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.

 

[DomainRecap]

I'm tired of seeing "Buyer indicated the domain was priced outside of what they wanted to spend" without having any clue of prospect budget or how negotiations unfolded

A tale as old as time.

I get a $2K offer and counter with $3.5K and I get this message and the transaction is closed down by the broker. WTF?

 

[Optinom]

Meanwhile, I had a good experience with Afternic last week.

Broker negotiated and closed the deal in 2 days of lead entering the system based on the floor price I've set, without asking me any questions. Hope to have more similar experiences!

 

[DomainRecap]

Hope to have more similar experiences!

Hope springs eternal.

I've had some good experiences on Afternic, and posted on here about there, but they're few and far between. Most of the time I'm waiting 3-5 days for a broker to tell the buyer I accepted their offer, or send them a counter offer.

There is no valid reason why something simple like this needs to take a week, and I'm guessing these offer acceptances and counter offers are being delivered via Pony Express.

 

[DN_Hunter]

Meanwhile, I had a good experience with Afternic last week.

Broker negotiated and closed the deal in 2 days of lead entering the system based on the floor price I've set, without asking me any questions. Hope to have more similar experiences!

Congrats on your sale! Was the final price equal to the FLOOR Price, or did the broker actually negotiate a price above your FLOOR price?

 

[Bearded Goat]

I'm tired of seeing "Buyer indicated the domain was priced outside of what they wanted to spend" without having any clue of prospect budget or how negotiations unfolded

@zomainhacks what if even more frustrating is when the buyer makes an offer. You indicate you will accept and then buyer states it is priced outside what they want to spend. Makes no sense. The offers do not seem to be binding.

For months now, nothing has improved. Names are still in review for no reason. It is difficult to get names verified at times. I had to repeat the process 9 times for one name.

I saw one of my names had no views. I decided to type it in and see what I saw.....and I saw no sales page. Just a this domain may be available. I moved it.

Still the bulk search does not work right. Only 1000 characters for a bulk search blah blah blah.

There is no joy in this system.

 

[ARCCLOUD]

I'm tired of seeing "Buyer indicated the domain was priced outside of what they wanted to spend" without having any clue of prospect budget or how negotiations unfolded

This is why they need to hurry with self brokering. Dan solved this issue. Yes, we had leads that went nowhere, but we had control of our leads and could get a better understanding of the potential customer. Here, we are left in the dark with a vague boilerplate response.

 

[Blueleaf66]

Well, Godaddy/Afternic still hasn't fixed the .ai transfers (non-transferable to GD if the buyer wants it there), which is a critical issue IMO. Not only that, but they are not even considering other options of transferring the domain out (e.g., to another registrar). I probably spent more time trying to figure it out (going back & forth with my registrar and Afternic's team) than the company that should've been prepared in advance of the .ai's migration to ID in the first place. Not to mention that chatting with Live Chat support is like suddenly being immersed in a dystopian universe where humans have lost their capacity to think and act like humans.
"Get the new auth code."
Really? For the 3rd time? Why? So your system can reject it again while every othar registrar deems it as valid?

They don't even acknowledge that they've fucked up.

 

[DomainRecap]

This is why they need to hurry with self brokering. Dan solved this issue. Yes, we had leads that went nowhere, but we had control of our leads and could get a better understanding of the potential customer. Here, we are left in the dark with a vague boilerplate response.

Word, brother!

 

[Future Sensors]

Still the bulk search does not work right. Only 1000 characters for a bulk search

This is indeed very remarkable. For comparison, with DomainEasy you can enter a maximum of 3,000 domains in the bulk search, after which you can perform a combined action on them. In terms of number of characters, that is many, many times more. It simply saves a lot of time if it is arranged properly.

 

[Future Sensors]

And as mentioned earlier in this thread, you have to be extremely careful with Afternic's bulk search, as it also matches parts of domains. So, when you paste a list of 10 domains, there may be 12 domains in the result, some of them you didn't want to match.

 

[Optinom]

Congrats on your sale! Was the final price equal to the FLOOR Price, or did the broker actually negotiate a price above your FLOOR price?

Deal closed at 20% above floor price.

 

[Blueleaf66]

This is indeed very remarkable. For comparison, with DomainEasy you can enter a maximum of 3,000 domains in the bulk search, after which you can perform a combined action on them. In terms of number of characters, that is many, many times more. It simply saves a lot of time if it is arranged properly.

How is it going with DomainEasy sales-wise?

 

[rh2000]

This is why they need to hurry with self brokering. Dan solved this issue. Yes, we had leads that went nowhere, but we had control of our leads and could get a better understanding of the potential customer. Here, we are left in the dark with a vague boilerplate response.

I agree. You are taking a chance parking domains at Afternic because you have no control over what happens. You are at the mercy of the domain broker.

 

[DomainRecap]

You are at the mercy of the domain broker.

And his or her priorities are much different.

You might have a couple of $3K-$5K offers you've accepted (that have been sitting there for 3-4 days) while the broker has been working feverishly to close a $50K deal, and ignoring the rest. Your sales matter a lot to you, but your broker has a totally different hierarchy of needs going on.

That's why this system just doesn't work and creates a lot of antipathy with domain investors.

Sellers need to wrest back control at some point, or you'd be a fool to stay.

 

[zomainhacks]

@zomainhacks what if even more frustrating is when the buyer makes an offer. You indicate you will accept and then buyer states it is priced outside what they want to spend. Makes no sense. The offers do not seem to be binding.

For months now, nothing has improved. Names are still in review for no reason. It is difficult to get names verified at times. I had to repeat the process 9 times for one name.

I saw one of my names had no views. I decided to type it in and see what I saw.....and I saw no sales page. Just a this domain may be available. I moved it.

Still the bulk search does not work right. Only 1000 characters for a bulk search blah blah blah.

There is no joy in this system.

The real problem is the fee penality with non GD landers. People complain because they are "forced" to use GD landers even if they are unsatisfied. The lander fee penality is the worst thing could have happened to the domain market competition.

 

[Future Sensors]

The real problem is the fee penality with non GD landers. People complain because they are "forced" to use GD landers even if they are unsatisfied. The lander fee penality is the worst thing could have happened to the domain market competition.

Yes, it would make more sense if it had been the other way around. Pay less commission if you don't use the Afternic infrastructure. This whole measure is designed to thwart other domain marketplaces, not to do Sellers a favor.

 

[Traderas]

Don't be too harsh, let's give some credit to Afternic.

I got the best possible price in a sale today, thanks to Afternic brokers!

My initial bin was at 4k.
I got a first offer for 2k and I countered for 3k.
They buyer countered $2200.
I talked with the broker and he promised me to do his best to close it at 3k.

Some days passed, and this morning bam!
I got the sale at 4k, my initial price!
I guess the buyer got bored of waiting and bought it full price...

 

[Mikeyboy]

Started moving names names away from Afternic. Had enough of their "brokers" and shit TA service

 

[zomainhacks]

I got the sale at 4k, my initial price!
I guess the buyer got bored of waiting and bought it full price...

This may be a thing for real and good approach for certain names... but not for all

 

[love4ever]

This what we've got from the boosting and the genius brokers !

.