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.​

 

[Deven Patel]

Submitted 25 unregistered names. 4 got accepted.
including Smileta/com on 14th February (around 10pm). Saw the accept mail this morning.
Tried to register all four accepted names and I see Smileta already registered (on the same14th) and pointed to Alter.

Coincidence???

This does seem sketchy. So I investigated it and discovered that this domain was submitted by two different sellers about a half a day apart from two different countries. Very weird coincidence indeed! Did you share the name with anyone else by any chance?

Anyway, when we accept a domain into our marketplace everyone who has submitted that domain is notified because we have no way of knowing who actually owns it at this point. So it seems like whoever else submitted it saw the notification first and grabbed it.

Unfortunately, not much we can do here. My only suggestion would be that if you think the domain is worth it then register it as soon as possible. Also, even though people may be tempted to share their ideas with others, I would suggest keeping them to yourselves while the domains are being reviewed.

And I know some of you may be thinking this so let me clarify it. We would never register anyone's ideas ourselves behind their back. That would be very unethical! It's simply not our cup of tea.

will the wait time of approval and listing improve in the future? I'm at 12 days now http://prntscr.com/zlknv1

The number of days you see there (i.e. 12 days ago) is when you first submitted the domain for review. Not when you verified it for listing. Our control panel doesn't tell you when the listing process started. So if a seller decides to wait 30 days before moving forward with the listing, that would say "30 days ago" which doesn't mean we're taking that long to list it.

I mentioned this here before but let me reiterate it again for convenience.

Domain Review: This is the first step of the process where sellers can submit their names for consideration into our marketplace. If accepted, our team will professionally appraise them and ask you for approval and verification to continue with their marketplace listings. This process takes about 24-72 hours on average but could take longer during peak times. Remember, there's no downside here for sellers because they're allowed to do whatever they want with their names in the meantime.

Domain Listing: Once you decide to move forward by verifying your domains, we'll create professional logos and descriptions for them before finally listing them on our marketplace. This process takes another 24-72 hours on average but could take longer because the design process goes through rigorous review to ensure that logos are top quality. If they aren't, our designers are asked to revise them repeatedly until they are. This is why you'll notice some names get published quicker than others (some logos need more revisions). In the meantime, note that your domain will still be directed to a basic landing page where interested buyers can see that it's for sale and can submit inquiries.

In either case, please be patient. We'll get to your domains as soon as we can!

For future reference, it's always best to reach out to support for quicker assistance on these types of inquiries. Although I do my best to reply to everyone here, this forum isn't our official support channel.

 

[Future Sensors]

This Crazy

Submitted 25 unregistered names. 4 got accepted.
including Smileta/com on 14th February (around 10pm). Saw the accept mail this morning.
Tried to register all four accepted names and I see Smileta already registered (on the same14th) and pointed to Alter.

Coincidence???

I've quickly registered the other names

I wouldn't call it a coincidence, since a lot of people are monitoring the same pending delete lists, follow the same news and all get suddenly inspired at the same moment. Some may backorder names, others just wait and pick the left over domains that didn't get picked up by others.

Here are two related domains that were recently on pendingdelete lists (not exhaustive, since I did not download all files during that period). Both domains below are still free to register for reg fee, as I'm typing this. But there's a slight chance that they've been gone forever when you are reading this message. You get the idea.

$ fgrep -i smileta *txt
12-14-2020.txt:smiletaishin.com
2-12-2021.txt:smiletaggo.com

 

[NameWell]

This does seem sketchy. So I investigated it and discovered that this domain was submitted by two different sellers about a half a day apart from two different countries. Very weird coincidence indeed! Did you share the name with anyone else by any chance?

Anyway, when we accept a domain into our marketplace everyone who has submitted that domain is notified because we have no way of knowing who actually owns it at this point. So it seems like whoever else submitted it saw the notification first and grabbed it.

Unfortunately, not much we can do here. My only suggestion would be that if you think the domain is worth it then register it as soon as possible. Also, even though people may be tempted to share their ideas with others, I would suggest keeping them to yourselves while the domains are being reviewed.

And I know some of you may be thinking this so let me clarify it. We would never register anyone's ideas ourselves behind their back. That would be very unethical! It's simply not our cup of tea.



The number of days you see there (i.e. 12 days ago) is when you first submitted the domain for review. Not when you verified it for listing. Our control panel doesn't tell you when the listing process started. So if a seller decides to wait 30 days before moving forward with the listing, that would say "30 days ago" which doesn't mean we're taking that long to list it.

I mentioned this here before but let me reiterate it again for convenience.

Domain Review: This is the first step of the process where sellers can submit their names for consideration into our marketplace. If accepted, our team will professionally appraise them and ask you for approval and verification to continue with their marketplace listings. This process takes about 24-72 hours on average but could take longer during peak times. Remember, there's no downside here for sellers because they're allowed to do whatever they want with their names in the meantime.

Domain Listing: Once you decide to move forward by verifying your domains, we'll create professional logos and descriptions for them before finally listing them on our marketplace. This process takes another 24-72 hours on average but could take longer because the design process goes through rigorous review to ensure that logos are top quality. If they aren't, our designers are asked to revise them repeatedly until they are. This is why you'll notice some names get published quicker than others (some logos need more revisions). In the meantime, note that your domain will still be directed to a basic landing page where interested buyers can see that it's for sale and can submit inquiries.

In either case, please be patient. We'll get to your domains as soon as we can!

For future reference, it's always best to reach out to support for quicker assistance on these types of inquiries. Although I do my best to reply to everyone here, this forum isn't our official support channel.

@Deven Patel situations like that could be easily avoided if your system would not allow duplicate submissions for UNREGISTRED domain names. If someone is trying to submit a name that is already submitted by someone else they could be shown a message saying "This domain name is already submitted by another member". Squadhelp has that in place.

 

[ExDom]

Regarding Smileta it sure has nothing to do with the Alter team I was the one that reged it after it was accepted. It was on my list of unreged brandables for more than a year among hundreds of other names. Most assuredly with hundreds of names on our lists, we are bound to share a fair percentage of names.

Moral Lesson: If you believe in the name just go for it and don't wait for BB/SH or Alter to tell you if it is good or not, I was recently going through my list and saw names like toddlerhq.com and serenenights.com, which turned into great sites and I didn't register them just because they where rejected at the time.

Also I sold more "rejects" than accepted names last year although this may have to do with selling the "rejects" around $500 while accepted brandables sell for minimum $1500.

P.S. Alter looks promising and I like that new features are added daily.
P.S.2 "This domain name is already submitted by another member" message that Squadhelp does, when I get it I am tempted to register the name without waiting for the acceptance result, so it might have the exact opposite effect of the one intended!

 

[Deven Patel]

@Deven Patel situations like that could be easily avoided if your system would not allow duplicate submissions for UNREGISTRED domain names. If someone is trying to submit a name that is already submitted by someone else they could be shown a message saying "This domain name is already submitted by another member". Squadhelp has that in place.

I appreciate the feedback. We don't generally like to copy competitors without thinking things through. Also, unlike others our goal is to keep things super simple (i.e. think about the Apple vs Android experiences).

Although I understand it from your perspective, when you look at it holistically it kind of seems unfair to other sellers.

Some scenarios to think about:

• What happens if an unregistered domain is accepted but the seller decides not to register it. Should that exclude any future submissions by other sellers?
• What happens if the unregistered domain was declined in the past but another seller decides to resubmit it in the future? Should that not be allowed?
• What happens if two people think of the same name at around the same time (your case)? Would it be fair to only allow the first submission to go through?

The way it works now gives a fair chance to everyone until the domain is registered. So I don't see any downside to our current approach.

It's not like you had to invest any extra effort into the process. Either way, you would have to enter the domain into your Alter account and click the submit button. With the current approach, at least you get a second chance if you submitted it after someone else.

And as @sovseeker just pointed out, displaying an error message could have the opposite effect and actually encourage others to register the name before we even get a chance to review it.

 

[Natto]

Hello @Deven Patel , It would be great if we have the listed price for exported names.

 

[Deven Patel]

Hello @Deven Patel , It would be great if we have the listed price for exported names.

Done.

 

[Embrand]

I do like the landing pages, but on mobile devices, you have to scroll down quite a bit before you see the price. Is this deliberate?

 

[kaposzta]

Is the site down? I can see the following:
Index of /

 

[Future Sensors]

Is the site down? I can see the following:
Index of /

503 Service Temporarily Unavailable
Thu Feb 18 18:14:23 CET 2021

Working again
Thu Feb 18 18:22:22 CET 2021

 

[smarti]

@Deven Patel seems like propagation has started, how is it progressing?

However, we will still list your domains on the following partner 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

I can find the names already on some of the marketplaces and registrars, but on the others like DAN, DynaDot they're not listed (yet). Is it related to some technical issues - so we can expect that to happen soon - or are you still in negotiation with them?

 

[Deven Patel]

I do like the landing pages, but on mobile devices, you have to scroll down quite a bit before you see the price. Is this deliberate?

This is intentional. Most buyers don't realize how much domains are actually worth so the idea is to educate them first to avoid sticker shock. Here's an actual reply from a visitor the other day:

"3599 dollars for a domain name? Nobody would ever buy that."

Is the site down?

We experienced a minor outage yesterday that lasted a few minutes.

I can find the names already on some of the marketplaces and registrars, but on the others like DAN, DynaDot they're not listed (yet). Is it related to some technical issues - so we can expect that to happen soon - or are you still in negotiation with them?

We're not done propagating to DAN. Dynadot is a SedoMLS partner so we don't control those listings directly. Either way, please note that it can take a few days for your domains to appear across partner sites. Every company has its own processes and technical capabilities. Some take longer than others.

 

[Deven Patel]

Small Update

We just released a feature where any Alter listings you share on social media will automatically be converted into nice previews.

Here's an example on Twitter:

 

[Votumejero]

Listing time getting longer, 10days now and listing still pending for one of my names...

 

[NameWell]

Listing time getting longer, 10days now and listing still pending for one of my names...

It varies. I have one name that was accepted on Friday and it was listed today. Sometimes it's quite fast sometimes it takes longer.

 

[Votumejero]

It varies. I have one name that was accepted on Friday and it was listed today. Sometimes it's fast sometimes it takes longer.

OK thanks, never experienced it this long.

 

[Deven Patel]

Listing time getting longer, 10days now and listing still pending for one of my names...

The average listing time has actually improved over the last couple weeks.

As mentioned before, the listing time varies because the design process goes through rigorous review to ensure that logos are top quality. If they aren't, our designers are asked to revise them repeatedly until they are. This is why you'll notice some names get published quicker than others (some logos need more revisions).

Please be patient. Your domains will be listed as soon as possible.

 

[Votumejero]

The average listing time has actually improved over the last couple weeks.

As mentioned before, the listing time varies because the design process goes through rigorous review to ensure that logos are top quality. If they aren't, our designers are asked to revise them repeatedly until they are. This is why you'll notice some names get published quicker than others (some logos need more revisions).

Please be patient. Your domains will be listed as soon as possible.

OK, thanks for the update.

 

[Joe N]

@Deven Patel - Have you considered adding a specific section to Alter for call-to-action names?

I think these types of names are sold more often than people realize, and they can be powerful promotional tools for businesses. I'm sure you already have some shorter ones listed on your site, but showcasing longer versions of these names is a niche that none of the larger brand marketplaces has really explored.

I own a few that generate several million exact match search results, but I've never submitted them to a brand marketplace because they're over 12 characters.

Edit: Actually, looking at my list of submissions, I see that I did submit a few of them (not all) to Alter. I assume they were rejected because of length, but perhaps your team had other reasons.

 

[Joe N]

Also wanted to let everyone know I recently sold Divine/Dating(com) on Alter. $2,699 sales price over 24 monthly installments.

It's already pointing to an active dating site!