information Afternic Update

[Joe Styler]

There are several threads ongoing about Afternic so it was easier to start a new one here with the big picture of what is going on. A few weeks ago we had a major release which did away with the escrow process on Afternic and started a new service called Transaction Assurance. There are several main reasons why we did it, two of the big ones being:
1. Compliance - We are not an escrow company and using this new flow allows us to be compliant to all laws in the areas we operate which is very important for everyone.
2. Ease of use - Much of what we have done over the past 2 years around the Aftermarket is being done to reduce overall friction for the buyer and seller to allow domains to move to buyers easier and make managing your domains for sale easier.

There are other reasons for doing this which tie into a bigger picture of other projects we have in line for the coming year or so which also allow for better sales for our sellers such as faster payment times and more International payment options as well as better/easier domain management and some bigger improvements that have been asked for by customers for a while.

The project was not rushed or left untested. In fact we put in over 8 man years of labor on it and did extensive testing. Part of the project involved us integrating with two 3rd party providers to help with International payments and communications. These are big name companies with a track record of success and utilizing their tools behind the scenes will help everyone in the long run to be able to sell more domains easier.

Obviously things have not gone as well as we would have liked, but we are actively working on resolving the issues around communication and payments. We have had meetings at the highest levels to take care of this as a very high priority. As of today we believe most email communication issue are resolved.

We are not only meeting about things we are actively deploying new code and changes and other teams are working to manually jump in and help out so we can get answers for our customers and make sure they are being paid. I personally saw many people working late nights and over the weekends doing what they could to keep improving the processes because our customers are very important to us. We have a good team who have all pulled together to try and help it is not just me on the forum answering questions I couldn't do it without the help of our Aftermarket teams.

I think we are very close to having a smoothly operating process again with a better ultimate process for the future which will allow you to grow with us and continue to sell domains at a better rate of return. Thank you for your patience and for being a customer.

If you are waiting for payment the #1 thing I have seen resolve this the fastest is to login to your Afternic account and go to your payment settings. Make sure that you have a payment set up as a default option and that is correct. We migrated all the old payment information into the new system. If you are in doubt or cannot find a way to select a default payment option it is faster to create a new payment method (even using the same info you already have) and select that new payment method as your default. Doing this will tell the system to try and pay you for any outstanding balance you are owed.

 

[domeen]

got paid within one day after domain was pushed. Thats even faster then before the TA thing.
But yeah I had default payment in place.

 

[wwwweb]

got paid within one day after domain was pushed. Tahts even faster then before the TA thing.
But yeah I had default payment in place.

I had default payment in place, going on 8 days now, no payment

 

[Ted.T]

I'm not sure if these 2 issues are related, but I also have problems with Godaddy payments. Still waiting for some of them, that should have been paid long ago. What's interesting, until recently, there were no problems...

@Joe Styler, is Godaddy using the same third party payment processor?

 

[domeen]

I quess I special then. Support replayed within 6 hours also. I used the contact TA agent thing.

But another transaction closing in few days, will see if that goes also smooth.

 

[wwwweb]

I'm not sure if these 2 issues are related, but I also have problems with Godaddy payments. Still waiting for some of them, that should have been paid long ago. What's interesting, until recently, there were no problems...

@Joe Styler, is Godaddy using the same third party payment processor?

No, he has already stated they are using a new payment processor, things have changed.

 

[Ted.T]

No, he has already stated they are using a new payment processor, things have changed.

This is why I asked, because in the past everything was working fine...

 

[Haris]

I can't add PayPal as a 'Payment Method' neither in GoDaddy Payee accounts nor AfterNic "Domain Sale Payments from Afternic". I had a PayPal account on file before the update and received money through PayPal from sales at AfterNic. I am a Non-US customer. Please assist @Joe Styler

 

[anantj]

I know the primary issues were around payments but does the Afternic team have any focus on the UX and features around the core product itself? Like portfolio management, bulk editing, parking reports and even a simple feature like domain filtering?

 

[frank-germany]

still no payments:

 

[stewmath]

I'm also waiting for a payment, the expecting payment date keeps changing as well. Its now set to 4th May which is tomorrow, so i will see if i get paid or not.

 

[SuperDudePro]

I had a domain sell through fast transfer around the 21st of April and the site said it would pay out on the 28th. On the 28th I checked and realized that either I hadn't put in my payment info or it got lost in the migration. I added the payment info again and got an email from Paypal today, followed by an email from AfterNic this evening. I'm assuming that it's starting to clear up.

 

[Premiums]

I had default payment in place, going on 8 days now, no payment

same here

 

[Premiums]

still no payment

May 1, 2017
Est. Payout Date

 

[Premiums]

My default payment method has been updated as well.

 

[Apprich]

It would be great if you would support payoneer payments.. Most other companies do support payoneer why dont you? Same question applies to Godaddy as well..

 

[platey]

Trademark check service would actually hurt sales, and confuse buyers. Lots of misconceptions about trademarks, and different uses, so I would stay away from that avenue. Lots of free tools online to check already.

Why would godaddy work a deal with paypal, when they have a sales channel that already covers your issue, if you use their service then you don't have to worry about this. Yes, it comes at a cost, but that is business.

If a trademark service was available it would only impact sales by putting people off buying domains because the domain a person may want to buy would infringe a trademark which is how it should be not a it's not our problem if a person buys a trademark infringed domain as long as we make a sale etc etc

The equivalent to this would be like swimming in the sea and forgetting that's where sharks live

Or investing in the stockmarket and ignoring the fact that recessions which are inevitable diminish your investment portfolio

 

[wwwweb]

still no payment

May 1, 2017
Est. Payout Date

Hey I'm on the May 1st payout schedule too, let's see who gets paid first, or maybe at the same time, still no payment here either.

I would say they were running on April 27/28th payments, but I saw someone say they were due for a May 4th payout, who got paid yesterday.

So no idea how payouts work in regards to timeline.

 

[wwwweb]

I quess I special then. Support replayed within 6 hours also. I used the contact TA agent thing.

But another transaction closing in few days, will see if that goes also smooth.

Just getting a response from support is like amazing enough! I don't know what you guys were owed, but I am owed mid 4 figures.

It is also interesting to see that some people's payout schedules are being adjusted, and some are not. Lots of things in play I would guess.

Anyone get paid today? Has the money started trickling yet?

 

[Ted.T]

If a trademark service was available it would only impact sales by putting people off buying domains because the domain a person may want to buy would infringe a trademark which is how it should be not a it's not our problem if a person buys a trademark infringed domain as long as we make a sale etc etc

The equivalent to this would be like swimming in the sea and forgetting that's where sharks live

Or investing in the stockmarket and ignoring the fact that recessions which are inevitable diminish your investment portfolio

I think we have already discussed about this... Godaddy, as a service provider, in it's case a domain registrar, offers you the possibility to register a domain. Godaddy doesn't have to be a policeman and check for you which domain you register, it's your right to register any domain you want.

 

[wwwweb]

If a trademark service was available it would only impact sales by putting people off buying domains because the domain a person may want to buy would infringe a trademark which is how it should be not a it's not our problem if a person buys a trademark infringed domain as long as we make a sale etc etc

The equivalent to this would be like swimming in the sea and forgetting that's where sharks live

Or investing in the stockmarket and ignoring the fact that recessions which are inevitable diminish your investment portfolio

The same mark can be used in different lines of business.

For instance ABC can be a entertainment company, ABC can also be a company that makes can openers, also ABC can be a chain of markets etc... You are just confusing things, do you want a big red X to come on the screen when someone tries to register ABC.HORSE?