Afternic vs Sedo - For selling domains

[j6942]

Would appreciate learning about the differences between these 2 domain selling sites.

I'm figuring the main differences are the $20 annual seller membership at Afternic (vs Sedo free) and that a domain will only be listed at Afternic if it can be sold enough to cover the $60 minimum fee whereas at Sedo, if you park there, the fee is 10%. (otherwise 10% with $50 min)

I would assume that this means you see fewer but higher quality names on Afternic? (belaboring the obvious, if the domain price is $600 and up, the fee will be the same at both places. (not counting amortization of the annual fee)

So if you sell a Sedo-parked domain for $40 does the $4 sales fee cover the escrow for that sale? What if you sell a domain for $5? Do you get escrow protection for 50 cents?

What other differences are there?

 

[d0main]

You can't sell domains on escrow for lower than $60.

Afternic is a lot worse than Sedo as a platform. Most domainers have accounts at Sedo. Someone on Namepros did some research and found out that over 90% of the domains sold on Afternic were actually owned by its parent company, NameMedia.

 

[FPForum]

I've never sold a name on afternic. But, have sold more than a few on Sedo. I would prefer sedo over afternic.

 

[j6942]

It also looks like adult domains aren't allowed on Afternic? I see domains with the f-bomb (f**k) on Sedo but not Afternic.

 

[garptrader]

As you stated, domains priced at $250 don't leave you with much after a $60 commission so Afternic is best for domains you believe you can sell say $500 on up. I receive periodic offers at Afternic and have sold a couple of domains there but yes I receive far more offers from SEDO. Note that the 10% commission requires the domain be parked for ~60 days. Another market to consider is TDNam though typically the offers I get there are of the domainer variety - sub$200. I have seen the study noted above about Afternic sales that most are from an affiliated company. Looking at the weekly DNJournal reports and the sort of domains which are sold via Afternic DLS, one often asks, "If someone paid $2500 for that domain, I need to get in contact with the buyer!" I have not yet reviewed the Whois of the AfternicDLS buyers but it would be an interesting study. Particularly that week where someone bought ~28 domains with the word ads/advertising for $2000-$5000 a pop and yet didn't notice any of mine!

In either case I actually prefer Afternic's search tool over SEDO's. For some strange reason (the last time I checked), SEDO's query chops off domains over about 15-16 characters so if you type in a partial phrase of one of your 18-character domains, your domain will not appear in the search results. Bummer, huh? It will appear if the entire phrase is typed.

I have noticed a sharp increase in TDNam sales of late (reported at Namebio) and just recently received my largest offer this year via TDNam. So perhaps buyers are migrating there because of Godaddy's massive advertising campaigns.

 

[SpareDomains]

I have seen better results with sedo over afternic over the years, I don't use afternic anymore as I wasn't a fan of them banning adult & gambling domains even though I barely own any of those types of domains and I feel if your market is worth a shit it would be free as you would make 10%-20% commission on everything that sells in it and by charging $20 a year it basically tells ya they need your $20 to survive and that they don't sell enough domains to live off of only the commission like sedo does, most of my sales come from parking page sales links and from previous end users I have already sold to and sedo would be next after those 2 methods.

 

[DNBro]

I’m not a fan of Afternic mainly because they are charging $20/year. Also as per various threads Sedo doing better and their commission is 10% irrespective domain price. In case afternic doing better than sedo then it make sense to pay $20.00

Also you not necessarily to have an account with afternic to get a bid, I think buyer having account with afternic can bid domains that are not listed on afternic. I have sold couple of domains such way through Afternic and Networksolutions.

 

[tkstark]

i joined sedo and afternic at the same time, almost a year and a half ago. sold 10 or 11 names thru sedo, none thru afternic.

 

[gladdy]

Same story there, no luck at Afternic, many domains sold at Sedo.

i joined sedo and afternic at the same time, almost a year and a half ago. sold 10 or 11 names thru sedo, none thru afternic.

 

[Domagon]

Sedo by far.

The main reason Afternic, despite their much longer history (at one time was the place to shop; Sedo didn't even exist), is basically a ghost town is their required paid memberships. Even buyers have to buy a membership to make offers. It's not that the price of $1 is too much, but rather is an extra step that discourages many from even bothering; some figure Afternic is a scam of sorts for requiring paid membership upfront the way they do.

Bottom line is there's no comparison. Sedo is far superior and productive compared to Afternic.

Ron