've tested exact match for now.
Edit: Also tested on GoDaddy auctions, and the domains show well even at substring / non exact match. It's below the more expensive ones but it is listed. And price was $199 with no markup (they sometimes add something on top if you didn't knew).
- Strangely enough, Namecheap shows $195 for my $199 domain! So they are actually pricing it more aggressively by taking some of their cut out and eating a $4 loss from the sale.
Very nice I'd say. Anyway this is just a side story, not every platform out there will do this, but rather the contrary.
- Name.com adds about $20+ markup on the price. Now don't get upset about that - at all. This is normal with Afternic; most of their resellers do add something to the end price for themselves. I've also seen this at GoDaddy for some of my domains listed via Afternic. Generally it's not much, it can be up to 10% and it differs from domain to domain. As we have all our prices, domain reseller platforms also have their pricing as well, hence the different markup.
- Unfortunately I don't have any domains less than $199 listed right now so I can't tell at this moment what happens. If someone can do testing on this, please let us know.
But what I can tell is that the $75, $99, $100 and $149 points have not been working for me. I don't know why exactly but I assume they are not syndicated anymore. It would however require a lot of testing to see what's what and where it goes. Side note $75 was my bread and butter for clearances in the past, but it stopped last autumn. That is definitely a systemic change at Afternic.
- I've also concluded as per my names, that $199 is the best way to clear.
I tried using Sedo and $20 as well but nothing sold. Thing is, even if you sell some, given the Sedo cut, it would be much more difficult to earn the same money from adding $10 + $10 or whatever rather than $199. So as I said in the past, rather use $199 and Afternic for clearances if possible instead of clearing on NP ( .coms getting a few bucks...) or other places where you sell for $10 (way too cheap).
- I sometimes get things sold at Dynadot marketplace by pricing $10 to $75. Test yours. It's not much but it counts. But make sure you don't have BIN elsewhere; I've had double sales at all marketplaces TWICE (Afternic, Dan Sedo) and they been so kind for not kicking me out but I really don't need the third strike. When you have many names priced in the below $300 range, chances for double sale at the same time are huge.
- Due to the above, I only use Afternic at this point and also listing on Sedo. My landers also redirect to afternic (e.g. afternic.com/makeoffer/yourdomainhere.com) . I don't care about the extra $11 or so in the fees, it worked best for me.
- I've tried clearing at Dan for $100 BIN on many names. Unlike the past, this doesn't work anymore. I don't think Dan is to blame for this; at all. Rather something changed with the buyers.
Because I've tested the same price at Afternic via the landers for plenty of names, and buyers definitely saw that price point but never touched it.
- It is possible that the $100 at this time suggests such a crappy domain that buyers don't want it. Indeed, any domain that is worth something is listed right now for at least 200. At the $100 price point is just rubbish.
Edit: Can't use Dan at $75 or less anymore, and I think it's been a mistake from their part to limit domains at $100 min. But it is their decision as they know best for themselves.
- If your domain is worth more than $299, I would suggest using this price level - still. But if it is indeed weak, I'd use $199.
- $199 doesn't currently work for .xyz and .co. I know this cause I have literally thousands listed from each. $299 works for both. I'm gonna do a split test again in September but for the moment I still recommend $299 (edit: corrected).
- For clearing .org and .nets of lower value, use $199. It worked nicely. $299 is probably the right choice for .coms.
Finally for newbies that dunno what the thing is with the price range:
Under $300 is the price range called market range. This is where most sales are done (numerically). Above that you get into retail pricing. So if you have many names but less 4-fig material you can try selling your names in this range. For example $499 or $450 never worked for me, its right in between $300 and $1k. But $788 works sometimes. So... it's also in the eye of the beholder.
Good luck selling, and if you have any questions or info, please comment. Thanks!
(edited for clarity)
Here is what I've found and concluded so far (note, for domains I want to clear next):
- The $299 price point has pretty much stopped for me during August. Yes I have a ton of those so it was quite odd.
I believe there are 2 factors at play here, either 1) summer slump and more importantly, 2) price push by buyers. OR both.
It seems that our buyers have spent hard lately - so they could still spare 2 benjamins
on a domain but not more, God forbid that. This IS good to know. Noted.
Edit: I suspect this will change during September and later as more money will be available in the average Joe's pocket.
- The $199 price point is now working well. I have reasons to suspect that it previously stopping working was not an systemic thing (which I thought, wrongly) but rather that I've selected only the worst names in my list and unsurprisingly they did not sell. Also $299 was not selling much recently for me, but see above point why. (expecting changes next).
- The $199 price point IS still syndicated among Afternic partners. This is important. Or at least for me, test yours.
I've used Name.com and Namecheap.com for this, as these partners also show domain price in their listings. My domains show alright there, even at $199.
It depends on the actual search system if it's not an exact match, so users will be presented with that as an option. I've tested exact match for now.
Edit: Also tested on GoDaddy auctions, and the domains show well even at substring / non exact match. It's below the more expensive ones but it is listed. And price was $199 with no markup (they sometimes add something on top if you didn't knew).
- Strangely enough, Namecheap shows $195 for my $199 domain! So they are actually pricing it more aggressively by taking some of their cut out and eating a $4 loss from the sale.
Very nice I'd say. Anyway this is just a side story, not every platform out there will do this, but rather the contrary.
- Name.com adds about $20+ markup on the price. Now don't get upset about that - at all. This is normal with Afternic; most of their resellers do add something to the end price for themselves. I've also seen this at GoDaddy for some of my domains listed via Afternic. Generally it's not much, it can be up to 10% and it differs from domain to domain. As we have all our prices, domain reseller platforms also have their pricing as well, hence the different markup.
- Unfortunately I don't have any domains less than $199 listed right now so I can't tell at this moment what happens. If someone can do testing on this, please let us know.
But what I can tell is that the $75, $99, $100 and $149 points have not been working for me. I don't know why exactly but I assume they are not syndicated anymore. It would however require a lot of testing to see what's what and where it goes. Side note $75 was my bread and butter for clearances in the past, but it stopped last autumn. That is definitely a systemic change at Afternic.
- I've also concluded as per my names, that $199 is the best way to clear.
I tried using Sedo and $20 as well but nothing sold. Thing is, even if you sell some, given the Sedo cut, it would be much more difficult to earn the same money from adding $10 + $10 or whatever rather than $199. So as I said in the past, rather use $199 and Afternic for clearances if possible instead of clearing on NP ( .coms getting a few bucks...) or other places where you sell for $10 (way too cheap).
- I sometimes get things sold at Dynadot marketplace by pricing $10 to $75. Test yours. It's not much but it counts. But make sure you don't have BIN elsewhere; I've had double sales at all marketplaces TWICE (Afternic, Dan Sedo) and they been so kind for not kicking me out but I really don't need the third strike. When you have many names priced in the below $300 range, chances for double sale at the same time are huge.
- Due to the above, I only use Afternic at this point and also listing on Sedo. My landers also redirect to afternic (e.g. afternic.com/makeoffer/yourdomainhere.com) . I don't care about the extra $11 or so in the fees, it worked best for me.
- I've tried clearing at Dan for $100 BIN on many names. Unlike the past, this doesn't work anymore. I don't think Dan is to blame for this; at all. Rather something changed with the buyers.
Because I've tested the same price at Afternic via the landers for plenty of names, and buyers definitely saw that price point but never touched it.
- It is possible that the $100 at this time suggests such a crappy domain that buyers don't want it. Indeed, any domain that is worth something is listed right now for at least 200. At the $100 price point is just rubbish.
Edit: Can't use Dan at $75 or less anymore, and I think it's been a mistake from their part to limit domains at $100 min. But it is their decision as they know best for themselves.
- If your domain is worth more than $299, I would suggest using this price level - still. But if it is indeed weak, I'd use $199.
- $199 doesn't currently work for .xyz and .co. I know this cause I have literally thousands listed from each. $299 works for both. I'm gonna do a split test again in September but for the moment I still recommend $299 (edit: corrected).
- For clearing .org and .nets of lower value, use $199. It worked nicely. $299 is probably the right choice for .coms.
Finally for newbies that dunno what the thing is with the price range:
Under $300 is the price range called market range. This is where most sales are done (numerically). Above that you get into retail pricing. So if you have many names but less 4-fig material you can try selling your names in this range. For example $499 or $450 never worked for me, its right in between $300 and $1k. But $788 works sometimes. So... it's also in the eye of the beholder.
Good luck selling, and if you have any questions or info, please comment. Thanks!
(edited for clarity)
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