Afternic will – Sedo won’t

[equity78]

One site will allow you to opt out of registrar markups the other won't. Here is a follow up to the story I posted last week about some domain registrars marking up your names (for their profit) when you list at Sedo and Afternic. Joe Styler reaffirmed what Bob Mountain wrote two years ago. You can contact Afternic and have your names not show at the markup registrars. We also understand … [Read more...]

 

[Dondomainer]

Probably sedo takes percentage of these companies too, so imagine..

fee to owner + fee to others

 

[equity78]

Probably sedo takes percentage of these companies too, so imagine..

fee to owner + fee to others

Well when you list Sedo says 15% commission if someone finds your name on Sedo, 20% if at one of these partners, and I believe it's 10% to Sedo and 10% to the registrar. So @Dynadot does not mark the name up but many like Name.com look for another 15% for themselves.

 

[7363824]

I'm curious to know if many somainers are against this? Personally I don't care, I get a sale and I get what I expected when I agreed to list it. Maybe it will cost me a sale or two because it makes the price too high, but maybe it will prompt a buyer to look to contact me directly to ask for a better deal and I can offer them a lower price where I actually make more without the marketplace commissions.

 

[fatter]

I'm curious to know if many somainers are against this? Personally I don't care, I get a sale and I get what I expected when I agreed to list it. Maybe it will cost me a sale or two because it makes the price too high, but maybe it will prompt a buyer to look to contact me directly to ask for a better deal and I can offer them a lower price where I actually make more without the marketplace commissions.

I am with you on this
Joe T

 

[equity78]

Some are ok with it and some are looking into filing a class action suit. I think some people will take whatever they can get, others don't like people giving no notice or will not give someone else the right to make money off their property without any benefit in that themselves. If someone believes that someone deserves a 25% commission because a search was done on their website and they processed a sale, that's their choice most don't. Commissions in this business are too high in the first place unless that entity proactively and marketed that name.

 

[myfavorite]

I don't that will be an issue with because am only interested mostly in Afternic and Sedo. If others marks up to advertise on the platform which gives additional exposure, then they should have a cut of any sales through them.

 

[equity78]

I don't that will be an issue with because am only interested mostly in Afternic and Sedo. If others marks up to advertise on the platform which gives additional exposure, then they should have a cut of any sales through them.

They already get a cut, you pay 20% commission if it comes from there to which each registrar who participates gets their share from that. The 15% is extra that a Name.com charges.

 

[7363824]

Some are ok with it and some are looking into filing a class action suit. I think some people will take whatever they can get, others don't like people giving no notice or will not give someone else the right to make money off their property without any benefit in that themselves. If someone believes that someone deserves a 25% commission because a search was done on their website and they processed a sale, that's their choice most don't. Commissions in this business are too high in the first place unless that entity proactively and marketed that name.

I dont think it's fair to refer to the additional registrar added amount as a commission. It does not come out of the seller's pocket. It is a markup paid for by the buyer. The 20% Afternic charges is, but anything above that charged by the registrar is not.

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but IMO I don't see any legal standing to challenge this. In the end you got the agreed upon price (your BIN - 20%).

 

[equity78]

I dont think it's fair to refer to the additional registrar added amount as a commission. It does not come out of the seller's pocket. It is a markup paid for by the buyer. The 20% Afternic charges is, but anything above that charged by the registrar is not.

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but IMO I don't see any legal standing to challenge this. In the end you got the agreed upon price (your BIN - 20%).

Commission, financial benefit whatever one wants to call it.

Well I think the people who are contemplating lawsuits are looking at it that Sedo and Afternic not until July 0f 2018 ever let their customer know there was a markup.

Afternic has provided an opt out because people like @bmugford were not going to continue to do business with them. Sedo will see accounts closed or moved to make offer so that way there is no markup the way registrars like @Dynadot do.

Again some will take whatever they can get and others will decide who gets to do what with their domain names.

Most importantly and the only thing I care about is that many did not know about this and now those opposed have the framework to get out from a situation they never agreed too.

 

[7363824]

It must be nice to be doing enough in domain sales to be able to tell a large marketplace and all their registrar's that you don't need the exposure they give your domains. For me at least I prefer not to bite the hand that feeds me. So long as they dont screw with the amount that is owed to me.

 

[myfavorite]

It does not come out of the seller's pocket. It is a markup paid for by the buyer. The 20% Afternic charges is, but anything above that charged by the registrar is not.

That's the point am making, if the buyer is willing to buy at the marked up price why should I complain?

 

[bmugford]

That's the point am making, if the buyer is willing to buy at the marked up price why should I complain?

I see your point, and some others have the same view.

My opinion is I should be able to control where my assets are listed and the price they are listed for.
Every domain is one of a kind. Selling domains is not like selling tangible goods where every item is identical.

Brad

 

[D Haynes]

That's the point am making, if the buyer is willing to buy at the marked up price why should I complain?

I see your point, and some others have the same view.

My opinion is I should be able to control where my assets are listed and the price they are listed for.
Every domain is one of a kind. Selling domains is not like selling tangible goods where every item is identical.

Brad

What if the buyer would have been willing to pay your price but not the marked up price? How many potential sales could it cost? Its just good old fashion front running.

 

[equity78]

I see your point, and some others have the same view.

My opinion is I should be able to control where my assets are listed and the price they are listed for.
Every domain is one of a kind. Selling domains is not like selling tangible goods where every item is identical.

Brad

Exactly Brad and it can cost sales like in this hypothetical:

Now let’s look at the poor customer experience, hypothetical startup wanting to acquire Already.com.

Hello boss, I know you said we had a $200,000 budget, but it seems already.com is priced at $230,000.

What kind of idiot are you Johnson? It’s $200,000!

That’s right Name.com is looking to pocket $30,000 and then share the 20% commission with Sedo on the $200,000.

 

[Peak.Domains]

It seems that some folks have a mentality of "I'm happy with whatever they give me, I'm just happy to get a sale..." yet I also see a contradictory sentiment of "If I lose out on a few sales because of the higher pricing, it's whatever".... Those two points of view don't intersect. If that's your mentality, you're basically just buying lottery tickets and not treating this like a business.

I think some of us need to have more respect for our portfolios. If you look at these registrars as "the hand that feeds you", you're looking at it backwards. YOU feed THEM. They're selling YOUR property. If you go away, they starve. If you stop speculating in every wild new gTLD they throw your way, they stave. If we start using our own landers, they starve. It's a give and take, they need to be adding value in addition to extracting it.

A big thanks to the domainers who are looking out for their best interests here, and in turn looking out for the best interests of all domainers. From reporting on this, to putting pressure on them to allow us to opt-out, thank you.

 

[7363824]

It seems that some folks have a mentality of "I'm happy with whatever they give me, I'm just happy to get a sale..." yet I also see a contradictory sentiment of "If I lose out on a few sales because of the higher pricing, it's whatever".... Those two points of view don't intersect. If that's your mentality, you're basically just buying lottery tickets and not treating this like a business.

I think some of us need to have more respect for our portfolios. If you look at these registrars as "the hand that feeds you", you're looking at it backwards. YOU feed THEM. They're selling YOUR property. If you go away, they starve. If you stop speculating in every wild new gTLD they throw your way, they stave. If we start using our own landers, they starve. It's a give and take, they need to be adding value in addition to extracting it.

A big thanks to the domainers who are looking out for their best interests here, and in turn looking out for the best interests of all domainers. From reporting on this, to putting pressure on them to allow us to opt-out, thank you.

They are giving you (or me) shelf space on their website. That's eyeballs that at least for me I wouldn't get otherwise. Yes it is possible that it could inflate the price beyond what a customer would pay but it is at least as possible (probably more so) that they will show it to customers I would not get in front of otherwise who do end up buying it. It's common to pay for shelf space in retail because that's is where the end users are. This is the domain equivalent.

If I miss out on a sale because the registrar marked it up too much, that makes no more difference to my bottom line than if I didn't list my inventory with that registrar so it was never seen by that potential user. The difference though is in the former, it's not my fault for the lack of a sale, its the registrar's greed. At least the Ni have someone to blame other than me and my own ego for thinking that the registrar should be beholden to me. It IS a business, and as such it only works if I generate revenue. Letting the registrar mark it up is free advertising. I'm not going out and buying a superbowl ad, but a registrar might, and they might show my inventory to a vistor thay gain from doing so. Allowing this is getting my inventory in front of the widenst possible audience so I can make my business work and grow.

 

[Peak.Domains]

I mean, feel free to campaign against your own interests...

 

[7363824]

I mean, feel free to campaign against your own interests...

Please, explain how this is against my own interests. Because I see only upside potential. If I show my inventory on a registrar that marks up my domains I get free advertising. That's more potentials end users seeing my domains than if they weren't listed at the registrar, and it costs me NOTHING. The cost is covered by the buyer when the click that buy it now button and I still receive the full amount I would have gotten.

So its free advertising, leading to more sales, making me more revenue.

Please explain where the downside is? Someone not willing to pay the marked up price? I wouldn't have sold to them if I didn't have my inventory shown on that registrars site for sure, at least by allowing my inventory there I have a chance to sell it to them. The opportunity cost of pulling out from the registrar channel (or at least those that markup inventory) is greater than the loss of a sale I wouldn't have had any chance of getting if I wasn't in that channel in the first place.

 

[poweredbyme]

some are looking into filing a class action suit.

Mark ups are done likely based on private agreements between marketplaces and their partners. Domain owners are not a party of possible private agreements between marketplaces and their partners. Are they? Do they have agreement with those registrars and are those registrars breaching that agreement? How can they complain about something when they are not a party of it? In which basis?