Afternic - Official Thread

[GoDaddy]

Hello NamePros!
By popular demand, we have launched a dedicated feedback thread for Afternic, the GoDaddy-owned domain name marketplace.

We have created this thread as a way for you to tell us what works, what doesn't work, and what features you'd like to see at Afternic (please be constructive with your feedback). We're looking forward to hearing from the domain investment community to help us shape the future of Afternic.

We will also be sharing Afternic product updates in this thread.

Please note that this thread is not meant for support. Please email our support team at [email protected] for assistance.

 

[GoDaddy]

Hi. Thanks for your response.

TBC, I'm not opposed to the Afternic support team verifying that they're speaking with the right person, and I *do* want you to make the protection of users' accounts your top priority.

I was/am pointing out that support staff asking us to provide them with our 2FA login auth codes, so they can access our accounts *is* a clunky approach and a security risk that could potentially jeopardize the safety of our accounts. And I was/am mainly asking for a better system that eliminates this risk while still addressing the need for user verification (I mentioned "...reports from verified users") and allowing authorized reps see the account/details they need to see from your end.

Asking users to provide their support PIN is a good step. It addresses the need for user verification. And it doubles as a reasonable security layer, esp. as Afternic's support PIN isn't a static PIN that can be easily guessed or committed to memory by a bad actor; it’s a time-based one-time use PIN Afternic generates and sends to our email addresses.

Asking users to generate and share their 2FA login codes with support staff? Not so much! On the surface, it seems like a great second layer, but it can do more harm than good… Imagine the sh*tshow that could happen if a user shares a 2FA login code with a rogue or spoofed Afternic support rep.

Have you considered that just as Afternic reps may not always be sure they're speaking with the right user, we the users may not always be sure we're speaking with the right support person or sure your customer rep service hasn't been compromised? Given developments in the wider world and the chaotic state of affairs at Afternic, isn’t this a legitimate concern?

If you must have a “two-step” process, why not make Step 2 something less risky than the login code thing? Why keep something that introduces unnecessary friction and extra vulnerabilities?

Thanks, Vivere. This setup is similar to GoDaddy’s process. If it turns out not to work well for Afternic sellers over time, we'll explore other options. Seller feedback is invaluable, so we'll keep an eye on things. Our main priority is securing your account and ensuring live chat agents are speaking with the right person.

You must be kidding. Anyone with site development experience and who analyzed the page stats will tell you that only single digit percentage of visitors will go into pages like /contact, /about etc.

And, to make it worse, I did not manage to find the link to /contact page on Afternic index page. Must be well-hidden. Didn't you buy Dan to integrate its features into Afternic? Why can't you just duplicate having a small widget right in the bottom of all pages? Why can't you copy the inquiry system when it doesn't take 4-5 pages for a client to complete? It is a common sense that any form should be 1 page, max 2, otherwise you lose lots of legit buyers. It is a common sense that a page should load in couple of seconds, after 10 seconds you lose over half of potential buyers, yet GD/AN pages can take 30+ seconds to load.

It is just beyond me why the tech team of GD/AN keeps sabotaging the success of the company and its profits and gets away with it.

Hi @Recons.Com, for now, live chat is available at afternic.com/contact as the primary contact point for Afternic. We may consider expanding this feature to Afternic's dashboard in the future.

I have many onhold status these days, any change in the process ?
@GoDaddy

Hi @davidc1, there haven’t been any changes for on-hold names. If these aren't clearing, feel free to reach out to your rep.

Last night I received payment for all 5 domains that were pending. Thank you. Miracles do happen

Thanks for confirming, @robosapien! The sales pattern required some additional checks from our side, which we wrapped up yesterday. Sorry for the delay, but it's great to see your payouts are now confirmed.

Afternic Pending Sync issues

https://domaininvesting.com/afternic-pending-sync/

Pending sync is a status we recently introduced, coinciding with increased accuracy in reporting of statuses on the portfolio page. It's working as designed to call out any names that haven't been fully synchronized across our system for any reason.

These will usually clear inside 24 hours of being listed, but our support team are always available via live chat to manually process them.

More than two weeks later, checkout is still slow.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/godaddy-checkout-does-not-work.1336827/#post-9266601

What's the current status @GoDaddy? Are you unable to fix such issues?

Thanks for bringing this up again, @Future Sensors. Yes, Afternic's product team is working with multiple teams at GoDaddy on this. We don’t have an ETA yet, but we're actively collaborating on it.

Can someone please tell me the difference between ns1/2 vs ns5/6? Why would I choose one set over the other? Thanks.

Hi @Molly, the multiple nameservers stem from our old nameserver-led system. That changed in 2023 with the Lander Selection system on-site. Now, without changing your nameservers from ns3/4 to ns5/6, you can access multiple landers and switch within seconds.

Does anyone know how to to mass-change your Afternic landers?

Right now, mine have all been auto-set by the system to 'Request Price' but I would like to change them to 'Customer Lander - Make Offer' but I see no way to do it. When I change the 'Default Lander Settings' nothing happens to my domains and I can only imagine that setting just affects new domain listings.

A Mass Lander Change option is probably yet another setting that the "brokers have but we don't".

Hi @DomainRecap, currently, the Bulk Lander Update tool on your portfolio page handles up to 1,000 at a time. We're planning to update the CSV file to allow bulk editing of more options, including landers, and we'll share the news once it's ready.

Day by day AN support is worse
Very old customer with many sales, need more than a week to get a reply
sad

Hi @dr manos, that’s not what we want to hear. Could you DM us some details on this?

 

[carob]

Already did that, myself, a while ago. Sadly, it doesnt appear they got the message nor care.

Lot of justified frustration here and some sellers heading for the door.

Afternic is there to make money for GD so why assume small sellers have any value to GD? Would not surprise me if they are only focused on high value transactions, and lets not forget GD have their own competing portfolio to sell.

So why take the trouble to tie up sucker small sellers on a platform that won't sell their wares? To destroy the competition, achieve monopoly, and get domainers to keep registering and renewing domains.

 

[Altetra]

Lot of justified frustration here and some sellers heading for the door.

Afternic is there to make money for GD so why assume small sellers have any value to GD? Would not surprise me if they are only focused on high value transactions, and lets not forget GD have their own competing portfolio to sell.

So why take the trouble to tie up sucker small sellers on a platform that won't sell their wares? To destroy the competition, achieve monopoly, and get domainers to keep registering and renewing domains.

This explains why they are so slow with my small sales.
Did someone had a huge sale and get fast support or payment?

 

[Recons.Com]

Hi @Recons.Com, for now, live chat is available at afternic.com/contact as the primary contact point for Afternic. We may consider expanding this feature to Afternic's dashboard in the future.

Why is it that this ai-style empty shell response is exactly what I was expecting?!

Making a feature accessible doesn't qualify as "expanding the feature". It is little snippet of a code that you include with landers, homepage, dashboard etc. and it is a common sense. And common sense path is the least probable path to follow by GD.

E.g. the boost has been complete failure judging by the adoption rate (around 10-15% of all names judging by the polls on forums and groups), it also has led to lots of people abandoning AN and its landers or planning for it, yet GD keeps insisting on keeping it as is.

 

[bmugford]

I just tried to export my Dan.com listings via the migration center and received an error.

With all the issues, I am starting to wonder if anything at @GoDaddy works properly.

We are in 2024. How is there still an issue adding domains to your shopping cart?

GoDaddy is a multi-billion dollar company with essentially unlimited resources, not some mom & pop store.

The amount of issues and glitches is not acceptable.

Brad

 

[Recons.Com]

I just tried to export my Dan.com listings via the migration center and received an error.

With all the issues, I am starting to wonder if anything at @GoDaddy works properly.

We are in 2024. How is there still an issue adding domains to your shopping cart?

GoDaddy is a multi-billion dollar company with essentially unlimited resources, not some mom & pop store.

The amount of issues and glitches is not acceptable.

Brad

Thank you for letting Godaddy know. They will consider adding less-glitchy experience feature into their platforms, but, for now, it is what it is.

 

[Kyle Tully]

Thank you for letting Godaddy know. They will consider adding less-glitchy experience feature into their platforms, but, for now, it is what it is.

They are excited to consider it!

 

[internext]

They will consider adding less-glitchy experience feature

Check that you weren't opted-in to the Afternic GlitchBoost program by default

 

[Recons.Com]

They are excited to consider it!

Any time I see Godaddy is excited, my eye starts twitching

 

[DomainRecap]

Afternic is there to make money for GD so why assume small sellers have any value to GD? Would not surprise me if they are only focused on high value transactions, and lets not forget GD have their own competing portfolio to sell.

That's what I thought when I noticed someone on X stating they sold a domain on Afternic (including multiple offer/counteroffers) in less than 24 hours. And I can't even get a an offer relayed in under a day (usually two).

It turns out the amount was around $5000, and I've had sales at that level and more.

It's very possible that Afternic is prioritizing leads based on the BUYER and not the seller, and if some bigwig from a well-known company calls up, they spend hours negotiating because it might represent a higher percentage for a sale, at least in their minds.

One thing's for sure, the brokers shouldn't just ignore the other 99% of sales leads/offers just because they come from a company they may not recognize or know, such as the lead of a potential startup.

 

[polymorph]

I have a question, guys.

If I pick the BIN landers from Afternic settings, will my names with DAN/undeveloped nameservers resolve to the Afternic BIN lander without having to switch nameservers?

And second, what does the BIN lander show when the name has no BIN?

Thank you in advance

 

[davidc1]

I just tried to export my Dan.com listings via the migration center and received an error.

With all the issues, I am starting to wonder if anything at @GoDaddy works properly.

We are in 2024. How is there still an issue adding domains to your shopping cart?

GoDaddy is a multi-billion dollar company with essentially unlimited resources, not some mom & pop store.

The amount of issues and glitches is not acceptable.

Brad

A small european company worked much better than the big US one lol
the king is traffic...

 

[br1ll1on]

Can we get an ETA on self-brokerage?

Here's the thing. I have been using Dan.com for a few years. I used Voodoo.com for a decade before that.

If your landers get traffic and inquiries, the lander itself doesn't matter that much.

The core feature is the system in place to negotiate with buyers.

If this is going to take months, or longer, I am going to start looking at other lander options. I am sure others will as well.

It seems very shortsighted to shut down Dan.com if self-brokerage is not ready to go basically immediately.

It does no good for me to have several interactions with brokers daily asking me how much, then getting some stupid response about how "cash offers for domains are rare".

Brad

I believe Godaddy's namepros account said no self-brokerage till 2025 (2-4pages ago)

 

[DomainRecap]

I believe Godaddy's namepros account said no self-brokerage till 2025

Maybe..

The first time GD gave an ETA, it was "by the end of the year" and we all know how that turned out.

 

[br1ll1on]

Maybe..

The first time GD gave an ETA, it was "by the end of the year" and we all know how that turned out.

right! I saw the "by the end of the year" as well then I saw them switch to Q1 2025 after which I immediately pointed my NS elsewhere, I can't be stressing over a multi-million dollar company, it's not a do or die.

 

[DomainRecap]

right! I saw the "by the end of the year" as well then I saw them switch to Q1 2025 after which I immediately pointed my NS elsewhere, I can't be stressing over a multi-million dollar company, it's not a do or die.

By killing Dan before they had even a remotely-appropriate replacement for it, is a clear sign that GD either a) doesn't care a lick about the domain aftermarket or b) their leadership has an almost total lack of business sense.

It's like closing a popular waterpark and replacing it with a mud pit that management promises will slowly be transformed into a water park in 2025. But in the meantime, bring your kids to the mud pit and have fun!

It really makes you wonder about the thought processes of those in charge.

 

[Kyle Tully]

It really makes you wonder about the thought processes of those in charge.

Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome.

 

[love4ever]

Is it in your plan to add settings for afternic lander to enable Integrating with google analytics ??
i find it important and very helpful tools .

@GoDaddy

.

 

[End User King]

Atom (498 names parked), Efty (522 names parked), Namepros (294 names parked) Afternic (148 names parked). Afternic as you can see has become my least trusted parking source. They've lost my trust. I have 61 pages of the domains sold at Afternic, and yet I no longer trust that people are able to buy my domains there because they're not visible anymore. I know there will be a hiccup with their self brokerage, either another delay, or it will not work as intended so I'm about 90% out.

 

[Future Sensors]

Hi @davidc1, there haven’t been any changes for on-hold names. If these aren't clearing, feel free to reach out to your rep.

I'm having the same issue. Domains get the On Hold status and are not automatically cleared. I've already contacted Support about this. The On Hold status is there for 7-9 days already. Please fix this issue for all.

The information provided by Support is incorrect. I've followed up with them today to insist on clearing the on-hold status. Afternic Support 2 days ago: