4 Negativities Resulting from GoDaddy Search Domain Page

[namemarket]

Your opinions on this subject are very welcome. I get rare inquiries from my names reg'd at Godaddy via GD and even less from GD auctions. So i'm trying to figure out why and if there's a problem or issues so I type-in a few of my names without first logging-in and see this on page:

Sorry, word1word2.com is only available at auctions.

"Not up for a bidding war? How about one of these?"

Below that notice there's 5 unreg'd and similar names as low as 0.99c

So there's four significant issues here, imo.

Issue 1: There's no link to the auction on or near that first line, in fact did not see link to auctions anywhere on page. It should "say click-here to make offer at auctions"

Issue 2: Not Up For a Bidding War sounds to me very negative to potential buyers who may get the wrong impression there's really a bidding war on my name, to make price pumped-up and chance to buy it low.

Issue 3: Seeing all those easily available low cost alternatives makes an offer and sale less likely.

Issue 4: If logged in there's a button to Make Offer however if NOT logged-in there's no obvious way to make an offer and the bidding war nonsense is there. Why is that done so differently based on being logged in? I assume a lot of end users are not logged-in or may may not have a GD account making it even more negative.

 

[ecomslice]

+1

 

[dirk]

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.

 

[namemarket]

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.

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.

 

[namemarket]

..

 

[Ategy]

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.

 

[Joe Styler]

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.

 

[Paul Nicks]

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.

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.

 

[offthehandle]

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.

 

[namemarket]

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.

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

 

[namemarket]

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

 

[creataweb]

 

[Paul Nicks]

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.

 

[equity78]

Wow it does say not up for a bidding war.

 

[equity78]

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.

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.

 

[Paul Nicks]

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.

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=...).

 

[Internet.Domains]

How do I get a $ .99 promo code?

 

[dirk]

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.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

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=...).

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..."

 

[dirk]

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..."

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?"