discuss A Wake-Up Call for the Domain Industry

[Haroon Basha]

It’s truly alarming to see a respected domainer like @AbdulBasit.com stepping away from the Afternic marketplace. This is not just an isolated decision — it’s a reflection of the growing frustration and despair among small and mid-level domainers.

The domain industry is going through a deeply troubling phase. Costs are shooting up. Everywhere. And honestly, it’s getting harder and harder for small domainers to stay in the game. Costs are spiraling out of control on every front:

• High registration and renewal charges are eating into profits.
• Transfer fees have become another unwelcome burden.
• Marketplace commissions are touching unbearable levels, often exceeding what’s fair or sustainable. Commissions have shot up — and it feels like there’s no ceiling anymore.
• And to make matters worse, PayPal’s usury-like transaction fees are cutting even deeper into already thin margins.

For small domainers trying to survive, these rising costs make the business increasingly unviable. Honestly, the domain industry’s taking a beating these days — fees everywhere, and nothing seems to slow down. The once “merry and cherry” days of domain investing — when fair prices, reasonable commissions, and transparent systems gave us hope — seem to be long gone. I’ve been in this business for 20 years, and I’ve never seen so many domainers feeling this helpless.

Unless marketplaces and payment processors take meaningful action to reduce commissions and charges, the domain community risks losing its diversity and spirit. In my view, unless these marketplaces reduce commissions, small domainers like us don’t stand a chance. Only the biggest players will survive, while the small independent investors — the true backbone of this industry — will be thrown out.

It’s time for the entire domaining community to raise its voice for fairer policies and a sustainable future. It’s high time we all spoke up. Something’s got to change — and soon. Otherwise, we’re all just watching the industry we love slip away.

What’s your take on this situation? Are other domainers facing the same pressure?

 

[Nathan K]

Commission remained at 15% for me like for others. But they took away "Verified Domain" or "Premium Domain" thing and some other features and labeled as nonsense Boost which does nothing more than charging us 5% additional fee. I never enabled the nonsense Boost until I was with Afternic. Also, one of the bad things is that if you use any other lander and still sell a domain via GD/Afternic, then you pay additional 10% fee which I consider it as a punishment fee of going elsewhere.

Those were the 2 major reasons for leaving Afternic along with several others.

Overall, it was a great experience using them and I enjoyed the support I received from the brokers and my rep.

Back in the day, GoDaddy Premium Listings charged 30% commission. This was how you sold domains directly through the registrar (prior to integration with Afternic).

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

Back in the day, GoDaddy Premium Listings charged 30% commission. This was how you sold domains directly through the registrar (prior to integration with Afternic).

As far as I can recall, the max I've ever paid any company is 20%. And I'll never pay anyone again 20% or more. And since I'm going to handle the leads myself, there won't be any more commission to be paid.

Any buyer willing to use GoDaddy checkout or any other escrow service, they'll be bearing the escrow fees like I've always done except in very rare cases where there is split between both parties.

 

[Nathan K]

As far as I can recall, the max I've ever paid any company is 20%. And I'll never pay anyone again 20% or more. And since I'm going to handle the leads myself, there won't be any more commission to be paid.

I don't blame you. When operating at scale, it makes a lot of sense to handle it in-house.


Regarding historic pricing, a DNW article from 2013 reads:

Afternic’s commission is 20%, which is lower than the 30% GoDaddy charges for Premium Listings.

And in 2014, following Afternic's integration with GoDaddy:

If you currently list domain names for sale on GoDaddy Premium Listings, moving them to Afternic Premium is a no-brainer. You’ll get more sales distribution at a lower commission rate (30% vs. 20%).

Prior to that, GoDaddy Premium Listings were how you got your domains listed for sale at GoDaddy. I always increased my prices by 30% so I could still benefit from the reach.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

I don't blame you. When operating at scale, it makes a lot of sense to handle it in-house.


Regarding historic pricing, a DNW article from 2013 reads:


And in 2014, following Afternic's integration with GoDaddy:


Prior to that, GoDaddy Premium Listings were how you got your domains listed for sale at GoDaddy. I always increased my prices by 30% so I could still benefit from the reach.

The maximum I've paid is 20% to Afternic when their minimum was 20%.
After they lowered their minimum to 15%, I already planned that if they'll change it to 20% I would've left it earlier.

 

[alcy]

I was just commenting on his thread

I thought he just changing landers

its completely insane to use 15 to 30 fee landers when u can use np or bodis or just your stupid email address then add afternic lead 5percent

after being told he also removed all names from afternic networks
... and sedo too I think.. imo and with respect I consider this to be no less than domain suicide. sales wise.

I urge all people and newbies to never attempt this at home.

all best to all

 

[JB Lions]

I was just commenting on his thread

I thought he just changing landers

its completely insane to use 15 to 30 fee landers when u can use np or bodis or just your stupid email address then add afternic lead 5percent

after being told he also removed all names from afternic networks
... and sedo too I think.. imo and with respect I consider this to be no less than domain suicide. sales wise.

I urge all people and newbies to never attempt this at home.

all best to all

Generally agree.

I like experiments like this, testing different ways out. I guess more details in the next blog post.

But again generally, if you want more sales:

Priced domains will get more than Make Offer

Lease To Own option will get you more sales - easy way to get more sales, many still don't do this basic thing

Your domain in the registrar path will get more sales

Obviously, a decent landing page.

I'm not aware of cases where less eyeballs = more sales.

Will be interesting to see the results

 

[alcy]

Generally agree.

I like experiments like this, testing different ways out. I guess more details in the next blog post.

But again generally, if you want more sales:

Priced domains will get more than Make Offer

Lease To Own option will get you more sales - easy way to get more sales, many still don't do this basic thing

Your domain in the registrar path will get more sales

Obviously, a decent landing page.

I'm not aware of cases where less eyeballs = more sales.

Will be interesting to see the results

agreed
I would also add that all this becomes 10 times more crucial when generally sales are down for many or most. which I'm sure is more than just my opinion. and for past few years now.

well i also didnt get feeling from our friend this is a sort of experiment. more like permanent change after maybe a longterm previous experiment. but.. then again I guess anything in life where we can with a click just revert to previous stdates can probably be called... well... just another experiment

 

[bmugford]

I disagree with your point. On GoDaddy’s domain search page, their so-called AI suggestions are completely random, and they never show second-hand domains other than .com — even when I’ve already set Afternic’s DNS, such as for geng.xyz. I own over a thousand domains, and I still can’t figure out their logic.
Show attachment 285451

Yeah, this has been an issue.

They want an extra commission for "Boost", but are really only boosting crap.

They are getting paid by registries to promote junk extensions, while at the same time domains listed on Afternic take up a tiny percentage of the total recommendations.

The value proposition for "Boost" is non-existent for the average domain owner.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1940973979961118804

 

[marijuanadomain]

It is a rip off to charge 30%>>>fees

Without our domains ,they are nothing.
As a matter of fact, they should be paying us to use our domains.
Without Messi, Ronaldo and other soccer players,there won’t be World Cup
Without the tennis pros,there won’t be grand slams..

They show no respect to us

 

[Brother Bob]

You mean like NamePros 0% commission and NO fee's landing pages that let you customize them and monetize them yourself?

I've personally generated $400 in revenue with them in the last few months, so it amazes me more people aren't using them or at least testing them out to see if they will work for them.

Hi Eric, it's only free for vips and gold members 0% commissions, as other members can't customize. Can you make it happen for the blue account holder?

 

[marijuanadomain]

Hi Eric, it's only free for vips and gold members 0% commissions, as other members can't customize. Can you make it happen for the blue account holder?

What the procedures to set up domains at NP?

 

[Brother Bob]

What the procedures to set up domains at NP?

It's quite simple,

https://www.namepros.com/parking


https://www.namepros.com/threads/na...-com-integration-and-much-more.1324080/unread


https://www.namepros.com/threads/free-simple-landing-pages-by-NamePros.1168019/

 

[Eric Lyon]

Hi Eric, it's only free for vips and gold members 0% commissions, as other members can't customize.

Why not upgrade for 1 month to land a batch, then cancel subscription? It's not like your landers will revert back to basic when you cancel. They'll stay the way you customized them.

Then, if you decide you want to add or subtract customization later, upgrade for a month again.

Most portfolio holders should be able to dedicate a 30 day subscription and get all their domains landed on NamePros in that time, if not much sooner.

Tweaking as you go while tracking may require a longer subscription time, but for tossing up some quick customization and monetization, I don't see why you couldn't hammer it out in 1 month.

Maybe once you make a sale or generate revenue with a lander, you could reinvest into a longer subscription time?

I pay for both; Gold and Blue subscriptions, even though I have VIP and Pro status, because that's how much value I get out of NamePros year after year and happy to give back to it.

 

[Brother Bob]

Currently I'm having 11,000+ domains and I forgot to mention in my original post that I've delisted all my domains at Afternic and Sedo so the buyers will have only option to contact via WHOIS or the lander. So there will be no distribution network sales via Afternic/Sedo partner registrars.

This is very strange! How do you renew such a large number of domains yearly!

 

[bmugford]

This is very strange! How do you renew such a large number of domains yearly!

You have sales to justify it.

The math really works the same whether you have 1k domains or 100k domains.

Large portfolios were normally created over long periods of time.

Buy. Sell. Reinvest. Repeat.

Brad

 

[marijuanadomain]

This is very strange! How do you renew such a large number of domains yearly!

Easy. All it takes is money

 

[phaethon]

I think it's a matter of time before Abdul returns to Afternic. HD have millions names and a more known and trusted brand than the Abdul Basit brand and they are back. Media Options also said at some point that their sales dropped significantly when they left Afternic.
You pay commission for trust mostly, there have never been so many scams on the internet than today.

 

[Future Sensors]

I think it's a matter of time before Abdul returns to Afternic. HD have millions names and a more known and trusted brand then the Abdul Basit brand and they are back.

HugeDomains operates under a tailor‑made agreement with Afternic, not standard seller terms like AbdulBasit's, and we don't have insight into the preferential conditions they receive.

 

[Brother Bob]

You have sales to justify it.

The math really works the same whether you have 1k domains or 100k domains.

Large portfolios were normally created over long periods of time.

Buy. Sell. Reinvest. Repeat.

Brad

I was wondering!

What happens if there are no sales in a yr? I can recall many years ago, around 1999 or 2000, when I owned just 100 domains. At that time, I was also employed elsewhere. During periods of no sales, I had to rely on my business or work salary.
Then, I returned 7yrs ago and began using my G-AdSense earnings to cover renewals. I only started seeing sales about a month ago.

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

This is very strange! How do you renew such a large number of domains yearly!

All my domains are renewed at least 1 year in advance. My priority is to renew them one year in advance and it tooks years of hard work to reach at this level.