Afternic launches the lead center beta

[TangoTango]

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

 

[411domains]

I think this new feature needs a year at least for testing, but it's better than nothing. Even seeing some traction and getting feedback, could be helpful, especially if you price your domains high like myself and others.
The average buyer does not even know about the aftermarket, it's a shock when they realize that the great domain they chose for their business website does not cost $10, but $5.000. They might even think its a scam and that's where GoDaddy brand helps a great deal.

I'm afraid this is not about the feature, which is nothing more than a copy of Domainnamesales/UNI's lead center. Nor is it about average buyers who are unfamiliar with aftermarket domain purchases.

This is 100% about killing leads without a single email sent or call logged.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

I had a decent January with roughly 25K in sales the first two weeks. However, Afternic hasn't produced a single sale for me since the beginning of February.

To go a week or two without a sale happens occasionally. To go a month or more without a sale is very rare. That's when I start looking into why, which is how I discovered that leads were being killed without a single email being sent to the inquirer.

When I sorted the leads a pattern appeared.

When I exported the leads, I was able to see the timestamps and that's when everything became very clear. I knew right then something was definitely off.

I immediately changed all of my nameservers and BOOM, just like that, action that resulted in a sale through the new lander! (Godaddy customer.)

Certainly sounds unusual. It's great that at least you had some decent sales at the beginning of the year!

What were the nameservers that you changed to, leading to a sale right afterwards? And was that buyer effectively a new lead? Or was it an old lead that then proceeded to purchase the domain?

And, BTW, it's good that you are keeping on your toes. Hopefully, this simply helps remind GD to keep on theirs, to help you have even more sales!

 

[kesen]

I'm afraid this is not about the feature, which is nothing more than a copy of Domainnamesales/UNI's lead center. Nor is it about average buyers who are unfamiliar with aftermarket domain purchases.

This is 100% about killing leads without a single email sent or call logged.

I have same experience, 3 offers stalled without any tries by Taylor B borker

 

[411domains]

I have same experience, 3 offers stalled without any tries by Taylor B borker

That's one of them.

 

[411domains]

Certainly sounds unusual. It's great that at least you had some decent sales at the beginning of the year!

What were the nameservers that you changed to, leading to a sale right afterwards? And was that buyer effectively a new lead? Or was it an old lead that then proceeded to purchase the domain?

And, BTW, it's good that you are keeping on your toes. Hopefully, this simply helps remind GD to keep on theirs, to help you have even more sales!

Thank you. When everything is working as it should, the sales flow.

Changed over to DAN and as far as I can tell, it was a new lead.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

Thank you. When everything is working as it should, the sales flow.

Changed over to DAN and as far as I can tell, it was a new lead.

Great to hear that that worked. Now, the question would be that if you switched back to AN nameservers, would the same phenomenon occur?

Another question is whether doing the switches causes issues with the Afternic lead center? Since they are NS changes only, presumably not. It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has tried this, and what successes they had.

Thanks, as always, for sharing your experiences.

 

[411domains]

Great to hear that that worked. Now, the question would be that if you switched back to AN nameservers, would the same phenomenon occur?

Another question is whether doing the switches causes issues with the Afternic lead center? Since they are NS changes only, presumably not. It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has tried this, and what successes they had.

Thanks, as always, for sharing your experiences.

Nameservers settings shouldn't affect the lead center. Regardless, I will never park my investments with them again.

Edit: I'll be permanently removing my entire portfolio from Afternic and DAN as well.

 

[phaethon]

I don't know how close they work with Dan, but I suggested to an agent that the buyer could pay with his best offer the first installment on a 6 month Dan plan. I doubt they communicate though, but Dan's lease plans could save some stalled AN leads.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

I don't know how close they work with Dan, but I suggested to an agent that the buyer could pay with his best offer the first installment on a 6 month Dan plan. I doubt they communicate though, but Dan's lease plans could save some stalled AN leads.

Excellent idea! That could be a powerful combination--- the power of the leads from Afternic with the flexibility of Lease to own payments with DAN!

 

[kesen]

That's one of them.

The broker answered me yesterday and said he noted the buyer from countries that do not typically purchase domain names and are usually confused.

 

[NicTraders]

The broker answered me yesterday and said he noted the buyer from countries that do not typically purchase domain names and are usually confused.

So, racial profiling?...

 

[411domains]

The broker answered me yesterday and said he noted the buyer from countries that do not typically purchase domain names and are usually confused.

Funny! The same broker responded to me with:

"This lead came from a spam email address that is not a buyer."

Basin common sense tells me that it's highly unlikely every single lead assigned to this broker is a spam email address. Spam gets assigned to other brokers and they follow up.

This broker alone was assigned 17 leads from my portfolio.

All but the first two leads assigned were stalled out in under 5 minutes the exact same way...no emails sent or calls logged.

The first lead assigned to this broker was closed out the same way 7.5 hours after being initiated. (No emails sent or calls logged.)

The second lead was closed out the same way 8.5 hours after being initiated. (No emails sent or calls logged.)

No attempt whatsoever to contact the buyer.

This was just one broker.

Bottom line is, I don't believe them.

If I don't believe them, I obviously don't trust them.

If I don't trust them, there's no point in staying with them.

That said, I am done with them.

That's all folks!.

 

[Dane]

Hey, are we supposed to receive some sort of notification of a lead that pops up in the "lead center" section on Afternic? I just discovered that a bunch of leads are in my account but I never received any notifications. Is that how it's supposed to work?

 

[Dane]

One more thing I just discovered: I can see the leads on my desktop computer but on mobile all entries are blank. Is that a bug?

 

[lknights1987]

I have noticed that when I try to access the lead centre from my phone, I get this.
Messages are invisible.
Is it something that has to do with my phone or the mobile version of Afternic?

There is a way around this for now. If you turn your phone to landscape when on the lead center page refresh the page and then you'll see the leads appear. You can then turn your phone back to how you first had it and the leads will still show.

 

[Recons.Com]

I have same experience, 3 offers stalled without any tries by Taylor B borker

Fascinating. I just checked and every lead assigned to this particular broker is dead at "attempting to qualify buyer" without single email sent or call logged. This doesn't seem to be the case with ANY other broker I randomly checked.

 

[411domains]

Fascinating. I just checked and every lead assigned to this particular broker is dead at "attempting to qualify buyer" without single email sent or call logged. This doesn't seem to be the case with ANY other broker I randomly checked.

That is the pattern. Export the leads and you'll have the timestamps.

 

[Recons.Com]

That is the pattern. Export the leads and you'll have the timestamps.

I have raised the issue with my rep and will see what he says. There must be some explanation. What was the other broker you mentioned was also auto-stalling? I can check that too.

 

[411domains]

I have raised the issue with my rep and will see what he says. There must be some explanation. What was the other broker you mentioned was also auto-stalling? I can check that too.

I raised the issue with my rep last week. Let me know how your rep responds and we'll compare notes. (Privately of course.)

 

[kesen]

Fascinating. I just checked and every lead assigned to this particular broker is dead at "attempting to qualify buyer" without single email sent or call logged. This doesn't seem to be the case with ANY other broker I randomly checked.

Correct, I told him that if he did not have interst to follow the buyer, please let him forward the lead to other brokers.