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.

 

[Jannes]

@GoDaddy

Can't login into afternic. Goes to empty page and suggests to translate from Danish to English.

Ditto, on desktop (Chrome). Mobile worked (Safari).

 

[silentg]

Sold a domain at Afternic, it was sold through the GoDaddy Auctions. I found out this after calling Afternic TA support.

Waiting for payout.

 

[DrJacoby]

The lead center is frozen for me, I really doubt that the cause is me not having a big enough portfolio, I think there some issue.

It's called anti-Boost. I had a great year up until I opted out of Boost. Now it's just dead.

 

[Bearded Goat]

@SuperBrander I had the 403 forbidden for awhile too. It is back to functioning again but was a hideous mess this site is. I would love to meet who is responsible for this.

 

[Picassoface]

BIG mistake ending Dan and moving it all to afteric. Dan is the Best and afteric has always been full of problems especially with website function.

 

[D Haynes]

GoDaddy should provide access to search so people can find what they want, whether that is an investor looking for a domain or an end user who wants to name their company.

Think that about sums it up

 

[D Haynes]

Just to expand a bit. There's a lot of negative response to the "Boost" program from we investors (and rightly so) but buyers are just as much if not more negatively impacted by it and the lack of a viable search function.

Imagine going to shop and asking for something to keep your hands warm. The assistant says "we have these lovely socks" which you end up buying because you didn't realise they had gloves out back. If only the gloves sellers had paid for the "Boost".

 

[DomainRecap]

BIG mistake ending Dan and moving it all to afteric. Dan is the Best and afteric has always been full of problems especially with website function.

Exactly.

A bad decision based off trying to make something off another bad decision (buying Afternic for $$$).

At a certain point someone at GoDaddy should have dumped Afternic and made the right call for the company by choosing the newer, more feature-rich Dan, Instead, a few execs with "equity" in the decision chose Afternic as one to hitch their wagon to.

And that means only one thing, Bad News for the Afternics!

I personally think Afternic is going to absolutely melt down on Oct 16 - Afternic is already dead slow as it is, but when Dan officially closes and all those domains flood in, the gears will just grind to a halt due to 'broker gridlock".

 

[VadimK]

There is not a single reason to have nameservers pointed to Afternic/GD. When the search bar existed they were selling because of it, and Afternic lander helped to reduce commissions. Now Search bar is gone. They don't sell anything. They do not recommend anything. Their lander is as useful as a comb for a bold one. Matter of fact, their ''boost'' is just the way to rip you off for more money to offset their rapidly degrading sales.

I had all my names in a Boost mode for 3 weeks, and there is a zero difference in views or leads (and we are comparing September with boost to August (dead month!) without any boost.

The way it goes, it tells me that GD is switching from domain sales to charging for services - DA, appraisals, brokerage... Mark my words - soon GD will start charging monthly fees for you to have names listed with them, I have no doubts it's coming - sooner or later.

For now I'll leave all my names there without any ''boost'', mark all 20% up and go away with landers to Dynadot (just get used more to Dynadot, but pretty much any lander will perform better than AF/GD).
At least there you can customize it a bit for better SEO (although minimally of course, but GD/Afternic don't have even that).

 

[zomainhacks]

They should charge fees based on the channel the sales happened. This would be a format I'll appreciate:

lander: 4%
network: 15%
GD reg path with exact search: 15%
GD reg path with "boost" : 20%

@GoDaddy what do you think about a solution like this?

 

[D Haynes]

They should charge fees based on the channel the sales happened. This would be a format I'll appreciate:

lander: 4%
network: 15%
GD reg path with exact search: 15%
GD reg path with "boost" : 20%

@GoDaddy what do you think about a solution like this?

While that might make complete sense to me and you the unfortunate truth of the corporate world is you never go back. You can't do anything that might jeopardise your bottom line and that's why commissions will never be lower than they are now.

 

[Janoss]

Different commissions depending on the path a domain sold through would be the fairest thing to do. If GoDaddy did this then at least their "boost" could be justified.

 

[Future Sensors]

Slow loading isn't something that we've experienced with the Custom Lander, but we'd like to know more about your experience - can you DM us with a couple of example domains, along with information on the browser you're using?

The Custom Lander has proven popular among sellers and buyers so far. We've already worked on cutting down load times after clicking through to checkout, and we're continuing to make further improvements.

https://domaingang.com/domain-news/slow-af-buying-a-domain-on-afternic-appears-to-take-forever/

 

[Future Sensors]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1838620091727991088

 

[falminana]

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.

Hi Afternic team,

Thank you for opening this feedback thread. Unfortunately, my experience with Afternic has raised significant concerns that I feel need to be addressed.

I sold my domain for $4,600 in August, and more than a month later, I still haven’t received my payment. Despite having correct banking details and providing all necessary information, Afternic has failed to process the payment, citing payment failures on September 18 and again on September 23. What’s even more concerning is that I wasn’t notified of these failures and had to follow up multiple times just to learn what went wrong.

At this point, I am forced to question whether this is an issue of incompetence or if there’s something more serious at play, such as potential insolvency. For a platform of Afternic’s size and reputation, failing to process an ACH transfer to Bank of America—a major U.S. bank—is deeply troubling. Given the amount of time that has passed and the lack of transparency, these issues seriously undermine trust in the platform.

I understand this thread isn’t for direct support, but the handling of my transaction reflects broader concerns about Afternic’s ability to manage basic financial processes. I urge the Afternic team to take these issues seriously, improve communication, and resolve payment delays promptly.
Has anyone else experienced similar issues? Would love to hear from others in the community.

Best regards,

Fernando Almiñana

 

[Future Sensors]

Due to all ongoing issues, I still had (only) about 5% of my sales landers pointed to Afternic, but I'm currently in the process of moving these landers to other platforms as well.

R.I.P. Afternic, and good luck with whatever you think you're doing.

 

[DomainRecap]

Like I said, Afternic just isn't a stable or robust enough platform to flood with all those new Dan domains and it will melt down if it hasn't already.

Broker response times are non-existent, payments are delayed, landers take forever to load... need I go on? And it's just going to get worse.

GoDaddy should have went with Dan and condemned Afternic to the wrecking ball.

 

[End User King]

Due to all ongoing issues, I still had (only) about 5% of my sales landers pointed to Afternic, but I'm currently in the process of moving these landers to other platforms as well.

R.I.P. Afternic, and good luck with whatever you think you're doing.

Given that Afternic isn't present here anymore other than an occasional cameo every 76 days to address their bugs, I think it should be okay if members share what other platforms they're using. I'm using Sedo and Dan. Am I missing out on anything else?

 

[NicTraders]

Disappointingly, my most recent post was moved to a thread about Domain Academy. I say disappointing because I have no interest whatsoever in DA, and my post was very specifically about accessing Afternic search outside of DA. Joe says you can access it without a paywall. Anyone interested in the response should check over here... Fingers crossed he comes clean with where this gem is being hidden...

Edit: Mods, please understand that this post is 100% related to Afternic. Thank you!

 

[Future Sensors]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1839082749199790516

https://twitter.com/x/status/1839141161719431256