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.

 

[Name2go]

I think no broker should be denounced by name.
Every employee is as good as the environment in which he/she has to develop his skills.
I know one of the brokers mentioned here from the old days at Uniregistry. He handled some good sales for me there and always made time for advice and discussions.
Another broker, not mentioned in this thread, was incredibly ambitious at Uniregistry and always wanted to get a better result for me. At Afternic he missed a 2k USD offer a year ago, even though my rep was involved.
And when someone takes their child to the doctor or goes on vacation, those are the highlights of a long, hard working life, right?

 

[bmugford]

And when someone takes their child to the doctor or goes on vacation, those are the highlights of a long, hard working life, right?

Taking a vacation is not the issue. No one works all the time.

However, when you are company worth 25+ billion there is an entire team of brokers that should be able to cover all days and hours collectively.

My @GoDaddy account rep is going on vacation, but there is also someone taking over his duties in that time. That is how it should be.

A buyer doesn't really care if the broker is Steve, Bob, Sharon, Bill, etc. They are just interested in the domain.
Leads should not go cold just because a broker is out for a period of time.

Brad

 

[NorthernDomains]

Doing business with competent people is expensive; doing business with incompetent people is even more costly. Right now, Afternic is testing my patience.

 

[DomainRecap]

A buyer doesn't really care if the broker is Steve, Bob, Sharon, Bill, etc. They are just interested in the domain.
Leads should not go cold just because a broker is out for a period of time.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[DaveX]

Doing business with competent people is expensive; doing business with incompetent people is even more costly. Right now, Afternic is testing my patience.

Based on over 5 years of consistent AN sales, I can say with certainty, something major must has changed in the last 12-24 months.

My own suspicion is simply that GD is focusing more on selling its own names before domainer names.

I know brokers are paid on sales but perhaps there are incentives to sell GD names.

Having owned a company for two decades that provided leads to our sales staff, I do understand the position that GD takes that it solely owns the leads, however, transparency should be paramount to avoid negative perception.

Not sure what the solution might be but whatever has happened is not good.

 

[DomainRecap]

Here's how the plan should have went:

1) Develop and implement a Self-Brokerage option on Afternic. Do not pass Go until finished.

2) Confirm other basic functionality, such as LTO, data uploads, payment options, a viable UI etc., are present. Do not pass Go.

2) Migrate Dan users to Afternic.

3) Close Dan.

Now is that so $%&#@ hard?

If GD proceeded like any normal business would, 95% of the problems users have with Afternic would just disappear. But instead some GD exec needed to "hit his closing date" to get that gold back-scratcher, and now we're all paying for it.

 

[Name2go]

More Disagrees, please.
Are some of you able to recognize the difference between the workspace quality and the staff performance?

A buyer doesn't really care if the broker is Steve, Bob, Sharon, Bill, etc.

Then let people stop denouncing Steve, Bob, Sharon and Bill.

Completely agree with your organizational proposals.

 

[Skyvisum]

I think no broker should be denounced by name.
Every employee is as good as the environment in which he/she has to develop his skills.

And when someone takes their child to the doctor or goes on vacation, those are the highlights of a long, hard working life, right?

Maybe if the management can see that they need to train their staff to hand over to their manager or supervisor rather than go off and leave the leads to go cold .

You do realize this is an investment .
Godaddy has enough money to do the right thing and maybe they can use this case in point, to see if the broker is overworked or have too many leads and needs to be split or handed over to someone else from where he stopped .

Maybe broker also thinking about his commission, is not allowed to do that or his commission will be cut in half. How can a broke not care if his action is going to ruin someone else's investment entrusted to them ?

No communication for days and then you expect me to accept this behavior?

I am not stopping him from his trip ,all I care about is,why not hand over to his superior to close the deal .

Maybe Godaddy can see this and fix things up if the brokers are overwhelmed.
This is just one of many,I have another $25,000 that was also ruined by another well known broker at Godaddy after i told him to accept the offer after he messaged me .

 

[DomainRecap]

My own suspicion is simply that GD is focusing more on selling its own names before domainer names.

I do understand the position that GD takes that it solely owns the leads, however, transparency should be paramount to avoid negative perception.

This is why I have extreme trepidation concerning the release of an Afternic self-brokerage tool, as I simply don't believe GD will actually create one.

They just like the control too much, and it'll probably amount to putting a fresh coat of paint and some accents on the current broker system, so virtually everything runs exactly the same way, it just looks different. So we'll have a nifty UI to supposedly negotiate, but behind the curtain, all the little hamsters will still be running on their little wheels.

When this self-brokerage system comes out (if it ever does) the very first thing we need to do is start making offers to friend's domains, just to test out the actual response times. It should be real-time, but if Person A sends an offer or counter offer to Person B, and it takes a few days to actually show up on the dashboard, then I think we'll all know what's going on.

 

[Name2go]

No communication for days and then you expect me to accept this behavior?

All of us are experiencing similar frustrating situations with Afternic.

We don´t even know where to start criticizing. I don´t understand the management decisions to close Uniregistry and Dan like everybody else, I would understand if Afternic would have improved to the best marketplace on the planet in the meantime.

I just wanted to point out it would be sad to welcome Afternic staff as scapegoats. It would not help our businesses.

 

[DaveX]

This is why I have extreme trepidation concerning the release of an Afternic self-brokerage tool, as I simply don't believe GD will actually create one.

They just like the control too much, and it'll probably amount to putting a fresh coat of paint and some accents on the current broker system, so virtually everything runs exactly the same way, it just looks different. So we'll have a nifty UI to supposedly negotiate, but behind the curtain, all the little hamsters will still be running on their little wheels.

When this self-brokerage system comes out (if it ever does) the very first thing we need to do is start making offers to friend's domains, just to test out the actual response times. It should be real-time, but if Person A sends an offer or counter offer to Person B, and it takes a few days to actually show up on the dashboard, then I think we'll all know what's going on.

Fact is, Afternic has been a quality partner with me for a long time.

I'm not trying hate on a partner that has made many sales.

I'm just doing what I'd do normally and likely what GD would do in light of poor performance....expressing concern and looking for open, honest dialogue so that adjustments can be made on my end if necessary.

 

[Garet]

Listing Problem

Yesterday I noticed a name that is actively listed on Afternic displayed as unavailable when searched at GoDaddy. That motivated me to spend time to see if more of my names were in that state. I found 10 -- all were fairly recent additions. I deleted and re-added that batch and that seemed to help. Today, though, I see that the problem is back. It's time consuming to try to find these.

GD's tech is buggy and glitchy. That doesn't seem to concern GoDaddy and I doubt that C-Suite types have any idea. Sadly, it takes extra time to work through and around their bugs. Missing listings translate to lost sales. The primary reason that I endure Afternic is to have my names show as available when someone does an exact search at GoDaddy.

 

[wwwweb]

I think no broker should be denounced by name.
Every employee is as good as the environment in which he/she has to develop his skills.
I know one of the brokers mentioned here from the old days at Uniregistry. He handled some good sales for me there and always made time for advice and discussions.
Another broker, not mentioned in this thread, was incredibly ambitious at Uniregistry and always wanted to get a better result for me. At Afternic he missed a 2k USD offer a year ago, even though my rep was involved.
And when someone takes their child to the doctor or goes on vacation, those are the highlights of a long, hard working life, right?

The same broker dropped a 5 figure deal for me also, because it took 5 days to respond, and buyers went in a different direction, it's not a one off. I am seeing transactions stalled quickly, and the next day a decent offer comes in. I do not wish to put the blame on the brokers, but they are not getting the resources, and back up support they need. Most likely trying to keep costs low, and run as lean as possible, but the people who say their sales are off, after years of selling, everyone I talk to shares that same feeling. Not sure where the leads are being directed, but they are either getting lost in translation, or in the cart.

 

[lennco]

@GoDaddy

Why is it that you can register a .living tld at Godaddy but you cant list it on Afternic?
You get an error saying this TLD is not supported.

Will AN support this tld anytime soon?

Thanks

 

[DomainRecap]

 

[wwwweb]

@GoDaddy

Why is it that you can register a .living tld at Godaddy but you cant list it on Afternic?
You get an error saying this TLD is not supported.

Will AN support this tld anytime soon?

Thanks

Many extensions are like this, same with .locker etc

Honestly, we are literally mapping and crowd storming, so many bugs, and solutions here. I think just having 1 engineer like take all these concerns and document them, afternic could benefit so much from it.

 

[freety85]

@GoDaddy I'm finding that the surveys I receive are coming in a few days after the initial query has been addressed. By this time, I've often forgotten the details of the case, making it challenging to provide accurate feedback. Moreover, the login requirement to access the survey frequently results in an error message. I'm eager to contribute to the feedback process, but it would be much more efficient if the survey could be accessed without logging into Afternic or requiring significant effort on my part.

 

[King]

I'm sorry to hear that. I'm experiencing the same thing right now. Almost 9 days ago, a lead was created for a $20k domain. Broker Patrick P. hasn't bothered to make a single call or send a single email to the buyer during those 9 days.

My actions:
1) I've sent two messages to him. The first one a week ago. No answer.
2) Sent a private message to @GoDaddy 6 days ago. No answer.
3) Sent emails to support@, service@, and ta@afternic as I didn't know who deals with the brokers. Service@ responded that they have relayed my concerns to the broker, and that he will follow up with me asap. A day later and broker Patrick P. has still not responded.

What do I do now?

After 9 days of inactivity, the lead is dead, and I'm angry. What's the point of listing my domains with Afternic when the broker just doesn't give a shit?

& I am still confused why people continue to trust GoDaddy with their negotiations. Set a bin or self broker on another lander.

 

[King]

This is really just becoming some kind of bad joke. Already completely unlisted multiple domains that go into review, and now I still am at the highest in review rate of 15% of domains submitted.

 

[DrJacoby]

Set a bin or self broker on another lander.

I have BIN prices on all my domains. I still get offers and inquiries.