Afternic launches the lead center beta

[TangoTango]

https://www.godaddy.com/garage/afternic-launches-the-lead-center/

 

[phaethon]

Hey, guys, what's your experience so far?
Over 90% of enquiries seem to be going nowhere. Lead created, the agent tries to contact the buyer, chases the buyer for a while, then stalled status. I only had two sales out of 35 enquiries. My prices are normal 2K-5K.

I'm just wondering if the NS5 is more effective at this point. You get the sale directly instead of checking the lead center for leads that 95% of times go nowhere.

Lastly, anyone had a LTO sale?

 

[AEProgram]

Hey, guys, what's your experience so far?
Over 90% of enquiries seem to be going nowhere. Lead created, the agent tries to contact the buyer, chases the buyer for a while, then stalled status. I only had two sales out of 35 enquiries. My prices are normal 2K-5K.

I'm just wondering if the NS5 is more effective at this point. You get the sale directly instead of checking the lead center for leads that 95% of times go nowhere.

Lastly, anyone had a LTO sale?

Please do not drive yourself mad trying to figure out what is going out with the lead center. I will help you understand it.

The numbers you are seeing is what everyone that has a big portfolio sees.

1. Since the lead center is new, some of the leads entered are marked as leads GD got before the system was around. Domains are an impulse purchase for most buyers. There are people that want your domain today real bad, they feel they must have it, but tomorrow they don't want it even if you give it to them for free.

2. Most leads are bots even those that GD doesn't pick up as a bot. Anyone that have a massive amount of listings on other platforms that require users to take action that minimize bots, will know right away that the amount of leads on GD have to be a lot of bots.

3. For GD, the lead center has many benefits and the bots are making GD a fortune. Think about how many domains are getting renewed because a bot caused a lead to be created. Was this their intention? We do not know. What I do know for a fact is, they can do more to make sure that almost no bots cause a lead to be created.

4. Some leads are people that do not read. If you have domains that are typins or they had a site on it that still gets traffic, some people fill out the form thinking it's a way to contact the company. I had my own landers once with forms. I got emails all the time from people who ignored the page and thought they are contacting a company.

5. GD brokers do work fast based on the logs so for the serious buyers, I would not worry about the brokers, not that you said you were worried. I once called to buy a name for myself, it was only 700 bucks. It was in middle of the night, the person that picked up sounded like I woke them up, I felt really bad and maybe that is why I completed the purchase on the phone. After the call I wondered, was he just acting like I woke him up so I feel guilty and buy the name lol? My point is, I did not know they work around the clock.

6. After many years in this business I can tell you that the main thing on a lander is the ability for the person that is hot on an idea is to buy the name. Your pricing in low enough that you should send them to a buy now page unless you already do that.

7. When you see a lead and you see it's not going anywhere, you can adjust the floor price and message the broker. It never helped me but who knows.

8. In rare cases, people look at names for months or even years before they buy it. This is especially true with expensive names. This business in a way is like stocks. As a domain investor, even if you buy well, waiting a long time is what is usually needed to make good profits. Obviously just like stocks, if you buy bad, you can wait forever. The difference is, with stocks you do not have a renewal fee.

9. I had two sales in the past that were LTO (lease to own) but it was via Dan. The LTO option is new for the GD platform and I think after they took over Dan, a lot of modernization is happening everywhere on GD thanks to that team, that is what I suspect.

10. Sometimes it's many months, even over a half a year without a sale and suddenly there is a large sale or a few at a time. This is part what keeps me around. Sometimes I feel like that guy that buys a lotto ticket once a week. The other thing that gives us hope is when we see low quality names going for a lot of money. It's a big misguided because a lot of money means different things to different people, but it keeps up around. We are some of the most hopeful and persistent people in the business world. We also genuinely wish others well.

Hope you all see some great sales soon.

 

[phaethon]

Please do not drive yourself mad trying to figure out what is going out with the lead center. I will help you understand it.

The numbers you are seeing is what everyone that has a big portfolio sees.

1. Since the lead center is new, some of the leads entered are marked as leads GD got before the system was around. Domains are an impulse purchase for most buyers. There are people that want your domain today real bad, they feel they must have it, but tomorrow they don't want it even if you give it to them for free.

2. Most leads are bots even those that GD doesn't pick up as a bot. Anyone that have a massive amount of listings on other platforms that require users to take action that minimize bots, will know right away that the amount of leads on GD have to be a lot of bots.

3. For GD, the lead center has many benefits and the bots are making GD a fortune. Think about how many domains are getting renewed because a bot caused a lead to be created. Was this their intention? We do not know. What I do know for a fact is, they can do more to make sure that almost no bots cause a lead to be created.

4. Some leads are people that do not read. If you have domains that are typins or they had a site on it that still gets traffic, some people fill out the form thinking it's a way to contact the company. I had my own landers once with forms. I got emails all the time from people who ignored the page and thought they are contacting a company.

5. GD brokers do work fast based on the logs so for the serious buyers, I would not worry about the brokers, not that you said you were worried. I once called to buy a name for myself, it was only 700 bucks. It was in middle of the night, the person that picked up sounded like I woke them up, I felt really bad and maybe that is why I completed the purchase on the phone. After the call I wondered, was he just acting like I woke him up so I feel guilty and buy the name lol? My point is, I did not know they work around the clock.

6. After many years in this business I can tell you that the main thing on a lander is the ability for the person that is hot on an idea is to buy the name. Your pricing in low enough that you should send them to a buy now page unless you already do that.

7. When you see a lead and you see it's not going anywhere, you can adjust the floor price and message the broker. It never helped me but who knows.

8. In rare cases, people look at names for months or even years before they buy it. This is especially true with expensive names. This business in a way is like stocks. As a domain investor, even if you buy well, waiting a long time is what is usually needed to make good profits. Obviously just like stocks, if you buy bad, you can wait forever. The difference is, with stocks you do not have a renewal fee.

9. I had two sales in the past that were LTO (lease to own) but it was via Dan. The LTO option is new for the GD platform and I think after they took over Dan, a lot of modernization is happening everywhere on GD thanks to that team, that is what I suspect.

10. Sometimes it's many months, even over a half a year without a sale and suddenly there is a large sale or a few at a time. This is part what keeps me around. Sometimes I feel like that guy that buys a lotto ticket once a week. The other thing that gives us hope is when we see low quality names going for a lot of money. It's a big misguided because a lot of money means different things to different people, but it keeps up around. We are some of the most hopeful and persistent people in the business world. We also genuinely wish others well.

Hope you all see some great sales soon.

Thanks. Well, I understand when someone fills out the NS3 form, expects to buy the domain at registration price.
99% of end users don't know there is an aftermarket. I guess the very low conversion rate when using the NS3/4 is just part of the game. You might get couple sales from end users that are serious businessmen and would understand how valuable a good domain is AFTER talking to a broker.
But NS5/6 could instantly drive away end users who expect to buy a domain at reg price. They might even think it's a scam asking them to pay 5K for a domain lol
I had 2 sales only using the NS3/4 and around 35 enquiries which is not that bad. My other sales were bin sales through the FT network or GoDaddy website I think.