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.

 

[carob]

Yes, but we'll get that "ding" on our account. No?

I think you just lose some functionality but your names remain listed as standard listing. Before I found a listing of what features you lose when you transition names away from premium - losing good standing did not sound like a problem at all, just the downgrade you would expect - but made to sound far worse by vague and threatening language.

Maybe it is time for @Atom.com to spell out clearly - here and on your website - what list of features you lose when you submit a request to make all your premium listings into standard ones?

Atom is seeming like a progressively more complicated and less rewarding choice of platform, so it is natural to think about leaving or downgrading.

 

[Chris Co]

Thanks for the clarification (and the much needed change when buyers don't include the TLD)

If someone searches for a word without an extension, and the matching SLD is listed in our marketplace, we show only aftermarket domains with the matching SLD in the Exact match section - again, no hand-registration options anywhere on the page.

Am I right in thinking this applies to Premium domains and the Sapphire marketplace (maybe Plus too?), but not Standard domains? (I noticed you had a .bot name in your screenshot which currently aren't accepted for Premium but they are on Sapphire)

Edit: I experimented with a few plus & standard domains - Plus and standard domains are shown exclusively in the results too.

One small bit of confusion though @Atom.com, it reported my domain as a premium:

which technically it is (because it's not available for hand-reg), however the wording might confuse some with the actual Premiums on your marketplace.

 

[NameGroove]

Appreciate the ongoing discussion and feedback.

A few important points to clarify, as there may be some misunderstanding.

First: today, all advertising related to Premium domains brings buyers to our premium marketplace search, which shows no hand-registration or available options. That flow remains marketplace-only and curated, and we intend to keep it that way.

Second: we’re adding an additional layer of marketing that targets users who are specifically looking to register domains - a much larger audience that previously didn’t exist on Atom at all. These users are directed to the new /register page. Even there, premium domains take center stage and receive exposure alongside registration searches. This opens up a new acquisition and exposure path, with the potential to introduce premium domains to millions of new buyers over time who were never part of the marketplace funnel before.

Third: we’ve already updated the registrar flow as follows:

• If someone searches for a domain with an extension, and it’s listed in our marketplace, no hand-registration options are shown.

Show attachment 294353

• If someone searches for a word without an extension, and the matching SLD is listed in our marketplace, we show only aftermarket domains with the matching SLD in the Exact match section - again, no hand-registration options anywhere on the page.

Show attachment 294354

It’s also worth clarifying that hand registrations are offered at minimal to no markup, so there’s no financial incentive for us to steer buyers away from premium domains. Our incentives remain fully aligned with increasing premium discovery and outcomes.

The registrar is only a few days old, and this is very much an active testing phase. The goal is to increase exposure for premium listings by introducing a large, incremental pool of buyers via the registrar path - not to dilute curation or shift away from what Atom is known for.

We’ll continue actively testing, iterating, and refining the experience to ensure we’re maximizing visibility for premium and marketplace domains across all touchpoints.

Thank you for the detail. It appears {to me} you properly silo'ed the two entities.

Marketing for the curated marketplace drops solely into the curated premium marketplace and those buyers do not see a registrar or hand regs.

Marketing to smbs who need a hand reg name, drops into a registrar funnel and
1- for direct match searches with TLD, they see solely that,
2- for keyword searches w/o TLD, they see em SLD results for Premium, Sapphire, & Plus in all listed TLDs.
3- If no exact match listings they see hand regs, curated inventory and Ai recommendations across certain TLDs.

One might argue this dilutes the money avail for marketing since that money could've been spent pushing to the curated marketplace. But consider Atom sellers are potentially (although not assuredly) better off with Atom's registrar making in-roads into the "hand reg" space. After all, prior - all that traffic went to GoDaddy, Wix, Hostinger, Squarespace, etc. who did not cross promote names optimally (or at all). At least here, if Atom maintains "what Atom is known for", then at least we get cross marketing to whatever % of those customers they can siphon away from the competing registrars.

One thing I'd like to note is that while your "at cost" pricing provides no current financial incentive, that may not always be true. Nor should we expect it to be. More important is how you're silo'ing the funnels. So long as that remains true, then I'd prefer you to make money and use that money to siphon as much "hand reg" business away from other registrars so we can at least cross-market properly.

Please note currently Atom.com (direct type in) solely goes to Atom.com/premium-domains-for-sale which ensures the funnel remains intact. If someday that switched to promote the registrar it would poke a hole in the Silo, so care must be taken to ensure that change is not made. If someday that change was purposefully made it could potentially signal a shift in priorities to sellers.

 

[NameGroove]

Thanks for the clarification (and the much needed change when buyers don't include the TLD)




Am I right in thinking this applies to Premium domains and the Sapphire marketplace (maybe Plus too?), but not Standard domains? (I noticed you had a .bot name in your screenshot which currently aren't accepted for Premium but they are on Sapphire)

Edit: I experimented with a few plus & standard domains - Plus and standard domains are shown exclusively in the results too.

One small bit of confusion though @Atom.com, it reported my domain as a premium:

Show attachment 294356

which technically it is (because it's not available for hand-reg), however the wording might confuse some with the actual Premiums on your marketplace.

It's an interesting question. Does a buyer really understand Premium, Sapphire, & Plus and their differences? Do they care? I get that Premium is curated... but so is Sapphire (just in a different way).

Interestingly the marketplace itself does not delineate "Premium" names from others. The landers do not specify at all (except for Ultra Premium). All names are listed in order of Premium to Standard (i.e., given priority), but I don't believe there is a way to see "Premium" vs "Plus" vs "Standard" when you get to that page. You just see a list of names.

Especially for those that drop into a "hand reg" funnel (most of whom have never heard of Atom previously), I believe just seeing the word "Premium" for all of Premium, Sapphire, and Plus - is the best option. I would guess showing different terminology is more likely to cause confusion rather than clarity.

Of course all this can and should be tested

 

[End Game]

Thats my point, though. Instead of funneling prospects to our names, their massive database, they are looking to fatten the cow (via their new registrar), and sure - good for them...

However, we've seen this happen far too many times.

Yes, good for them, its their decision but, think about this - we agreed to keep our premium names when Atom was at some sort of point in time. Its really nothing like that anymore.

Constant iteration, debatable if its productve or good, can also leave heads spinning for some. If those whose heads are spinning wish to be released they should be given that option now. Its too much.

I, personally, like consistency with changes from time to time. Every day I log in I have no idea what color something will be, where it will be located, if it even works... again, I agree with you but understand for some its too much.

I kind of made that decision about three months ago. First, just stopped listing any premiums. Then a month later just stopped listing…period. Haven’t pulled many domains yet, but I’ve been uploading new domains to GD/AN and then listing with SS too.

 

[Leo2k]

The short list heart icon on standard & plus listings (and probably the premium as well) play a big negative role on the lander pages than anything positive I believe.

Its just an extra feature to make the potential buyer to think twice or reduce the price. Why not remove it just like its removed from the dashboard and just show a message '... has been.shortlisted by xx people recently' or whatever.

A few days back a user who has spent 5 mins on a lander was hovering around the shortlist icon and later after sometime sent offer for less than half the price mentioned, through another marketplace (Negotiation going on but i am not going to reduce the price much anyway. But probably this could be avoided)

While its usual and expected, the shortlist is mosttly used by investors/sellers who use the site frequently than the end users who come to buy just a domain. When they see the 0 next to the shortlist icon it immediately changes their opinion about the domain and its price.

When the same potential buyer sees a different domain which lands on another marketplace with no such 0 that would easily give them a positive idea about that domain and end up biying that instead of this. Competitors' landing pages provide just the information that encourages potential buyers to take the next step, while here this shortlist icon may lead potential buyers to doubt their decision and seek other options before finalizing the purchase.

If a potential buyer is only looking for that particular name, they wouldnt be bothered by the 0. But if they are looking for 'a' name, they will end up looking for other names.

 

[King]

Appreciate the ongoing discussion and feedback.

A few important points to clarify, as there may be some misunderstanding.

First: today, all advertising related to Premium domains brings buyers to our premium marketplace search, which shows no hand-registration or available options. That flow remains marketplace-only and curated, and we intend to keep it that way.

Second: we’re adding an additional layer of marketing that targets users who are specifically looking to register domains - a much larger audience that previously didn’t exist on Atom at all. These users are directed to the new /register page. Even there, premium domains take center stage and receive exposure alongside registration searches. This opens up a new acquisition and exposure path, with the potential to introduce premium domains to millions of new buyers over time who were never part of the marketplace funnel before.

Third: we’ve already updated the registrar flow as follows:

• If someone searches for a domain with an extension, and it’s listed in our marketplace, no hand-registration options are shown.

Show attachment 294353

• If someone searches for a word without an extension, and the matching SLD is listed in our marketplace, we show only aftermarket domains with the matching SLD in the Exact match section - again, no hand-registration options anywhere on the page.

Show attachment 294354

It’s also worth clarifying that hand registrations are offered at minimal to no markup, so there’s no financial incentive for us to steer buyers away from premium domains. Our incentives remain fully aligned with increasing premium discovery and outcomes.

The registrar is only a few days old, and this is very much an active testing phase. The goal is to increase exposure for premium listings by introducing a large, incremental pool of buyers via the registrar path - not to dilute curation or shift away from what Atom is known for.

We’ll continue actively testing, iterating, and refining the experience to ensure we’re maximizing visibility for premium and marketplace domains across all touchpoints.

This exactly the right approach.

It appears like the domains on the right are only if the extension is available at Atom?

.ai is there but .bot is not there in your example.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

@Atom.com you really need to change the Atom Registrar display. Now if the domain name is not registered, you show it as available (fine), even if the extension is not actually available to register at Atom. The problem, you apply a placeholder price ($11.68) that is unrelated to any actual price anywhere. For example, as of now .bot and .now are not available through Atom registrar, yet you merrily show a price just over $11 for any available name in those extensions. Since most TLDs are not yet available through Atom, this is a huge problem.

The fix is simple. If the domain name can't be registered at Atom, don't show any price. Make the button simply say Available, but not yet at Atom. You are creating confusion and angry buyers disappointed when the price you show is not the price anywhere.

By the way, I have started using Atom as a registrar, and in most aspects I really like it.

-Bob


UPDATE Atom did an update to remove the prices and correct the situation. Impressively, they responded with the update less than 20 minutes after my post. Truly impressive response.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I’ve posted update above. Less than 20 minutes after I drew issue to their attention they had corrected it. No prices now for TLDs they don’t handle. They also indicated the number of supported extensions will besignificantly expanded soon. Thanks to @Atom.com for rapid response.
-Bob

 

[NameGroove]

I’ve posted update above. Less than 20 minutes after I drew issue to their attention they had corrected it. No prices now for TLDs they don’t handle. They also indicated the number of supported extensions will besignificantly expanded soon. Thanks to @Atom.com for rapid response.
-Bob

here's hoping $11.68 is the actual price for .bot and .now at Atom

 

[Domainchick.de]

I actually just tried the Atom Register for the first time and I have to agree with the previous speakers: When searching for keywords, only the .com variant is displayed, but not ccTLDs.

Half of my domains are .de domains. I use the WLM solution. If someone were to search for a keyword and ccTLDs were completely hidden, what's the point? Will this be changed? @Atom.com

 

[Name2go]

I've noticed several Atom listings with prices in the single- and double-digit dollar range. These prices weren't set by me, and probably not by previous owners either. It's also not a series of own typos, such as a comma as the thousands separator.

The affected domains were recently uploaded for Premium Listing. During this process, the Atom AI valuation tool offers pricing. I processed this and either accepted or overwrote the resulting valuations. Somewhere later in the upload process, a bug appears to be removing the last three digits of the price.

@Atom.com

 

[love4ever]

Every time i check any domain overview, i see this confusing blue dot on top of the page .
it always appears, And every time i am checking this box and its empty ! lol
@Atom Please remove this blue dot from the empty messages box ! Its useless

.

 

[draco]

I posted this a month ago. Have reported it to Atom twice. It's still not working.

Is anyone getting email notifications when they get new Private Messages in the Message Center from another user? I've contacted Support about this a couple times over the past couple months. The only way I know if I received a message is to click on the little envelope in the upper right corner to go to the Message Center.

@Atom.com

 

[NameGroove]

I posted this a month ago. Have reported it to Atom twice. It's still not working.

Is anyone getting email notifications when they get new Private Messages in the Message Center from another user? I've contacted Support about this a couple times over the past couple months. The only way I know if I received a message is to click on the little envelope in the upper right corner to go to the Message Center.

@Atom.com

Nope, and it's been broken for > 1 year.

@Atom.com ?

 

[Atom.com]

I actually just tried the Atom Register for the first time and I have to agree with the previous speakers: When searching for keywords, only the .com variant is displayed, but not ccTLDs.

Half of my domains are .de domains. I use the WLM solution. If someone were to search for a keyword and ccTLDs were completely hidden, what's the point? Will this be changed? @Atom.com

Thanks for the feedback.

We’re rolling out a series of updates over the next few days to improve the registrar search experience, along with a refreshed UX for our main Marketplace search.

If an exact-match aftermarket domain exists, it will be clearly surfaced in the registrar flow - regardless of TLD and regardless of listing type (Premium, Plus, or Standard). This will apply both when someone searches with a specific TLD (e.g., name.com) and when they search by keyword without a TLD.

 

[Atom.com]

I've noticed several Atom listings with prices in the single- and double-digit dollar range. These prices weren't set by me, and probably not by previous owners either. It's also not a series of own typos, such as a comma as the thousands separator.

Show attachment 294496

The affected domains were recently uploaded for Premium Listing. During this process, the Atom AI valuation tool offers pricing. I processed this and either accepted or overwrote the resulting valuations. Somewhere later in the upload process, a bug appears to be removing the last three digits of the price.

@Atom.com

Thanks for flagging this.

We’ve tried to reproduce the issue on our end using the same Premium upload flow, including accepting and overwriting AI valuations, but so far we haven’t been able to replicate the behavior where the last three digits are removed.

That said, we are continuing to investigate. We’re reviewing logs and edge cases in the upload and price-save steps to see if there’s any scenario where formatting or rounding could cause this.

 

[Atom.com]

Every time i check any domain overview, i see this confusing blue dot on top of the page .
it always appears, And every time i am checking this box and its empty ! lol
@Atom Please remove this blue dot from the empty messages box ! Its useless


Show attachment 294516

.

Thanks for calling this out.

We’ve pushed a fix, and the blue dot will now only appear when there are actual unread messages.

 

[Atom.com]

I posted this a month ago. Have reported it to Atom twice. It's still not working.

Is anyone getting email notifications when they get new Private Messages in the Message Center from another user? I've contacted Support about this a couple times over the past couple months. The only way I know if I received a message is to click on the little envelope in the upper right corner to go to the Message Center.

@Atom.com

Nope, and it's been broken for > 1 year.

@Atom.com ?

Thanks for your patience on this, and sorry for the frustration.

We’ve recently made adjustments to the email-sending logic related to Private Message notifications, and this should now be working as expected.

If you still don’t receive email alerts when a new Private Message comes in, please let us know and we’ll investigate it further. In the meantime, we’d also recommend checking your spam/junk folder just in case any notifications were filtered there

 

[Domainchick.de]

Thanks for the feedback.

We’re rolling out a series of updates over the next few days to improve the registrar search experience, along with a refreshed UX for our main Marketplace search.

If an exact-match aftermarket domain exists, it will be clearly surfaced in the registrar flow - regardless of TLD and regardless of listing type (Premium, Plus, or Standard). This will apply both when someone searches with a specific TLD (e.g., name.com) and when they search by keyword without a TLD.

Okay cool Thanks for your response.