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.

 

[Grilled]

We will maintain a limited presence on NP.

Why a limited presence?

Weekly check-ins, or frankly anything more frequent than the current monthly+ check-ins, seems like it would help SH stay in touch with the largest domain community nP in the world.

 

[gblasting]

SquadHelp just released a new update...

https://rule_violation/t/december-20th-updates-to-marketplace/5388

I don’t understand SH’s obsession with portfolio size.

A guy has 50 premium names with zero sales and another guy listed 10 premium names and sold 4 within 6 months. SH will give the guy with 50 names a privilege they won’t extend to the guy with 10 names who knows what he is doing. In SH’s world, 50 premium names means you are a guru of brandable names.

I made the same remark when they introduced the coin/no-coin submission options. I am in the business of selling names, not some arbitrary portfolio building.

 

[Laguna]

They are trying to get those with only a handful of names with SH to increase to 50+ to get the benefits. It's quite simple really

 

[Grilled]

I don’t understand SH’s obsession with portfolio size.

A guy has 50 premium names with zero sales and another guy listed 10 premium names and sold 4 within 6 months. SH will give the guy with 50 names a privilege they won’t extend to the guy with 10 names who knows what he is doing. In SH’s world, 50 premium names means you are a guru of brandable names.

I made the same remark when they introduced the coin/no-coin submission options. I am in the business of selling names, not some arbitrary portfolio building.

I agree with what you're saying. Especially thinking from one of their contest buyers perspective. Meaning, if a buyer knew the basis of the pricing of domains (or contest submissions for those running contests also looking for a matching domain) were partly dependent on if a seller had 50+ domains with SH, it might send mixed messaging about the true value of a domain name. Though, it might cause those with 50+ to value their SH portfolio more, and think twice before violating too many of SH rules?

I wonder if this is a push to get more coin purchases, to push for those to reach 50+ domains listed? Also noting, as of recent all premium domains registered by seller priced under $25 and not containing "cana" have all either been sold or removed from the wholesale marketplace.

So maybe some sellers are stocking up via the wholesale marketplace? With sole hopes of paying more up front now, to be able to raise the price of their currently discounted (discounted when considering their inability to raise the price until they reach 50+ SH listed) domains? And in doing so, cover the cost of their wholesale purchases ($25 x 50 = $1250) with one sale of a raised priced domain ($2399 x 2), only made possible with having 50+ SH domains?

The issue with this arbitrary $1,250 number representing 50+ SH premium listed domains, is it devalues those aiming for quality and not quanity. Almost as if they value 50 random domains (wholesale $1,250), more than they do 3 premium domains that might have cost $500 each (wholesale $1500).

 

[brianviktor67]

how long does it take to review domain in SH? Just added two names with them and will it worthwhile?
thanks

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

SquadHelp just released a new update...

https://rule_violation/t/december-20th-updates-to-marketplace/5388

Pricing flexibility... and then when you go to see what the price change dropdown list looks like you see that you can only have a max of $200 less than your current price.

An orwellian chocolate ration announcement.

 

[Grilled]

https://rule_violation/t/additional-options-for-expiring-domains/5398

We are pleased to announce a new feature that would allow domain owners to transfer the ownership of their expiring domains to SH instead of dropping them.

This option is only beneficial if you are considering dropping some of your domains (because you do not wish to pay for the renewal fees). Instead of dropping those domains, you can request an “Ownership Transfer” to SH. if approved, your domain will continue to be listed at SH, and SH will begin paying for renewal fees. If the domain sells, you will receive the commission as per the SH registered domain rules (which is typically 25% during the first year).

As a recap, you have several alternatives while evaluating whether or not to transfer the ownership to SH. Let’s say you have a domain listed at $2500 with 30% SH Commission. Prior to the domain renewal, you have following options:

• • You can continue paying for renewals. If the domain sells, you will receive $1750 (70% of $2500). We recommend staying with this option for most of your domains.
    
    
  • You can sell the domain in wholesale marketplace. Expected selling price: about $25 to $40 (minus 3% transaction fee)
    
    
  • Transfer the ownership to SH. SH pays for renewal fees. If the domain sells within 12 months, your expected payout would be $625. For future years, your expected payout will be lower (typically 22.5% in second year, 20% in third year).
    
    
  • Drop the domain.

While we expect most sellers to continue using the first option (pay for their own renewals), the ability to transfer domains to SH offers one more alternative to sellers who are looking to rebalance their portfolio.

As immediately questioned in the comments of the update link (but not yet responded to by a SH rep), the update doesn't mention if the domain must be squadhelp premium or not.

I think the wording ("Instead of dropping those domains, you can request an “Ownership Transfer” to SH. if approved, your domain will continue to be listed at SH, and SH will begin paying for renewal fees.") might explain it best? In thinking, any SH domain, whether it be Basic or Premium, will have an option to submit "Ownership Transfer" for approval consideration. e.g. As long as domain ownership is validated by SH, then they will enable option of ownership transfer submission request?

 

[Grilled]

in the comments of the update link (but not yet responded to by a SH rep)

@DomainBanana for the win!

 

[Bernard Wright]

I have sold a Basic Plus name. The CH made it clear in the brief that he had money to spend. I tend to submit Basic Plus names only when I’m confident that the CH is well-funded. ...or, when it’s such a good fit that I know the CH would be wise to splurge. It’s frustrating when the CH ends up giving such a name a No Thank You, only because it’s out of their budget. I had such a situation an hour ago. Perfect two-word 7 letter name that got a No Thank You after SH notified me that the CH visited the landing page.

As others have pointed out, most CH want a bargain, so Basic and available names are usually the way to go.

It’s a very imperfect marketplace, I agree.

@GrantP I haven’t received an update regarding SH’s investigation into this incident since the 8th. The most recent email states “We are committed to protecting the hard work of our creatives...”. I find “committed to...” a rather shifty term for any business to use. It implies a promise, without explicitly stating so, and thus, leaves some convenient wiggle room.

How committed is SquadHelp? The contest had 21 shortlisted names. 5 of them have since been reported as registered. What steps is SquadHelp taking to “protect the hard work” of those people whose names were reported?

 

[Grilled]

Ouch...

Yesterday (12/25), I regged a domain, then earlier today (12/26), submitted it to SH...

... but noticed it has a (12/18) submit date.

As the domain was recently dropped (after full expiration cycle), I assume this domain was submitted unregistered? If it's accepted, will whomever submitted it unregistered assume SH registered it themselves?

 

[JudgeMind]

anyone else notice their percentile ranking drop immensely over the past few days?

4 days ago I had a 92% score, today my score is 39%...

@GrantP

 

[NameWell]

anyone else notice their percentile ranking drop immensely over the past few days?

4 days ago I had a 92% score, today my score is 39%...

@GrantP

Most likely you have been blocked from a contest or even few contests. Contest blocks have a strong impact on percentile scores. There's a lot about that on SH forum.

 

[Laguna]

anyone else notice their percentile ranking drop immensely over the past few days?

4 days ago I had a 92% score, today my score is 39%...

@GrantP

Same here

 

[capybara]

This whole ranking system is rigged against the domain owners. You pitch your own domains, you get rejected much more often, your ranking goes down. Then people look at this ranking and think "this guys a loser, no way I am buying a losers name, I want my business to succeed", so you drown even deeper.

 

[Stankodomains]

I have few observations and questions:
- What is SH position on the sharks offering whopping 1% of the listed value to purchase names on the NP forums? Wasn't the whole idea to create an exclusive marketplace? This kills the whole idea of the SH wholesale.
- People conveniently hand registering names submitted to the contests. After reporting SH is happy to send the generic answer of how important we are and how serious they are about investigation, but does SH really believe that the cheaters would publicize their whois record? Farce at it's best.
- Nonexistent distinction of whether the contest holder is willing to actually purchase a premium domain, there is only a vague statement that such names are accepted to the contest. As a result premium submissions always get negative rating (no thank you) and opportunity to reach or maintain tier A status is greatly diminished. How about making the distinction and not counting negative rating for premium submissions.
As a result I see winning names that make very little sense or ideas that anybody could hand register. Many of these business will fail based on the name they choose.
- Some domains have obvious preferential treatment and they are always at the top of suggestions and front pages, huge minus.
- Like it was mentioned before, I would love to be able register the domains after they haven't been sold in a couple of years. Otherwise SH is a self benefiting crowd sourcing platform.
The crowd sourcing model is very similar to stock photo agencies. Most of them are failing miserably because they are ignorant to the needs of submitters and prefer to cater to clients only
- I would like to see an option of SH paying for renewal of my registrations that have been accepted as premiums. As a result SH could add an extra 5% to their commission after the sale and a small fine if I decide to delist the name. This creates an opportunity commitment on both sides
- I would like to see more effort in promoting BasicPlus listings and an option for us to submit our own logo
- More objectivity when it comes to acceptance of domains to the premium market. Example a name like Squaad gets rejected but shortly after Squuad gets accepted. Hard to say if this is bias, subjectivity or cheating, since there is a very fine line here.
- I would like to have a non generic comment by the inspector of the rejection reasons. This will immensely improve the future submissions and our rating percentage, since obviously we will become more careful and knowledgeable with our submissions. Again, work with submitters, not against us, failing to understand this will inevitably lead to your demise, it is just a matter of time when another agency creates a model that favors the submitters and we all take our business over there.
P.S. I see that most of my points have been discussed before, thanks to all who brought the attention.

 

[NYJimbo]

anyone else notice their percentile ranking drop immensely over the past few days?

4 days ago I had a 92% score, today my score is 39%...

@GrantP

I think there is a rolling/moving ranking based on the previous 180 days of participation. Maybe the moving window passed some time you were doing very well ?

 

[BrandCollectors.com]

submission domains to sh is not free?

 

[NYJimbo]

As I'm sure many of you have experienced it, when I go to some websites I see the Squadhelp ads with listings of domains for sale.

For the first time I am seeing one of my names in the group and have been seeing it for a few days now.

Have any of you had a sale of a name soon after seeing it in the SH ads ?

 

[NameWell]

As I'm sure many of you have experienced it, when I go to some websites I see the Squadhelp ads with listings of domains for sale.

For the first time I am seeing one of my names in the group and have been seeing it for a few days now.

Have any of you had a sale of a name soon after seeing it in the SH ads ?

Have you visited the landing page of that name recently? I noticed, that when I visit landing pages of my names I start seeing some of those names in the ads soon after that.

To answer your question, no, I did not notice any correlation between the names I saw in ads and the names that were sold.

 

[JudgeMind]

Have you visited the landing page of that name recently? I noticed, that when I visit landing pages of my names I start seeing some of those names in the ads soon after that.

To answer your question, no, I did not notice any correlation between the names I saw in ads and the names that were sold.

its retargeted advertising