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.

 

[GoDaddy]

Fast transfer network notifications have been problematic for a while. I keep getting "activate fast transfer" email for a domain name priced at $145,000 every day.

As far as I know, fast transfer participation over $100,000 is not possible.

Please feel free to DM us the domain name, @kor.

 

[pb]

My interpretation was based on this info. The Afternic partner network makes it more complicated.

Understanding 1099-K:

• The 1099-K form reports gross payment volume received by a seller through third-party payment processors.
• It is designed to capture the total amount of transactions, before any fees or commissions are deducted.
• The IRS's intent is to have a clear picture of the total sales activity of individuals and businesses.

I'm not an accountant and especially not a US accountant, but for me "received by a seller" means "received by a seller", so if I got $8k from GD on my $10k sale, then $8k is my gross payment. At sedo it is different, because I would get a slip saying I sold a domain for $10k and another slip saying sedo took $2k commission and then it makes sense (to me, to my accountant, and to my tax collector) why I received $8k. At GD you just get $8k transferred and that's it.

So IMO @GoDaddy sit down your accounting and go through it once again.

 

[pb]

Basically there are two models of processing domain sales:
1. I sell to the middleman and they sell to the buyer
2. I sell to the buyer and the middleman collects the commission

By all signs, contractual and factual, GD operates on the 1st model. The buyer gets the domain from them, and gets an invoice from them. I get the money from GD and I issue the invoice to GD. So my gross income is what GD pays me for my domain and their gross income is what the buyer pays them for the domain.

Sedo operates on both models - 1st in MLS and 2nd on the marketplace. It's super annoying but it is what it is.

 

[Yanosh]

.

 

[lennco]

@GoDaddy So if I opt in for Self-Brokering will I automatically be opted in Afternic's Fast Transfer process?

I am not opted in Afternic's Fast Transfer process right now and I do not want to be, so does that mean I cannot opt in to Self-Brokering without opting out of Fast Transfer process? Or can I still opt out of Fast Transfer process? Thanks

 

[Acroplex]

By the looks of it, you are correct.

 

[lennco]

By the looks of it, you are correct.

If that is so then that really sucks. I want to manually approve all my transfers.
With Dan not only did we have Self Brokering but we were able to manually approve all transfers.

I wouldn't mind opting into FT for the moment in order to enter into Self Brokering if I can have Support opt me out like I did when I first transferred from Dan to Afternic without opting out of Self Brokering.

I just don't trust Fast Transfers.

 

[Acroplex]

I agree with you on wanting to flip option switches ON/OFF and make you own choices. Unfortunately, it's not how GD has decided to build its business, long before Dan and Uniregistry were acquired and then retired (euphemism.)

 

[bmugford]

@GoDaddy So if I opt in for Self-Brokering will I automatically be opted in Afternic's Fast Transfer process?

I am not opted in Afternic's Fast Transfer process right now and I do not want to be, so does that mean I cannot opt in to Self-Brokering without opting out of Fast Transfer process? Or can I still opt out of Fast Transfer process? ThanksShow attachment 272583

If we have to opt-in to fast transfer to use self-brokerage, I will probably find another option for my "make offer" domains.

Additionally, I have one main GoDaddy account and a few different Afternic accounts for different entities.

I don't want to have to connect accounts or do anything like that. I prefer to keep the management separate.

I wish GoDaddy would just offer what Dan.com did.

Brad

 

[GoDaddy]

@GoDaddy So if I opt in for Self-Brokering will I automatically be opted in Afternic's Fast Transfer process?

I am not opted in Afternic's Fast Transfer process right now and I do not want to be, so does that mean I cannot opt in to Self-Brokering without opting out of Fast Transfer process? Or can I still opt out of Fast Transfer process? ThanksShow attachment 272583

This is our standard connection page that has been part of Afternic for a long time. The highlighted line refers to domain names that are Fast Transfer eligible (Premium listings) and listings added via List for Sale, which may receive opt-in requests. To clarify, there is no requirement to enable Fast Transfer in order to use Self-Brokerage.

 

[lennco]

This is our standard connection page that has been part of Afternic for a long time. The highlighted line refers to domain names that are Fast Transfer eligible (Premium listings) and listings added via List for Sale, which may receive opt-in requests. To clarify, there is no requirement to enable Fast Transfer in order to use Self-Brokerage.

I went ahead and opted in to Self-Brokerage and it did not automatically opt me into FT so that is great, Thank you.

So let the Self Brokering games begin

 

[Maged Khatab]

Interesting question. Of course, there's no email or notification or anything. The worst part is that this name is currently at Porkbun because, from my experience, all the names I sold with Fast Transfer at Porkbun were transferred out of my account without notification. In this case, if I didn't pay attention, my domain could've been sold, someone else could've gotten paid, and I'd probably never know about it!

I contacted @Porkbun last month regarding this and haven't heard from them since then. On the other hand, Dynadot always sends an email notification that my domain is being transferred away from my account because it has been sold on the Afternic Network.

A support manager at @Porkbun informed me that they have implemented an email on their side for Afternic Fast Transfers and In the future when you sell a domain you should receive an email with "Successful Afternic Fast Transfer Command" in the subject line.

Thank you!

 

[biggie]

I went ahead and opted in to Self-Brokerage

Hi

i may have missed it, but what is commission % after you buy into self-brokerage?

tks


imo...

 

[silentg]

Same commission
15-30%

Hi

i may have missed it, but what is commission % after you buy into self-brokerage?

tks


imo...

 

[lennco]

Hi

i may have missed it, but what is commission % after you buy into self-brokerage?

tks


imo...

As far as i can tell it's the same commission, also it did not automatically opt me into Boost so that was good.

 

[Jannes]

A support manager at @Porkbun informed me that they have implemented an email on their side for Afternic Fast Transfers and In the future when you sell a domain you should receive an email with "Successful Afternic Fast Transfer Command" in the subject line.

Thank you!

Okay, that new implementation probably explains the bogus emails some of us reported a few days ago. Seems to be fixed now.

 

[End Game]

Hi @Garet,
We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this has caused. However, we're unable to provide support for this through NamePros or social media, which is why we recommend reaching out to Afternic's support team.

Alternatively, your Premier Services rep and Afternic account manager are both informed and may be able to assist you with specific questions.


Thanks for letting us know, @Jannes and @Future Sensors. We'll escalate this with the Afternic team.

Here is my beef with Afternic. I have most of my domains set to “buy now, LTO and make offer”.

On my names that are set to those terms, but parked, they only show a contact page when someone clicks on the parked domain’s for sale link. For that person, there’s just no way for a potential buyer to click on buy now or lease to own. I sold a domain yesterday where the buyer just clicked on my 12 month lease to own. Please get the engineers to change this negative on the link for parked names. Thanks

 

[Future Sensors]

That was our hypothesis for the Custom Lander phone number, too. Which is why we'll be retesting this later in the year.

Perhaps you can show the phone number on Custom Landers with BIN prices above $4k-$5k, to begin with.

I'd certainly appreciate that, thanks.

 

[silentg]

What percentage of your sold domains are processed through Namecheap?

 

[Future Sensors]

Bulk CamelCasing is here! Thanks to @Future Sensors, @bmugford, @love4ever and more for requesting the feature.

Additionally, show CamelCasing for the HTML title, as well. This greatly improves readability and presentation, both in the browser tab and in SERPs.

Building upon that, improve the overall presentation of sales landers in SERPs. Extend the (CamelCased) page title, e.g.

"Example.com is for sale at GoDaddy"

And add a small teaser text below that (for instance about LTO options, or anything that drives SALES).