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.

 

[BritFlippa]

"Previously, our for sale landers were not accessible to Google’s search crawler. This was a deliberate decision, made for sound SEO reasons related to GoDaddy’s wider site architecture."

Lol.

...?

 

[Kyle Tully]

...?

Millions of thin-content pages indexed across hundreds of different niches is generally a bad thing for your overall website SEO.

 

[Future Sensors]

Millions of thin-content pages indexed across hundreds of different niches is generally a bad thing for your overall website SEO.

It was their decision to redirect all these landers to godaddy.com, though.

 

[Kyle Tully]

It was their decision to redirect all these landers to godaddy.com, though.

Yes they wanted all the traffic to continue building the GD brand without the penalty of having those pages indexed.

 

[Future Sensors]

Yes they wanted all the traffic to continue building the GD brand without the penalty of having those pages indexed.

As is often the case with Afternic/GoDaddy, I can't really detect a genius strategy here. But what I do observe is that millions of Afternic landers have been SEO penalized for a pretty long time. They're presenting this as a deliberate decision. Aren't we thrilled?

 

[End Game]

"Previously, our for sale landers were not accessible to Google’s search crawler. This was a deliberate decision, made for sound SEO reasons related to GoDaddy’s wider site architecture."

Lol.

Months wasted by someone at the top.

 

[Future Sensors]

Reported many times already.

Still unresolved, and Afternic is shifting responsibility onto visitors, which is unacceptable.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2021994718318715263

 

[Future Sensors]

There's still significant room for improvement.

First, this tool partly relies on similar listings and their pricing on the platform. However, many of these "comparables" are just my own domains with prices that I've set, which distorts the tool's effectiveness.

Additionally, if you list everything as BIN and don't use Afternic for the landers, you will receive very few offers or leads through Afternic. Despite this, the presence (or absence) of leads and offers is always included in the evaluation. For BIN only domains, and domains which have landers elsewhere, its influence on the overall evaluation should be minimal, if not entirely excluded.

Not even a single one of these recommendations has been acted upon.

 

[Future Sensors]

 

[Future Sensors]

 

[Future Sensors]

As is often the case with Afternic/GoDaddy, I can't really detect a genius strategy here. But what I do observe is that millions of Afternic landers have been SEO penalized for a pretty long time. They're presenting this as a deliberate decision. Aren't we thrilled?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2021993687903777248

 

[NicTraders]

Not even a single one of these recommendations has been acted upon.

Give them time, it's only been 8 months. Probably need a couple of years for them to take up such progressive thinking.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

I'll investigate this, thanks for posting.


Improved lead management is on the roadmap. Thanks!


Better ownership verification is something that is on the roadmap. Thanks!


Better verification is on the roadmap. Thanks! I'll investigate the auto-delisting domains.


There are some good suggestions here. I will investigate the camel-casing. Better verification is on the roadmap. Thanks!



Added metrics is on the roadmap! Thanks

On your point about the Afternic Fast Transfer issue, can you DM me to talk me through it? I haven't encountered that and would like more information.

Hows the roadmap looking?
Did daddy put in too many roundabouts?
Reading this back from page 1, ya no life,

 

[GoDaddy]

I think the issue is they have an automated emailer at certain intervals - 6mo, 12 mo, etc...

My guess is the automation checks if the name is still listed on Afternic -- probably by another person who either bought your name, or picked up a dropped domain name and listed it under their own account. Afternic should have the automation also check if it's being listed in the same account. If it's a different account, they should stop sending the automated email.

Hi @DN_Hunter,
Like we mentioned via DM - this has been updated. If a domain name isn't in your account, it won't send automated emails. Please feel free to DM us if you have any follow-ups on this one!

I have a few suggestions for Afternic to handle these 60-day lock LTOs, without having to invest much in tech.

If a domain on 60-day lock is sold on LTO and there's more than 10 days for lock expiry, present these options to the buyer

Option A: Afternic escrows the domain in the current registrar like a normal escrow (Afternic already does this in case of BIN sales), but doesn't give DNS access to the buyer. Domain will not be sold to anyone else, but buyer can control DNS only after the lock period when the domain is transferred to Godaddy.

Option B: Give buyer the option to - pay the balance on full price, and take control in the current registrar (Or wait for x days to get it in Godaddy)

Option C: Cancel the LTO purchase

And then, let the buyer decide. In my case it's only a 4-month LTO. The buyer might've taken option A or B. Rather than forcing a cancellation .


Show attachment 293723

We've discussed this internally and we're working to see whether we can automatically assign a broker to intervene in situations like this. Our team will work on the logistics to see if we can implement it.

@GoDaddy When adding domains to the Afternic panel, if I try to add more than 20 domains that need verification, the verification button simply does not appear in the panel. Here is an example: I add 20 domains that need verification, and the verification button appears:
Show attachment 294267

And here is an example where I added one more domain to the list (so 21 total), and the button is no longer there, so I cannot start verification.
Show attachment 294268
That means I can try to add 25, 30, 40, or 50 domains, and the verification button still does not appear. But if I add 20 or less, everything is OK and it works.

Following up on our DM chat - this has been resolved. Thanks for letting us know!

 

[freety85]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2021825395700445344

Is anyone else running into issues with manual transfers at Afternic?
TA told me the Dynadot transfer code failed, which has never happened to me before. Could it just be a coincidence? Maybe. But since I’m seeing the same problem with two different sending registrars, it makes me wonder if the issue is on Afternic’s side again.

 

[freety85]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2021825395700445344

Is anyone else running into issues with manual transfers at Afternic?
TA told me the Dynadot transfer code failed, which has never happened to me before. Could it just be a coincidence? Maybe. But since I’m seeing the same problem with two different sending registrars, it makes me wonder if the issue is on Afternic’s side again.

Show attachment 294872

Update: sorted on the second attempt. Hopefully this was just temporary issue

 

[NameGroove]

I'll be turning off some of my LTOs. @Afternic can you please provide sellers with some ability to due some due diligence on names we sell?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2023477820455088619

 

[DomainRecap]

So let's get this straight - a mystery company leased the domain and then pointed it to the complainant's website for 7 months (Apr 2025 to Nov 2025) before terminating the lease, and this immediately led to the complainant filing and winning a UDRP decision.

To me, I'd be thinking the complainant or one of their agents may have stealth-leased the domain, forwarded traffic to their site and then filed the UDRP. Who else would altruistically spend good money to not use the domain, but only to forward it to a potential TM complainant the lessee has absolutely no connection to?

And this forwarding of traffic was a BIG part of their case and a major point in the decision. Without it, I doubt the complainant would have won. Hmmmmm.

There was also no accusation of the lessee offering the domain up for sale to the complainant (which would involve paperwork and other proof) so we're to believe some 'Joe Domain' guy spent real money just to forward a leased domain to a potential complainant's domain, without any link or contact with them or a potential sales inquiry.

Yeah, okay.

 

[SpareDomains]

I'll be turning off some of my LTOs. @Afternic can you please provide sellers with some ability to due some due diligence on names we sell?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2023477820455088619

This is one reason I make my LTO high enough to where they're invested in the process and prefer places that have the down payment option as well Atom, Efty etc... as I see way too many LTO with xx-1xx monthly payments which anyone can afford. Make the monthly payments high enough to avoid front running and other shady stuff.

 

[NorthernDomains]

This is one reason I make my LTO high enough to where they're invested in the process and prefer places that have the down payment option as well Atom, Efty etc... as I see way too many LTO with xx-1xx monthly payments which anyone can afford. Make the payments high enough to avoid front running and other shady stuff.

The solution is simple, make a down payment mandatory. Make it at least 40% to 50% of the asking price, so any crooks will walk on by. Another solution, ditch LTOs completely.