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.

 

[Yanosh]

New one
Almost every new domain I add on my portfolio , goes on Pending Sync status

 

[Kyle Tully]

New one
Almost every new domain I add on my portfolio , goes on Pending Sync status

From my understanding that is normal. Things don’t sync instantly. This way you know when things *should* be all working fine.

 

[King]

It appears like they are testing a pricing strategy where prices are displayed on the left side of a page or product listing, possibly making them seem less prominent or "smaller" visually.

 

[bmugford]

It appears like they are testing a pricing strategy where prices are displayed on the left side of a page or product listing, possibly making them seem less prominent or "smaller" visually.

Show attachment 264677

That's cool, but it would be cooler if it didn't take 22 seconds to click "Next" and for my cart to load.

@GoDaddy. How is this still going on?

I tried on multiple devices, browsers, and connections. The same slow cart issue happens across the board.

 

[Future Sensors]

That's cool, but would be cooler is if didn't take 22 seconds to click "Next" and for my cart to load.

There's definitely a disconnect.

 

[varyemez]

New one
Almost every new domain I add on my portfolio , goes on Pending Sync status

System is too slowly, same here.

 

[bmugford]

I do want to say my Afternic account manager took the time to address my lengthy list of concerns.

Some of the issues have practical solutions, while others there is really nothing that can be done.
@GoDaddy just doesn't currently offer anything to replace many features that Dan offered.

While I might not like a lot of the answers, I know these decisions are well above his pay grade.

Brad

 

[davidc1]

for around 2 weeks...

asked my acc. manager to do something, nothing...

+ Another LTO to cancel yesterday due to the icaan locked...
+ near to 30 seconds from landers to the cart...
+ impossible max. months lto...
+ pricing doesnt synchronize between afternic/godaddy
+ impossible to be paid in USD -as i'm € --> 2-3% more fees

= 15-30% fees for a buggy alpha version monopolising our businesses.

 

[Yanosh]

New one

When a domain has 7 days left before expiration , it goes on pending review and gets automatically opted out of fast transfer.
If you renew it , it stays in pending review.
If you delete it and add it again , it states that the domain is already on your account.
Great

 

[GoDaddy]

@GoDaddy

I have a question please

Will the Afternic brokerage service remain after the introduction of self-brokerage ?

Will we have the option to choose whether we broker our leads ourselves or let Afternic brokers do, or will the self-brokerage replace Afternic brokerage ?

Thanks

Yes, absolutely, @mogo. You'll be able to choose between self-brokered, or brokered.

Afternic customer service is awfully pathetic. First they don't get back to me regarding the method of push transferring my sold domain as it's under the 60 day lock. Now that the lock is finishing tomorrow, they email me saying the sale was cancelled due to domain ownership not being verified.

Mind them, I've emailed support COUNTLESS times and they never got back with a solution. In poor hands now with the departure of DAN.

I've emailed them to look into this cancellation but you can already guess it's gonna go right down the drain.

Change your market place before you get stuck in a loop of hopelessness, courtesy afternic.

Hi @Moaiz
We'll respond in detail to you via DM, but your sale was canceled as a result of an internal investigation. This, while rare, is done to safeguard our buyers and sellers.

I reported the same issue several times over the past +2 months and it's clearly a sync issue between Afternic and GoDaddy.

This issue happened because a previous owner had this domain at a different price. You may check the GoDaddy search and you'll find your domain with your current price. I've been told if this happens the buyer can't complete the purchase with the wrong price which adds more frustration from the buyer's POV especially if the wrong price displayed on the landing page is lower than the real price on checkout.

Unfortunately, you can't guarantee the prices, LTO terms to be displayed correctly, or even the landers to be displayed after pointing your names to Afternic nameservers.

A quick fix in your case would be to delist and relist but this can't be a normal workflow by any means.

@GoDaddy If this sync issue can't be fixed this system should be replaced with an adequate solution that works flawlessly. GoDaddy had this and just k*lled it. It was called Dan!

Hi @Maged Khatab
Any potential sync issues reported here have been investigated, and our recent backend switch will - if you are still experiencing any sync problems, please DM us with specific examples and we'll be happy to look.

I disabled Afternic Boost & LTO and pointed my entire portfolio elsewhere because of the following issues:

1- Syncing problems causing the following issues:
- Landers not working.
- Wrong prices.
- Wrong LTO terms.

2- Checkout problems causing the following issues:
- Blank screen.
- Long checkout load time.

3- Missing bulk update features for better portfolio management:
- Lack of CamelCasing bulk update using the CSV spreadsheet.
- Lack of LTO bulk update using the CSV spreadsheet.

4- Missing contact info in the "Customer Lander":
- Phone number
- Chatbox

5- Afternic Boost program:
- Not showing the premium domains at the top of the GoDaddy search.
- Lack of Boost opt-in to a chosen selection of domains instead of the entire portfolio.
- Lack of Boost opt-in/opt-out to the Email Campaigns feature for a chosen selection of domains instead of the entire portfolio.

6- Make offer submissions end up in the spam/junk folder.

7- Lack of self-brokerage feature at the moment.

8- Long waiting times to no response from the support and TA team.

The above issues have been discussed and reported here several times and yet we still suffering from the same issues over and over. When @GoDaddy starts listening to us and gets serious about rectifying the above issues then I'd be glad to re-point my names to Afternic nameservers and re-enable Afternic Boost again.

Thank you!

Hi Maged,

We’re happy to address these here, and let’s chat further via DM.

1. Syncing: We've investigated all reported syncing issues. If you have specific examples, please DM us. Our recent backend switch should be resolving concerns you mentioned.
2. Checkout Problems: Please DM us with specific examples so we can investigate. We're actively collaborating with multiple GoDaddy teams on the checkout load process.
3. Bulk Management: We’ve heard your feedback. Later this year, we’ll release an updated CSV file with CamelCasing, lander selection, and LTO management. Future plans include on-screen status reporting for bulk uploads.
4. Custom Lander: The elements you mentioned (phone number and chat box) aren't "missing." The Custom Lander replicates the former Dan.com Lander at Afternic. We'll experiment with additional contact options, keeping the effectiveness of each in mind.
5. Boost: Boost is a package offering suggested search visibility, verified tags, and email campaign inclusion, applied at a portfolio level for consistent marketing. We welcome feedback and closely monitor these for future product enhancements.
6. Make Offer: If you're referring to broker messages, please provide more details via DM.
7. Self-Brokerage: We're launching self-brokerage by Q1 2025 and would love your feedback once it’s live.
8. Support and TA Response Times: We've introduced live chat to cut response times from days to minutes. For TA, we're increasing automation to ensure swift sales closures - this (including a complete redesign of the on-screen TA experience) will be launching later in the year.

As always, Maged, we appreciate your feedback. Many of your points are being addressed, and we’d love to connect via DM.

Impossible to contact the sinking ship? Contact form just gives error message, chat does not respond, contact page at https://help.afternic.com/contact says send email but has an email link with no email address in it. Show attachment 264653

Hi @carob,

It seems you went to the wrong link. To contact our team, please use afternic.com/contact. If you found this link in our Help Center, let us know so we can update it.

Is there an actual list of which "partners" display/offer domains that have Fast Transfer enabled? Seems they are the Premium Network but can't see an actual list anywhere, just this: https://www.afternic.com/fast-transfer

You can visit Afternic Partners to see a list of active partners.

Hopefully there will be an UI upgrade for the locked domains. They are accumulating on the main page because no auth code can be submitted right now, the communication with TA agent is not visible, the date when the transfer could be started is unknown on the interface, I don't know who will monitor this or what we are waiting for.

Or even better, some way to switch the delivery method to push somehow. @GoDaddy please improve the push experience. Similar issues for extensions where there is no auth code (.co.uk)

Hi @Zsolt Bikadi,

Could you DM us? We’d like to learn more about what you’re experiencing. Regarding future TA updates, we're increasing automation.

The Dan team is collaborating with us to integrate their processes into Afternic, with a release scheduled for later this year.

About that... I bought a 4L from another investor for $1025 and asked him to use Afternic custom checkout link. He created the link and I clicked through and completed today. So, as it turns out, it is still doing it via Dan. It also is doing it in a weird way when I have to go through few pages of filling my info, card details etc and on those pages it doesn't show me what I am paying for, which made me nervous. I can imagine quite a few transactions not completing because of that.

How hard is it to have on every page that I am paying for ****.com domain?

@GoDaddy yes, it is just about adding little snippet of code there. Something like Transaction for <Domainname>.

Thanks, @Recons.Com. The Custom Checkout Link will transition to the GoDaddy cart later this year, where you'll follow the usual checkout process.

It appears like they are testing a pricing strategy where prices are displayed on the left side of a page or product listing, possibly making them seem less prominent or "smaller" visually.

Show attachment 264677

Hi @King,

Yes! You'll see that our Request Price and Buy Now landers have the engagement/CTA on the left, while Dan's lander (now the Custom Lander) launched with it on the right. Now that we've launched, we're testing to see if the left-side CTA increases conversions for sellers.

Next, we'll experiment with additional contact options.

That's cool, but it would be cooler if it didn't take 22 seconds to click "Next" and for my cart to load.

@GoDaddy. How is this still going on?

I tried on multiple devices, browsers, and connections. The same slow cart issue happens across the board.

Show attachment 264678

Thanks, Brad. This involves collaboration with several teams across GoDaddy, and we're continuing to work with them on this.

for around 2 weeks...
Show attachment 264690Show attachment 264691
asked my acc. manager to do something, nothing...

+ Another LTO to cancel yesterday due to the icaan locked...
+ near to 30 seconds from landers to the cart...
+ impossible max. months lto...
+ pricing doesnt synchronize between afternic/godaddy
+ impossible to be paid in USD -as i'm € --> 2-3% more fees

= 15-30% fees for a buggy alpha version monopolising our businesses.

Hi @davidc1
Let's chat via DM.

New one

When a domain has 7 days left before expiration , it goes on pending review and gets automatically opted out of fast transfer.
If you renew it , it stays in pending review.
If you delete it and add it again , it states that the domain is already on your account.
Great

Hi @Yanosh,
Our pending review system is designed to clear expired names from our system. Renewing won’t automatically remove them from pending review, so it's best to contact our support team via afternic.com/contact. Live chat can resolve this in just a few minutes.

We're planning a self-serve pending review system so that once you renew a name, you can manually clear it from review in seconds.

 

[davidc1]

Yes, absolutely, @mogo. You'll be able to choose between self-brokered, or brokered.



Hi @Moaiz
We'll respond in detail to you via DM, but your sale was canceled as a result of an internal investigation. This, while rare, is done to safeguard our buyers and sellers.


Hi @Maged Khatab
Any potential sync issues reported here have been investigated, and our recent backend switch will - if you are still experiencing any sync problems, please DM us with specific examples and we'll be happy to look.



Hi Maged,

We’re happy to address these here, and let’s chat further via DM.

1. Syncing: We've investigated all reported syncing issues. If you have specific examples, please DM us. Our recent backend switch should be resolving concerns you mentioned.
2. Checkout Problems: Please DM us with specific examples so we can investigate. We're actively collaborating with multiple GoDaddy teams on the checkout load process.
3. Bulk Management: We’ve heard your feedback. Later this year, we’ll release an updated CSV file with CamelCasing, lander selection, and LTO management. Future plans include on-screen status reporting for bulk uploads.
4. Custom Lander: The elements you mentioned (phone number and chat box) aren't "missing." The Custom Lander replicates the former Dan.com Lander at Afternic. We'll experiment with additional contact options, keeping the effectiveness of each in mind.
5. Boost: Boost is a package offering suggested search visibility, verified tags, and email campaign inclusion, applied at a portfolio level for consistent marketing. We welcome feedback and closely monitor these for future product enhancements.
6. Make Offer: If you're referring to broker messages, please provide more details via DM.
7. Self-Brokerage: We're launching self-brokerage by Q1 2025 and would love your feedback once it’s live.
8. Support and TA Response Times: We've introduced live chat to cut response times from days to minutes. For TA, we're increasing automation to ensure swift sales closures - this (including a complete redesign of the on-screen TA experience) will be launching later in the year.

As always, Maged, we appreciate your feedback. Many of your points are being addressed, and we’d love to connect via DM.


Hi @carob,

It seems you went to the wrong link. To contact our team, please use afternic.com/contact. If you found this link in our Help Center, let us know so we can update it.


You can visit Afternic Partners to see a list of active partners.



Hi @Zsolt Bikadi,

Could you DM us? We’d like to learn more about what you’re experiencing. Regarding future TA updates, we're increasing automation.

The Dan team is collaborating with us to integrate their processes into Afternic, with a release scheduled for later this year.


Thanks, @Recons.Com. The Custom Checkout Link will transition to the GoDaddy cart later this year, where you'll follow the usual checkout process.


Hi @King,

Yes! You'll see that our Request Price and Buy Now landers have the engagement/CTA on the left, while Dan's lander (now the Custom Lander) launched with it on the right. Now that we've launched, we're testing to see if the left-side CTA increases conversions for sellers.

Next, we'll experiment with additional contact options.


Thanks, Brad. This involves collaboration with several teams across GoDaddy, and we're continuing to work with them on this.



Hi @davidc1
Let's chat via DM.


Hi @Yanosh,
Our pending review system is designed to clear expired names from our system. Renewing won’t automatically remove them from pending review, so it's best to contact our support team via afternic.com/contact. Live chat can resolve this in just a few minutes.

We're planning a self-serve pending review system so that once you renew a name, you can manually clear it from review in seconds.

In this thread you see easily what's wrong, we always complain about same things, why do you always tell us to DM you while the bug is for everyone ?
You use us to find bugs, but sometimes it takes years to change.
It's not possible to reconcile a big portfolio, and that's the case for years, a DM will change nothing. Using an account manager is useless as a big portfolio is changing everyday...
My account manager is pushing for months to have an api access, but nothing is coming.

And by the end fees are very high, for landers sales, years ago we paid 5% on dan with a very good system you bought, now it's 15%, with many bugs and a lack of many features.
I would prefer a lot old fees, 20% for the network and much less for landers, with the possibility to use any other lander and without the obligation to have the same price in landers than in network. If i remember afternic always said that fees are higher on the network but, it's not a problem as their customer could pay more than through landers , and now we cannot price our domains as we want between landers and network !!!

 

[DomainRecap]

That's my big question in the Dan thread - when will the Dan nameservers be switched over to Afternic?

A big clump of GoDaddy answers but this one got skipped.

@GoDaddy

 

[Bearded Goat]

I decided to try the chat support yesterday. I waited for 10 minutes and finally ended it. No one replied. over 10 minutes is not acceptable. I had a domain priced at afternic and it was only showing make offer at godaddy. My rep stated he was disappointed to see this as the new backend was supposed to resolve this problem.

 

[Jannes]

The Dan team is collaborating with us to integrate their processes into Afternic, with a release scheduled for later this year.

Why the rush with migration before integration was ready?

This involves collaboration with several teams across GoDaddy, and we're continuing to work with them on this.

I watched the demise of Nokia mobile phones from pretty close, and this is starting to sound like Nokia's mid-level manager hell.

 

[DomainRecap]

Why the rush with migration before integration was ready?

Because a) someone high-up at GD carved Dan's closure date into stone and b) there is no guarantee that Dan features will ever be integrated into Afternic so they could be waiting forever to migrate.

Remember, GD already missed their first date (by the end of 2024) for the self-brokerage option (now Q1 2025) so they just want to trash Dan now and hope we all forget all the cool features it had.

 

[King]

I decided to try the chat support yesterday. I waited for 10 minutes and finally ended it. No one replied. over 10 minutes is not acceptable. I had a domain priced at afternic and it was only showing make offer at godaddy. My rep stated he was disappointed to see this as the new backend was supposed to resolve this problem.

Sometimes it takes awhile to show the BIN lander, it's frustrating.

 

[lennco]

@GoDaddy

Here is my list of what Afternic needs to add as soon as possible.

1. Self-Brokering.

Yes this is by far the number one thing everyone wants, even buyers prefer to talk directly to sellers.​

Self-Brokering allows real time communications between buyers/sellers and not having to wait for days and days to relay messages to one another, and time is always of the essence.​

​

Self-Brokering also assures buyers and sellers that there is no hanky panky going on with offers between buyers and sellers.​

Anytime there is a middle man aka broker, neither party ever really knows what is really being offered and or said to the other party. Trust and transparency is the most importing thing between buyers and sellers.​

2. Afternic Bot aka Dan Bot.

This is what helps make transactions fast and smooth without opting in to a Fast Transfer program.​

​

3. The Option to Opt In and Out of Fast Transfers.

We should be able to turn off and on Fast Transfers in Bulk or on a Single domain.​

For me I would like to have my domains under $1000 opted it for fast transfer, but higher​

priced domains I want complete control in Approving transfers.​

4. Chat Support on Landers.

Customers need to be able to speak to Afternic without having to email or call.​

5. Sellers Profile and Landing Pages.

In case you are not aware everyone has a profile and in it has a link to all of our domains.​

The link to your profile is located in Account settings​

Every one of your domains now have 2 Landing pages not just 1.​

A main Godaddy landing page and an Afternic landing page. Very unnecessary and a bit confusing.​

​

The domains listed in our profiles are linked to an Afternic landing page that does not allow camel casing.​

Our domains in our profile must be linked to our main Godaddy landing page.​

There is no need for these Afternic landers and should be deleted.​

​

The Afternic landing pages do have a link to our profile domain inventory but I cant find out how anyone can find our profile and the Afternic landing pages other then us from our account settings.​

This is why a profile link Must be on our main Godaddy landers so buyers can find our domain inventory.​

Also our company name can be seen in our Afternic landing pages and that should also be seen in our main Godaddy landing pages as well but it's not.​

​

Plus our profiles must have Filters to search through our domains. A-Z, Z-A, Price High to Low, Low to High, Most Viewed, Recently Added and so on.​

​

Also Descriptions and Verified Seller should also be added to our profiles.​

It would also be great if our profiles could be indexed on Google under our company name.​

​

Most of this was part of our Dan Profile/Store/Landers and needs to be in our Afternic Profiles/Landers​

​

If all of this and more is implemented then I think Afternic/Godaddy's aftermarket has a lot of potential to be great for all of us. (as long as they keep commissions at 15%)

The more domains we all sell means more money we make and more money Godaddy makes.

A win win for all of us. ​

 

[bmugford]

@GoDaddy

Here is my list of what Afternic needs to add as soon as possible.

1. Self-Brokering.

Yes this is by far the number one thing everyone wants, even buyers prefer to talk directly to sellers.​

Self-Brokering allows real time communications between buyers/sellers and not having to wait for days and days to relay messages to one another, and time is always of the essence.​

​

Self-Brokering also assures buyers and sellers that there is no hanky panky going on with offers between buyers and sellers.​

Anytime there is a middle man aka broker, neither party ever really knows what is really being offered and or said to the other party. Trust and transparency is the most importing thing between buyers and sellers.​

2. Afternic Bot aka Dan Bot.

This is what helps make transactions fast and smooth without opting in to a Fast Transfer program.​

​

3. The Option to Opt In and Out of Fast Transfers.

We should be able to turn off and on Fast Transfers in Bulk or on a Single domain.​

For me I would like to have my domains under $1000 opted it for fast transfer, but higher​

priced domains I want complete control in Approving transfers.​

4. Chat Support on Landers.

Customers need to be able to speak to Afternic without having to email or call.​

5. Sellers Profile and Landing Pages.

In case you are not aware everyone has a profile and in it has a link to all of our domains.​

The link to your profile is located in Account settings​

Every one of your domains now have 2 Landing pages not just 1.​

A main Godaddy landing page and an Afternic landing page. Very unnecessary and a bit confusing.​

​

The domains listed in our profiles are linked to an Afternic landing page that does not allow camel casing.​

Our domains in our profile must be linked to our main Godaddy landing page.​

There is no need for these Afternic landers and should be deleted.​

​

The Afternic landing pages do have a link to our profile domain inventory but I cant find out how anyone can find our profile and the Afternic landing pages other then us from our account settings.​

This is why a profile link Must be on our main Godaddy landers so buyers can find our domain inventory.​

Also our company name can be seen in our Afternic landing pages and that should also be seen in our main Godaddy landing pages as well but it's not.​

​

Plus our profiles must have Filters to search through our domains. A-Z, Z-A, Price High to Low, Low to High, Most Viewed, Recently Added and so on.​

​

Also Descriptions and Verified Seller should also be added to our profiles.​

It would also be great if our profiles could be indexed on Google under our company name.​

​

Most of this was part of our Dan Profile/Store/Landers and needs to be in our Afternic Profiles/Landers​

​

If all of this and more is implemented then I think Afternic/Godaddy's aftermarket has a lot of potential to be great for all of us. (as long as they keep commissions at 15%)

The more domains we all sell means more money we make and more money Godaddy makes.

A win win for all of us. ​

Good start.

The funny thing is Dan had everything they needed. If they had just renamed Dan to Afternic and kept that system, they would have been all set.

Instead they opted for the inferior system. Pretty much all the features they need to add now were already there with Dan.

Brad

 

[DomainRecap]

The funny thing is Dan had everything they needed. If they had just renamed Dan to Afternic and kept that system, they would have been all set.

Instead they opted for the inferior system. Pretty much all the features they need to add now were already there with Dan.

But then some higher-ups at GD would have to answer difficult questions on why they approved the purchase of Afternic, and more importantly, why they continued to pour vast amounts of money into improvements at Afternic that really didn't amount to much (i.e 'polishing a turd'). So by getting rid of Dan, their prize turd sure looks a lot better.

Instead of making a decision that is best for the company, they make a decision that is best for them personally. This is the biggest and most challenging issue in corporations - trying to ensure corporate leadership puts the company's interests first.

This is why monolithic corporations often run into trouble - management has a lot of ugly skeletons in the closet that they want to transform back into living, breathing, beautiful humans, no matter how much money it costs or how much time it takes.

And sure this sounds absolutely idiotic, but often that's exactly what happens and the results ain't pretty.

I've brought this up before, but the Deshaun Watson - Cleveland Browns situations mirrors that of Afternic and GoDaddy. Cleveland has invested so much money into the ill-advised acquisition of Watson (the worst QB in the league + he has dozens of sex assault lawsuits) that they refuse to bench him in favor of alternate solutions.

 

[Bearded Goat]

Sometimes it takes awhile to show the BIN lander, it's frustrating.

@King it wasn't the lander. It was that my bin was not showing at godaddy. Only showing make offer when it was priced at afternic.