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.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I only checked .com and .io. Noticed GD was showing registered .io as available so I reported it to James.

It may be my misunderstanding what they meant. It is true that if you search on the top of the page in so called unified search, they will show up. That is an improvement.

However, if one goes slightly down the page to what they label as GoDaddy Airo (image below) and search in that box, so-called AI search, I can't get any to show in the list. Can anyone using that search box (the one shown in the image) who does not have boost enabled get their exact name to appear in the list of suggestions? If so, can you give region and extension please.

 

[DomainRecap]

Non-boosted names showed for me in the Ai search results.

Maybe, but they're not supposed to.

 

[DN_Hunter]

It may be my misunderstanding what they meant. It is true that if you search on the top of the page in so called unified search, they will show up. That is an improvement.

However, if one goes slightly down the page to what they label as GoDaddy Airo (image below) and search in that box, so-called AI search, I can't get any to show in the list. Can anyone using that search box (the one shown in the image) who does not have boost enabled get their exact name to appear in the list of suggestions? If so, can you give region and extension please.

I just tried that search box (the AIRO), and got two names to show in the search results.

I am NON-BOOST, in the USA -- both names .COM

One thing that was strange -- I have BIN prices on the two names I tried. But the results did NOT display the BIN Price -- even though they allowed someone to add to cart. Once you add to cart, you do see the total cost (with the added registration fee of +$21.99/yr

 

[King]

Notices this as well, they are being compared to major trademarks and going into reviews ie domains such as AppleOrchards.com, would trigger "Apple" TM, and go into review, no idea how long they stay there for.

I have never seen a domain get permanently out of "review" I have seen some go live then go back to "review" a day later. At this point, pointing a name to GoDaddy is a liability.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I just tried that search box (the AIRO), and got two names to show in the search results.

I am NON-BOOST, in the USA -- both names .COM

One thing that was strange -- I have BIN prices on the two names I tried. But the results did NOT display the BIN Price -- even though they allowed someone to add to cart. Once you add to cart, you do see the total cost (with the added registration fee of +$21.99/yr

Thanks for the results. So appears regions do matter. Interesting about the blank price - someone else reported that as well, although none of the names that show for me have blank prices. It is early hours in rollout and maybe that will automatically correct.

 

[DomainRecap]

I have never seen a domain get permanently out of "review" I have seen some go live then go back to "review" a day later. At this point, pointing a name to GoDaddy is a liability.

It sure can be a time-waster sometimes.

 

[Kyle Tully]

Sold a FT (non boost) name on Friday, funds sent Monday

 

[OceanKing]

The behavior of some brokers makes this platform undesirable. Sold a domain last frieday and it is Tuesday today, still the transfer request has not been initiated despite several reminders.

Edited : the live chat facility (i just discovered) and the support provided by godaddy here really offer some other alternative way to reach them. Thanks.

 

[bmugford]

After my bad first experience, I am giving @GoDaddy another shot with the Custom Checkout Link.

We can see if the first transaction really was an outlier or more like what is to be expected.

Let's see how it goes this time...

Brad

 

[alcy]

I don't understand why @GoDaddy slash Afternic keep insisting that the sales are as usual and it is just individual portfolios that might be down, while others are fine and overall is fine. Anyone I have talked to that has any significant number of domains have seen huge dropoff in sales since about mid October, coincidentally when Dan closed.

Here is a poll at Godaddy where 82%+ people say their sales are suffering, yet Godaddy has hard time acknowledging it and finding the root cause of the issue.

Show attachment 267270

may I ask how much of drop is seeing such big investor as u with great consistent sales in past and way above avg folio size... ty

 

[DomainRecap]

The behavior of some brokers makes this platform undesirable. Sold a domain last frieday and it is Tuesday today, still the transfer request has not been initiated despite several reminders.

An average of 2-3 days per step is standard operating procedure at Afternic right now.

 

[alcy]

how many go daddies does it take to do anything...

one...

because they are monopoly

 

[bmugford]

After my bad first experience, I am giving @GoDaddy another shot with the Custom Checkout Link.

We can see if the first transaction really was an outlier or more like what is to be expected.

Let's see how it goes this time...

Brad

Well, it's off to a better start this time.

I created the Checkout Link. The buyer paid.

I received a "Congratulations! Your domain has sold" email minutes later.

This part took 4+ days the first time.

I was instructed to unlock the domain and provide the AUTH code, which I did. Nothing has happened yet as far as the transfer goes.

Brad

 

[GoDaddy]

There’s an important change to Bulk Upload coming next week!

Starting December 16th, the Classic CSV template will be replaced with a new and improved version.

This update will include:
Lease to Own update capabilities, Sale Lander management, and bulk CamelCasing

To ensure you hit the ground running, the Portfolio export file will match the Upload file format. We’ll provide a detailed overview of the new spreadsheet on December 16th.

If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to reach out to your account manager or our support team at afternic.com/contact.

 

[DomainRecap]

While Afternic has been quite fast lately, it looks like things may have melted down again. I tested out maybe 20 listings and they all gave me:

504 Gateway Time-out​

The server didn't respond in time.

And response times were so quick over the past few days....


And Afternic is back...

 

[LunarJump]

.

 

[davidc1]

Hi guys. Hope someone can help me out here.

Is this normal practice for afternic?


- Sold a name for $2k on a LTO

- Name was under lock so I reached out to afternic to see if I could push them the name.

Show attachment 267520
This would have been fine but a week or so later when I am doing normal checks on my Afternic account, I notice it says the LTO has been cancelled (no notification, had to navigate to the leased out tab and check manually)

I did not get an email about this or any explanation why.

So after emailing and waiting for days I get this reply - Show attachment 267521
Seems very silly to fumble a transaction because of this, or am I missing something here?

Wouldn't normally ask here but it seems I am rationed at 1 reply every 72hrs from afternic support.

After being a very happy DAN.com customer used to easy transactions and very fast, helpful support team it seems a shame that none of this has been integrated with afternic.

Thanks to all.

Yes they cancel it the reminding days for lock is at least 20 days, no solution...

 

[bmugford]

Well, it's off to a better start this time.

I created the Checkout Link. The buyer paid.

I received a "Congratulations! Your domain has sold" email minutes later.

This part took 4+ days the first time.

I was instructed to unlock the domain and provide the AUTH code, which I did. Nothing has happened yet as far as the transfer goes.

Brad

Here is the timeline so far -

3:40 AM EST - Created checkout link. Sent link to buyer.
3:54 AM EST - I received the "Congratulations!" email from Afternic with transfer instructions.
3:12 PM EST - The domain was moved from my account to @GoDaddy.

The process has only taken 12 hours. This process took 8 days the first time.

So far, it's a massive improvement from the first time around.

Brad

 

[DomainRecap]

So far, it's a massive improvement from the first time around.

I have a feeling someone is kicking some ass down there at Afternic because although the current response times are far from fast, I have noticed the brokers are not just sitting on negotiations for a week anymore.

Someone likely gave an Alec Baldwin / Glengarry Glen Ross "Always Be Closing" speech to the brokers.

 

[AEProgram]

I have a feeling someone is kicking some ass down there at Afternic because although the current response times are far from fast, I have noticed the brokers are not just sitting on negotiations for a week anymore.

Someone likely gave an Alec Baldwin / Glengarry Glen Ross "Always Be Closing" speech to the brokers.

Show attachment 267526

They are seeing domainers change DNS to domaineasy, sedo etc, the pace will just go up until they allow direct communication with buyers. I also think many will unlist as well. People expect things to be instant in these days.