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.​

 

[Charybdis]

I have seen on accommodation booking platforms that they send you coupons for attractions and activities should you book an accommodation on their platform.

Could it work for domains, too?

You could offer exclusive coupons for customers who buy a domain:
- free months at a partner web hosting company
- discount at a partner trademark registration service
- coupon for a branding and graphic agency
- discount at a partner webdesign agency
- coupon at a partner freelancing platform (a new website needs work)
- coupon for an ecommerce store builder platform
- ad credit at a partner ad network
- coupon for a CDN
- coupon for a website security solution
etc.

You could offer this huge bonus package of coupons and discounts, the partner companies could offer these discounts in exchange for free advertising.

 

[LUP]

@Deven Patel Make it possible please, i just need 3 characters

 

[Deven Patel]

I just checked and there are zero premium domains in .io and .co currently on Alter. Does this mean you do not consider these extensions for premium domains?

Thanks for asking! That's correct, at this time we're only considering .com for premium. However, as I mentioned before both premium and standard domains receive mostly the same benefits. They're both marketed by us.

I have seen on accommodation booking platforms that they send you coupons for attractions and activities should you book an accommodation on their platform.

Could it work for domains, too?

You could offer exclusive coupons for customers who buy a domain:
- free months at a partner web hosting company
- discount at a partner trademark registration service
- coupon for a branding and graphic agency
- discount at a partner webdesign agency
- coupon at a partner freelancing platform (a new website needs work)
- coupon for an ecommerce store builder platform
- ad credit at a partner ad network
- coupon for a CDN
- coupon for a website security solution
etc.

You could offer this huge bonus package of coupons and discounts, the partner companies could offer these discounts in exchange for free advertising.

You read my mind! Without going into detail, we definitely have plans to incorporate something like this in the future. But first we need more leverage (more listings) in order to make it worthwhile for partners. So please help us spread the word as far as you can!

Make it possible please, i just need 3 characters

We kept <4 character URLs in reserve in case we needed them for something else down the road. Can't you simply come up with a URL that's 4 characters or longer? There are plenty of options still available.

 

[ecomslice]

https://alter.com/trademarks/n360-88301527

can anyone explain this link ?

 

[Charybdis]

https://alter.com/trademarks/n360-88301527

can anyone explain this link ?

https://alter.com/trademarks

 

[DnDigger]

Little observation - there is numbers discrepancy in /dashboard Times favorited and /domains Favorites.

 

[ddesigns]

Started listing few names on Alter since last week and to my surprise I am seeing good traffic to the name, hoping for some good results in near future. Great going @Deven Patel bhai...

 

[Charybdis]

I see that the min. price is 299 USD per domain. I think you could lower this minimum price to 49-99 USD, so that more sellers can list their domains. Maybe it is not that profitable for you to sell a domain below 299 USD, but these lower-priced domains still bring in extra traffic, which helps to sell more premium domains. If it's really that unprofitable, then you could disable the extra marketing for domains priced below 299 USD.

As far as I understand, the type-in traffic is the secret here, the more domains you have, the more traffic you get.

 

[Future Sensors]

What else can we do to convince you to list all your domains with us?

It was a lot of work, but currently I'm listing some 565 of my domains at Alter with custom logos and categories, let's see.

I hope bulk management will get some priority (by CSV as mentioned earlier, and from the dashboard).

Also, I'd like to be able to select a couple of Default fonts and Default colors that I'm using often (shortlist). And skip some fonts altogether that I will never use.

Thanks @Deven Patel

 

[ddesigns]

It was a lot of work, but currently I'm listing some 565 of my domains at Alter with custom logos and categories, let's see.

I hope bulk management will get some priority (by CSV as mentioned earlier, and from the dashboard).

Also, I'd like to be able to select a couple of Default fonts and Default colors that I'm using often (shortlist). And skip some fonts altogether that I will never use.

Thanks @Deven Patel

Pls do share the results on how much traffic you are getting there, how many and how fast names get sold, premium selection by Alter etc...

Best of luck

 

[Future Sensors]

Pls do share the results on how much traffic you are getting there, how many and how fast names get sold, premium selection by Alter etc...

Best of luck

Will do, @ddesigns

I started my journey at Alter with a bunch of 5-6-7L 'non-dictionary' brandables.

Examples: Ostoro, Frisber, Intru, Actily, Perfux.​

This week I've added a bunch of two-word domains.

Examples: RoomShutters, BarberTrends, MarsFuture, MoonCargo, GalaxyMinerals.
​

I'm currently using Alter as a general domain marketplace for about 1/8th of my total portfolio.

 

[ddesigns]

Will do, @ddesigns

I started my journey at Alter with a bunch of 5-6-7L 'non-dictionary' brandables.

Examples: Ostoro, Frisber, Intru, Actily, Perfux.​

This week I've added a bunch of two-word domains.

Examples: RoomShutters, BarberTrends, MarsFuture, MoonCargo, GalaxyMinerals.
​

I'm currently using Alter as a general domain marketplace for about 1/8th of my total portfolio.

Thanks for sharing. Since when you started using Alter and you got any sales or inquiry over there for your names?

 

[Future Sensors]

Thanks for sharing. Since when you started using Alter and you got any sales or inquiry over there for your names?

I subscribed to Alter end of January 2021, then gradually added a lot of short brandable 'non-dictionary' domains, most of them drop regs. Obviously, a lot of these were declined, but at the end of June 2021, I reached a total of 50 Alter 'accepted' (or 'premium') names. One of these domains sold, but through another marketplace.

Initially after Alter announced their new direction, I waited a while. When Deven asked me in this thread what it would take to list all my domains with Alter (including landers), I wasn't planning to at that time.

In the meantime, it became possible to quickly create and adapt a logo for 'basic' domains with the Alter Logo Editor. This made me decide to try the well-designed Alter landers for part of my existing portfolio from mid-July 2021. The total number of my domains with Alter lander is now 692, or 17% of my portfolio.

A domain can go from 'basic' to 'premium' status at the invitation of Alter, but the domain owner must agree to the proposed price level for that domain. If you don't want to, you can still continue to list the domain through Alter at a different price level, but the domain will not be displayed as 'premium' with some associated maximum benefits such as visibility in overviews.

My decision to point more domains to Alter has also to do with developments at other marketplaces. It's no surprise that domainers constantly try and compare new possibilities. No single domain marketplace is perfect right now, or will ever be, and I'm trying to diversify this way. I made a selection of lower, medium and high priced domains to try with Alter landers, and I'm very curious how this will work out.

 

[Charybdis]

@Deven Patel Have you ever considered launching a domain name capital fund where you collect funds from investors, you use the funds to buy premium domain names, you try to sell these domain names on Alter and then you distribute parts of the profits to the investors, after your success fee?

 

[DomainThrive]

Rather than compete in the Brandable marketplace space I think the biggest opening you have is more of a Dan competitor.

Have you considered offering landing page only version of the existing Alter pages with a lower commission?

Landing page with payment plans options at 5% would really give Dan a run for their money.
Think you would gain significant market share.

 

[Deven Patel]

Little observation - there is numbers discrepancy in /dashboard Times favorited and /domains Favorites.

Thanks for asking! The data on the dashboard is shown in real-time and you can change its date range. The data on the Domains page is updated every 24 hours and only shows you the last 30 days of activity.

I see that the min. price is 299 USD per domain. I think you could lower this minimum price to 49-99 USD, so that more sellers can list their domains. Maybe it is not that profitable for you to sell a domain below 299 USD, but these lower-priced domains still bring in extra traffic, which helps to sell more premium domains. If it's really that unprofitable, then you could disable the extra marketing for domains priced below 299 USD.

Thanks for the suggestion! It would be very tough to pull that off because the margins would be super thin unless we introduce a minimum like other marketplaces (e.g. X% commission with a $XX minimum). Though I would think domains priced in the $49-99 range would be low quality anyway so they wouldn't bring in much type-in traffic. What do you think?

Have you ever considered launching a domain name capital fund where you collect funds from investors, you use the funds to buy premium domain names, you try to sell these domain names on Alter and then you distribute parts of the profits to the investors, after your success fee?

That's an interesting idea but I see two main challenges with this approach:

1. Most high quality names are already taken so the ROI on the new acquisitions would be very low.
2. Most investors wouldn't be happy with the way the inventory is acquired/priced/managed since every seller has their own way of doing things. Right now, sellers can experiment on their own without feeling like they're tied down to a specific approach that they have no control over.

If there was an easy way to do this, I would think the multi-billion dollar gorilla would have done it already with their large war chest. Or another entrepreneur with VC connections can do this without having to involve thousands of different opinions in the process.

Rather than compete in the Brandable marketplace space I think the biggest opening you have is more of a Dan competitor.

Have you considered offering landing page only version of the existing Alter pages with a lower commission?

Landing page with payment plans options at 5% would really give Dan a run for their money.
Think you would gain significant market share.

Our new approach accomplishes just that. Think of Alter as a regular marketplace infused with brandable benefits (better landing pages with logos and additional marketing).

In terms of a lower commission, we pay 3-5% in transaction fees so it would be nearly impossible to do it at that point. You don't think 10% is competitive considering all the benefits we offer? Even Escrow charges up to 9.6% for similar services (3.25% escrow + 3.05% CC fee + 3.25% concierge fee).

If you have any other ideas or suggestions on how we can improve Alter for everyone, I'm all ears!

 

[Future Sensors]

Re the topic of starting to accept lower quality domains at liquidation prices, as suggested by @Charybdis. I don't think this is a good idea for the perception of the other domains listed at Alter.

 

[DnDigger]

- Would it add any value to have Buyers login? For favorites, installments, reminders, etc.
- Alter is new company compared to other marketplaces. Do you face any hesitations when buyer needs to transfer bigger amount?

 

[Charybdis]

Thanks for the suggestion! It would be very tough to pull that off because the margins would be super thin unless we introduce a minimum like other marketplaces (e.g. X% commission with a $XX minimum). Though I would think domains priced in the $49-99 range would be low quality anyway so they wouldn't bring in much type-in traffic. What do you think?



That's an interesting idea but I see two main challenges with this approach:

1. Most high quality names are already taken so the ROI on the new acquisitions would be very low.
2. Most investors wouldn't be happy with the way the inventory is acquired/priced/managed since every seller has their own way of doing things. Right now, sellers can experiment on their own without feeling like they're tied down to a specific approach that they have no control over.

If there was an easy way to do this, I would think the multi-billion dollar gorilla would have done it already with their large war chest. Or another entrepreneur with VC connections can do this without having to involve thousands of different opinions in the process.

Isn't type-in traffic the "secret sauce" of domain marketplaces? The more domains you have, the more type-in traffic you get. I think there is value in lower-priced domains, if you feature the premium domains under the lower-priced standard domains, then they could help to drive more traffic to my premium names

And if there is a domain investor with a portfolio of lower-priced and more expensive domains at the same time on another marketplace, then that domain investor would more likely migrate to Alter, should you support even lower-priced domains, because then it would be possible to migrate the whole portfolio.

And some domain investors like the make offer option instead of the BIN, despite the fact that BIN converts better. I know you said previously that you don't want to enable the make offer option, because it doesn't convert well. I don't use make offer myself, but as I see, a lot of domain investors do, so you might think about introducing the make offer option to attract more inventory (more inventory = more traffic, right?). I saw a fellow Namepros member here who asked about the make offer option, and because it was not available, I see that he left Alter and moved back to another marketplace which supports "make offer". You could reduce the marketing spend on those domains where the buy it now option is not active, if make offer doesn't convert well. Sedo and Dan support make offer, so that's not a problem when syndicating the domains.

And I read that offering global payment options in local currencies, on localized checkout page can increase the conversion, isn't it a good idea to partner with a global payment provider? Or is it too expensive?

For example, a German buyer would more likely complete the purchase if he could buy the domain by bank transfer to a local German bank in EUR. Currently a German buyer must pay in USD to a US bank account, which is expensive. I know there is Stripe credit card payment option, but some buyers might still prefer bank transfer. And there are local payment methods which are popular in certain countries, for example SOFORT Banking is popular in Germany. And in other countries ewallets are more popular, such as AliPay, Apple Pay etc. Supporting all these local payment methods is a huge task, but there are global payment providers who offer this.

Regarding the domain name private equity fund, it would be your decision what domains to buy and to determine the selling prices, but I understand it's not that easy to create such a domain name capital fund.

 

[DomainThrive]

Our new approach accomplishes just that. Think of Alter as a regular marketplace infused with brandable benefits (better landing pages with logos and additional marketing).

In terms of a lower commission, we pay 3-5% in transaction fees so it would be nearly impossible to do it at that point. You don't think 10% is competitive considering all the benefits we offer? Even Escrow charges up to 9.6% for similar services (3.25% escrow + 3.05% CC fee + 3.25% concierge fee).

If you have any other ideas or suggestions on how we can improve Alter for everyone, I'm all ears!

Sav 4%, Efty with Dan 5% + 2% cc fees, Squadhelp Whitelabel 7.5%

It's definitely possible to get the fees lower.

Even at 6% I might be willing to give Alter a try.
But I am looking for the following.

SSL landing pages.
No leakage to other peoples domains. i.e no links to other names on landing pages.
Payment plan options.

If you could offer those you would take a lot of Dan's marketshare IMO.
Even if you making 2-3%. If you get enough volume could grow into big business.