Afternic - Is it worth paying for an account?

[Pound]

I currently have my domains listed for sale at SEDO and I was wondering if it is worth paying the fee for Afternic as well?

Does anyone here have any experiences with afternic and with a portfolio of roughly 80 domains, would Afternic be a good 'investment'?

 

[HcDomains]

Searching in NP and you would find the answer is NO

 

[dotnom]

You don't have to search a lot as infoicq said the answer is a big red caps NO

 

[acc]

More exposure for your names trumps one bad experience

gooster,
My answer is absolutely - YES -
1. Selling anything requires getting your product or service in front of customers. A good domain name like real estate is location, location, location and selling it requires exposure, exposure, exposure. Afternic is one of the largest domain brokerage sites available to show your names. Why would you give up the opportunity to show your names to more potential buyers?
2. The $20 or so per year is a minimal fee to pay relative to the average selling price of just one domain name. One should have a fair number of names to list to improve the odds that someone is actively looking for one of your names so that you can make a sale. If you have one or two names and you have pay a fee to list them then it does not make sense (unless I suppose that they are very, very, very nice marketable names). But your group of 80 names equates to about 25 cents per name per year. The difference between renewal fees at different registrars or regular reg fees vs sales reg fees can more than cover that.
3. It seems to me many posts I've read relate a bad escrow or bidding experience or for example the recent banning of gambling, and adult themed names as a reason to avoid or flee from Afternic. "Potential profits be dam*ed, I've got to take a stand", they infer. Step back, take another look, and save that protest energy for more important issues. To let a pet pieve stand in the way of making a profit in this - your supposed line of business if you are selling names - is shortsighted IMO. Sure I've had to resubmit names that are initially dropped in error due to Afternic's automated newly-found zeal to cleanse the site of vice domains. (sportsscores.us now that was adult themed ...) I get over it after a couple under-the-breath expletives while I fire off an email asking for reconsideration. They are reasonable about it.
4. Business is business, act like a business by advertising where you can and you will make sales if the goods are, well good. You can sell names on both Afternic and SEDO, both have big audiences of buyers, tire kickers, and name voyeurs. Because of the structured, handholding escrow process at the big brokers (geared towards non-domainers) it can be slow as molasses compared to the on-on-one lightning fast transactions you can enjoy here at NP. But those are retail prices more often than not that provide a better profit.
Best of luck with your names. (improve your "luck" by listing where you can)

 

[Pound]

Thank you everyone, particularly acc for such an informative post. I will decide over the next few days as to whether I give it a try or not.

 

[cache]

I don't have enough names, so I only bought tdnam

 

[floatingworld]

since the annual fee comes with some gratis bazaar bucks the headline fee is in reality cheaper.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Yes.
There are currently some negative feelings regarding afternic choosing not to list adult/gambling names, but don't let that dissuade you from giving your names more exposure in a solid domain selling platform. (Possibly even more so now that Afternic has been bought by Name Media (BuyDomains) ).
-Allan

 

[danielr]

It would be a terrible mistake to pay for membership fee's at afternic.

1. Everyone (who has any sense) is not renewing their membership.. including myself.

2. You have to compete against BuyDomains names to get found for sales.
Please look at the screenshot that I identified the BuyDomain names to show how afternic does favortism towards BuyDomains.

http://warehousedomains.com/afternic-screenshot.jpg

now I did a search on afternic for the keyword "domain" and what suprises me is stupid names like ahdomains.com shows up higher than the name CheapDomains.com. It does not get any clearer than this.

3. If you want to sell your names, then put a "for sale banner" on the parked page. That is the easiers way to sell your domain. I have sold many names by doing this method and this gives me direct communication with the buyer without any escrow interferance. When you agree on the price then you can decide what form of escrow and I have had the best success with Escrow.com and I have been splitting the escrow fees with the buyer.

 

[goodkarmaco]

Choosing the future of the domain business.

Every one seems honest in their commitment to support the domain business when it asks for support, such as the Verizon debate.

Why not stand up for the domain profession by showing you are insulted that Afernic, a prominent domain leader has taken it upon itself to label domain owners who own certain names. Names that are decent and reflect perfectly legal activities as described by the censored names.

It is not a good example of respect to call owners of millions of domain names, not of the high moral standards of the industry. We don't need companies who want to sell us out. We want folks who are in our corner, and they will come out when asked to defend our rights as domain professionals.

Can we lend support to a major industry company that callously fumbles the ball on us?. I see no reason to.

Your choice if joining them is to help them get stronger and stronger and take more and more of your free choice domain picks away. If you pay for the membership, or park your names or put all your names with them for sale, you are saying it is o.k. to slap domainers around, not literally of course.

I say free choice domain names because if companies like Afternic get anymore hold on, or if they influence other companies to follow their actions with this kind of domain inspection, you will not have very many choices.

Nice try Afternic, but sorry I don't buy it.

Certainly it is your choice sir, but my hope is you will choose not to give any support to Afternic for their recent actions. That is the only way our economic future will be assured.

 

[acc]

I keep making mistakes cashing checks from Afternic sales

It would be a terrible mistake to pay for membership fee's at afternic. 1. Everyone (who has any sense) is not renewing their membership.. including myself.

Don't get taken in by a few posts by the disgruntled. If the "everyone(s) who has(ve) any sense" want to give up more exposure to those of us without any business sense at all, that's fine. I think it makes perfect sense to keep cashing Afternic checks after selling names there. The small $20 "mistake" gets covered by the first sale.

2. You have to compete against BuyDomains names to get found for sales.

Interesting point. This one needs some investigation. Any more comments or is there already another thread dealing with this topic? Buyers do see the first page of results of a search first but I bet serious buyers sort through multiple pages to get the best buy and the right name.
However, if the name is a single word or generic enough it will most likely show up at the top of the list. There's nothing like a good dictionary term.

3. If you want to sell your names, then put a "for sale banner" on the parked page.

This is a good idea too but not mutually exclusive from also listing the names at Afternic and SEDO. You can do both. Just by listing your names at either or both, people know they're for sale and you might earn a little parking revenue while you wait for someone to buy your names. Even if a name is listed at Afternic or SEDO, some buyers will still contact you via whois info anyway.

 

[sker]

Heya Danny,

I'm Surprised to hear this comment from you. I always thought you were Afternic flag bearer.

I should agree with your suggestion on putting "For Sale Banner" on parked page.

I received more offers on Fabulous parking page than on Sedo. For the reason i realise Sedo's "For Sale" title isn't very bold.

Speaking about afternic, they're increasing membership fees every year... though i just made a sale there recently through referral.

I don't want to comdemn nor condone Afternic for their membership fee and favouritism but the recent acquisation by BuyDomain's parent company will BuyDomain an unfair advantage

V

It would be a terrible mistake to pay for membership fee's at afternic.

1. Everyone (who has any sense) is not renewing their membership.. including myself.

2. You have to compete against BuyDomains names to get found for sales.
Please look at the screenshot that I identified the BuyDomain names to show how afternic does favortism towards BuyDomains.

http://warehousedomains.com/afternic-screenshot.jpg

now I did a search on afternic for the keyword "domain" and what suprises me is stupid names like ahdomains.com shows up higher than the name CheapDomains.com. It does not get any clearer than this.

3. If you want to sell your names, then put a "for sale banner" on the parked page. That is the easiers way to sell your domain. I have sold many names by doing this method and this gives me direct communication with the buyer without any escrow interferance. When you agree on the price then you can decide what form of escrow and I have had the best success with Escrow.com and I have been splitting the escrow fees with the buyer.

 

[gingeman]

Whether you agree or not with their listing policies and the buydomains favouritism, the company is large enough to bring decent exposure to your names. If you are serious about making money in this business, $20 shouldn't be a figure you are quibbling over for the chance to sell your names IMHO.

 

[Archangel]

I currently have my domains listed for sale at SEDO and I was wondering if it is worth paying the fee for Afternic as well?

Does anyone here have any experiences with afternic and with a portfolio of roughly 80 domains, would Afternic be a good 'investment'?

Easy answer: Maybe. Let's all be realistic here: If you have moderately good domains -- over early $xxx each -- then it might be worth a shot. If you have sucky domains (example: HotFreeGoodNow.ws) then no, you'll just be wasting your time and money. Only mess with Afternic if your portfolio has decent domains in them -- decent in the eyes of buyers, not in yours. You may love HotFreeGoodNow.ws but it's worthless and not worth listing on Afternic. If a crappy domain like that sells for $60 on SEDO auction, be thankful.

 

[nrmillions]

If you want to sell .mobi names then afternic is probably worth having since they dont charge $150 minimum commission like sedo does. Also spending $20 for a membership is nothing if you want to be in domaining. If you cant afford the $20 then this is the wrong business anyway.

 

[NameClerk]

I renew just so I can access the Afternic Bazaar. To me, the Bazaar alone is worth the price of admission.

http://bazaar.afternic.com

It's a great place to sell and buy domains under $400.

-Bill
%%-

 

[zachary0611]

i would have signed up with them but the membership fee discouraged me

 

[fonzie_007]

I personally feel Afternic does not deliver value for me. My membership is up for renewal tomorrow and I am letting it expire. In my experience, there are very few domains that are listed at Afternic, that aren't at Sedo. Plus, Afternic is now owned by NameMedia (BuyDomains) and I consider their business model unethical (offering far less than what a domain is worth, e.g. $25 for a lll.com domain http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...d-25-for-a-lll-com.html?highlight=$25+lll.com)

 

[Archangel]

I personally feel Afternic does not deliver value for me. My membership is up for renewal tomorrow and I am letting it expire. In my experience, there are very few domains that are listed at Afternic, that aren't at Sedo. Plus, Afternic is now owned by NameMedia (BuyDomains) and I consider their business model unethical (offering far less than what a domain is worth, e.g. $25 for a lll.com domain http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...d-25-for-a-lll-com.html?highlight=$25+lll.com)

I plan to let mine expire. I don't have any domains in my Afternic and I don't plan to put any in it.

 

[Dutch]

I wouldn't hesitate one second. Certainly worth that small amount if you have any names worth putting up for sale! I currently have my names parked at Sedo, but Afternic actually has quite a few advantages over Sedo:

- better portfolio management
- better traffic statistics
- easier and much faster (direct) negotiations with potential buyers
- much quicker (and on average more professional) response to emails
- more visits to sale details pages (looks like their search function works better than Sedo's)