Alter.com Marketplace

[Deven Patel]

Hi all,

I wanted to introduce a new premium domain marketplace we just launched called Alter. I would love to hear your thoughts! As the world’s largest community of domainers, your feedback would be invaluable.

Let me introduce myself. Although I’m new to NamePros, I’ve been around the block. I’ve been buying and selling domains for my own startup ideas for over 20 years. As a serial entrepreneur, I founded a number of startups across various industries like marketing, web hosting, social networking, blogging, and SaaS. This experience has helped me understand how indispensable a brand name is to a business.

Most new entrepreneurs don’t think twice about their company name. Our goal is to change that! A brand name literally has the power to make or break their business. This is more true today than ever before now that there are countless alternatives to every product or service imaginable. Sure, every business may have their own world-changing differentiator but from the outside they all look the same at which point the main differentiator ends up becoming their brand name. In a world full of distractions, we no longer have the attention span to thoroughly research what we buy so we rely on our emotions. This is why large businesses like Apple and Amazon spend billions on their “brand” alone because they understand that customer perception is everything.

Anyway, I noticed that most marketplaces that exist today are focused more on the seller rather than the buyer. Our goal is to reverse the equation and prioritize buyers because I think they are the key to success in any industry. The domain industry is no exception. Without buyers, there’s no money. This is why we’ve made it our mission to help entrepreneurs succeed!

And what’s with the 30-35% commission rate most of these marketplaces are charging? Unless they’re doing more work than a human broker, I don’t think anything over the industry average of 15-20% is warranted. We’re changing that. Alter has one of the lowest rates in the industry, an all-inclusive 10% commission fee when a name sells. There are no other fees or restrictions.

What do you think? Are we on the right track or barking up the wrong tree?

Deven

This was a promoted post.​

 

[tiletalk]

Then only promote the names that are using Alter's DNS. But don't completely ban the names that aren't. It's silly that we can't use a parking service for names that are generating revenue, especially if we point the "For Sale" link directly and exclusively to Alter.

they are not getting any direct traffic if you park elsewhere so i agree with the current approach on site. park it there or sell it elsewhere

 

[DomainBanana]

Then only promote the names that are using Alter's DNS. But don't completely ban the names that aren't. It's silly that we can't use a parking service for names that are generating revenue, especially if we point the "For Sale" link directly and exclusively to Alter.

It would be difficult or impossible to verify if the for sale link is pointing to Alter when the landing page is elsewhere.

Asking Alter to give up nameserver exclusivity is not realistic.

Giving up nameserver exclusivity would decimate their profits when they are already making a huge concession by asking only 10% commission.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I agree with what others have said that it would not be fair to ask Alter to give up having dns pointed there. The brandable places require exclusivity and have much higher commissions (well SH do allow Afternic, but with added commission and coins). As has been mentioned, Alter invest in our domain names in various ways, including promotion. I am more than happy to have my DNS pointed to them.

I ordered some $5 logos and very pleased with the quality and speed of production (one was in hours and the other about a day). One was a very long name, and really pleased with how much better it looks now compared to the basic logo.

Bob

 

[tiletalk]

I agree with what others have said that it would not be fair to ask Alter to give up having dns pointed there. The brandable places require exclusivity and have much higher commissions (well SH do allow Afternic, but with added commission and coins). As has been mentioned, Alter invest in our domain names in various ways, including promotion. I am more than happy to have my DNS pointed to them.

I ordered some $5 logos and very pleased with the quality and speed of production (one was in hours and the other about a day). One was a very long name, and really pleased with how much better it looks now compared to the basic logo.

Bob

The $5 premium logos on alter are well thought out and produced in comparison to SH Designers who probably get spammed with lots of work And have little time per logo

 

[Mister Funsky]

I ordered some $5 logos and very pleased with the quality and speed of production

Do you (or anyone reading this post) know the ownership of the logo's purchased on Alter?

In my case I enjoy making logos from time to time and in doing so I know they are original and there would not be an issue with another person claiming them. It would be hard to pay for creation of one (any) unless I knew there would never be an ownership issue.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Do you (or anyone reading this post) know the ownership of the logo's purchased on Alter?

I tried to find it and could not, but I believe that at least logos created on their site, basic or professional, even though $5 paid, are property of Alter and if you delist you can't take the logo with you. I might be wrong though, and I am not clear on situation if you upload your own logo (which I have not yet tried).

When a purchaser buys your domain, they of course get the logo, no matter which type it is.

Hopefully when he has time @Deven Patel will give a definitive answer.

Bob

 

[pavan kumar t]

Just moved 4000 .com domains to alter. I hope alter works for me.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I tried to find it and could not,

I found the wording, you get it when you go to upload a logo you designed. So you will it seems not be able to use it anywhere else.

"By designing a logo for us, you automatically agree to transfer any intellectual property rights for that logo to Alter. This means you can't use it anywhere else online or offline. You also confirm that there are no copyright issues with the logo."​

​

On another topic, does someone know how active they are in chasing up unconfirmed offers? When I checked Offers on my Dashboard, I discovered an offer I had not been informed about but it is listed as unconfirmed and I can't respond until it is confirmed.

Bob

 

[Mister Funsky]

I found the wording, you get it when you go to upload a logo you designed. So you will it seems not be able to use it anywhere else.
"By designing a logo for us, you automatically agree to transfer any intellectual property rights for that logo to Alter. This means you can't use it anywhere else online or offline. You also confirm that there are no copyright issues with the logo."

Their wording is understandable and would/should apply if/when a domain sells through their marketplace...the logo listed with that name should go with it. Otherwise I think they might be hard pressed to enforce the restrictions.

I've thought about it since...why would anyone pay them (alter) to design a logo they would not own? There are plenty of free apps/programs out there that allow the creator to retain the rights. If those are not good enough, there are/were a lot of logo design talent here on namepros...just spend a little more and get some great submissions.

It is worth noting that it has been over 72 hours since you tagged the owner...I should think a response would have been made by now. Thanks for taking the time to post what you found.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I've thought about it since...why would anyone pay them (alter) to design a logo they would not own? There are plenty of free apps/programs out there that allow the creator to retain the rights. If those are not good enough, there is/was a lot of logo design talent here on namepros...just spend a little more and get some great submissions.

True, although with other brandable places you pay a listing fee, or equivalent, that is of same order of magnitude. I generally like the quality of Alter logo designers and decided to invest some from my last sale into buying some logos for names I plan to keep at Alter long term.

I have not tried but may design some my own. One thing, you need to submit an .ai form as well as .png. Since many logo makers, and software other than Illustrator, don't export in .ai since it is a proprietary Illustrator format, that is an issue. Also, Illustrator is not inexpensive if you don't do a lot of design work. There are converters, not sure how well they work.

Anyway, personally going to buy a few more. I may see if having a better logo increases traffic to the names, which is easy with their flexible dashboard.

Bob

 

[cabotower]

does alter have a section where they list past sales made through their marketplace?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

does alter have a section where they list past sales made through their marketplace?

I am pretty sure not. There are a few sales mentioned in this thread and in the Report Completed Sales thread here at NamePros.

 

[Embrand]

Is it just me, or is there no bulk editing? It would be nice not only for pricing, but also for e.g. changing to lower case letters for your domains, which I prefer. It is quite a task to edit hundreds of names.

 

[justsand]

Hi @Deven Patel, If you don't mind, can we know -

1. What are the top 10 biggest sales happened on Alter (If you can't disclose the name sale price will be fine)?
2. Avg selling price of the domain?
3. Minimum duration of the sale?
4. Ratio of BIN and Installment sales?
5. How much percent we will boost the sales rate by opting syndication option?
6. Interesting and important facts that we (sellers) should know about Alter?

I am curious (I hope others also) to know these things because there are very low published sales and few sellers claiming that alter is working for them than the other marketplace!

Thank you

 

[william]

Hi @Deven Patel, If you don't mind, can we know -

1. What are the top 10 biggest sales happened on alter (If you can't disclose the name sale price will be fine)?
2. Avg selling price of the domain?
3. Minimum duration of the sale?
4. Ratio of BIN and Installment sales?
5. Interesting and important facts that we (sellers) should know?

I am curious (I hope others also) to know these things because there are very low published sales and few sellers claiming that alter is working for them than the other marketplace!

Thank you

Would be great information to have.

 

[Vidzzz]

Congratulation on the brilliant business model of ALTER. I duly appreciate your efforts in creating a buyer focused market place for domains.

Humble Suggestion:
There is a definite scope of improving the showcase logos. Since your market place is focused on buyers, the logo should be extremely catchy & currently they are too plane jane (old 2D format). Look at the website NAMERS and see how they have utilized technology to create an immersive view into domain logos. No affiliation with the website, but just appreciating their forward looking technology.

 

[Shamiul]

Congratulation on the brilliant business model of ALTER. I duly appreciate your efforts in creating a buyer focused market place for domains.

Humble Suggestion:
There is a definite scope of improving the showcase logos. Since your market place is focused on buyers, the logo should be extremely catchy & currently they are too plane jane (old 2D format). Look at the website NAMERS and see how they have utilized technology to create an immersive view into domain logos. No affiliation with the website, but just appreciating their forward looking technology.

Distracting, Imo.

 

[DomainBanana]

Many of us are seeing large spikes in traffic to Alter on Mondays, like 10x visits or more.

Why is this?

 

[tiletalk]

Many of us are seeing large spikes in traffic to Alter on Mondays, like 10x visits or more.

Why is this?

because like people, even the bots are only working 4 days a week now!

 

[tomcarl]

Is it just me, or is there no bulk editing? It would be nice not only for pricing, but also for e.g. changing to lower case letters for your domains, which I prefer. It is quite a task to edit hundreds of names.

Not available yet. Hoping to see it soon, especially for categories/descriptions.

On another note, a few sales so far this month on Alter. Smooth transactions. Landers converting.

 

[Embrand]

I noticed a very neat thing. I had removed some names a while ago, but decided to list them again. Not only were my old purchased logos automatically attached to the listings again, but so were the keywords I had assigned. That saved both money and time.

 

[Samxui]

What's going on with Alter? Give us updates. Sales stats, new tools, etc

 

[sircc]

What's going on with Alter? Give us updates. Sales stats, new tools, etc

@Deven Patel

This is a problem with Alter. They started this thread and we expect them to interact on this sub forum. They have stated they prefer we contact them directly but that's not how it works here.

Alter needs to have a spokesperson attending to the questions and concerns of its clients.

 

[Charybdis]

Alter needs to have a spokesperson attending to the questions and concerns of its clients.

Yes like Dan, they also have a thread here and they regularly participate in that thread.

But I should note that Alter just works, and there are no burning unanswered questions in this thread.

 

[capybara]

I can't recall even the smallest change on Alter since I started using it. It is likely Alter simply does not have software developers on its team, so it goes on in the same state as it was designed.