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.

 

[4L.com]

Our Afternic engineers are currently investigating this sync issue, and we'll pass along your feedback to them. @robosapein, we'll be in touch to gather a bit more information.

@GoDaddy As of September 10th, the issue remains unresolved. I initially reported this on September 6th when I noticed it, though it likely occurred even earlier. According to your previous message, your engineers are aware of the issue and working on an investigation.

At least half of my 17,737 four-letter domains that use the nameservers ns1.afternic.com and ns2.afternic.com are currently being redirected to a page where the domains cannot be purchased at all. Instead, the only available option is to buy brokerage services from GoDaddy. This seems intentional, as it could be aimed at inflating the numbers for the brokerage division ahead of the fiscal year-end in the U.S.

Regardless of the motive, taking four days to fix such an issue is unacceptable. I am losing potential sales because buyers searching for specific 4L domain combinations are being directed to a page asking them to pay for GoDaddy's brokerage services, even though all my domains are listed with fixed prices and available for direct purchase.

Moreover, your own customers, when searching for one of my domains on your platform (Godaddy Domain Search Tool), are unable to buy them because the domains are not marked for sale. The only option they see is the domain brokerage service, which is deceptive.

I have decided to change the nameservers for all my domains. I cannot continue to lose revenue due to your unwillingness or inability to fix simple bugs on your platform. I will be using alternative platforms in the meantime, as it is evident that Afternic is unable to address issues in a timely manner, which directly affects their customers' ability to conduct business and results in financial losses for them. And I will wait until you receive enough complaints from your other customers and finally decide to resolve the issue, ensuring that the Afternic platform operates fully as intended, rather than just generating leads for your brokerage department.

 

[Future Sensors]

I cannot continue to lose revenue due to your unwillingness or inability to fix simple bugs on your platform.

Exactly. Unfortunately, Afternic has indicated, and this is evident time and again, that they currently want to stubbornly continue with the integration of the existing DAN into the unstable Afternic platform, instead of first solving all existing issues. Higher powers seem to have made this decision, and there's nothing we can do about that. It takes the courage to pause for a moment, just as Apple did at some point, as described earlier.

 

[GoDaddy]

For crying out loud -- I don't see any of those features such as Bulk Search and Sort on Views. How can I add my account to "Beta Test" Team?

Hi @DN_Hunter
To ensure everything runs smoothly between the necessary APIs while scaling up usage, we decided on a gradual rollout for the update that includes:

• Filters
• Bulk Search
• View sorting

The rollout has been slower than we initially anticipated, but we’re now above 50% of seller accounts and continuing to add more.

 

[Synozeer]

Now I have a new problem. A lot of my names aren't even purchasable. When I click on the Get It button, I get a message that "This domain isn't available". Also, some names that have lease to own aren't showing the lease option. It's a total mess.

 

[Future Sensors]

@Synozeer I can confirm that it shows that error after clicking the Get It button.

 

[Future Sensors]

It's a total mess.

Can confirm this, as well.

 

[Future Sensors]

It’s painful and frustrating that we have to check our inventory daily to ensure it’s correctly listed and available for (or, technically possible to) purchase. We have other priorities and shouldn’t have to handle tasks that should be done by Afternic.

 

[davidc1]

It’s painful and frustrating that we have to check our inventory daily to ensure it’s correctly listed and available for purchase. We have other priorities and shouldn’t have to handle tasks that should be done by Afternic.

you must know that almost everything is not working 100% properly with them.
Even for new features, they need months to scale up for all their customers.

IMO dont use their landers, it's risky... for the moment dan is there and nice for that, without their penalty.
for godaddy search path, if it works that's fine, if not, we cannot do anything as godaddy only use afternic listing...

 

[Future Sensors]

Now that all bugs together appear to structurally lead to unavailability of our domain names, consideration should be given to a reduction in the commission for the period in which the Afternic product promises are not met.

 

[ran_doank]

@GoDaddy Good day. The problem is still not resolved for THOUSANDS of my domains, I repeat, THOUSANDS. Instead of the Custom Lander, the page 'This domain is registered, but may still be available.' is displayed. When you follow the link, instead of showing the fixed price for the domain (and all my domains have fixed prices), GoDaddy’s domain broker service is displayed, without the option to purchase the domain. Examples for those who want to check this themselves:
Show attachment 262463
Show attachment 262464
If we click on 'Get this domain':
Show attachment 262465

Another Example:
Show attachment 262466
Show attachment 262467
If we click on 'Get this domain':
Show attachment 262468

It’s very convenient for you, as you receive a broker's commission, but it’s not convenient at all for me and potential buyers of my domains, as I am the one losing sales. Most of my domains practically sell themselves, as they are 4-letter domains, and almost all buyers find them by entering the desired combination of letters in the browser’s address bar. In this situation, instead of seeing the fixed price for which they can buy the domain, the potential buyer sees an offer to pay you $119.99 and possibly purchase the domain. Please provide a timeline for when you plan to fix this "bug".

I just notice this last night. All FT enable names at dynadot being greyed, when i visit the names it show call us / pay $119 broker..
I try re-add the greyed names at afternic (delete and relist) and confirm the FT at Dyna, Now all names lost the Premium and Verified badge.

It also not promoted when i search at Godaddy. Its more like i pay for those 5% boost so my names can't be found easily. If somehow i got serious buyer, they will use broker, imagine the profit from left and right.

 

[Synozeer]

I just notice this last night. All FT enable names at dynadot being greyed, when i visit the names it show call us / pay $119 broker..
I try re-add the greyed names at afternic (delete and relist) and confirm the FT at Dyna, Now all names lost the Premium and Verified badge.
Show attachment 262590
It also not promoted when i search at Godaddy. Its more like i pay for those 5% boost so my names can't be found easily. If somehow i got serious buyer, they will use broker, imagine the profit from left and right.

Send an email to Dynadot. I think they messed something up on their end with Fast Transfer. I'm having similar issues with my names with them - mine are all greyed out showing FT disabled even though Afternic shows them enabled. It happened when my Afternic account somehow became delinked and I had to relink it again.

 

[Future Sensors]

Fellow Boosters and non-Boosters,

It's been almost a week since Boost was officially implemented, and the poll has now garnered 111 votes.

For your convenience, voting will remain open for a while longer.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/poll-will-you-participate-in-the-afternic-boost-program.1333652/

 

[NorthernDomains]

The only option they see is the domain brokerage service, which is deceptive.

I concur that this is happening to some of my domains. At this point, it's simply embarrassing. How many sales are potentially lost due to incompetence?

 

[Future Sensors]

@Synozeer I can confirm that it shows that error after clicking the Get It button.

This is still happening with your domain, but not with a domain from the NameFind LLC portfolio.

Testing with a random NameFind domain, meaningof.com, the domain is correctly added to the GoDaddy cart, without any errors.

 

[Future Sensors]

(If you are also going to test with NameFind domains, don't forget to remove them from your basket, lol.)

 

[Garet]

How many sales are potentially lost due to incompetence?

Up to 10%?

(too many)

 

[Future Sensors]

Dear @GoDaddy Afternic Team,

Given the current overwhelming issues with the Afternic and GoDaddy platforms, it might be more effective to openly acknowledge these challenges and provide a clear timeline for when everything will be back to normal. This transparency can rebuild trust and reassure domain investors who rely on Afternic to sell their domains. By addressing problems head-on and offering a realistic resolution timeframe, you can maintain domain investor confidence and foster a more positive user experience.

Honesty and transparency are key here. While this crisis may not easily be reversed, being forthright can mitigate a fallout. Ensure that domain investors are proactively informed to maintain morale and prevent misinformation. Keep all stakeholders updated with your progress or setbacks.

Thank you.

(h/t to @Jannes for the screenshot)

 

[Synozeer]

This is still happening with your domain, but not with a domain from the NameFind LLC portfolio.

Testing with a random NameFind domain, meaningof.com, the domain is correctly added to the GoDaddy cart, without any errors.

I've been in communication with Afternic. They were able to fix a300.com. What apparently happened is my Afternic account became unlinked at Dynadot somehow, so I had to reconnect it. However, all the domains lost their Fast Transfer status on Dynadot, even though Afternic was still incorrectly showing them all as Fast Transfer. Support told me a300.com was in "pending review" even though it wasn't showing as pending review. I've sent them a list of all my domains on Dynadot with this issue, so hopefully they'll be able to do the same with them.

 

[Future Sensors]

Thanks @Synozeer

It would be interesting to find out why this happened at Dynadot, I mean, it could still be related to issues at Afternic and API communications within the partner network.

Also, your domain displayed with a price and the "Get It" button, so you would expect that it can be added to cart.

Instead, you got an error.

 

[NicTraders]

This is still happening with your domain, but not with a domain from the NameFind LLC portfolio.

How curious.....

it might be more effective to openly acknowledge these challenges and provide a clear timeline for when everything will be back to normal. This transparency can rebuild trust and reassure domain investors who rely on Afternic to sell their domains.

Absolutely. It seems like a no-brainer. But I wonder if we would even believe them if they provided such a timeline. Their track record isn't so good. Still, some recognition of the ongoing issues and a commitment to fix them ASAP would certainly help.

It would be interesting to find out why this happened at Dynadot, I mean, it could still be related to issues at Afternic and API communications within the partner network.

Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if it were an Afternic issue, rather than Dynadot. In fact that seems likely.