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.

 

[E. Silvera]

Thank you so much, @Reddstagg and @Garet !

Yes, it was the red triangle message, as you can see on the screenshot. So I proceeded as you told me, @Garet, and it worked. Now, apparently, name is listed ("pending sync" status).

 

[carob]

Thank you so much, @Reddstagg and @Garet !

Yes, it was the red triangle message, as you can see on the screenshot. So I proceeded as you told me, @Garet, and it worked. Now, apparently, name is listed ("pending sync" status).

Show attachment 270688

Also had that mysterious message repeatedly and found that if you put in a price and hit Submit again it works, so for me it was rejecting unpriced domains, but of course without telling me that, leading me to believe that the domain was listed in some other account, quite possibly listed in another account by a scammer. Go figure. Go Daddy.

Pity we can't invoice Afternic/Godaddy for the time of ours that they waste with stuff like this, and also for us kindly informing them of their many dev problems.

 

[Future Sensors]

Go figure. Go Daddy.

Congrats. You just came up with the perfect tagline for the next Super Bowl 2026 commercial.

 

[E. Silvera]

Go figure. Go Daddy.

Such a powerful synthesis! And, @GoDaddy , please remember that when customers complain is because they really want to stay customers. I had my own small business for over 25 years, I had to learn that or perish. I did learn.

 

[DN_Hunter]

I added a name yesterday, and it went to Pending Sync. Usually that clears in a few minutes, but it's now been a day and it's still in Pending Sync. What exactly is being checked for the "Sync"? The Domain name was won in GoDaddy Expired Auctions, it is in my GoDaddy Account -- so what exactly needs to be "Synced"?????

 

[411domains]

@GoDaddy

I cannot add ANY domain name for sale from my dashboard. I can only do it from my registrar's account. Any time I try to add any domain name, I get a red message stating domain couldn't be uploaded. I contacted your Support, but they did not seem to understand my problem.

@E. Silvera - It could be your default lander settings.

If your default lander settings are BIN and you're trying to add domains without pricing, you'll run into this Issue.

 

[Traderas]

"Aftermarket revenue in Q4 was $117 million, down 1% from Q4 2023.
However, aftermarket revenue was up 5% to $457 million for the year."

Interesting.
The whole year was up, and then boost was launched!

 

[411domains]

Also had that mysterious message repeatedly and found that if you put in a price and hit Submit again it works, so for me it was rejecting npriced domains, but of course without telling me that, leading me to believe that the domain was listed in some other account, quite possibly listed in another account by a scammer. Go figure. Go Daddy.

Pity we can't invoice Afternic/Godaddy for the time of ours that they waste with stuff like this, and also for us kindly informing them of their many dev problems.

@carob - This happens when your default lander is set to BIN and you try adding domains without pricing.

 

[DN_Hunter]

@carob - This happens when your default lander is set to BIN and you try adding domains without pricing.

My default lander is set to Request Price; however, I do have under LEASE TO OWN the option to Enable Installments -- so maybe that's also a possible cause for the error? I disabled the Enable Installments, and will see what happens on my next Domain Add...

 

[411domains]

My default lander is set to Request Price; however, I do have under LEASE TO OWN the option to Enable Installments -- so maybe that's also a possible cause for the error? I disabled the Enable Installments, and will see what happens on my next Domain Add...

With Afternic, anything could be a possible cause for an error.

 

[DomainRecap]

Hmmmmm, that was the first full quarter with Afternic Boost. How many sellers downgraded (No Boost) due to the added 5% commission across all their sales? Did that impact Aftermarket Revenue during the quarter?

My bigger question is this. Afternic claims up to a 10% Increase in sales with Boost. But if I downgrade to NO BOOST, did that actually DECREASE my sales on Afternic from what they were before the Boost option?

Personally speaking, believing that Boost will have a significant 10% impact on total sales is like believing in the Tooth Fairy. In fact, I think it's just the opposite, and every customer is negatively affected. Also, I believe the only reason that GD aftermarket revenues didn't fall further is due to the extra 5% they're collecting on commissions.

Think about it, 100% of Afternic customers were Boost-ed automatically, and while some reverted to the old 15% plan, most stayed at 20%, so for GD aftermarket revenue to fall with that extra 5% buffer, overall domain sales must have dropped by a significant amount.

Reasons for the Quarterly Revenue Decrease in order of importance:

1) With the closure of Dan, domain investors have not all migrated to Afternic and some/many have moved to other marketplaces like Atom, Saw, Sedo, DomainEasy, NamePros, etc. With no Self-Brokerage option available, and real domain investors requiring this feature, GD lost a lot of valuable customers.

2) For those who stayed with Afternic, the mass influx of old Dan customers put a serious strain on their 'broker infrastructure', which resulted in significant delays and certainly had a negative impact on sales across the board. And most of these are type-ins with no linkage to Boost.

3) Boost. This results in worse and worse search results, and more and more "GoDaddy new gTLD alternatives" being listed for sale, thus hampering users sales and ticking off potential buyers who are actually looking for premium domains in viable TLDs using the keyword "apex", and not "apex.sucks" or "apex.international" and "apex.support".

The math adds up, as the majority of Afternic customers stuck with Boost, resulting in a 5% increase to GD revenues for all Boost customers, yet aftermarket revenues dropped. Huh? That means both Boost and non-Boost sales dropped considerably, as with the addition of all the new Dan customers and the 5% buffer, even with stagnant sales volume, GD revenues should be up by 10-15%, if not more.

We got trouble in River City.

 

[DomainRecap]

And from a personal standpoint, my closed sale percentage at Afternic is ludicrously tiny, while at Dan it was around 18%. And this number only grew as time passed and I got better at negotiations.

In 2025, with lots and lots of 4-figure offers, my Afternic completed sales percentage is currently at 0%.

What changed?

Instead of allowing me to engage with potential buyers immediately and quickly adapt to ongoing negotiations, I was forced to rely on overworked and barely-invested brokers who take forever to contact the buyer and pass along offers and counteroffers.

 

[Jannes]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1890133114900430965

okay, let's try about a dozen times (after fresh login)

 

[DomainRecap]

Instead of adding more useless crap, why can't Afternic...

JUST GIVE US SELF-BROKERAGE!

 

[End Game]

Instead of adding more useless crap, why can't Afternic...

JUST GIVE US SELF-BROKERAGE!

100%. What do they have to lose? We do the work and they still get their commission, but hopefully a little less.

 

[DomainRecap]

100%. What do they have to lose? We do the work and they still get their commission, but hopefully a little less.

Because it's not a) easy or b) flashy.

Instead, their dev team might actually have to do some real work to implement this, rather than adding a new section of code to an existing feature, having a party and then going back to sleep.

 

[Jannes]

For masochistic (?) reasons I'm still using some Afternic request price landers. But this was the last time I'm reacting to a 'before we can start negotiations, we need to know your asking price' email. The "broker" did nothing with that info, apparently. C'mon, at least update the status so I can switch to non-AN nameservers without being afraid of a commission penalty. Do something.

When it comes to Afternic, I've moved from frustration and anger to acceptance. It is what it is. And it will be what it is.

 

[E. Silvera]

For masochistic (?) reasons I'm still using some Afternic request price landers. But this was the last time I'm reacting to a 'before we can start negotiations, we need to know your asking price' email. The "broker" did nothing with that info, apparently. C'mon, at least update the status so I can switch to non-AN nameservers without being afraid of a commission penalty. Do something.


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When it comes to Afternic, I've moved from frustration and anger to acceptance. It is what it is. And it will be what it is.

Please excuse my ignorance, what does this "qualifying" status mean?

 

[Future Sensors]

Please excuse my ignorance, what does this "qualifying" status mean?

Excellent question. It's explained on this page:

https://help.afternic.com/s/article/Lead-Center-Status-Definitions

 

[NicTraders]

My bigger question is this. Afternic claims up to a 10% Increase in sales with Boost. But if I downgrade to NO BOOST, did that actually DECREASE my sales on Afternic from what they were before the Boost option?

GD claim that Boost was at least partially activated on all accounts while they were testing it. So you were supposedly getting the/some benefit for free for a while before they launched. They then took that benefit away when they launched (if you opted out of Boost), or charged you extra to keep it (if you stayed opted in). So, in theory, by opting out of Boost you would have decreased sales. But theory is not always the same as practice, especially when it comes to GD.