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.

 

[ran_doank]

@GoDaddy I have some .com names registered at Name.com. They have been registered for >80 days, I have deleted and relisted them, but still not receiving the opt-in email for fast transfer or my dashboard. However, Sedo MLS is working fine. Is Name.com still an Afternic partner?

 

[DomainRecap]

It looks like D-Day for the Self-Brokerage system is fast approaching, and hopefullly @GoDaddy has some updates on the promised 4th Quarter 2024 1st Quarter 2025 launch.

 

[Yanosh]

I’ve got an offer for a domain on my lead center since yesterday.
Yet the assigned broker hasn’t followed up with the potential buyer or replied to my message.
This is a great way to lose a sale

 

[DomainRecap]

I’ve got an offer for a domain on my lead center since yesterday.
Yet the assigned broker hasn’t followed up with the potential buyer or replied to my message.
This is a great way to lose a sale

That's just how Afternic works - it's an online Stall Collector and it absolutely drives me crazy.

 

[Jannes]

That's just how Afternic works - it's an online Stall Collector and it absolutely drives me crazy.

It's where good leads go to die. Is there an Italian strike / quiet quitting going on?

 

[phaethon]

That's just how Afternic works - it's an online Stall Collector and it absolutely drives me crazy.

I think it's just part of the game. Sometimes, definitely not often, a buyer comes that has the budget, likes the name and there is urgency to buy it. It seems 99% of buyers have $100 budget. Most of them not even that.
I don't know if the agents make any effort to educate the buyers. I guess if they handle too many leads, the answer is probably no.

 

[Yanosh]

I think it's just part of the game. Sometimes, definitely not often, a buyer comes that has the budget, likes the name and there is urgency to buy it. It seems 99% of buyers have $100 budget. Most of them not even that.
I don't know if the agents make any effort to educate the buyers. I guess if they handle too many leads, the answer is probably no.

The offer i got is low/mid xxxx$
The broker has yet to make any effort

 

[kor]

The offer i got is mid xxxx$
The broker has yet to make any effort

Raid the Afternic office and call the buyer yourself.

 

[phaethon]

The offer i got is mid xxxx$
The broker has yet to make any effort

90% of my sales have almost always been direct without any agent involvement. Agent involvement always leads to lower or a lot lower sale prices that my asking price. I do not pay much attention to be honest. If there is a serious buyer, they know how to buy a name, it's not rocket science..

 

[DomainRecap]

I think it's just part of the game. Sometimes, definitely not often, a buyer comes that has the budget, likes the name and there is urgency to buy it. It seems 99% of buyers have $100 budget. Most of them not even that.

Nope that's dead wrong and I've already proven it false since moving away from Afternic.

Not replying and forwarding a buy price to a potential buyer for a week is the quickest way to kill a sale. Even GoDaddy states that that not responding to the buyer's offer within 24 hours greatly decreases the possibility of a sale.

 

[DomainRecap]

Raid the Afternic office and call the buyer yourself.

I admit that at times I felt like doing that.

 

[Dane]

Nope that's dead wrong and I've already proven it false since moving away from Afternic.

Yep. I recently sold a name on another platform by doing good-old-fashioned negotiation -- just like the old days. It never would have happened with an Afternic broker (in my opinion).

 

[Janoss]

@GoDaddy

What happened to Afternic's live chat? Looks like it isn't working today. Can you please give the days and times of the week it should be working?

 

[Jannes]

What happened to Afternic's live chat? Looks like it isn't working today. Can you please give the days and times of the week it should be working?

I can see the bubble now (at afternic.com/contact).

 

[Janoss]

I can see the bubble now (at afternic.com/contact).

Thanks. I'm not seeing the bubble for some reason.

 

[silentg]

I chatted with them in the morning today. It would be great if the bubble is in the Afternic Dashboard (like Atom)

 

[NicTraders]

I chatted with them in the morning today. It would be great if the bubble is in the Afternic Dashboard (like Atom)

From previous comments they seem highly committed to having it only on the Contact page. I have no idea why.

 

[Synozeer]

Afternic still hasn't put back their phone number on the custom landing pages.

 

[boziffous]

Sold a domain via Afternic last week (March 4th) for $60. I noticed the commission being charged was 30% instead of what should be 20% since the sold name had been using the ns5.afternic.com & ns6.afternic.com nameservers since early February. I messaged a TA Agent at Afternic and six days later I received an email response stating,

"Hi XXXX,

Thank you for contacting us regarding the commission rate for the recent domain name sale. After reviewing the NameServers, we discovered they were changed after the domain was sold. Unfortunately, this means we are unable to honor the lower commission rate."

This is incorrect on their part. I even used a site to verify what day I had updated the nameservers to Afternic nameservers, and it showed the last update to nameservers for the domain was on Feb 7th, 2025, in which they were switched to ns5.afternic.com and ns6.afternic.com.

Afternic/GoDaddy agents are often mistaken when they see the WHOIS info that shows updated date, and they assume that that is only for changes to nameservers, which it is not. The name was transferred later that same day, it sold on March 4th, 2025, from NameBright to GoDaddy, and thus for the WHOIS info it shows an updated date on March 4th with a timestamp for later that same day when it was transferred.

I emailed Afternic back and told them I don't really care about the small difference it made for this transaction (only $3 difference as the minimum commission is $15), it does worry me though, that they could make this same mistake again in the future for a domain I sale for say $5k and thus would end up charging an extra $500 in commission.

 

[GoDaddy]

@GoDaddy I have some .com names registered at Name.com. They have been registered for >80 days, I have deleted and relisted them, but still not receiving the opt-in email for fast transfer or my dashboard. However, Sedo MLS is working fine. Is Name.com still an Afternic partner?

Hi @ran_doank,
Yes, they are. In this case, we recommend reaching out to Name.com's customer support to ensure deliverability.

@GoDaddy

What happened to Afternic's live chat? Looks like it isn't working today. Can you please give the days and times of the week it should be working?

Hi @Janoss,
Live chat is available 7 days a week, covering both EU and US timezones. If you didn't see the live chat icon, it might be because all our agents were busy. We recommend checking back, but you can also reach out to the team through the contact form at afternic.com/contact.

Afternic still hasn't put back their phone number on the custom landing pages.

Hi @Synozeer,
The number will return. Our ultimate goal is to help you sell as many domains as possible; it's in our interest as much as yours! During our initial experiment, we found that surprisingly, the phone number wasn't particularly helpful to buyers and didn't improve conversion rates.

We will be retesting the number, but we're exploring other iterations to ensure it truly enhances the Custom Lander.

Sold a domain via Afternic last week (March 4th) for $60. I noticed the commission being charged was 30% instead of what should be 20% since the sold name had been using the ns5.afternic.com & ns6.afternic.com nameservers since early February. I messaged a TA Agent at Afternic and six days later I received an email response stating,

"Hi XXXX,

Thank you for contacting us regarding the commission rate for the recent domain name sale. After reviewing the NameServers, we discovered they were changed after the domain was sold. Unfortunately, this means we are unable to honor the lower commission rate."

This is incorrect on their part. I even used a site to verify what day I had updated the nameservers to Afternic nameservers, and it showed the last update to nameservers for the domain was on Feb 7th, 2025, in which they were switched to ns5.afternic.com and ns6.afternic.com.

Afternic/GoDaddy agents are often mistaken when they see the WHOIS info that shows updated date, and they assume that that is only for changes to nameservers, which it is not. The name was transferred later that same day, it sold on March 4th, 2025, from NameBright to GoDaddy, and thus for the WHOIS info it shows an updated date on March 4th with a timestamp for later that same day when it was transferred.

I emailed Afternic back and told them I don't really care about the small difference it made for this transaction (only $3 difference as the minimum commission is $15), it does worry me though, that they could make this same mistake again in the future for a domain I sale for say $5k and thus would end up charging an extra $500 in commission.

Hi @boziffous,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We take this very seriously and would like to know more. Could you please DM us the domain in question so that we can follow up with the TA team?