Afternic Sold to NameMedia

[Ron Jackson]

In our Lowdown column last night we reported that Afternic was about to be sold to NameMedia. The official word came today:

http://home.businesswire.com/portal...d=news_view&newsId=20061128005862&newsLang=en

Excerpts:
Pete Lamson, the Senior Vice President for NameMedia’s marketplace business, said “The Afternic acquisition advances our leadership position in creating an efficient marketplace for small and medium businesses to acquire domain names and insure a compelling digital identity.” Roger Collins and Michael Collins, who head Afternic’s executive team, will remain as leaders of the Afternic business. Lamson said that NameMedia intends to maintain both the Afternic and BuyDomains brands and trading platforms. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Afternic will remain in its Florida headquarters.

 

[goodkarmaco]

Ripley and Rocketfly,

very interesting, some new things to look into here.

 

[runsome]

I have had an account with them for 3+ years, and I am canceling my afternic account. this is BS

 

[goodkarmaco]

Right thing to do. I know just how you feel as I canceled mine. They are giving full membership refunds if you mention why you want out.

I wonder how long before they close Discuss names?

Most pros have left. Whats left is a skelton of a place compared to what it was. Too bad, many of the best folks were there with a family style and willingness to help all who asked. But its not the same, something ugly about belonging to it now.

 

[fonzie_007]

Anyone else been offered a free renewal of their membership? I got an email today....

 

[goodkarmaco]

I was told by a member yesterday, they were just notified anyone can get a membership refund, thats a full refund, even if you are close to the date membership runs out.

Just say, due to recent policy changes, I want my membership fee refunded. They do so almost immediately. Mine came thru within a couple days!

 

[proproject]

I can understand how someone might want to cancel a membership if they bought the membership to market names that we no longer market, but I do not understand why someone would want to cancel a membership just because of the acquisition by NameMedia. As an insider I can assure you there is no conspiracy to decrease value to members, rather the opposite. No other service comes close to selling as many premium domains as BD and AN combined, and we are committed to offer all sellers on AN the same opportunities as BD to sell their names on a level playing field.

One story as an example. After the acquisition announcement, one member noticed, and posted on the DiscussNames.com forum, that AN had advantaged BD in the search results order. They were right. Years before we entered talks with BD, we gave BD a tiny boost in ranking (2% to be exact, meaning all other things being equal, show BD names first). We did this because we knew BD were awesome sellers and converted more offers into sold domains. When this member reminded us of the advantage, the GM of BD and I agreed without hesitation to remove the advantage and it was removed immediately. (Not that it was unfair before - we would have done the same for any seller that was selling as effectively as BD.)

Btw, this is my first post after the acquisition. I'm off to change my signature. Was President, now GM. It is very exciting working with NameMedia. They are driven, professional managers and we're learning a lot from each other. Together we are doing what every seller of a business wants to see happen to their business - taking it to the next level.

I sent a PM to someone who mentioned a problem with our portfolio management. Maybe we'll get some feedback that will help us improve it.

Best wishes for the holidays!

Cheers,
Roger

 

[fonzie_007]

Personally I think NM is run by a person who preys on the lack of knowledge of others. Being offered $25 for a LLL.com is unconscionable (http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...d-25-for-a-lll-com.html?highlight=$25+LLL.com). I really don’t want to have anything to do with a company that runs their business in this fashion.

 

[matt_bodis]

Roger,

You say that no other service comes close to selling as many domains as AN. I believe Sedo sells more than you guys.

Why not hire professionals to re-design and re-vamp the entire website? Are you aware of how many problem that site has? It is not the membership fees. Many of us wouldn't have problem paying the small membership fee if everything was functioning correctly.

There is just too many problems. Not to mention, the $1 buying fee is ridiculous. And on top of this, the parking absolutely disastrous.

Many representatives come from their company like you from Afternic, and staff from Sedopro, etc, and they tell us about the sales figures, and the acquisitions, and what is "planned" in the future, etc etc. Most of us, atleast myself, are not interested in these figures. Our domains are not selling through your service, and that's the bottom line. You guys should be telling us that you are WORKING on the bugs that are there. On all the problems, on the parking, etc.

It's nice that BuyDomains is selling alot of domains, but tell me, what in the world does that do for me? Because AFAIK, I can't sell via BuyDomains.

 

[PLamson]

Pete Lamson, NameMedia

"Many representatives come from their company like you from Afternic, and staff from Sedopro, etc, and they tell us about the sales figures, and the acquisitions, and what is "planned" in the future, etc etc. Most of us, atleast myself, are not interested in these figures. Our domains are not selling through your service, and that's the bottom line. You guys should be telling us that you are WORKING on the bugs that are there. On all the problems, on the parking, etc."

This is a great comment - and appreciated.

We would welcome any and all constructive feedback/suggestions on how to serve your needs better. The more we understand your needs, the more we can better assist you.

Your "bottom line" comment on a need for increased domain sales volume is our number one priority. Afternic and BuyDomains coming together will allow us to collaboratively address this challenge, and we are already busy doing so. Improving the liquidity of the aftermarket domain sales channel is something that will benefit all of this who are in this industry. Stay tuned - we need a bit of time to build our enhanced markeplace - it will arrive in Q1 of 2007.

A few other comments to address some of the points on this thread:

Discuss Names will not change and will continue to be an open forum for industry discussion. There are no plans to close this down. Discuss any industry trends you like, tell us what we are doing wrong, and let us have it when we make mistakes.

The Afternic Marketplace will not be skewed in any way to favor BuyDomains owned names. It will remain an open competition market. In fact, since the acquisition (and per Roger's comment) we have already taken steps to insure the fairness of the Afternic Marketplace.

Lastly, a comment on domain valuations through Afternic and BuyDomains. BuyDomains has been in business since 1999 and throughout our 7 year existance it is no secret that our company buys in bulk wholesale volumes and prices, and then sells some of these names via our retail channels. NameMedia and BuyDomains are pleased to now offer a retail sales channel through our Afternic channel that will benfit both buyers and sellers, allowing sellers command the price they deserve and buyers to find the perfect name for their business.

Roger and I will make ourselves available at any time to better serve your needs, including improved sell through rates, improved usability, new tools - or even bug fixes that you may catch before we do. Lets us know what you need.

I periodically visit this forum, however the best way to reach me is via direct contact. I can be reached anytime on my direct line 781 839 2812, or at [email protected]

Pete Lamson
General Manager
NameMedia Domain Marketplace

 

[goodkarmaco]

I suppose the management posting a feel good letter here in Name Pros will erase somehow the poor management style and the negative actions recently done to the domain business. Not!

Since it was Danielr who pointed out in Discuss names how your program gave unfair advantage to your new owner, when a search is done.. you had to change it.

Afterall it was your plans with the new owner to give him an unfair advantage in its search optimizaton in the first place. That is not a red star for your management skills!.

Harsh accusations made that perfectly decent names are instantly declared to not represent the industry standards including names for legal gambling or even tasteful adult type names and then to state those names are considered to "promote hate and violence" are not sitting well by those who registered them.

Members will not forget the shabby treatment received from these actions, nor will they forget the lack of management style from Afternic, including discuss names.

Roger, snake oil is still being sold and Afternic is full of it.

It does not matter how you word it.

Afternic has dealt a "poor hand" to its loyal members. You understand that terminology don't you, since you play poker for money? Sorry Roger if you cannot understand why domain owners will choose not to have names in your new site.

Why would you understand? Your policy is ridicoulous and pros do not support such foolishness.

So what if names that are not censored can be placed in Aternic, even if a possibilty of a sale occurs, many of us are not like you.. we will not sell out for a buck.

Can you understand Roger that even if we want to sell names that have no censorship status, recent actions dispalyed by Afternic turn our stomach.

We choose not to support your auction house because of its poor management style. In effect Afternic is saying " I did not treat every member harshly, just those who have certain names". You are still welcome to sell names here, lol.

Sorry, treat all members good and you have my vote. Treat my fellow members harshly and I leave too.

The domain industry members do not appreciate being kicked around. That is what most of us experienced in your last sweep.

Good luck Afternic, having Roger as your general manager.

 

[PLamson]

GoodKarmaco:

A couple of quick reponses to some of your recent posts that may help clear up some of the questions that have recently been posted on this thread:

First, neither Afternic nor Roger were responsible for the change in Vice Name listings on Afternic. NameMedia has recently implemented a policy that prohibits listings of Vice Names on any of our domain sales properties. Afternic's changes were made in order to comply with this policy.

Secondly, there will be no changes to Discuss Names. It will remain an open forum with no limits on discussion topics.

Third, immediately after the acquisition occured, we took steps to level the playing field on Afternic and create completely fair and market driven sales platform. These guiding principles will remain in effect from now on.

Fourth - and we believe most importantly - we are working dilligently to create a marketplace where domain sellers have the highest probability of selling their domain name(s) for the highest value. That was and is the entire reason for Afternic and BuyDomains joining forces.

Your suggestions and ideas on what the domain selling community would like to see in our revamped and enhanced marketplace (coming in Q1 2007) are welcome and encouraged. Nothing is off the table - tools, control panels, valuation techniques, promotion, communication methods, etc. - bring on your requests and we will do our best to accomodate them.

As always, I can be reached directly at any time at [email protected] or 781 839 2812.

Best Regards and thanks for your feedback,

Pete Lamson

 

[goodkarmaco]

No, it is not Name Media who did those things.

We received a email not from Name Media.

It was from Afternic. Name Media was not even announced as a owner untill weeks after we were all told in a moments notice vice was removing all flagged names, flagged by Afternic.

Then the announcement came of a buy-out.

When my membership was with Afternic, the responsibilty for poor management to me and my fellow domain owners who had a membership was not with Name Media, but with Afternic. Choosing to pat Afternic on the back for its management style is not going to earn you any points with this recent scenario.

I suppose name media was still celebrating and was not aware of the craziness, lack of communication and rude offessive statements made about domains vice had decided to pull.

Put the cork back in the bottle and get real.

The need for celebrations is non existant. Damge control is a better use of your time.

Frankly your investment is not going to return as well now that your plans have gone sour and the community is scratching its head wondering if something was placed in the punch bowl at Afternic.

By the way if Name Media approved the implementation of the new rules and policy and it seems so, then we will see nothing good coming from the exchange.

 

[PLamson]

GoodKarmaco:

Thanks for your post.

First, my note was in no way intended to pat anyone on the back - merely to explain the dirvers of the policy changes on Afternic. The changes were in fact driven by NameMedia, with the pre-sale changes done so that Afternic would be in compliance with our company's inventory policies at the time of the acquisition. You are correct that the actual communication came from Afternic - as all communicatiosn will continue to come from Afternic in the future as well - we have no plans to change Afternic branding.

Second, we are celebrating nothing - in fact quite the opposite. We are hard at work endevoring to construct a more comprehensive, more robust marketplace for buyers and sellers. Our efforts began shortly after the acquisition, and will be completed early next year.

We are working hard, but by no means are we perfect. I trust that you and others will communicate areas of needed improvement. Your criticisms are welcomed, encouraged, and will be listened to by all of us here at NameMedia.

I am happy to speak personally in more detail if you like - my contact info was previously listed.

Pete

 

[goodkarmaco]

Thanks Pete,

Good luck with your hard work. You are correct about the need to work hard on this issue and open dialogue is best. Anyway you look at it the road is going to be uphill.

In the future, my recommendation is when a major policy is going to be announced, you will get more respect from members if you announce the plans at least one year in advance.

If no membership is required you can make your major announcements immediately as you then will have no obligation to members. But to delete a big part of members names the way this was handled is not a good way to pick up any rewards from the domain owners. One can only hope lessons are learned by these actions.

Best regards,

Roderick