news Alter ceasing operations

Mkt Sales Leads · Mar 19, 2022

Email received today:

Farewell

Hi there,
First and foremost, I would like to thank each and every one of you for using Alter to sell your domain names. We couldn't have come this far without your invaluable support.
Over the last couple years we've been on a mission to transform the domain industry. However, despite all our attempts we weren't able to find a sustainable business model. So it is with a heavy heart I write to you today to say farewell.
On April 2nd, all third-party domain listings will be removed from our marketplace. Seller accounts will remain active for the foreseeable future so those with a positive balance or pending installments can continue to cash out.
Lastly, we realize this decision wouldn't be fair to sellers who spent money to have professional logos designed on our platform. So we have refunded all relevant payments back to your account balance which can be cashed out at any time.
We truly wish you all the best in your future endeavors. It’s unfortunate that this wasn’t the outcome we wanted but we’re thankful to everyone that came with us on the journey.

Sincerely,
Deven Patel
Founder & CEO

DotKing · Mar 20, 2022

Forgive me if I'm wrong but there's no statement that service/business is closing.
In a nutshell it says just "On April 2nd, all third-party domain listings will be removed from our marketplace." and "farewell".
They will probably operate as a private service with their own inventory...imo

lock · Mar 20, 2022

DotKing said:
Forgive me if I'm wrong but there's no statement that service/business is closing.
In a nutshell it says just "On April 2nd, all third-party domain listings will be removed from our marketplace." and "farewell".
They will probably operate as a private service with their own inventory...imo

As a new model they lose all the content that probably brings the traffic.

paxy · Mar 20, 2022

MadAboutDomains said:
The website should have been a load balancer, a nosql table, a relational database of some kind, 2 docker containers and an elasticsearch instance for the domain search. $200 USD a month tops.

It's all pretty much static data.

there's a difference between website and business. You can start a marketplace website in no time on two Digitalocean droplets with total vowt of $10/mo, but operating a business is slightly different.

Looking at Alter's current business:
- you need a developer to build and maintain marketplace platform
- you need designers on retainer, as no sane designer would agree to design custom logo for $10
- you need support employees to answer inquiries
- you need to pay taxes, accountant, salaries to all of those plus most important

you need to make money. So if you're willing to do all that by yourself feel free to do so if you think it's that easy

paxy · Mar 20, 2022

lock said:
As a new model they lose all the content that probably brings the traffic.

My assumptions are that some domain investors are trying to buy Alter.com for their own portfolios, and not sure if they did already, but I just got it touch with Mr. Patel and if he's willing to sell Alter.com Inc as a whole business, I'll be acquiring it and probably leave things as is for some time, but I do have different vision for it, still in domaining industry.

DotKing · Mar 20, 2022

lock said:
As a new model they lose all the content that probably brings the traffic.

if that traffic does not justify operating costs that's a logical move

paxy · Mar 20, 2022

@DotKing Yes if you're entrepreneur focused purely on profit purely. If I get a chance to buy Alter.com Inc (business), I'm going to keep things as is (focus on market growth short-term).

Money Consultation · Mar 20, 2022

I just visited this website, I like the brand Alter. com but a website doesn't looks good as brandbucket.

DotKing · Mar 20, 2022

F.E. said:
Yes if you're entrepreneur focused purely on profit purely. If I get a chance to buy Alter.com Inc (business), I'm going to keep things as is (focus on market growth short-term)

I didn't like their decision to allow free listing of any domain.
Quality went downhill...

paxy · Mar 20, 2022

That's the one way of making alter succeed (opening inclusive domain marketplace such as Dan, Afternic and others), but their marketing execution was bad to start with.

"Business name generator" doesn't mean domain name marketplace at any certain aspect, so I believe marketing is misleading (unintentionally).

Second aspect of success is to start cleaning up marketplace and make it premium brandable, which is also nice place for success considering number of backlinks from reputable domains (forbes, TWP, Yahoo, and others).

Money Consultation · Mar 20, 2022

F.E. said:
"Business name generator" doesn't mean domain name marketplace at any certain aspect, so I believe marketing is misleading (unintentionally).

I posted about this on another thread..

Bob Hawkes · Mar 20, 2022

I was very sad to get the email.

I found Alter did well so many things, and loved their landers. They were innovative, approaching what is possible with an open mind, and nimble in trying new things. Half of my portfolio, and the majority of my brandable type names, is at Alter landers.

Beyond that, @Deven Patel is an honourable, smart and classy guy. Especially in early stages, he interacted with NamePros members and implemented many suggestions.

There is so much influence in a few large players, and inertia in our industry. A new player breaking in is tough.

I wish @Deven Patel the very best going forward.

Bob

paxy · Mar 20, 2022

For something that started only 4 years ago, this is very quick closure, especially when Alter already has 34k domains hosted (according to DomainTools).

There are several issues with Alter's market execution, but I'm certain that this business would be a long-term success with proper strategy and proper execution.

Mkt Sales Leads · Mar 20, 2022

Bob Hawkes said:
There is so much influence in a few large players, and inertia in our industry. A new player breaking in is tough.

I wish @Deven Patel the very best going forward.

Bob

Also, when a new entrant comes along and does succeed, they get swallowed up by the bigger competitor, e.g. just like when BB bought Brandroot.

Until there's a successful, disruptive competitor in the brandable space, BB and SH will continue taking huge chunks of commission, plus paid listing /booster / token fees.

OnlineDomainShop · Mar 20, 2022

I am sad alter has to shut down , alter.com can be next big thing for alt coins

King · Mar 20, 2022

Meh, they were never able to simply make their logo an SVG which would make the website look a lot more professional even after I told them. Says a lot about their capabilities.

marijuanadomain · Mar 20, 2022

It is nice and courteous that he informs his clients not like VOODOO

Voodoo just MIA without any trace and "Stole" our money

paxy · Mar 20, 2022

There's still a hope for Alter. More soon

Alex Solomon · Mar 20, 2022

So painful to me as my last sale last month was from Alter lander... I hope things get better soon..

Charybdis · Mar 20, 2022

F.E. said:
There's still a hope for Alter. More soon

Are you buying it? But sellers are already leaving the platform, if they want to sell the whole thing, then this farewell email was not a good idea.

paxy · Mar 20, 2022

Charybdis said:
Are you buying it? But sellers are already leaving the platform, if they want to sell the whole thing, then this farewell email was not a good idea.

hopefully, I am.

Actually, it's beneficial for me (sellers leaving) as I'll have to decide on whether Alter will be general domain marketplace or just brandable. At this current state it's marketed as brandable, but execution is general marketplace, which doesn't help at all because:
- if I decide to stay on brandable domain marketplace, I'll have to review and probably remove bunch of existing listings, or
- if I decide it's going to be general domain marketplace, I'll have to change front-end (search results, recommendations, marketing side etc) completely.

Once I review everything from a business perspective and start the process, Namepros will be first to know Alter's future roadmap.

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