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.

 

[ALDaisy1]

The last name I sold on Squadhelp had 2130 views before it was purchased. One of my currently listed names has been shortlisted 167 times without selling. However, I have also had a name sell before it even had a logo created, so you never know. It can drive you a little crazy if you worry too much about those dashboard stats. I just try to be confident that if my names are good, they will sell eventually. Best of luck to you all.

 

[Laguna]

2 of mine have really bad logo's so asked them to change them. They told me to put in a review on the request button which I did, but that was a month ago and still no change of logo grrrr

 

[NYJimbo]

2 of mine have really bad logo's so asked them to change them. They told me to put in a review on the request button which I did, but that was a month ago and still no change of logo grrrr

Yeah, I did that, same results. I just live with what they put up and move on.

 

[DomainBanana]

Would be great to see SH bring in some real graphic designers for the logos

 

[ecomslice]

Would be great to see SH bring in some real graphic designers for the logos

i respect your opinion, but I thought I would share mine as I'm pleased with over 80% of the logo's and increase in effort/innovation. especially considering they are free. and completed in a fraction of the time vrs other sites.

 

[DomainBanana]

i respect your opinion, but I thought I would share mine as I'm pleased with over 80% of the logo's and increase in effort/innovation. especially considering they are free. and completed in a fraction of the time vrs other sites.

Your logos are free? So SH gets no commission from your sales? Pretty good deal for you. They would get 35% of most of my sales. Not free for me.

I work in marketing and am discriminating about logos. Overall, SH's are extremely poor, demonstrating little care, thought, quality, or professionalism.

SH doesn't get many things about domaining.

They don't understand logos.

They don't understand the virtue of simplicity.

They don't really understand what premium names are or how to value them.

But they're young and willing to learn. Hoping for the best.

 

[ecomslice]

Your a very passionate Banana, I still find Squad A Peel ing. Less Monkey business than other places imho.

 

[sharastar]

From today's Intercom news message:
Bad, bad advice, Squadhelp. You need to consult an IP lawyer before giving such ideas to your sellers.

Combined with the fact that you already have some trademarked domains in your inventory, that may not end well.

If someone has TM-ed "Pristine Spring Water" and you own "Spring Water" you shouldn't have any TM issues, but you have a potential client there, as they already see value even in a longer string.

@Recons.Com Only if its something like Generic term right here "Spring Water" is Generic but "Corp" added to end is not generic and not right if trademarked.

If not trademarked then there would not be a problem and would be a boon having "Corp" at the end of the keyword right as it would cater to whole market

 

[Recons.Com]

@Recons.Com Only if its something like Generic term right here "Spring Water" is Generic but "Corp" added to end is not generic and not right if trademarked.

If not trademarked then there would not be a problem and would be a boon having "Corp" at the end of the keyword right as it would cater to whole market

I am not sure if you an IP lawyer or just making this stuff up.

if "corp" is part of the brand, then it does distinguish, unless it is a very famous brand within a market that can create confusion. I.e., AppleCorp making phones won't fly, AppleCorp selling apples or Spring Water is fine... If Corp is not a part of the brand, but just shows the type of entity, then you might be right.

See labcorp.com, LabCorp is their name, not Lab, Corp.

 

[sharastar]

I am not sure if you an IP lawyer or just making this stuff up.

if "corp" is part of the brand, then it does distinguish, unless it is a very famous brand within a market that can create confusion. I.e., AppleCorp making phones won't fly, AppleCorp selling apples or Spring Water is fine... If Corp is not a part of the brand, but just shows the type of entity, then you might be right.

See labcorp.com, LabCorp is their name, not Lab, Corp.

Got Cleared!

I was not making this up was just asking it to you about whether it was right!

 

[Recons.Com]

Got Cleared!

I was not making this up was just asking it to you about whether it was right!

Sorry, misunderstood.

So, again, if "corp", "ltd", "inc" are just a description in your legal name and your main one is violating a tm, that won't make difference.

If "corp", "inc" etc. is part of name, like in CostCo, then it is distinctly new name, unless a brand is so well known in the market, that any confusing similarity can be interpreted as tm violation. So, with CostCo existing it is a bad idea to go and establish CostCorp that is a retail/wholesale shop in the US or other markets where it operates. But, you'd be fine establishing a cost comparison website under it.

But, when you sell a name, most often you are not designating a market. It is up to buyer to decide his use and if that name is in the clear for use/market.

 

[sharastar]

Sorry, misunderstood.

So, again, if "corp", "ltd", "inc" are just a description in your legal name and your main one is violating a tm, that won't make difference.

If "corp", "inc" etc. is part of name, like in CostCo, then it is distinctly new name, unless a brand is so well known in the market, that any confusing similarity can be interpreted as tm violation. So, with CostCo existing it is a bad idea to go and establish CostCorp that is a retail/wholesale shop in the US or other markets where it operates. But, you'd be fine establishing a cost comparison website under it.

But, when you sell a name, most often you are not designating a market. It is up to buyer to decide his use and if that name is in the clear for use/market.

It's ok and Thanks again for some detail stuff which makes things more understandable.

 

[JudgeMind]

Small update on my SH experience.

Sales seem to be coming in after longer time frames, I currently have 291 premium domain listings in the SH marketplace and over saturation of the market has drastically decreased the visibility of my listings. Average sales time in the past six months "for me" has increased from 2 weeks to 6 weeks.

I find it very difficult to understand how a 10%-20% STR is possible over 12 months... regrettably, I scaled in a big way with SH after seeing some real results early on, but now I may need to begin removing names from there and sell <$500 on afternic or sedo. Be great to hear how things are going for others here, but I'm quite disappointed in sales results.

 

[Laguna]

Thinking of moving mine too. I'd rather go back to listing on multiple marketplaces rathar than exclusively to squadhelp

 

[jk23]

Yep, after having a good month of October everywhere else, I had 0 sales on SquadHelp. Had a good start there, as well, but things seem to have slowed down. I have also used a number of marketplace boosts and lifestyle images.

 

[ecomslice]

Reality is the entire domain market has run into a slow down for many reasons.
I see that as a fair reason Squad should slow down on dilution. So yes I agree.

 

[Ostrados]

Is SquadHelp down?! I get HTTP error 500

 

[capybara]

Has anyone ever managed to submit a non-com domain to contest?
I see this everywhere:

I think the contest holders fill some kind of form, and the first entry kinda allows something else maybe, but then the second one makes it impossible.

 

[KDN]

Small update on my SH experience.

Sales seem to be coming in after longer time frames, I currently have 291 premium domain listings in the SH marketplace and over saturation of the market has drastically decreased the visibility of my listings. Average sales time in the past six months "for me" has increased from 2 weeks to 6 weeks.

I find it very difficult to understand how a 10%-20% STR is possible over 12 months... regrettably, I scaled in a big way with SH after seeing some real results early on, but now I may need to begin removing names from there and sell <$500 on afternic or sedo. Be great to hear how things are going for others here, but I'm quite disappointed in sales results.

Thanks for the post @JudgeMind ! I have 236 names listed and only one sale so far. Also, I experienced a sharp decrease in shortlists yesterday. Could be a bug though. Anyway, hope things get better before renewals.

 

[November]

Thanks for the post @JudgeMind ! I have 236 names listed and only one sale so far. Also, I experienced a sharp decrease in shortlists yesterday. Could be a bug though. Anyway, hope things get better before renewals.

I have a sharp decrease in shortlists too. It seems like a bug.