Atom / Atom.com - Marketplace (formerly Squadhelp)

[JudgeMind]

Hey Folks,

I've just started using squadhelp.com to list some of my brandable. So far I have 76 domains listed, there is no fee to list. I've had some decent action so far in the way of interested buyers but no sales as of yet. I've only been with them for 1 week now.

A bit of a summary review of SquadHelp:

PROS

• No Listing fee
• No Logo design fee
• Ability to submit your names to end users holding naming contests
• Ability to chat directly or send a message directly to end users.
• Stats of your marketplace domains are shown in the marketplace dashboard.
• Their customer service and support has been great, 24hr a day chat.
• Ability to increase or decrease the list price of your domains or to show a discount. You can decrease or increase the price yourself by $200. If you want to lower more, you can contact support.
• End users can shortlist your domains before they make a decision on which they want to purchase. The number of shortlists is shown in you marketplace dashboard.
• When you submit your names you get to set the price you wish to get. Because their commissions are high I recommend listing at a higher price to offset the commission costs.
• Their landing pages are fairly basic but they work. Because the marketplace is fairly new, I'm sure we will see style improvements in the future.
• One thing I really like is they accept multiple extensions. I have listed .co and .io along with .com
• Each seller gets a direct link to their marketplace portfolio, HERES MY PORTFOLIO. It is handy if your trying to p[promote your portfolio through social media.
• I like that their marketplace doesn't have tens of thousands domain listings like BB. They are fairly strict on the domains they accept to list and so this helps keep the number of domains in the marketplace down and gets your listings more exposure.

CONS

• Their commissions are very high, depending on the domain name they are usually between 30% and 35%. However, there are no listing fees, no logo design fees, so in the end their commission is very similar to brand buckets.
• Their logos are not top quality, in fact I requested to have some of my logos remade.
• I think they have a big backlog of logos to design, the wait time for logo design has been around 1 week, but your names are still listed while the logos are being designed.
• After your names are accepted you need to agree to their commission rate, at this point you also need to apply your own keywords, descriptions etc. I found this was very time consuming.

 

[Dane]

Is there any way to turn on "Customize Landers" on just certain domains but not all?

 

[DomainBFF]

Is there any way to turn on "Customize Landers" on just certain domains but not all?

I know it's possible - I forget how I did it though, but I THINK it was here:

 

[Dane]

I know it's possible - I forget how I did it though, but I THINK it was here:

Thanks, but I think that only allows us to change it if it's already turned on. I could be wrong, it's a bit confusing.

 

[NameGroove]

I'm using this as a way to update the keywords on my landing pages that are at the bottom as it seems accurate what you described.

I am curious to those who have been on the platform longer - do you keyword stuff words in the root domain keywords? For instance something like payapp.com would you put pay + app + fintech to get the extra fintech boost?

I don't think of it as stuffing as long as it's relevant. Obv Pay & app & fintech are all relevant. A buyer would be well served to see this name when searching.

Atom does talk about this somewhere. They say they will "ding" keyword stuffers - but they describe it as listing a long list of keywords within the description. So for me, relevance is key (and for descriptions I ensure I show appropriate use cases). I see no point in putting Pay & App and Fashion for example as the 3 root words. That wouldn't be appropriate (and wouldn't help me or the potential buyer)

 

[NameGroove]

I know it's possible - I forget how I did it though, but I THINK it was here:

Show attachment 278542

That is it. I use custom landers for some, but not all, of my domains.

 

[Dane]

I know it's possible - I forget how I did it though, but I THINK it was here:

That is it. I use custom landers for some, but not all, of my domains.

I'm wrong, you guys are right -- I didn't see the "Enable Minimal Landing Page" check-box on that page. Now that I unchecked it, it works. Thanks very much!!

 

[silentg]

Did they remove access to Sales Database?

https://www.atom.com/completed-sales

 

[domainer8888]

I really love their innovations and customer support, but it seems to me they have quite some technical debt, in the backend things feel like the server is always on the verge of crashing.

 

[DomainBFF]

I really love their innovations and customer support, but it seems to me they have quite some technical debt, in the backend things feel like the server is always on the verge of crashing.

Show attachment 278624

Did they remove access to Sales Database?

Show attachment 278621
https://www.atom.com/completed-sales

Both of these things have been on my mind and irritating me more and more lately.

I spent forever trying to find the tier benefit page lost in a jumble of outdated guides and help, then found it and was excited to have access to the sales database.

I pay THEM to get enough names approved as premium and then the feature doesn't even exist.

Then on the backend they make it seem like it's an intuitive interface that's going to help with sales, but for almost 2 weeks now I've had the same alert that the "heavy traffic" was causing the insights to be incorrect.

It's upsetting to not know the actual stats, but does it really even matter when you can see right inside of here from @Atom.com directly that the statistics have 0 meaning and serve 0 purpose for your sales or popularity.

It's essentially all just a big broken hub that's been turned into a gameified micro transaction site for domainers.

Maybe if my premium names actually get shown and some sales take place I'll change my tune, but I'm regretting moving so many domains to their exclusivity at insane commission structure, and THEN possibly missing out on sales because my prices are so damn high on the platform I've crushed it with sales.

Right now GD/Afternic is begging to have someone take their place and instead of Atom going for their neck, they're doing everything in their power to allow someone else to come in and take their place.

/rant

 

[NameGroove]

Did they remove access to Sales Database?

Show attachment 278621
https://www.atom.com/completed-sales

Yikes, this would be a HUGE loss - @Atom.com please reconsider.

 

[domainer8888]

It's upsetting to not know the actual stats, but does it really even matter when you can see right inside of here from @Atom.com directly that the statistics have 0 meaning and serve 0 purpose for your sales or popularity.

Totally get your frustration, but having view numbers at least can help inform your decision to reprice or drop a name, as part of a larger set considerations. It can be a tie-breaker.

 

[NameGroove]

I know some posted here some time ago about Escrow. It appears it also occurs for wires (again perhaps this has been extensively discussed). But apparently if someone buys via wire - Atom does not pull the name (or show it as sold). So during the time period of wire submission - and until funds are verified, another buyer can swoop in and pay via cc. While I can't imagine this happening too often, it recently did happen to Top.domains who tried to acquire a name via wire. Another seller swooped in with a cc and got the name instead - while TD was waiting for the name to clear. While the seller sold the name anyway (it only affected the wire buyer) this is not good business practice imho.

Imagine this happening to a corp buyer who thoroughly researched a name and chose it - only to see if taken from them because they paid via an accepted payment method on Atom. Trust would be lost. @Atom.com I think this policy needs to be changed (even though I understand as a seller I may not get the sale due to the wire not clearing, it's the right thing to do to give it a chance to clear).

I have also disabled Escrow due to this (since I know upthread someone mentioned Escrow takes even longer). I will push my buyers to cc (and/or wire) as I do not want them to become disappointed if Escrow doesn't occur.

Here is part of what the buyer had to say about buying domains on Atom. This should not happen Atom. Your policy must be changed asap before all buyer trust is lost.

 

[Optimal Names]

I know some posted here some time ago about Escrow. It appears it also occurs for wires (again perhaps this has been extensively discussed). But apparently if someone buys via wire - Atom does not pull the name (or show it as sold). So during the time period of wire submission - and until funds are verified, another buyer can swoop in and pay via cc. While I can't imagine this happening too often, it recently did happen to Top.domains who tried to acquire a name via wire. Another seller swooped in with a cc and got the name instead - while TD was waiting for the name to clear. While the seller sold the name anyway (it only affected the wire buyer) this is not good business practice imho.

Imagine this happening to a corp buyer who thoroughly researched a name and chose it - only to see if taken from them because they paid via an accepted payment method on Atom. Trust would be lost. @Atom.com I think this policy needs to be changed (even though I understand as a seller I may not get the sale due to the wire not clearing, it's the right thing to do to give it a chance to clear).

I have also disabled Escrow due to this (since I know upthread someone mentioned Escrow takes even longer). I will push my buyers to cc (and/or wire) as I do not want them to become disappointed if Escrow doesn't occur.

Here is part of what the buyer had to say about buying domains on Atom. This should not happen Atom. Your policy must be changed asap before all buyer trust is lost.

Show attachment 278634

Names that are awaiting payment clearing, or even simply in negotiations, could benefit from a prominent bar across the listing saying something to the effect of "Under Negotiation. Please enter your details in the event that the deal falls through and we'll add you to the list to notify."

Similar to residential and commercial real estate.

IMO

 

[NameGroove]

Names that are awaiting payment clearing, or even simply in negotiations, could benefit from a prominent bar across the listing saying something to the effect of "Under Negotiation. Please enter your details in the event that the deal falls through and we'll add you to the list to notify."

Similar to residential and commercial real estate.

IMO

Great idea

 

[Optimal Names]

Great idea

Correct me if I am wrong but it would set them apart from the others as I do not think any other market does that.

 

[Future Sensors]

User-uploaded images are currently returning a 404 Not Found error on Atom's CDN. Support has already received multiple reports about this issue, and the Technical team will investigate.

 

[Chris Co]

User-uploaded images are currently returning a 404 Not Found error on Atom's CDN. Support has already received multiple reports about this issue, and the Technical team will investigate.

It doesn't appear to only be affecting user uploaded images either. The automatic image generation when you submit a premium domain is returning 404 images, and the AI image generator itself has stopped producing images.

 

[Future Sensors]

It doesn't appear to only be affecting user uploaded images either. The automatic image generation when you submit a premium domain is returning 404 images, and the AI image generator itself has stopped producing images.

Thanks Chris, I'll add this info to the ticket.

 

[D Haynes]

Seems the daily visitor stats are bugging again. Missed days and days with 1 visitor (average day is 80 - 100).

 

[Future Sensors]

Innovation strikes again!