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]

This isn't as serious as delayed payments, etc. but that wacky afternic is at it again.

Now I have two names (no trademark issues) that for no reason have gone to 'review' status. Both names have been listed at afternic for years with BIN's.

I've now taken the BIN's off and will let them sit for a bit...of course I've pointed the names to another provider.

Yeah, nobody's actually reviewing them, AN just singles out some domains to be bullied.

 

[lennco]

Hi @lennco
Can you DM us your Afternic username? We'll ask the team to double check.

I have sent you 2 DM's since Friday with my info. I haven't heard anything on this yet.
Can you please reply
Thanks

 

[GoDaddy]

Can we get an ETA on self-brokerage?

Here's the thing. I have been using Dan.com for a few years. I used Voodoo.com for a decade before that.

If your landers get traffic and inquiries, the lander itself doesn't matter that much.

The core feature is the system in place to negotiate with buyers.

If this is going to take months, or longer, I am going to start looking at other lander options. I am sure others will as well.

It seems very shortsighted to shut down Dan.com if self-brokerage is not ready to go basically immediately.

It does no good for me to have several interactions with brokers daily asking me how much, then getting some stupid response about how "cash offers for domains are rare".

Brad

Hi Brad,
Self-brokerage is on its way by Q1 2025, hopefully sooner!

ow poor is the scroll layout in the All Domains page. Every time you arrive there one has to perfectly adjust the portfolio list window so that when you scroll down or up within the window especially when you hit the last domain in the list the entire page will move up obscuring the freeze pane of the portfolio window.

Thanks for your feedback, @jiy k. Feel free to DM us a screenshot of what you're seeing, and we'll pass it along to our user experience team.

@GoDaddy After negotiations stalled for a specific domain name, I removed the listing and moved it to my own lander outside of Afternic. Now I see that negotiations have started again. What happens if the buyer agrees to pay the previous listing price? Will Afternic demand the standard 15-25% or will it be a sale without commission for me as a seller?

Hi @DrJacoby,

Fingers crossed for a successful negotiation leading to a sale! Our brokers regularly follow up with potential leads, and it sounds like that reengagement is paying off here. Commission is calculated at the time of sale, so you have time to adjust the nameservers if needed.

It seems that payment for 2nd domain is marked as completed but I not received it, only an email like before.
I also see that it ask Tax Information, I not have company or anything like that, I not live in US, if GD ask me some docs I m out and you will never see me again, already paying 20% is a big tax to me.

Hi @DomainNature,

It’s possible your payout was confirmed later in the day, which means it would be released by our payment provider the next day.

Regarding tax information, this banner is crucial for accurate invoicing. If it applies to you, we recommend adding your Tax ID and organization name in your account settings.

I tried Afternic's live chat support.

The rep I chatted with seemed eager to resolve the issue I reported, but we couldn’t move forward because they asked me to share a 2FA auth code for my Afternic account and I was hesitant to do so... And this was after I'd provided them with the support PIN that was sent to my email address.

Is it normal for Afternic’s live support reps to ask users for their 2FA auth codes?

And @GoDaddy, if it is, aren’t there more efficient and secure ways to grant authorized reps immediate access to accounts when verified users report issues?

Thanks for your feedback, @Vivere. Yes, we have a two-step security process for live chat to ensure your account's safety. It's just a quick check so that Afternic's support team knows they're speaking with the right person. We hope you understand that protecting your account is our top priority.

Do not know if someone asked before, did not find something with search.

I have an old Afternic account with 2 payee accounts so it is ok, one paypal for sales <2k one bank account.
A friend opened a new for his company but can create only one payee account, is it changed? would be better to can add more for paypal and 1-2 bank accounts

Hi @dr manos,

Afternic allows for the creation of one payment profile. If your friend needs anything further, we recommend reaching out to support through afternic.com/contact.

Option 1: Visit https://www.afternic.com/contact --- Locate the chat widget on the bottom right corner of the page. When you hover over the widget, the following prompt appears: "Hello, have a question? Let's chat." --- Click the widget, fill the chat form, and start a conversation.

Option 2: Log in to your Afternic account and click the "Help Center" tab. On the Help Center page, click the "Contact Us" tab. This will direct you to https://www.afternic.com/contact. Follow the same steps outlined above.

***

@GoDaddy, please make the live chat feature better. It would help to have a conspicuous live chat widget, one everyone can EASILY SEE AND ACCESS without multiple clicks and navigation. And it would be great to have the widget be a constant fixture on all the pages or sections we visit --- the "Dashboard" page, the "All Domains" page, the "Lead Center" page, and others.

Making the widget carry through all the pages will help improve accessibility, reduce friction, convey a reassuring sense of constant support, etc.

See DAN for reference. Actually, can you guys just use DAN's live chat system, please? This would be mIgRaTiOn.

Hello again @Vivere, It's simple enough to find live chat by heading to afternic.com/contact. We'll monitor usage and feedback, of course.

In case anyone is interested, I still haven't received any of these payments (for 6 domains, with some pending for over a month). I received an email asking me to, and I quote: 'review your payment method and update the nickname "Default Setup" in order to receive your payout.' I did this on October 3rd, informing Afternic and providing an alternative payment account, even though I had no issues with the original account, which is active and regularly receives USD payments from other parties without any problems. However, no payments have been made. As a result, I still haven’t received payments for transactions from August 2024 and September 2024. Unfortunately, I haven’t been given any clear information on why the payments haven’t been processed or why the previous account was deemed unsuitable and needed to be updated.

Hi @robosapien,

We'll DM you right away—let's get this sorted out.

 

[bmugford]

Hi Brad,
Self-brokerage is on its way by Q1 2025, hopefully sooner!

So, Q1 2025 is from 1/1/25 to 3/31/2025.

That is between 84 - 173 days from now.

That is a long time without the option, and there is nothing guaranteeing that when the feature does arrive it will be as good as the system Dan currently has.

This is going to force me, and others, to explore the competition. If I find something I like, I am not sure if I will come back.

The timing on this is a major screw up by @GoDaddy.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Hi @dr manos,

Afternic allows for the creation of one payment profile. If your friend needs anything further, we recommend reaching out to support through afternic.com/contact.

This is yet another system downgrade.

More than a decade ago, I was able to have multiple payees on GoDaddy premium listings and auctions. You could even set it on a per-domain basis.

For some reason now, in a modern world, Afternic appears to be going backwards in many aspects.

This creates yet another issue for me, as I manage portfolios that have separate ownership entities. Having one payee is extremely problematic for accounting.

Brad

 

[DomainRecap]

That is a long time without the option, and there is nothing guaranteeing that when the feature does arrive it will be as good as the system Dan currently has.

This is going to force me, and others, to explore the competition. If I find something I like, I am not sure if I will come back.

For me personally, I just cannot use Afternic (in its current iteration) as my primary marketplace, as the domain owner has absolutely zero control over the transaction.

At Afternic you're just another number on a broker's long list of 'things to do" and the time delay between updates is absolutely insane. On Dan, I can react immediately to an offer, read the potential buyer and change gears quickly to make a deal.

"Strike while the iron's hot" is the Dan mantra, while at Afternic it's a "hand's off" and "slow and steady wins the race" mentality, and I much prefer the former when it comes to making sales.

The Dan negotiation system also enhances flexibility, and Twitter Tony made a great point yesterday, in that if he ever needed some quick cash, he'd just message some of his leads to see if they were still interested and this tactic apparently generated a lot of sales.

You just can't do this on Afternic, as you have zero control, it takes days between broker updates and nothing is ever quick there.

 

[DomainRecap]

For some reason now, in a modern world, Afternic appears to be going backwards in many aspects.

Afternic has always been an archaic and backwards platform and I really cannot believe that someone felt that it could take the place of both GoDaddy Auctions and Dan.

Those GD execs missed their calling, as they should be writing fairy tales.

 

[bmugford]

The Dan negotiation system also enhances flexibility, and Twitter Tony made a great point yesterday, in that if he ever needed some quick cash, he'd just quickly message some of his leads to see if they were still interested and this tactic apparently generated a lot of sales.

You just can't do this on Afternic, as you have zero control, it takes days between broker updates and nothing is ever quick there.

Yeah, over the years I have sold many domains to previous inquiries.

It's usually from the interested party starting contact again, but sometimes I initiate it.

Now everyone's past leads, many years of them for some people, are going to be lost with the closing of Dan.

And @GoDaddy has just forcefully put their brokers in the middle of any negotiation now.

The brokers are a mixed bag. In general though, I don't expect some randomly assigned broker to be able to take the same care of a lead that I can with my own domain.

Brad

 

[DomainRecap]

The brokers are a mixed bag. In general though, I don't expect some randomly assigned broker to be able to take the same care of a lead that I can with my own domain.

I could accept this differing quality of broker, but what I cannot accept is the constant delays at each stage of the negotiation process.

I get an email offer from Afternic and immediately reply with my Buy Price. then 1-2 days later the broker may forward that price to the potential buyer and maybe a week later I may get an initial response or counter from the broker... rinse and repeat until a month passes.

How the %$*# can you do business this way?

 

[Vivere]

Thanks for your feedback, @Vivere. Yes, we have a two-step security process for live chat to ensure your account's safety. It's just a quick check so that Afternic's support team knows they're speaking with the right person. We hope you understand that protecting your account is our top priority.

Hi. Thanks for your response.

TBC, I'm not opposed to the Afternic support team verifying that they're speaking with the right person, and I *do* want you to make the protection of users' accounts your top priority.

I was/am pointing out that support staff asking us to provide them with our 2FA login auth codes, so they can access our accounts *is* a clunky approach and a security risk that could potentially jeopardize the safety of our accounts. And I was/am mainly asking for a better system that eliminates this risk while still addressing the need for user verification (I mentioned "...reports from verified users") and allowing authorized reps see the account/details they need to see from your end.

Asking users to provide their support PIN is a good step. It addresses the need for user verification. And it doubles as a reasonable security layer, esp. as Afternic's support PIN isn't a static PIN that can be easily guessed or committed to memory by a bad actor; it’s a time-based one-time use PIN Afternic generates and sends to our email addresses.

Asking users to generate and share their 2FA login codes with support staff? Not so much! On the surface, it seems like a great second layer, but it can do more harm than good… Imagine the sh*tshow that could happen if a user shares a 2FA login code with a rogue or spoofed Afternic support rep.

Have you considered that just as Afternic reps may not always be sure they're speaking with the right user, we the users may not always be sure we're speaking with the right support person or sure your customer rep service hasn't been compromised? Given developments in the wider world and the chaotic state of affairs at Afternic, isn’t this a legitimate concern?

If you must have a “two-step” process, why not make Step 2 something less risky than the login code thing? Why keep something that introduces unnecessary friction and extra vulnerabilities?

 

[MHExplorer]

Keyword1Keyword2.com doesn't go for pending review and gets listed promptly
Keyword3Keyword4.com doesn't go for pending review and gets listed promptly

Keyword1Keyword3.com will go for review to check if has any trademark issue.

Why afternic why ?

 

[DomainRecap]

I fully agree with this, and banks regularly send out emails stating that "We will never ask for for a 2FA code" and "if anyone does they are a bad actor and you should hang up".

It's just common sense these days to NOT give out 2FA codes to a person on the phone, or anything but a verified system or site.

 

[Vivere]

Hello again @Vivere, It's simple enough to find live chat by heading to afternic.com/contact. We'll monitor usage and feedback, of course.

@GoDaddy, I'm not sure it's simple enough. If it were, @Eminent Domain Names wouldn't have asked me the question below, which is what my answer was in response to.

Where did you find the live chat?
I can’t. Tx in advance.

I'd bet some others have had or will have the same difficulty, and some of them may just assume the feature hasn't been rolled out to them yet.

When most people hear "Live Chat Support," they instinctively look around the webpage for a floating live chat widget, button, panel, or some other call-out. They don't think to type out or visit a separate URL.

You guys have done a great thing by introducing this overdue feature, would it hurt to make it more discoverable?

 

[Altetra]

My latest exp with Afternic.
They sent payment to my bank, not Paypal, I log in today and see Default is my bank, but I not remember doing that my preferred payment is Paypal, I got a call today from my bank staff "hello, you got 375$ payment from Godaddy, to a closed CC account, come to bank to solve" I go to bank and they tell me that I must go to other area of same bank and it will take 30 minutes to complete.
Basically Godaddy took from my second 500$ sale 125$ which is more than 20% + 25$ probably to cover the transfer fee, cause my bank told they don't take this 25$ fee. Now I don't get why they sent to my bank when I had Paypal as default.
Also I suspect that the only boost I got is a small gift from GD for letting them see my Dan domains after migration, because other sales did not follow, in conclusion I m not going to tolerate this low ball support and high fees, I better let those domains drop than play with them.

 

[Bearded Goat]

I had a similar thing happen. I searched a group of names and one name completely unrelated showed up in the search. I reported it to my rep on 09.15. I just tried the same search and the same unrelated domain shows up.

You cannot trust the bulk search. I mentioned before it also includes other domains that have the same terms in them.

If you are going to do a bulk edit or delete you have to really look at the names they bring up.

So it turns out I was incorrect on this. I searched a domain that was ted dot whatever. The search brought up addicted dot whatever. so it was not completely unrelated to what I searched. It is the other problem where any domain that contains what you search will be brought up. So if you are going to edit or delete, you have to pay attention until they make the search exact.

 

[Recons.Com]

Hello again @Vivere, It's simple enough to find live chat by heading to afternic.com/contact. We'll monitor usage and feedback, of course.

You must be kidding. Anyone with site development experience and who analyzed the page stats will tell you that only single digit percentage of visitors will go into pages like /contact, /about etc.

And, to make it worse, I did not manage to find the link to /contact page on Afternic index page. Must be well-hidden. Didn't you buy Dan to integrate its features into Afternic? Why can't you just duplicate having a small widget right in the bottom of all pages? Why can't you copy the inquiry system when it doesn't take 4-5 pages for a client to complete? It is a common sense that any form should be 1 page, max 2, otherwise you lose lots of legit buyers. It is a common sense that a page should load in couple of seconds, after 10 seconds you lose over half of potential buyers, yet GD/AN pages can take 30+ seconds to load.

It is just beyond me why the tech team of GD/AN keeps sabotaging the success of the company and its profits and gets away with it.

 

[Future Sensors]

DomainEasy Launches an Ambitious Platform That Offers a New Option for Fans of Departing DAN.com

With GoDaddy acquiring innovative domain sales platform DAN.com and merging it into their own Afternic.com, buyers and sellers saw one of their favorite venues go away, however new options are already starting to surface. One of the most promising among those, DomainEasy.com, has just launched. Founded by industry veteran Sam Dennis, DomainEasy will draw immediate attention with their 0% commission rate for sellers but that is just part of a comprehensive suite of features and services the start-up is offering.

Read more:

https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2024/dailyposts/1009.htm

 

[Altetra]

It seems that there is some bug when editing payment, I went to update my old Bank payment details and after saving it have set as default payment, without me ticking the Default Payment box. Now because of this I had that upper issue.

 

[davidc1]

I have many onhold status these days, any change in the process ?
@GoDaddy

 

[Kyle Tully]

Asking users for 2FA codes is insane and a massive security issue.

You have 2FA on the account. The chat agent should be able to see if they are logged in or not. Problem solved.