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.

 

[DomainBanana]

Please see my non-dramatic post with constructive feedback and proposed solutions here:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/squadhelp-marketplace.1120686/page-61#post-7748596

 

[Commulinks]

Here is a list of reasons why I am confident in the new system at Squadhelp that it does not give an advantage to reviewers:

1. I am stats a geek. I keep data on the performance of all of my names, every month. I track shortlists, I look at the impact of boosts. I have data going back to 2018 on every single one of my names, every single month. Because of that, I know that boosts do not have a huge impact on sales. I use them, but I only use them when it is clear a name may have fallen all the way to the bottom of list. It has been extremely enlightening to do this. Oftentimes, I see a name that was my popular name last month, get not even a shortlist in another month.
2. Some people still buy coins with their points to submit new names or to boost. The reason is because it costs more points to boost directly from points that it does to buy coins. So the argument that having a ton of advantage because of coins for boosts really isn't a thing. People make money decisions. Buying coins still costs money. At least, that is how it is for me. It is so tempting to spend a bunch of coin on coin! LOL. But I try hard not to overdue it. People earn points in contests, too. And for other things. They just announced today that they are drastically limiting superboosts, too. So that is another way that will prevent reviewers from having any advantage.
3. Grant's explanation of the review process shows how they are doing it and achieving results and shorter wait-times. SH has also had a long history of "catching" people who are trying to game the system. So I am confident in that, too.
4. I do not see any advantage to knowing names that are coming in. They get approved and posted quickly so if anyone wants to copy names, they can try that, I suppose.
5. I am thrilled because I got to resubmit some names that were previously rejected and some of them were approved for premium because of the new review process.

Anyway, this is outlined to allay fears or doubts of those who may just have started reading this thread. My comments about confidence aren't a white horse scenario, they are just guided by my own data and experience with them.

PS: Forgot to mention I have been on SH for 4 years. I've tried other platforms and did not have the same results so I stick with SH and Afternic.

I wish you all good luck.

 

[Domain_savvy]

IMO,SH tried to work on problems they had earlier i.e low quality names and delays due to huge volumes.
So they brought 'expert reviewers' in picture that solved most part of both the problems.
But created another set of new problems.

Solution is good and appreciate the minds behind it.

But sellers should not be reviewers IMO. SH should spend some money and hire experienced staff,pay them instead. That will more likely instill trust and fairness to review system.

Other important part is time. I see people still submitting hundreds of names on BB even after the wait time has gone upto 40 days, any guesses why? Because they curate it and evaluate the potential of domain from every aspect and people know that curation gives value when done right.

SH is better than BB when it comes to making optimal use of tech and has already proved that they are game changers because of that. So SH should not worry on review times and focus more on getting better brand managers on the team.

 

[RozasMD]

There's no need to make drama with all that whining, throwing around false accusations and creating conspiracy theories (please don't take this personally, I meant that in general).

Oh, my. I know I said I was leaving but I just needed to quote this.

It's a complete dejavu of the BB insiders affair. Same concept, same mockery. Stupid handreg buyers whining about their mediocre names not being accepted or sold, conspiracy theories to cover their little hurt ego.

No, sir/madam. It's about transparency. Domaining lacks transparency. It's a mistake made time and again, time and again. And when someone raises a hand and points to the lack of transparency, or balance, or fairness... suddenly you read the same: conspiracy theories, whining losers, butthurts...

The new system lacks transparency and balance. Some of us have made our point. We have explained clearly why we see it this way. Agree or disagree, but stop the mockery and the condescension.

Some of us are legitimate business people and we are worried about the way our investments are managed. So please show some respect for those who disagree. Just some respect.

PS: Now I'm out for good. I don't even know why I decided to post an opinion. It's always the same story here. Useless to try and have a constructive conversation. Have a great day, week, month and year.

 

[NameWell]

Oh, my. I know I said I was leaving but I just needed to quote this.

It's a complete dejavu of the BB insiders affair. Same concept, same mockery. Stupid handreg buyers whining about their mediocre names not being accepted or sold, conspiracy theories to cover their little hurt ego.

No, sir/madam. It's about transparency. Domaining lacks transparency. It's a mistake made time and again, time and again. And when someone raises a hand and points to the lack of transparency, or balance, or fairness... suddenly you read the same: conspiracy theories, whining losers, butthurts...

The new system lacks transparency and balance. Some of us have made our point. We have explained clearly why we see it this way. Agree or disagree, but stop the mockery and the condescension.

Some of us are legitimate business people and we are worried about the way our investments are managed. So please show some respect for those who disagree. Just some respect.

PS: Now I'm out for good. I don't even know why I decided to post an opinion. It's always the same story here. Useless to try and have a constructive conversation. Have a great day, week, month and year.

Firstly, I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. I didn't mean that.

Secondly, I would like to point out that respect is a two-way traffic False accusations and prejudice (I've seen plenty of these here lately) are far from respect, therefore, they provoke a sharper response than it would otherwise be.

 

[DomainBanana]

I know that boosts do not have a huge impact on sales.

I'm not sure how much one seller's data can lead to definitive conclusions about the effectiveness of position boosts.

To help us evaluate this claim, please provide some more information:

• How many standard boosts have you done and what is your STR for domains that have had one or more standard boost?
• How many super boosts have you done and what is your STR for domains that have had one or more super boost?
• How many of your domains have not had any boost and what is your STR for these domains?

 

[Commulinks]

Too much work. Do your own!

 

[DomainBanana]

Too much work. Do your own!

Please don't downvote my posts for no good reason.

If you make the claim that position boosts do not have a huge impact on sales, you should be prepared to support it with some evidence.

Since you have already drawn the conclusion that position boosts do not have a huge impact, your data should be readily available.

I would also be curious to know what you define as "huge impact."

 

[Commulinks]

No

 

[DomainBanana]

No

Then your claim is meaningless.

 

[Commulinks]

Whatever! Believe what you want, Banana, and keep it all up. Don't do your own research. Don't bother to base anything you say on facts. That works for you. Good for you!!
I just know I will happily move on from this subject!

 

[DomainBanana]

Whatever! Believe what you want, Banana, and keep it all up. Don't do your own research. Don't bother to base anything you say on facts. That works for you. Good for you!!
I just know I will happily move on from this subject!

You made a claim. I'm asking you for the basis of this claim.

I am dealing with facts and reason.

You are dealing with personal attacks.

 

[ArielT]

I sent some domains for reconsideration

Does anyone know how much time do they take for this? and will I be notified if the reconsideration is not approved?

 

[capybara]

Big guys now have even the freedom to set their own prices.

Being a small seller, I don't think there is a point to do any more submissions to the platform with this degree of inequality.

 

[gblasting]

I sent some domains for reconsideration

Does anyone know how much time do they take for this? and will I be notified if the reconsideration is not approved?

Names I resubmitted were reviewed in less than 24 hours. You will be notified of approved names, as usual, but for rejected names, you'll see those under rejected names in your marketplace listing.

 

[Ntmt]

Stop handregging and buy expensive domains!

Thanks for your input above. I just want to confirm - do you think it may not be worthy to register unregistered domains which was approved by SH team as premium?

 

[kalr]

just saw this name already in SH, which a few months ago listed on NP with bargain prices in its class.

 

[SuperBrander]

@Ntmt No, I'm not saying that. The sentence you quoted was a joking reference to what @DomainBanana wrote: "Oh, okay, I guess I will go load up on well-known dictionary words and sonorous pronounceable 4Ls then.". Most people when they start out don't have much money to invest. They're entering a world they don't understand. Each person needs to decide what to do based on their financial situation and the risk level they're interested in taking, considering their understanding of the brandable world at the moment of the decision.

Domaining (and handregging in particular) is a numbers game. In most cases, a person needs to own (and/or have a stake in, if SH is regging them) a bunch of domains in order to start getting sales. So whether you handreg, let SH handreg or do a combination- you'll need to build up a portfolio and be mindful of the initial cost of each domain you decide to handreg and the cost of possible renewals later on (because most domains don't sell and renewals always eventually arrive). If someone just lets SH register their first bunch of domains and makes the first sale or sales from a SH registered domain or domains, while using the time to learn and improve- that 25% they get from that first sale or sales can be seed money they can start building a foundation on without an initial investment. I think newer investors especially should consider taking that route.

p.s. I forgot earlier that there's a relatively new option to request to transfer domains to SH if you want to avoid renewals. If the request gets approved- the old commissions change and you still keep a cut (25% in the first year). Can be beneficial in case after a year or more you decide you don't want to renew the domain anymore but still want a stake in it (but you need to take into account that SH will eventually drop it if it doesn't sell within a few years).

 

[Ntmt]

I'm curious in case SH accepts let's say 100 unregistered domains to premium listing (seller regs them), may we be almost sure that at least 2 of them will sell in first year with price under 2k for each? This should correspond to 2% sell thru rate while SH currently declares around 8% STR.
I just want to estimate a worst case scenario for a volume of 100 domains or more.

I'm new at SH and I assume the fact of premium acceptance should guarantee some minimal STR for large portfolio given that all domains in portfolio are good classified.

I prefer to hear from experienced SH members or SH staff.

 

[DomainBanana]

Thanks to Squadhelp for its recent limitation on superboosts

Many sellers have informed us that it is difficult for them to find available super boost slots, since we added new Benefit Levels for sellers which includes complimentary super boosts.

As a result, we have made the following changes effective immediately:

1. We have added 50 additional slots for Super Boosts so more people can use this feature
2. We have added a limit to the max number of Super boosts a seller can request at any time. Specifically, a seller can have a max of 4 active super boosts at a time. In addition, sellers can only have a max of 1 active Super Boost using the Points option. The other 3 slots can be used from their Complimentary Super Boosts balance, or SH Coins.

These changes will offer more opportunities for all sellers to promote their names.​

Would be great to see similar caps on standard boosts to keep the new Point Barons (seller-reviewers, large account holders) under control.

 

[Crypto2020]

Many sellers have informed us that it is difficult for them to find available super boost slots, since we added new Benefit Levels for sellers which includes complimentary super boosts.

As a result, we have made the following changes effective immediately:

1. We have added 50 additional slots for Super Boosts so more people can use this feature
2. We have added a limit to the max number of Super boosts a seller can request at any time. Specifically, a seller can have a max of 4 active super boosts at a time. In addition, sellers can only have a max of 1 active Super Boost using the Points option. The other 3 slots can be used from their Complimentary Super Boosts balance, or SH Coins.

These changes will offer more opportunities for all sellers to promote their names.

Looks like SH as always has been listening to the feedback. Kudos to SH and @GrantP

Would be great to see similar caps on standard boosts to keep the new Point Barons (seller-reviewers, large account holders) under control.

Second this motion!

 

[KDN]

Just caught up on reading after seeing some changes on my dashboard. Kudos to SH (@GrantP ) for listening and people like A (don't know if he wants his name revealed here LOL @DomainBanana ) for always giving suggestions.

SH making changes just showed that they care about the sellers. While it's great to see that the top guns' sales keep increasing, let's also not forget those who are not on the leader board but working hard to keep their business afloat.

It's not healthy when people dismiss suggestions just because they're not affected or simply brand them as "rants". I'm pretty sure that one of the top sellers will also post "rants" here if the sales stop coming. That's human nature and I understand both sides. SH is not infallible and will need our suggestions to keep improving. We should start seeing our relationships with brandable marketplaces as business partners.

To SH, innovation and fast action have always been your strength. Please don't ever change.

 

[GrantP]

I would like to address the concerns raised recently with the new process, and share SH perspective and some updates.

1. Expert Review Votes

We believe this process is working very well and the collective feedback from the domain reviewers is leading to a high quality, fair and efficient curation process. We understand that few sellers still believe that there is a possibility of a conflict of interest. With all the checks and balances we have in place, we strongly believe that this process is being handled very fairly, however we respect everyone's opinions.

Therefore, going forward, if you would like to opt out of the Auto Acceptance/ Auto Rejection process, please let us know via chat or email and we will set up your account for a manual review. Even though your names may still receive votes from reviewers, the final approval or rejection will always be done by SH in that case. If you opt out of the standard process, please note the following:

• Your submission limits will be lower. You may be able to submit 3-5 domains at a time depending upon your overall approval rates.
• The approval/rejection time frame will be significantly longer compared to the current review process.
• You will likely not see a better approval rate by opting out of the current process. Based upon our analysis of the recent/past data, your approval rate may in fact see a slight drop compared to the current process (since our team may decide to reject certain names even if they receive high votes, due to other factors e.g. existence of similar names in Marketplace).
• If you opt out of the standard process, you will need to wait 30 days to switch it back to the standard review process. This is because this change will need to be done directly by our engineering team for individual accounts and we would like to minimize any disruption to their work e.g .new feature development.

To summarize, we do not recommend opting out of the current process, however you now have this option available in case you strongly feel against the current process.

2. Points & Rewards

As a background, Gamification concepts (such as points, badges, leaderboards etc) are core to the SH platform. We will continue to offer points for various activities on the platform.

The expert review process is one of several different ways to earn points on the platform. In fact, there are currently thousands of users on the platform who have accumulated a vast number of points via other means. Today, we have announced a new Discovery Curation process that will further improve our AI based search/ discovery experience for Buyers. Participation in this new program will allow many of our sellers to earn a significant number of points every day.

We do not expect those who have earned significant points to occupy the top results in our Marketplace. The top results in our Marketplace are determined based upon several factors. Going forward, the Discovery curation process will also influence the ranking of the results. Moreover, as announced on Friday, points can now only be used for one Superboost in a week.

Our goal is to continue to offer new benefits for points, however we will continue to ensure that these benefits can not be disproportionally misused for a specific feature on the platform.

 

[Footprint789]

I would like to address the concerns raised recently with the new process, and share SH perspective and some updates.

1. Expert Review Votes

We believe this process is working very well and the collective feedback from the domain reviewers is leading to a high quality, fair and efficient curation process. We understand that few sellers still believe that there is a possibility of a conflict of interest. With all the checks and balances we have in place, we strongly believe that this process is being handled very fairly, however we respect everyone's opinions.

Therefore, going forward, if you would like to opt out of the Auto Acceptance/ Auto Rejection process, please let us know via chat or email and we will set up your account for a manual review. Even though your names may still receive votes from reviewers, the final approval or rejection will always be done by SH in that case. If you opt out of the standard process, please note the following:

• Your submission limits will be lower. You may be able to submit 3-5 domains at a time depending upon your overall approval rates.
• The approval/rejection time frame will be significantly longer compared to the current review process.
• You will likely not see a better approval rate by opting out of the current process. Based upon our analysis of the recent/past data, your approval rate may in fact see a slight drop compared to the current process (since our team may decide to reject certain names even if they receive high votes, due to other factors e.g. existence of similar names in Marketplace).
• If you opt out of the standard process, you will need to wait 30 days to switch it back to the standard review process. This is because this change will need to be done directly by our engineering team for individual accounts and we would like to minimize any disruption to their work e.g .new feature development.

To summarize, we do not recommend opting out of the current process, however you now have this option available in case you strongly feel against the current process.

2. Points & Rewards

As a background, Gamification concepts (such as points, badges, leaderboards etc) are core to the SH platform. We will continue to offer points for various activities on the platform.

The expert review process is one of several different ways to earn points on the platform. In fact, there are currently thousands of users on the platform who have accumulated a vast number of points via other means. Today, we have announced a new Discovery Curation process that will further improve our AI based search/ discovery experience for Buyers. Participation in this new program will allow many of our sellers to earn a significant number of points every day.

We do not expect those who have earned significant points to occupy the top results in our Marketplace. The top results in our Marketplace are determined based upon several factors. Going forward, the Discovery curation process will also influence the ranking of the results. Moreover, as announced on Friday, points can now only be used for one Superboost in a week.

Our goal is to continue to offer new benefits for points, however we will continue to ensure that these benefits can not be disproportionally misused for a specific feature on the platform.

Thanks @GrantP. You are amazing at what you do. Always striving for innovation is what keeps SH apart. The pace with which SH takes feedback and works on it is just astonishing. Also, Kudos to the engineering team as well to be able to do so many changes so quickly and they have been fantastic for as long as I remember with all the cool features that we got on SH, I thank them a lot as well for their great work.

 

[Crypto2020]

Kudos @GrantP, the changes and options explored over the last few days would go a long way in addressing all the concerns raised here wrt the expert review systems and reward systems

However one quick followup

If one requests for a manual review acc, does it affect only the registered domain submissions (as the expert review is only for registered domains) or will it affect the unregistered submissions as well?

Cheers and Keep up the good work!