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.

 

[Future Sensors]

I think most will agree that all this feedback is pointless when there is no publicly disclosed commitment to a time frame. E.g. by Q2/2023 the deliverables are [insert list of tasks to be completed.]

Domain investors want to use a service that is stable and mature. Think: Uni Market & Dan.

I continue to believe in the goodness of people, but you are right. I can't remember a case where our suggestions have led to improvement of the Afternic website.

 

[Acroplex]

Afternic is a service provided by a public company that is run by a board of directors; ergo, its activities aren't meant for the benefit of consumers in general. Since 2000, I've used GoDaddy as much as the next domainer guy and I believe that the current methodology isn't surprising. But from a developer's standpoint, the production cycles at GD are painfully slow. Feedback has been provided since 2020 at least and what we have here is 2 acquisitions (Uni Market, Dan) and an elaborate attempt to strong-arm people's DNS choices by imposing a 25% fee structure that's been presented as the "real value" of the service.

On point: Afternic knows well how to fix itself, any back-and-forth here is for the sake of public relations.

 

[tonyk2000]

Afternic knows well how to fix itself

as far as I remember, at the same time, it cannot. Or, at least, not easy. Why? Because the code is not theirs. It is developed by / licensed from a 3rd party. This was disclosed in another afternic thread some time ago. So they need to pay real $$$ to have the things fixed or added. It also explains why there are different sets of DNS servers for different purposes - they simply do not have dns management or domain-specific setup inside the current system code )

 

[Acroplex]

The underlying tech is related to the issues, yet nothing stops them from using new tech they paid dear dollar for (Uni Market is a prime example.)

So I am not prepared to accept this as an excuse of such a slow progress in UX and features at Afternic. If anything, the "free lesson" cost $70+ million by acquiring Dan.com.

 

[tonyk2000]

$70+ million by acquiring Dan.com

by overpaying for Dan. Number of domains listed should have been one of the pricing criterias, and, with tons of fake listings, this number was obviously incorrect...

 

[Acroplex]

I'm certain GD did plenty of due diligence on that, so the price reflects a lot of valuation factors that we can speculate on.

Simply comparing the elegance and user-friendliness of Dan to the antiquated, buggy Afternic that seems unable to break out of its shell. It's saddening and reflects badly on the entire ecosystem at GoDaddy.

 

[Traderas]

I know this thread is not for support and it is just to tell you what “works and what doesn’t work”.
Well, afternic support doesn’t work…
Delayed answers, misinformation and indifference.

Indifference:
5 days ago, I bought 6 domains the same time. I got no receipt for 1 of them. I sent 2 emails to support, but no response yet. Yesterday, a GoDaddy sales rep called me, to ask me to complete the 6th transaction. I told him I had already paid. Apparently the only way to get refund for my payment, is to send you the receipt I never received! He provided me no other option. In the meantime I lost the domain I wanted to buy, as it’s not listed anymore…
No money and no domain!
(Of course I had previously contacted with my bank, and they assured me the payment completed normally from their side)

Misinformation:
The same godaddy sales rep negotiated on my side for a domain that I wanted to buy last week. He assured me that if I receive the domain through afternic in my GoDaddy account by push, there won’t be any lock period. After I received the domain, I saw that it’s locked for the next 60 days. I contacted him again and he told me to speak with Afternic Transaction Assurance. They confirmed that the domain will indeed be locked for 60 days…
So the rep gave me wrong information, either by mistake or on purpose, to close the sale.
(If I knew this in advance I would have transferred out the name instead of receiving it in godaddy.)

Delay:
I bought a domain 11/2, that I haven’t received yet.
The domain was purchased in afternic and registered in godaddy.
Why is it so difficult to transfer internally a domain? Aren’t you the same company?
Last update I had, 9 days ago, is that they are working on it!

 

[Mister Funsky]

what “works and what doesn’t work”

Although none of the inquiries that I have received through the afternic 'network' have never panned out, I still respond.

What is not working for me, is my adding a BIN and FLOOR price to a name. I've tried 5 times over 3 days and it is not changing in their system. They even sent the notice a second time since they are not detecting a change.

 

[GoDaddy]

I know this thread is not for support and it is just to tell you what “works and what doesn’t work”.
Well, afternic support doesn’t work…
Delayed answers, misinformation and indifference.

Indifference:
5 days ago, I bought 6 domains the same time. I got no receipt for 1 of them. I sent 2 emails to support, but no response yet. Yesterday, a GoDaddy sales rep called me, to ask me to complete the 6th transaction. I told him I had already paid. Apparently the only way to get refund for my payment, is to send you the receipt I never received! He provided me no other option. In the meantime I lost the domain I wanted to buy, as it’s not listed anymore…
No money and no domain!
(Of course I had previously contacted with my bank, and they assured me the payment completed normally from their side)

Misinformation:
The same godaddy sales rep negotiated on my side for a domain that I wanted to buy last week. He assured me that if I receive the domain through afternic in my GoDaddy account by push, there won’t be any lock period. After I received the domain, I saw that it’s locked for the next 60 days. I contacted him again and he told me to speak with Afternic Transaction Assurance. They confirmed that the domain will indeed be locked for 60 days…
So the rep gave me wrong information, either by mistake or on purpose, to close the sale.
(If I knew this in advance I would have transferred out the name instead of receiving it in godaddy.)

Delay:
I bought a domain 11/2, that I haven’t received yet.
The domain was purchased in afternic and registered in godaddy.
Why is it so difficult to transfer internally a domain? Aren’t you the same company?
Last update I had, 9 days ago, is that they are working on it!

This is valuable information. The support leadership team will be notified. For added context, could you send your customer ID to [email protected]?

 

[tonyk2000]

Sometimes, afternic fast transfer authorization approvals are lost in cyberspace. In other words, domain approved on registrar end may never be shown as fast transfer on afternic end. Why? I do not know. The issue is less frequent with some registrars (never saw this @ porkbun for example), and happens more frequently with other registrars (namesilo for example). While each particular case can be solved by contacting afternic support and/or registrar support, and I do not have any pending cases right now, the following would be appreciated:

1. Afternic should find the root cause of the problem [afternic-registrar api?].

2. Afternic should provide an opportunity to resend fast transfer authorizations right from our control panel.

3. An opportunity to manage fast transfer listings (show/remove) should be offered by all participating registrars. At this time, not all registrars support it.

 

[DNWon]

Afternic knows well how to fix itself

I don't think they do?

Like Jerry Seinfeld once said to his Car Rental agent, when they had no car for him. "They know how to take the reservation, they just don't know how to hold the reservation! And isn't the holding of the reservation the most important part of the reservation?"

Dealing with Afternic is probably the most frustrating thing about domain investing! By far!
If they weren't so effective at sales, domain investors would most likely, not use the platform!

 

[Jeremiah88]

This is valuable information. The support leadership team will be notified. For added context, could you send your customer ID to [email protected]?

Are you aware your "for sale" page hasn't been resolving for a while.

Or am I the only one experiencing it ?

Insert a domain name at the end of the link below and see for yourself

http://godaddy.com/forsale/

 

[davidc1]

LTO inside registrars afternic partners would be nice

 

[GoDaddy]

Sometimes, afternic fast transfer authorization approvals are lost in cyberspace. In other words, domain approved on registrar end may never be shown as fast transfer on afternic end. Why? I do not know. The issue is less frequent with some registrars (never saw this @ porkbun for example), and happens more frequently with other registrars (namesilo for example). While each particular case can be solved by contacting afternic support and/or registrar support, and I do not have any pending cases right now, the following would be appreciated:

1. Afternic should find the root cause of the problem [afternic-registrar api?].

2. Afternic should provide an opportunity to resend fast transfer authorizations right from our control panel.

3. An opportunity to manage fast transfer listings (show/remove) should be offered by all participating registrars. At this time, not all registrars support it.

Our platform team will be informed. If anyone experiences the issue mentioned here, please DM us so we can track it.

Are you aware your "for sale" page hasn't been resolving for a while.

Or am I the only one experiencing it ?

Insert a domain name at the end of the link below and see for yourself

http://godaddy.com/forsale/

We've found no issues during testing. Please DM us if you can provide more information. Thank you!

 

[Acroplex]

That URL is notoriously broken as it doesn't even filter out invalid domains. For example.

 

[kor]

Although they have already been approved, many domains become 'pending review' every time I upload the spreadsheet with the reconcile option. It takes days to find a solution on the issue.

Despite asking repeatedly why this is happening and how I can prevent it, I get no response.

---

For domain names with .group extension that are actively listed with ns3/ns4 DNS, only the text "give us a call" is displayed instead of the application form.

---

When will Afternic's new interface be fully completed?

 

[Recons.Com]

The biggest most important and easiest issue to fix by Afternic is the following one(and I have reported it multiple times directly and via NP):

- Afternic landers don't resolve if a domain is entered or clicked via https.

It is hard to estimate and depends, of course, on the backlink profile, but probably 10-20% of sales are lost simply because the potential buyer sees an empty page when using https. For me personally, this means 5 to 6 figure loss every year, to Afternic this is probably 8 figure annual loss.

It is mind boggling that after so many years since Google pretty much has "outlawed" http protocol, GD still not only is stuck with http, but can't even make https work.

Until this huge impact issue is resolved, I don't believe Afternic/GD is genuinely interested in collecting any actionable feedback.

 

[Acroplex]

The biggest most important and easiest issue to fix by Afternic is the following one(and I have reported it multiple times directly and via NP):

- Afternic landers don't resolve if a domain is entered or clicked via https.

It is hard to estimate and depends, of course, on the backlink profile, but probably 10-20% of sales are lost simply because the potential buyer sees an empty page when using https. For me personally, this means 5 to 6 figure loss every year, to Afternic this is probably 8 figure annual loss.

It is mind boggling that after so many years since Google pretty much has "outlawed" http protocol, GD still not only is stuck with http, but can't even make https work.

Until this huge impact issue is resolved, I don't believe Afternic/GD is genuinely interested in collecting any actionable feedback.

Not defending this lack of SSL, however Uni Market domains don't use SSL either.

On the other hand, Dan.com listings do! And this speaks volumes about the modern approach Dan.com took across the board.

IMO, Afternic should be completely retired and Dan.com should be rebranded as the new "Afternic 2.0."

 

[Recons.Com]

Not defending this lack of SSL, however Uni Market domains don't use SSL either.

On the other hand, Dan.com listings do! And this speaks volumes about the modern approach Dan.com took across the board.

IMO, Afternic should be completely retired and Dan.com should be rebranded as the new "Afternic 2.0."

I disagree with that. Afternic is way better at converting than Dan. I am not discussing reasons, just stating the results of testing.

So, basically, even if Dan would get 10-20% more visits/leads (assuming they are proportionate), if they convert 50% less than Afternic, Afternic is still a better option.

Now, of course, Afternic has a lot to improve and build upon. SSL issue is one big untapped potential and easy fix, but someone in GD/Afternic management in charge of the technical aspects has been grossly unprofessional and negligent to realize and implement a fix.

Other two big areas are a) improving Afternic's own site, its appeal and useability; b) allowing inserting Google Analytics code. As of now, not only I have to give my traffic to Afternic to get the favorable commission, but I am entirely giving up on the wealth of information I could use for improving my portfolio and make other important decisions.

All of the three "changes" are easy and straightforward and shouldn't cost more than $100k for potential upside of millions or tens of millions a year.

 

[Recons.Com]

One more observation: not sure what is happening and if the latest round of firing at GD/Afternic is to blame, but the conversion of offers have gone drastically down the hill.

When now I get the email from the broker stating they have "firmed up the offer", I know it is a joke. Even few months back "firm" meant "firm" at least by 80%. Now it is no more than 20%.