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.

 

[Recons.Com]

@GoDaddy

Could you enlighten us how Godaddy search suggestions work?

I am truly baffled by what is offered, excluding, of course, the weird wild stuff like suggesting .sucks, .ai etc. for pretty much everything first.

E.g. I typed in "adavanced", a typo of advanced. So, of course, it showed the exact match adavanced/com at $2499

Then, though, it gets weird. Following the 3 extensions every smart entrepreneur should build business on in sucks, dev and ai, it suggested as the closest best alternative ... awhod/com at $4911.

How is that in any way close/related/similar? I checked the whois, it at Namecheap, uses the custom afternic lander.

My next test was to see what it suggests for awhod. Of course, after .com, the best alternatives, in GD world, were sucks, dev, ai, followed by ... ajoed/com. Also $4911, again Namecheap, again afternic custom lander. Probably the same owner.

So, what is the secret recipe for this guy who owns those names? I guess he uses boost, but many others do and probably they had better alternatives with something like advancedlife or something. And how is it possible that he is suggested again for the next one as well?

So we should all enable boost, move our names to Namecheap, price them at $4911 and use afternic landers?

Meanwhile, I cannot get my myrtles/com show even when I search for "themyrtles". For that one, apparently, "myrtleplantation/com" is the best match (not counting aisuckdev).

 

[wwwweb]

@GoDaddy

Could you enlighten us how Godaddy search suggestions work?

I am truly baffled by what is offered, excluding, of course, the weird wild stuff like suggesting .sucks, .ai etc. for pretty much everything first.

E.g. I typed in "adavanced", a typo of advanced. So, of course, it showed the exact match adavanced/com at $2499

Then, though, it gets weird. Following the 3 extensions every smart entrepreneur should build business on in sucks, dev and ai, it suggested as the closest best alternative ... awhod/com at $4911.

How is that in any way close/related/similar? I checked the whois, it at Namecheap, uses the custom afternic lander.

My next test was to see what it suggests for awhod. Of course, after .com, the best alternatives, in GD world, were sucks, dev, ai, followed by ... ajoed/com. Also $4911, again Namecheap, again afternic custom lander. Probably the same owner.

So, what is the secret recipe for this guy who owns those names? I guess he uses boost, but many others do and probably they had better alternatives with something like advancedlife or something. And how is it possible that he is suggested again for the next one as well?

So we should all enable boost, move our names to Namecheap, price them at $4911 and use afternic landers?

Meanwhile, I cannot get my myrtles/com show even when I search for "themyrtles". For that one, apparently, "myrtleplantation/com" is the best match (not counting aisuckdev).

Seems like a business model of selling gtlds, with auto renewal activated, and not giving consumers the best advice, but what is best for the bottom line.
I typed your myrtles.com into godaddy search engine got $5888 offer, but also got option to purchase myrtles.co for $.01, Yes 1 cent, I would probably choose the penny option, no offense to your domain. Also checked domain insights and saw Visits: 0, which I highly doubt, as a domain like that would have some natural visits.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

what it suggests for awhod.

awhod is really close to awod, which apparently stands for A Wise Outlier Detector, which seems pretty descriptive of the GD search results! Thanks for the tests you performed @Recons.Com – I have tried to be open-minded, but GD search for the last 11 months now continues to confound me.

They actually have not bad search in their GD Auctions site. Why is it that they don't use that if they can't come up with something that provides reasonable answers?

Anyway, after you discovered the secret I am off to transfer all of my names to NameCheap and price each at $4911 on Afternic. Thanks for the heads-up.

-Bob

 

[Domain Pro Seller]

@GoDaddy I can't even see my domains! Furthermore I saw that one of my domains is missing from my portfolio even though I added the TXT verification 2 months ago (Dynadot is the registrar) and on Dynadot I see that there is the TXT verification of Afternic. Now I tried again to add the particular domain to Afternic and it says "1 domain couldn't be listed. Verify Domain(s)". Since it is verified (I can send you a screenshot), what is the problem?

 

[DPankaew]

Is adding domains completely broken for anyone else? I can't add anything at all currently.

 

[Recons.Com]

Seems like a business model of selling gtlds, with auto renewal activated, and not giving consumers the best advice, but what is best for the bottom line.
I typed your myrtles.com into godaddy search engine got $5888 offer, but also got option to purchase myrtles.co for $.01, Yes 1 cent, I would probably choose the penny option, no offense to your domain. Also checked domain insights and saw Visits: 0, which I highly doubt, as a domain like that would have some natural visits.

I chose myrtles, as the dictionary words show clearer how bad the GD search is (compared to brandables). If someone is searching for a word, I guess plural for singular and vice versa is the closest available option to suggest. Myrtles won't be suggested even for Myrtle (1MM make offer if I remember correctly). If someone is looking for TheMyrtles, I assume Myrtles should be among the most relevant options, if the exact match is not for sale. But, I guess MyrtlePlantation is the relevant one.

I have seen too many entrepreneurs burned by "experts" like GD and made the mistake of going with an inferior extension and lost money, time, efforts. Some recover from it and eventually get the right name, others don't.

Traffic: yeah, that is another new BS. The GD stats are completely off when compared with Google Analytics. And, they will show "0" even when they know that the name is using different ns and they don't have access to stats.

 

[Recons.Com]

awhod is really close to awod, which apparently stands for A Wise Outlier Detector, which seems pretty descriptive of the GD search results! Thanks for the tests you performed @Recons.Com – I have tried to be open-minded, but GD search for the last 11 months now continues to confound me.

They actually have not bad search in their GD Auctions site. Why is it that they don't use that if they can't come up with something that provides reasonable answers?

Anyway, after you discovered the secret I am off to transfer all of my names to NameCheap and price each at $4911 on Afternic. Thanks for the heads-up.

-Bob

The most amazing part is that even a starting coder could write a better algorithm for search relevance. You really had to try to mess the results on purpose to get it this bad. Random monkeys typing random text would have gotten it better than awhod for adavanced or ajoed for awhod as the most relevant by GD algorithm.

 

[wwwweb]

I chose myrtles, as the dictionary words show clearer how bad the GD search is (compared to brandables). If someone is searching for a word, I guess plural for singular and vice versa is the closest available option to suggest. Myrtles won't be suggested even for Myrtle (1MM make offer if I remember correctly). If someone is looking for TheMyrtles, I assume Myrtles should be among the most relevant options, if the exact match is not for sale. But, I guess MyrtlePlantation is the relevant one.

I have seen too many entrepreneurs burned by "experts" like GD and made the mistake of going with an inferior extension and lost money, time, efforts. Some recover from it and eventually get the right name, others don't.

Traffic: yeah, that is another new BS. The GD stats are completely off when compared with Google Analytics. And, they will show "0" even when they know that the name is using different ns and they don't have access to stats.

You are entirely right, I typed in the exact match domain with .com first time, but if I type in just "myrtles" , the best domain myrtles.com should show up first honestly, it does not, super alarming.

Why wouldn't the the best possible .com top level extension, given it is listed for sale within the afternic network not show up? What is the loyalty factor of buying your domains in house, renewing them there, and listing them within their network to not even have the best possible match search show up?

To the right the .co showed up for $.01, then the following searches below:

This is what showed up:

visitmyrtle.com
$1,500
+$21.99/yr


promotedmyrtles.world
$0.01$59.99
1st yr only with 2 yr term


promotedmyrtles.sucks
$99.99$399.99
for first year


southmyrtlebeach.net
$3,499
+$24.99/yr


myrtles.me
$11.99$27.99
for first year


myrtles.org
$9.99$22.99
for first year


myrtles.net
$0.01$24.99
1st yr only with 3 yr term


myrtles.group
$35.99/yr

myrtle-s.com
$0.01$21.99
1st yr only with 3 yr term


myrtles.asia
$4.99$19.99
for first year


myrtles.tv
$49.99/yr


myrtlecreations.com
$1,688
+$21.99/yr


myrtles.cc
$5.99$15.99
for first year


myrtles.xyz
$1.99$21.99
for first year


myrtles.info
$0.01$37.99
1st yr only with 2 yr term


Premium

myrtles.club
$41.99
for first year

myrtle-s.ca
Restrictions apply.
$1.99$17.99
1st yr only with 2 yr term


myrtles.life
$0.01$51.99
1st yr only with 2 yr term


myrtles.solutions
$0.01$43.99
1st yr only with 2 yr term


themyrtles.ca
Restrictions apply.
$1.99$17.99
1st yr only with 2 yr term


myrtlen.com
$0.01$21.99
1st yr only with 3 yr term


myrtles.online
$0.99$49.99
for first year


myrtlegroup.ca
Restrictions apply.
$1.99$17.99
1st yr only with 2 yr term


myrtles.one
$3.99$25.99
for first year


myrtlefoods.com
$0.01$21.99
1st yr only with 3 yr term


myrtlesonline.ca
Restrictions apply.
$1.99$17.99
1st yr only with 2 yr term


.ai is trending
myrtles.ai
$54.99$144.99
1st yr only with 2 yr term


myrtles.store
$0.99$79.99
for first year


Premium

myrtles.art
$74.99$319.99
for first year



myrtlebeans.com
$1,100
+$21.99/yr


myrtlerestaurants.com
$1,399
+$21.99/yr



myrtlecafe.com
$6,940
+$21.99/yr

myrtleplantation.com
$1,088
+$21.99/yr



myrtlehome.com
$2,485
+$21.99/yr


myrtlecottage.com
$3,499
+$21.99/yr

localmyrtle.com
$1,200
+$21.99/yr


myrtleplace.com
$1,688
+$21.99/yr



myrtleonline.com
$688
+$21.99/yr


myrtlecannabis.com
$5,000
+$21.99/yr

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Is adding domains completely broken for anyone else? I can't add anything at all currently

I was able to add names at Afternic this morning. The new revision confused me at first. After you enter a name it gives an error message, but that is just until you insert a BIN price, when the error goes away. There is one less step in changing months for LTO, once I understand it.
Bob

 

[leopardini]

I read this thread with great interest. One thing is glaringly clear. GoDaddy has a huge conflict of interest when selling aftermarket domains via Afternic. Their incentive to improve services is nil. Close to nil.

Their incentive to keep you unbalanced and out of whack is pretty high. Keep using our service. Trust in me. Buy Obey

"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And, I'm all out of bubblegum. "

 

[leopardini]

Why wouldn't the the best possible .com top level extension, given it is listed for sale within the afternic network not show up? What is the loyalty factor of buying your domains in house, renewing them there, and listing them within their network to not even have the best possible match search show up?

This! This. This!

Just out of curiosity do names close to expiration not show up? Let's run our own experiment.

 

[DN_Hunter]

Introducing our new bulk upload template, making bulk domain management more flexible and efficient.
The new template, which replaces our Classic CSV, brings Lease to Own and Sales Lander management in bulk!

Learn more about the new template: https://blog.afternic.com/bulk-upload-walkthrough/

Download the file directly from your Add Domains page to begin using it.

How can I download my existing domain names in the exact same format as the new bulk upload spreadsheet? I want to download all of my names with the exact same columns and in the same column order as the bulk upload template.

 

[DomainRecap]

Yet another inherent Afternic design factor that drives me crazy.

Let's say a buyer offers $2K and you counter with $5K.

Then there is a flurry of updates with calls and emails from both sides, and after a few days the broker updates the file with this canned response:

Buyer indicated the domain was priced outside of what they wanted to spend

Huh? Was the buyer stuck at $2K or amenable to move up a bit, but not to $5K? If $2K was a hardline, why were there so many back-and-forth messages during negotiations when only one was needed. Exactly what happened during the negotiation? I could ask the broker, but a response would take 2-3 days, and by that time I'd be onto something else, so it's a moot point right there.

I feel like a blind man trying to decipher a new language while being tied up and gagged. At a certain point, I'm going to stop taking part in this "man behind the curtain" insanity and stop even responding to price inquiries.

The Afternic system is quite infuriating, since the actual seller has absolutely no idea what occurred and no control over what will happen going forward. The least a broker can do is actually type out a reply covering what transpired, but no, all they do is pick a canned drop-down response from a list.

It's Eunuch city, where all we can do is watch, and only half the show!

 

[dfav]

Sale amount: $8500

Domain name delivery: December 8th

Planned Payment: December 12th

Today: December 17th...

Still no payment. No response! Terrible! I sent them a long email to cancel the sale.

Everyone I contact from Afternic or Godaddy gives the same answer. What's the point of employing these people? Why am I wasting my time reaching out to these people when they can't provide any solutions...

I told them before that I informed them about the situation here. But they still don't care!

 

[End User King]

Moved on to greener pastures. Still will check from time to time to see the frustrating updates. @Sedo @DomainEasy @Atom

 

[comRaid]

Fair enough, but then the other landers shouldn't even be available, at least not without a warning.

Thanks for bringing this to notice. I didn't even checked.

 

[phaethon]

.

 

[GoDaddy]

Hello @GoDaddy - any eta on when GD will add .now to Afternic? Sedo allows it, and Atom allows it for premium listings. It's up to 7k regs in only 75 days since launch. Seems like it'd be a good add for Afternic/GD.

Hi @NameGroove,
Adding .now to Afternic depends on GoDaddy adding the extension to the registrar, which will be explored.

Nice.

It'll also be helpful if we get a CSV *output* file, when the bulk process is completed. Also there should be a "Bulk Remove". Presently the only way to do this is, by using the "Replace" mode with all domains in the account.

The output file should have status of each domain - Success, Failed, In Review etc.

Thanks, @Smooth!

Clicking "Export" now generates a CSV file with data that matches the new template. You can even make changes and upload the Export file directly!

Thanks for your feedback on a bulk delete function. Our team will take note of it for future updates.

@GoDaddy

Could you enlighten us how Godaddy search suggestions work?

I am truly baffled by what is offered, excluding, of course, the weird wild stuff like suggesting .sucks, .ai etc. for pretty much everything first.

E.g. I typed in "adavanced", a typo of advanced. So, of course, it showed the exact match adavanced/com at $2499

Then, though, it gets weird. Following the 3 extensions every smart entrepreneur should build business on in sucks, dev and ai, it suggested as the closest best alternative ... awhod/com at $4911.

How is that in any way close/related/similar? I checked the whois, it at Namecheap, uses the custom afternic lander.

My next test was to see what it suggests for awhod. Of course, after .com, the best alternatives, in GD world, were sucks, dev, ai, followed by ... ajoed/com. Also $4911, again Namecheap, again afternic custom lander. Probably the same owner.

So, what is the secret recipe for this guy who owns those names? I guess he uses boost, but many others do and probably they had better alternatives with something like advancedlife or something. And how is it possible that he is suggested again for the next one as well?

So we should all enable boost, move our names to Namecheap, price them at $4911 and use afternic landers?

Meanwhile, I cannot get my myrtles/com show even when I search for "themyrtles". For that one, apparently, "myrtleplantation/com" is the best match (not counting aisuckdev).

Hi @Recons.Com
You're correct - only Afternic Boost domain names appear in suggested search results at GoDaddy.
It's been effective... Boosted domain names received 230 million impressions in suggested search results at GoDaddy in the first 50 days post launch. (Based on internal data from September 4, 2024 through October 24, 2024)

When it comes to GoDaddy search suggestions, a wide range of data influences what's displayed. The domain names you see might differ from what someone else sees, based on factors like previous searches, purchases, location, trends, and even the time of day. This data-driven approach is designed to connect buyers with the perfect domain name and offer suggestions they might not have considered, including related aftermarket and sponsored listings.

Show attachment 267758

@GoDaddy I can't even see my domains! Furthermore I saw that one of my domains is missing from my portfolio even though I added the TXT verification 2 months ago (Dynadot is the registrar) and on Dynadot I see that there is the TXT verification of Afternic. Now I tried again to add the particular domain to Afternic and it says "1 domain couldn't be listed. Verify Domain(s)". Since it is verified (I can send you a screenshot), what is the problem?

This seems like an issue that Afternic's support team can look into. Could you reach out to them via afternic.com/contact and use the live chat feature?

Sale amount: $8500

Domain name delivery: December 8th

Planned Payment: December 12th

Today: December 17th...

Still no payment. No response! Terrible! I sent them a long email to cancel the sale.

Everyone I contact from Afternic or Godaddy gives the same answer. What's the point of employing these people? Why am I wasting my time reaching out to these people when they can't provide any solutions...

I told them before that I informed them about the situation here. But they still don't care!

It seems you've already reached out to Afternic's support team regarding this, @tlpgndr. The payout was first sent a while back, so we suggest continuing to work with the support team to find out why you haven't received it yet. From your DM to us, it looks like you changed your payout settings late in the process, which could be holding things up.

 

[bmugford]

Hi @Recons.Com
You're correct - only Afternic Boost domain names appear in suggested search results at GoDaddy.
It's been effective... Boosted domain names received 230 million impressions in suggested search results at GoDaddy in the first 50 days post launch. (Based on internal data from September 4, 2024 through October 24, 2024)

I would say the real judge of success is sales, not impressions. Impressions really don't mean much without the sales to back it up.

Also, what are you defining as an "impression"?

If I search a term, it provides up to 40 results. Many of those are likely boosted domains.

Are you counting all those individual domains as impressions, so one actual search could yield say 15-20 impressions?

When it comes to GoDaddy search suggestions, a wide range of data influences what's displayed. The domain names you see might differ from what someone else sees, based on factors like previous searches, purchases, location, trends, and even the time of day. This data-driven approach is designed to connect buyers with the perfect domain name and offer suggestions they might not have considered, including related aftermarket and sponsored listings.

In my experience, the suggested options are usually awful & nonsensical. It seems like a combination of a bad algorithm and probably limited inventory to pull from.

Brad

 

[Domain Pro Seller]

This seems like an issue that Afternic's support team can look into. Could you reach out to them via afternic.com/contact and use the live chat feature?

@GoDaddy Afternic does not have a live chat feature...​