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.

 

[DrJacoby]

The GoDaddy broker is always working for the buyer, as that's who the customer is in an Afternic transaction, and no one is working for you other than you.

You can never trust a GD broker, as there are numerous UDRPs clearly demonstrating they are 100% on the buyer's side to a fault.

As fas as I know, it used to be Afternic brokers that negotiated sales for the sellers. This is very disturbing. I think I'm going to change all my listings to BIN landers and set Floor Price = BIN Price. That way I'm reducing possible foul play by brokers to a minimum (I don't believe in leaving Afternic).

 

[Future Sensors]

I can't be the only one who thinks this wording is downright strange?

Through the Afternic blog, we regularly bring you seller-side updates: new tools, new features, and new infrastructure to make selling simpler. But we also invest heavily in the buyer experience, through a partnership with GoDaddy.

 

[DomainRecap]

As fas as I know, it used to be Afternic brokers that negotiated sales for the sellers.

I don't think it's ever been that way.

Brokers always follow the money and answer primarily to whoever initiates the transaction. The reason is that the seller cannot create a sale, while a buyer can and that's a very important factor.

Remember the Golden Rule:

He who has the gold makes the rules.

 

[411domains]

I've noticed a big drop lately too. I've been selling a lot of domains at wholesale prices for the last 5-6 months. On average I'd probably see a sale every day or two, and going 5 days or more without a sale is quite rare. However, from around April 22nd onwards I have been experiencing 2-3 weeks of no sales at a time, which is the longest I've ever gone without a sale for wholesale domains.

Something definitely seems off.

Until recently, I have consisteently averaged 4-5 sales/month ($5K average per sale) through Afternic. (Without outbound.)

Unless something happens in the next few days, it looks like I'll be closing the month out with only ONE sale logged for Afternic and it was a carried over lead from last month!

I don't know what their problem is.

All I know is that when Afternic sales tank and sales pick up through platforms outside the GD/AFT fam, (while using AFT namesevers,) it usually means there's a problem somewhere and they're having too much fun experimenting to care.

I've already pointed my portfolio elsewhere where the landers are 1000 times better and aren't affected by bad code and will most likely be removing my entire portfolio at the end of the month.

 

[End Game]

I can't be the only one who thinks this wording is downright strange?

Through the Afternic blog, we regularly bring you seller-side updates: new tools, new features, and new infrastructure to make selling simpler. But we also invest heavily in the buyer experience, through a partnership with GoDaddy.

I always assumed GD and AN were one and the same.

 

[NorthernDomains]

Until recently, I have consisteently averaged 4-5 sales/month ($5K average) through Afternic. (Without outbound.)

Unless something happens in the next few days, it looks like I'll be closing the month out with only ONE sale logged for Afternic and it was a carried over lead from last month!

I don't know what their problem is.

All I know is that when Afternic sales tank and sales pick up through platforms outside the GD/AFT fam, (while using AFT namesevers,) it usually means there's a problem somewhere and they're having too much fun experimenting to care.

I've already pointed my portfolio elsewhere where the landers are 1000 times better and aren't affected by bad code and will most likely be removing my entire portfolio at the end of the month.

Would you mind sharing?

 

[domainer8888]

Until recently, I have consisteently averaged 4-5 sales/month ($5K average) through Afternic. (Without outbound.)

Unless something happens in the next few days, it looks like I'll be closing the month out with only ONE sale logged for Afternic and it was a carried over lead from last month!

Exactly the same situation. From 5 to 7 a month to 1 in May. Beginning of May I had one domain go in and out of hold, till the buyer reached out and purchased directly from me.

 

[Jannes]

Beginning of May I had one domain go in and out of hold, till the buyer reached out and purchased directly from me.

Concerning. It suggests there's serious friction at some point in the process. Did your buyer say anything about that? (congrats, btw)

 

[domainer8888]

Concerning. It suggests there's serious friction at some point in the process. Did your buyer say anything about that? (congrats, btw)

Thanks, I did not enquire as there were some issues with my transfer to him at first (domain was still locked at Unstoppable from one of his Afternic fast transfer network purchase attempts, but Unstoppable quickly manually lifted it again when I reached out to support), so I didn't want to be too inquisitive. But was a legit buyer from the US, no reason why it wouldn't go through with Afternic / GoDaddy.

 

[Chris Co]

Until recently, I have consisteently averaged 4-5 sales/month ($5K average) through Afternic. (Without outbound.)

Unless something happens in the next few days, it looks like I'll be closing the month out with only ONE sale logged for Afternic and it was a carried over lead from last month!

I've noticed a big drop lately too. I've been selling a lot of domains at wholesale prices for the last 5-6 months. On average I'd probably see a sale every day or two, and going 5 days or more without a sale is quite rare. However, from around April 22nd onwards I have been experiencing 2-3 weeks of no sales at a time, which is the longest I've ever gone without a sale for wholesale domains.

Exactly the same situation. From 5 to 7 a month to 1 in May. Beginning of May I had one domain go in and out of hold, till the buyer reached out and purchased directly from me.

Small update: I wrote a quick app to visit the website of each of my domains and retrieve the price on each to rule out any lander issues. No problem there, 99% of them were functioning fine. Might do a similar one to check if fast transfer is working on each of them too.

Random fluctuations happen, but for the same thing to happen to 3 separate people in the same time period who are used to frequent sales, does raise eyebrows. Especially when none of the other marketplaces seem to be suffering from the same problem.

Let's change the question slightly: Are there any people who make regular sales who DIDN'T experience a problem with Afternic lately?

 

[Traderas]

I continue having regular sales, almost in daily basis.
I m not experiencing any problems.

Sometimes domains stack up as “on hold,” usually during weekends.
I guess this may have to do with payment clearance or processing delays.

I ve noticed a slight decrease in sales, but that s because I also listed my domains in Spaceship lately.

What s interesting, is that although I still point my NS to Afternic, 30% of my sales are coming from spaceship.

 

[Optinom]

I continue to have regular sales at Afternic as well.

In May, I have 20 sales so far with avg ticket size of $2500.

 

[love4ever]

I continue having regular sales, almost in daily basis.
I m not experiencing any problems.

Congrats Bro.

We would like to see some of your sales reported in the reported sales thread


.

 

[domainer8888]

I continue having regular sales, almost in daily basis.
I m not experiencing any problems.

Actually very happy to hear it's not a platform issue. So it's just an outlier month for some domainers.

I continue to have regular sales at Afternic as well.

Appreciate your response!


Wish everyone a strong June ahead!!

 

[NicTraders]

I can't be the only one who thinks this wording is downright strange?

By 'strange', do you mean deceptive?

and sales pick up through platforms outside the GD/AFT fam

Interested to know where your sales are picking up?...

I always assumed GD and AN were one and the same.

They virtually are. GD owns AN. As far as I can understand, they used to operate as 2 separate teams, but now the lines are very blurred.

 

[DomainRecap]

They virtually are. GD owns AN. As far as I can understand, they used to operate as 2 separate teams, but now the lines are very blurred.

Once Afternic a) lost their search capabilities, which were then taken over by GoDaddy and b) GoDaddy brokers now comprise the Afternic broker team, there is really no functional difference between Afternic and GoDaddy.

They are one.

Afternic is now just a basic front-end for sellers to list domains (ithis saves GD development costs of creating a new one) while all the meat and potatoes processes of Afternic are now funneled through GoDaddy.

 

[Jannes]

Never seen this before. Why does a freaking ownership verification need syncing?

 

[Embrand]

Never seen this before. Why does a freaking ownership verification need syncing?

Show attachment 303419

I have faced this issue a few times in the past and again right now. I think this mostly happens when you recently purchased the domain at GoDaddy, which apparently can create some problems. Afternic support needed to escalate my case even though the support staff could see I had verified the domain with the third nameserver.

 

[Blueleaf66]

Does anyone know if Afternic cancel LTOs for names that are under the transfer lock but already at GoDaddy? Shouldn't be an issue?

 

[Optinom]

Does anyone know if Afternic cancel LTOs for names that are under the transfer lock but already at GoDaddy? Shouldn't be an issue?

They don't. You can transfer those to GoDaddy's holding account.