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.​

 

[Joe N]

Hi Joe, I only have them on Dan, sedo, bodis, and afternic. Not tried to put them on the brandable sites but did look at alter before I submitted them to see if I thought some were on par with what's already on there. That's why I said I thought the decision was bizarre. I agree everything is subjective but I was still surprised that all 18 were declined.Maybe there should be something on there when submitting that explains the meaning or intention of the name. Just my thoughts.
Gary

I think that if the meaning of the name needs to be explained, odds are that the brandable sites won't be interested.

If the names are very specific to one niche, they also have to be very very solid in order to be worth listing. Otherwise, I find it's better if they can apply widely to several ideas/industries. I think @Deven Patel mentioned this above.

 

[Laguna]

I think that if the meaning of the name needs to be explained, odds are that the brandable sites won't be interested.

If the names are very specific to one niche, they also have to be very very solid in order to be worth listing. Otherwise, I find it's better if they can apply widely to several ideas/industries. I think @Deven Patel mentioned this above.

I hear you and appreciate your feedback

 

[Reyginus]

I think the introduction of a boost will help both seller and Alter. Like SH, paying a dollar to boost your name in the marketplace to move it closer to the homepage.

An option to boost your names for a dollar/coin wouldn't be bad. That will help sellers when the platform adds more thousands of names.

 

[Future Sensors]

I think the introduction of a boost will help both seller and Alter. Like SH, paying a dollar to boost your name in the marketplace to move it closer to the homepage.

An option to boost your names for a dollar/coin wouldn't be bad. That will help sellers when the platform adds more thousands of names.

I don't like the idea. I'm not prepared to pay an additional fee for this. Placement based on smart algos with other metrics is preferred, imo.

 

[Joe N]

Haven't seen much in the way of reported Alter sales yet, so I thought I'd share one from last week:

PropFi (dot) com - $2,000

This was listed at $3,699, and I think the buyer got a super price for a quality name. In fact it already appears to be re-listed at Sedo. It's the bare minimum I was willing to sell this name for, and only because the ROI was solid, having stumbled upon the name in GD closeouts.

@Deven Patel - Has there been any consideration to having Alter take a harder line with price negotiations? I know some sellers will appreciate having all offers brought to them, even when they're less than half of the list price (I was informed of an $800 offer on a $2,250 name at Alter a couple months ago), but I worry that this tactic will ultimately undercut your and your sellers' long-term profits and success.

I think one of the big advantages of listing with a brandable marketplace is the added prestige/credibility that comes with the price tag of the name. That, along with increased visibility, is why I like to have brandable names listed at marketplaces. However, once buyers get wind that Alter is playing softball in negotiations by encouraging buyers to accept much lower prices than those listed, I think the marketplace will become somewhat of a haven for investors (rather than end users).

Just a thought, and I would be curious to hear the rationale for operating this way.

 

[Reyginus]

I don't like the idea. I'm not prepared to pay an additional fee for this. Placement based on smart algos with other metrics is preferred, imo.

I think they may already be placed in that manner. What I'm suggesting will prevent names from been lost as more names pile up. I don't think smart logos can salvage that.

 

[Reyginus]

Haven't seen much in the way of reported Alter sales yet, so I thought I'd share one from last week:

PropFi (dot) com - $2,000

This was listed at $3,699, and I think the buyer got a super price for a quality name. In fact it already appears to be re-listed at Sedo. It's the bare minimum I was willing to sell this name for, and only because the ROI was solid, having stumbled upon the name in GD closeouts.

@Deven Patel - Has there been any consideration to having Alter take a harder line with price negotiations? I know some sellers will appreciate having all offers brought to them, even when they're less than half of the list price (I was informed of an $800 offer on a $2,250 name at Alter a couple months ago), but I worry that this tactic will ultimately undercut your and your sellers' long-term profits and success.

I think one of the big advantages of listing with a brandable marketplace is the added prestige/credibility that comes with the price tag of the name. That, along with increased visibility, is why I like to have brandable names listed at marketplaces. However, once buyers get wind that Alter is playing softball in negotiations by encouraging buyers to accept much lower prices than those listed, I think the marketplace will become somewhat of a haven for investors (rather than end users).

Just a thought, and I would be curious to hear the rationale for operating this way.

I totally agree with this. And, over time, it might affect the perception of sellers and could lead to an exodus of very good sellers/names. Dave Patel, I think you should look into this.

 

[Joe N]

I think they may already be placed in that manner. What I'm suggesting will prevent names from been lost as more names pile up. I don't think smart logos can salvage that.

I have to say I agree with @Future Sensors here. Introducing this option would feel like a sleazy money grab by Alter. Names should be prioritized based on how popular they are, as long as the same ones don't always stay at the top of the list (that would become pretty circular... a name rises to the top because it's popular, and then remains popular because it's at the top).

Having to compete financially for eye-balls on my names would defeat the purpose of listing with a brandable marketplace. I may as well start taking out FB or LinkedIn ads and get a lot more exposure.

 

[Deven Patel]

I think the introduction of a boost will help both seller and Alter. Like SH, paying a dollar to boost your name in the marketplace to move it closer to the homepage.

An option to boost your names for a dollar/coin wouldn't be bad. That will help sellers when the platform adds more thousands of names.

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm personally not a big fan of gamifying the experience for sellers. It will create more work for them and be unfair to those who don't want to pay-to-play. It will also be unfair to buyers because the quality of their search results will drop as a byproduct.

Our goal is to treat every domain equally and let the quality of the name market itself.

Regarding the number of listings growing in the future, that's a common challenge across all marketplaces. Even sellers on Amazon are facing the same problem. As the inventory grows, individual names get less and less exposure. Marketplaces benefit due to the higher volume while sellers take the hit thanks to the traffic dilution. Supply vs demand.

This means the only two real solutions are either (1) increase the demand or (2) reduce the supply. We have a few ideas on how to tackle this problem but it's way too early to think about that right now.

 

[Deven Patel]

Haven't seen much in the way of reported Alter sales yet, so I thought I'd share one from last week:

PropFi (dot) com - $2,000

This was listed at $3,699, and I think the buyer got a super price for a quality name. In fact it already appears to be re-listed at Sedo. It's the bare minimum I was willing to sell this name for, and only because the ROI was solid, having stumbled upon the name in GD closeouts.

@Deven Patel - Has there been any consideration to having Alter take a harder line with price negotiations? I know some sellers will appreciate having all offers brought to them, even when they're less than half of the list price (I was informed of an $800 offer on a $2,250 name at Alter a couple months ago), but I worry that this tactic will ultimately undercut your and your sellers' long-term profits and success.

I think one of the big advantages of listing with a brandable marketplace is the added prestige/credibility that comes with the price tag of the name. That, along with increased visibility, is why I like to have brandable names listed at marketplaces. However, once buyers get wind that Alter is playing softball in negotiations by encouraging buyers to accept much lower prices than those listed, I think the marketplace will become somewhat of a haven for investors (rather than end users).

Just a thought, and I would be curious to hear the rationale for operating this way.

Thanks for sharing! Please note that not all Alter sellers are on NamePros or are comfortable with sharing their sales. In fact, we have sellers who have already sold multiple domains.

In terms of price negotiations, I agree with you. That's the reason we don't have a make offer option on our landing pages unlike some of our competitors. If buyers think there's room to negotiate, they almost always will. That's the nature of the beast.

We actually receive plenty of low ball offers and sellers never hear about them. But just like you there are a number of sellers who do appreciate and are willing to take a lower offer so we tend to reach out to them if (1) the offer is close to the list price or (2) the buyer really insists on us reaching out.

Either way, rest assured that we make every effort possible to get you the list price in these scenarios. We just don't want you to lose out on a potential sale. Ultimately, it's up to the sellers whether they want to accept the offer anyway.

 

[Veneris]

Sold about a week ago on alter.
Listed price : $2,799
Sold price : $2799
Recieved: $2,519
Hold time : 3months

Thanks to Alter Team.

 

[cillx]

How long does it take to review the submissions at alter.com?

 

[Future Sensors]

How long does it take to review the submissions at alter.com?

A batch of domains I submitted on 22/1 was accepted on 27/1. First logo of this batch was ready on 30/1.

 

[Reyginus]

How long does it take to review the submissions at alter.com?

I think it's fast but it's been slow in the past month.

 

[Deven Patel]

How long does it take to review the submissions at alter.com?

Thanks for your submissions! Our review process generally takes about 24-72 hours on average but we're backlogged by a couple days right now. Remember, there's no downside here for you because you can do whatever you want with your names in the meantime. We'll get to your domains very shortly.

 

[Future Sensors]

A batch of domains I submitted on 22/1 was accepted on 27/1. First logo of this batch was ready on 30/1.

Last one of this batch was listed today on 2/2 with a nice logo.

 

[Deven Patel]

Hi everyone!

First and foremost, we'd like to thank you for using Alter to sell your domain names. We're honored to have the opportunity to serve you.

You asked, we listened. You provided so much valuable feedback over the last few months. Our team has been working around the clock to turn it into reality. We're excited to announce incredible new features!

Installment Plans
Alter now offers sellers the ability to sell domains via monthly installments! This allows buyers to spread their payments over 3-36 months making their domain purchase more affordable. Enabling installments will typically lead to quicker sales. Learn more ›

Price Adjustments
Sellers often asked us to tweak appraisals for their domains to better match their expectations. Well, now you can increase or decrease the list price of your domains by up to 20% once they're accepted.

Landing Pages
Landing pages are the best way to attract potential buyers so we're constantly tweaking them to improve performance. The latest round of updates include:

• Dynamic Colors: Looking at the same landing page for every domain can get boring even with unique logos. So we got creative! We programmed the header image along with other CTAs on the page to match the color of the logo.
• Pronunciation: Potential buyers can now hear an audio of how to pronounce the domain name with a click of a button.
• Bigger Logo: As the focal point of the landing page, it only made sense to make the logo bigger and more attractive.
• Social Proof: Buyers can now see the number of other people who viewed the domain recently. We also added our TrustPilot rating under the Buy Now button to boost conversions.

Curious about what the new landing pages look like? See example ›

Domain Management
Now that sellers are growing their portfolios on Alter, it's becoming cumbersome to manage their domains. Searching for one in their account is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. To improve this experience, we've added a new search bar and a Listed tab on the Domains page that will make it super easy to find your domains.

Smart Search
When we first launched, our search functionality was very basic. We've dramatically improved it to return results based on all of the domain's metadata like its keywords and categories. This will result in better and richer results for potential buyers. Try it yourself ›

Live Chat
Being able to assist buyers in real-time is more crucial today than ever before now that the average visitor attention span has dropped to mere seconds. We will now offer live chat to visitors on all domain landing pages to proactively help them with their inquiries during our business hours. And if it works well, we'll eventually offer it 24/7.

Traffic Breakdown
We understand it can be difficult to always see the value of using a domain marketplace like Alter to sell your valuable assets. So we broke it down for you! Your dashboard will now show a Traffic Breakdown pie chart which consists of the following three metrics:

• Marketplace Visitors: Number of people that learned about your domains through our marketplace.
• Partner Visitors: Number of people that learned about your domains via our partners (estimated).
• Direct Visitors: Number of people that learned about your domains by typing them directly in their browser.

We hope that this level of transparency will help you determine whether listing your portfolio with us is worth it. See chart ›

Partnerships
We're truly excited to announce that we've partnered up with some of the world's top marketplaces and registrars to give your domains maximum exposure! Starting later this month, your domains will automatically be listed on the following marketplaces and registrars:

• Sedo, DAN.com, IONOS, Namecheap, Network Solutions, Name.com, Epik, NameSilo, Hover, Dynadot, Register.com, BigRock, 101domain, SnapNames, Sav, Hexonet, Internet.bs, Moniker, Rebel, InterNetX, Dofo, WebNames, and more

This means you no longer have to worry about dealing with different companies, updating prices across accounts, re-verifying domains, etc. And you still only pay 10% commission on the price assigned to your domains on Alter. We'll just list them at slightly higher prices on other marketplaces to compensate for their higher commission. Win-win!

Action Required: In order to protect our relationships with these partners, you cannot list your Alter domains with any of the companies mentioned above since we will be doing it on your behalf moving forward. If they are already listed there, please remove them from there before February 15th. Otherwise, you are free to list them anywhere else you like.

Thanks for your continued support in our journey to change the world, one domain at a time. We're glad you're with us!

 

[Future Sensors]

Hi everyone!

First and foremost, we'd like to thank you for using Alter to sell your domain names. We're honored to have the opportunity to serve you.

You asked, we listened. You provided so much valuable feedback over the last few months. Our team has been working around the clock to turn it into reality. We're excited to announce incredible new features!

Installment Plans
Alter now offers sellers the ability to sell domains via monthly installments! This allows buyers to spread their payments over 3-36 months making their domain purchase more affordable. Enabling installments will typically lead to quicker sales. Learn more ›

Price Adjustments
Sellers often asked us to tweak appraisals for their domains to better match their expectations. Well, now you can increase or decrease the list price of your domains by up to 20% once they're accepted.

Landing Pages
Landing pages are the best way to attract potential buyers so we're constantly tweaking them to improve performance. The latest round of updates include:

• Dynamic Colors: Looking at the same landing page for every domain can get boring even with unique logos. So we got creative! We programmed the header image along with other CTAs on the page to match the color of the logo.
• Pronunciation: Potential buyers can now hear an audio of how to pronounce the domain name with a click of a button.
• Bigger Logo: As the focal point of the landing page, it only made sense to make the logo bigger and more attractive.
• Social Proof: Buyers can now see the number of other people who viewed the domain recently. We also added our TrustPilot rating under the Buy Now button to boost conversions.

Curious about what the new landing pages look like? See example ›

Domain Management
Now that sellers are growing their portfolios on Alter, it's becoming cumbersome to manage their domains. Searching for one in their account is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. To improve this experience, we've added a new search bar and a Listed tab on the Domains page that will make it super easy to find your domains.

Smart Search
When we first launched, our search functionality was very basic. We've dramatically improved it to return results based on all of the domain's metadata like its keywords and categories. This will result in better and richer results for potential buyers. Try it yourself ›

Live Chat
Being able to assist buyers in real-time is more crucial today than ever before now that the average visitor attention span has dropped to mere seconds. We will now offer live chat to visitors on all domain landing pages to proactively help them with their inquiries during our business hours. And if it works well, we'll eventually offer it 24/7.

Traffic Breakdown
We understand it can be difficult to always see the value of using a domain marketplace like Alter to sell your valuable assets. So we broke it down for you! Your dashboard will now show a Traffic Breakdown pie chart which consists of the following three metrics:

• Marketplace Visitors: Number of people that learned about your domains through our marketplace.
• Partner Visitors: Number of people that learned about your domains via our partners (estimated).
• Direct Visitors: Number of people that learned about your domains by typing them directly in their browser.

We hope that this level of transparency will help you determine whether listing your portfolio with us is worth it. See chart ›

Partnerships
We're truly excited to announce that we've partnered up with the world's top marketplaces and registrars to give your domains maximum exposure! Starting later this month, your domains will automatically be listed on the following marketplaces and registrars:

• Marketplaces: Sedo, Afternic, Uniregistry, DAN.com
• Registrars: GoDaddy, IONOS, Namecheap, Network Solutions, Name.com, Epik, NameSilo, Hover, Dynadot, Porkbun, Register.com, BigRock, Sav, Internet.bs, and more

This means you no longer have to worry about dealing with different companies, updating prices across accounts, re-verifying domains, etc. And you still only pay 10% commission on the price assigned to your domains on Alter. We'll just list them at slightly higher prices on other marketplaces to compensate for their higher commission. Win-win!

Action Required: In order to prevent problems with our new partners, we have to be the exclusive seller of all listed domains moving forward. This means you cannot list them anywhere else yourself. If they are already, please remove them from all other marketplaces before February 15th.

Thanks for your continued support in our journey to change the world, one domain at a time. We're glad you're with us!

Hi @Deven Patel

Great developments, all of them.

One question about the automatic listings on other marketplaces. How will this be handled when the domain is already listed there (at a higher price)? I understood that this was no problem. Is the text below a policy change? Your website now states the following:

Can I list my domains anywhere else?
No, we have to be the exclusive seller of your domains in order to prevent problems with our partners. But there's no need to list your domains elsewhere because we already list them on popular marketplaces and registrars on your behalf (see above). This means you don't have to worry about dealing with different companies, updating prices across accounts, re-verifying domains, etc.​

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I think that if the meaning of the name needs to be explained, odds are that the brandable sites won't be interested.

I partly agree with this Joe, but I think many startups are, among other factors, looking for a name that has some positive meaning they can use in telling the story of a brand, perhaps from the root of the word, meaning in another language, etc. Some of these may not be obvious at first glance at a list of names and logos. Clearly the different brandable marketplaces have taken different approaches on whether to allow that on submission and/or as part of market presentation. So while in general I agree that most good domains should be able to stand without description, I don't think it is universally true in the case of brandable names.
Just my inexpert opinion,
Bob

 

[SuperBrander]

@Deven Patel All brandable marketplaces have been struggling with incorporating Afternic because of policy issues that prevent 3rd parties (in this case Alter) from listing domains owned by other people. Is there definitely an agreement in place with them?

 

[Future Sensors]

(Alter website)

This means you don't have to worry about dealing with different companies, updating prices across accounts, re-verifying domains, etc.

By the way, I disagree with the way it's stated here. Exceptions make it more difficult to manage a large portfolio. Always.

 

[Veneris]

Hi @Deven Patel, Good development,

My question is if a name sells in any of these marketplaces when you list them there urself, will you still charge selllers 10%? For names selling externally. This will determine whether we as sellers wik be able to follow put with the new development.

Overall good job...

 

[Bob Hawkes]

We're excited to announce incredible new features!

Really like the new features you announced, @Deven Patel, especially the payment plans and integration with registrars and marketplaces. While I understand the price markup, the integration really can simplify the process for sellers. I just signed up to your service. Glad to see the search improvements, which is the key to which marketplaces will be more successful. The sample listing you show looks like establishes trust to me. Best wishes for success.
Bob

 

[Future Sensors]

@Deven Patel

Will I still be able to list Alter-accepted domains on my own websites / whitelabel marketplaces? Some of these have only static content with price indications, others have BINs and use the payment/escrow function of DAN, Escrow.com, etc.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

If they are already, please remove them from all other marketplaces before February 15th.

I think clarification is important. Is it possible to list a name on your own website, not a marketplace, if the link is to the listing at Alter? I would think this is in everyone's advantage.

Will I still be able to list Alter-accepted domains on my own websites / whitelabel marketplaces?

@FutureSensors asks the related question is it to go a bit further and sell it on an investors website, perhaps through an escrow partner, or is that now prohibited?

Bob