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]

This is what @SuperBrander wrote in the Afternic Boost thread:

"Yeah, my rep is super frustrated and apologetic. The 600lb gorilla is too big and its coordination is poor. One hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing, and the brain (management) seemingly doesn't care about anything other than profits. That trickles down to everything- bad programming, bad policies, bad customer support, bad marketing."

 

[Garet]

This is what @SuperBrander wrote in the Afternic Boost thread:

"Yeah, my rep is super frustrated and apologetic. The 600lb gorilla is too big and its coordination is poor. One hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing, and the brain (management) seemingly doesn't care about anything other than profits. That trickles down to everything- bad programming, bad policies, bad customer support, bad marketing."

Walk and chew gum at the same time? Hold on. That's not happening. Boost commissions AND fix bugs? Don't be ridiculous!

 

[tonyk2000]

@GoDaddy can you tell please, what the new .com retail price would be @ GD after the next Verisign price increase? Basic price, in USD, before taxes (if any)? /it is what our customers will also have to pay for transfer or renewal if they purchase Afternic BIN domain.../

 

[Future Sensors]

@GoDaddy can you tell please, what the new .com retail price would be @ GD after the next Verisign price increase? Basic price, in USD, before taxes (if any)? /it is what our customers will also have to pay for transfer or renewal if they purchase Afternic BIN domain.../

Here's more info:

https://domainnamewire.com/2024/08/20/how-domain-registrars-have-increased-com-prices/

 

[GoDaddy]

Here is my recent afternic experience.

I decide to adjust the camel case on a few names...doing so has put some of the names in 'review'. This was unexpected as the names have been listed for years.

These wacky, out of the blue things are what keep things so fun at afternic.

ADD: one name is made up! No worries, I've moved them to another marketplace

Hi @Mister Funsky
We're sorry to hear that. At the moment, our support team is available to help ensure that your domains exit the In Review process.

Lately in many cases when adding a new domain to my portfolio it is going INREVIEW STATUS !!
Even though the verification TXT is added !! and i have to send email to the support to respond to me next day and fix the issue !!

Seems the afternic automated verification is not working properly anymore !!

.

Hi @lovely4ever
In Review status differs from ownership verification. In Review covers both domain status updates and trademark/compliance checks. However, Afternic's support team is available to review these domains for you.

Why is the LTO period automatically set to 60 months and how do we reset it to our own preferred period? This basic functionality should be common sense but, as with everything-Afternic related, its needlessly complicated.

Hi @LH1
The default maximum LTO period depends on your Buy it Now price, and is never below $100/month. However, this can be changed easily through your Portfolio page.

Select multiple domains, then from the footer toolbar, choose "Pricing." Under Lease to Own, click "Enabled" and then set your maximum lease period.

What kind of enigma is this?
When i sign in into afternic with gd account it directly goes to afternic portfolio where it shows sign out in my account profile.
When i click on Afternic logo in my portfolio, it directs me to afternic homepage. But then there is no provision for going back to afternic portfolio. For that I have to sign in again into afternic to go to my portfolio.

Hi @jiy k
Thanks for raising this, we'll share it with the Afternic team. However, all user pages should be accessible through the sidebar links in your logged-in experience (from afternic.com/dashboard).

Why does Afternic accept listings of those TLDs that GoDaddy and its (=Afternic's) shopping cart doesn't support? For example, if I try to buy an .fi domain through its AN lander, all I get is an unhelpful error message.

Hi @Jannes
It's certainly something we're considering at the moment. Right now, you're able to use .FI with the Request Price lander, where buyers can negotiate directly with Afternic's brokers.

I have tried to change lander page for some names from BIN to Price Upon Request. I select the names, choose the type, click to confirm, get "success" message. But it turns out, upon rechecking, none of the landers changed and all of them retained the BIN lander.

Do I need the boost membership for being able to actually change the settings and not get a fake confirmation? Is this also a part of the package? Can you please disclose the whole list?

At this point, you could include access to Afternic panel into Boost package or even Boost+ with 85% to GD and 15% to sellers.

Hi @Recons.Com
If this didn't switch your landers within a couple of minutes at the most, then that's something we need to investigate. I'll connect with your account manager and the product team today to understand more about why this happened.

 

[Mister Funsky]

We're sorry to hear that. At the moment, our support team is available to help ensure that your domains exit the In Review process.

I appreciate your response but I just don't have the time to go through the support team process every time a change is made in camel case, pricing and/or landers.

It has happened again on a name that has been in negotiation thru one of your brokers. The buyer did not have deep enough pockets to pick up the premium name so negotiations have fully stopped. I then moved the domain to non Afternic landers (to lower commission), along with removing pricing, and now the name is in 'review'.

I've had great experiences with Godaddy in the past and there are some stellar individuals still working there but someone with authority needs to stick his/her neck out and insist the bugs be fixed. We all know Godaddy has deep pockets and with a pen stroke it can fully (and quickly) overhaul the system or create a new one. Trying to integrate Dan + Afternic with Godaddy is too big of a coding nightmare. Just combine Afternic and Dan and keep that entity separate.

As of now I will leave my names listed on Afternic/Godaddy and as long as pricing remains the same on the Checkout Link option I will continue to offer that option to buyers. If the review bug keeps on happening, I will have no choice but to delist them all.

 

[Jannes]

It's certainly something we're considering at the moment. Right now, you're able to use .FI with the Request Price lander, where buyers can negotiate directly with Afternic's brokers.

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

 

[Future Sensors]

https://blog.afternic.com/balancing-lead-quality-and-quantity/

 

[Maged Khatab]

Another thing I noticed in the past few days. When I try to bulk update LTO, it doesn't go through and I get the following error:

Error
Some domains failed to update. Please try again.

The only workaround I tried is to bulk update LTO after I select 50 "Entries" per page in the dropdown menu at the bottom of the "All Domains" page.

I usually update LTO in bulk up to 500 entries per time. Now the maximum is 50 per page otherwise it gives the above error. I don't know if this is a new bug or rule!

@GoDaddy Please fix this issue ASAP.

Suggestions "You may consider for future updates":

1) A bulk LTO option for the entire portfolio similar to the "Bulk Lander Update".

2) Two columns for LTO in the spreadsheet, one accepts Y/N to allow or disallow LTO and the other one accepts the number of months for LTO.

Thank you!

I tried to bulk update +500 LTO listings today and I confirm the above issue has been resolved.
I also noticed the website and bulk updates are slightly faster than usual. I hope things keep working smoothly without breaking on us every day or so.

 

[Jannes]

I still couldn't relist some domains that I deleted a week ago (accidentally, but that is not relevant). They are within the 60d and I usually add those without BINs. Then thankfully I saw this:

this one I didn't try:

 

[jiy k]

Looks like Afternic is under maintenance. Not loading.

 

[Synozeer]

I still couldn't relist some domains that I deleted a week ago (accidentally, but that is not relevant). They are within the 60d and I usually add those without BINs. Then thankfully I saw this:


Show attachment 261478

this one I didn't try:

Show attachment 261479

I had this same issue. I deleted a few names, then tried to re-add them and it just gives me an error and says they could not be added. Assigning BIN on pre-add didn't work for me (I was already doing that).

I spent a week going back and forth with support trying to fix it, but they couldn't find anything wrong on their end. They bumped me up to the next level of support, I made a video of it to show them, tried incognito, etc. but nothing worked. Then yesterday I tried bulk upload via CSV file and it appeared to not work, but a few hours later they were added. Still don't know if it was the bulk upload or they finally figured it out on their end.

 

[Future Sensors]

@AbdulBasit.com

You are widely regarded as one of the Afternic "ambassadors" and were recently interviewed by them on the Afternic blog.

I had already read on X that you have unsubscribed from the new Boost initiative.

I would like to hear if you are still enthusiastic about the current Afternic and if you also experience all the bugs that have been frequently described by all other domain investors for a long time.

 

[Future Sensors]

Just a quick question, is it possible to upload via CSV again, or am I at risk of something going wrong?

The answer is no.

 

[Domain Pro Seller]

@GoDaddy When will I finally have the option to change the username I thoughtlessly entered on Afternic when I became a member? This prevents me from sharing my portfolio on Social Media because inevitably the username will be visible. Godaddy and Dan have this option but Afternic does not. Since Afternic is also "A GoDaddy Brand" we should have the option to change it if we want to.

 

[Future Sensors]

https://www.namepros.com/threads/is...trust-battle-could-impact-gddy-stock.1333180/

From the article:

"However, some industry experts claim that GoDaddy has a history of using its power to create a costly and complicated user experience that benefits itself at the expense of its customers."

 

[LH1]

I just noticed a number of my domains are publically listed for a price I did not set or authorize a third-party to to set. Internally, the domain appears fine as it reflects my price but publicaly listed at a different unauthorized price. What caused this error and what is Afternic's policy in the event the name is sold at the unauthorized price?

Excited for an incomplete response 36 hours later followed by a request to complete some useless customer experience survey.

 

[jiy k]

I just noticed a number of my domains are publically listed for a price I did not set or authorize a third-party to to set. Internally, the domain appears fine as it reflects my price but publicaly listed at a different unauthorized price. What caused this error and what is Afternic's policy in the event the name is sold at the unauthorized price?

Excited for an incomplete response 36 hours later followed by a request to complete some useless customer experience survey.

Can you please elaborate by what you mean by publicly listed. Thanks.

 

[NameGroove]

@GoDaddy When will I finally have the option to change the username I thoughtlessly entered on Afternic when I became a member? This prevents me from sharing my portfolio on Social Media because inevitably the username will be visible. Godaddy and Dan have this option but Afternic does not. Since Afternic is also "A GoDaddy Brand" we should have the option to change it if we want to.

Agreed. I called in about this and a rep said all we can do it open another Afternic account and bulk upload all names, again. With all the issues re bulk upload and re-listing, I decided against this method. Afternic, please allow us to change usernames. Mine is from years ago and it needs a change

 

[synecdoche]

1) When trying to add a name which is already part of your Afternic portfolio - I am now getting the error message "Verification Required" as opposed to "This name is already in the portfolio" which was displayed earlier. This message appears in red on the screen where pricing is to be added. This makes me nervous whether the software is able to ascertain what is currently verified/in your portfolio and what would have caused this change recently. Anyone else facing this?

2) Is there a time-frame in which all Afternic accounts will have the new features (Filters, Bulk Search etc) available? I am still waiting for those on my account - not sure how rest of the members are faring on this. Checking as it has been ~2 months post this announcement - https://blog.afternic.com/whats-new-june-2024/

Thanks!