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.

 

[gina ferrano]

Thanks@Rhinnnn!

Yes, I'll maybe try a couple I own already, though I noticed one is not able to submit an unregistered name w/o either coins (1) or points (10)

Since I joined back in 2018, I hadn't received any points, though having entered a few contests, I have maybe 100 points now. I agree with @brandsly that the contests at $100-$200 per, don't quite jibe with efforts made, when the contest holder doesn't bother to look, or respond in any way. And if a brand can acquire a name for so cheap it's no wonder the prices reflect lower. As an experiment I submitted two names that I knew were a bit too long but strong keywords for premium, I had 12 experts review within 5 hours and pass on both. (Though I wonder can one resubmit any name and downgrade to basic plus for less than my suggested?) I also submitted a name for plus category @$1149 and it was accepted instantly. I will try unregistered names next. With BB reviewing names (40 days average now) I can appreciate the immediacy by which names are reviewed, accepted/declined at SH.

 

[E-Thunder]

I don’t post feedback often but thought my SquadHelp experience may be helpful to everyone on the forum here.

I first tried SquadHelp out about a year ago, but this wasn’t really a valid sample as I submitted domains that were all rejected by both BB and BP. All 14 of 14 submitted were rejected in 2019.

Now, 1 year later I decided to give them another try with a fresh batch of domains. All had never been submitted to any other brandable marketplace previously. I think there is now a large enough sample that is worth sharing here.

In 2020, 20 were rejected of 24 submitted. 4 were accepted. So just over 16% accepted.

3 are combinations of 2 real words like “SampleName.com”.

1 is a play on words.

Based on names rejected so far, these were mostly plays on words, where success has been much higher with compound 2 word combinations.

All names were unregistered or coin submissions. Turn around was pretty fast from submission to decision on approval or rejection. The same for logo creation after, it has been just a few days at most and 3 of the 4 logos I would say are above average.

I must say that right now I like the presentation of the SquadHelp site much more than BB and BP. I find myself spending time looking at the contests and searching through the categories there for inspiration. I like the sound clips of someone speaking the name, and think that this truly could help a potential buyer make a decision. There is a batch of domains I plan to eventually submit in the coming months, and I will continue to provide updates on the results.

I plan to make a second post soon, detailing the names that were rejected and available for registration. I am just deciding which ones I will register before I do that.

 

[WiseWebby]

I dont know how their Expert Review Works , but i experienced Worst . i have submitted 80 domains for review and they accepted only 2. i mean their expert Panel do some research or just pick like / dislike.

 

[massive1019]

I dont know how their Expert Review Works , but i experienced Worst . i have submitted 80 domains for review and they accepted only 2. i mean their expert Panel do some research or just pick like / dislike.

They have to do something about this.....

 

[Rhinnnn]

Announcement:

SquadHelp names will now be available on Flippa. Seems to be good news.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/flippa-announces-squadhelp-partnership.1185814/


Quote from SquadHelp:

"Flippa plans to promote the SH listings to their buyers via homepage banners as well as their daily emails.

The SH listings have been designed with a special landing page along with the Logo designs.

SH will offer additional complimentary benefits to Flippa customers (such as a complimentary redesign of logo if the SH domain is purchased on Flippa platform).

There are no additional costs or coins required to participate in this feature. If the Domain sells on Flippa, Squadhelp will pay for the Flippa commissions from SH's share of commission.

We are working on several more features and we will send additional updates in the near future announcing more platform benefits."

 

[Rhinnnn]

Since I joined back in 2018, I hadn't received any points, though having entered a few contests, I have maybe 100 points now. I agree with @brandsly that the contests at $100-$200 per, don't quite jibe with efforts made, when the contest holder doesn't bother to look, or respond in any way. And if a brand can acquire a name for so cheap it's no wonder the prices reflect lower. As an experiment I submitted two names that I knew were a bit too long but strong keywords for premium, I had 12 experts review within 5 hours and pass on both. (Though I wonder can one resubmit any name and downgrade to basic plus for less than my suggested?) I also submitted a name for plus category @$1149 and it was accepted instantly. I will try unregistered names next. With BB reviewing names (40 days average now) I can appreciate the immediacy by which names are reviewed, accepted/declined at SH.

The Basic Plus name was "accepted instantly" because there's actually nothing to accept - no vetting process. Literally anyone can submit any domain (minus obscene words, I presume) as Basic or Basic Plus and it will be automatically listed.

But a Basic or Basic Plus listing doesn't really help you.

Basic Plus names have an advantage though. You can submit them to contests and, if the contest holder selects your name, they'll pay your asking price. As a rule, Basic Plus domains can't cost more than $2,500.

 

[sadiq3051]

Hello @GrantP I want to know how this feature works on squadhelp.. Transfer ownership to squadhelp. How what will be my commission after transferring the ownership to squadhelp. Check the attach picture. Thanks

 

[Rhinnnn]

Show attachment 151415 Hello @GrantP I want to know how this feature works on squadhelp.. Transfer ownership to squadhelp. How what will be my commission after transferring the ownership to squadhelp. Check the attach picture. Thanks

Your commission in this case would be 25% if the domain sells in the first year after transfer.

https://helpdesk.squadhelp.com/en/a...erring-ownership-of-your-domains-to-squadhelp

 

[h2o]

Question - Does anybody know if the Expert Reviewers are shown the Domain Description when they rate your names? I ask because I think the description can make all the difference. The description can open up minds and opportunity. It's also good for niches that the reviewers may not be familiar with. Because let's face it, nobody is an expert in everything.

 

[ALDaisy1]

Question - Does anybody know if the Expert Reviewers are shown the Domain Description when they rate your names? I ask because I think the description can make all the difference. The description can open up minds and opportunity. It's also good for niches that the reviewers may not be familiar with. Because let's face it, nobody is an expert in everything.

No, someone asked the same thing recently in the SH forum. The reviewers are shown names only, no descriptions.

 

[h2o]

No, someone asked the same thing recently in the SH forum. The reviewers are shown names only, no descriptions.

Well that's a major bummer. Because at the end of the day, end users are shown the name along with the description.

 

[gina ferrano]

^^


So it seems like this "Expert Reviews" process is a big factor behind the sudden SH change. I truly do not believe the reviewers are true experts at all. A true expert would not allow a name like epicRealt*r to be on their marketplace due to trademark concerns. I thought that end users get the benefit of screening their name for potential trademark concerns as part of the full brand experience.

I guess SquadHelp not only has technical bugs to fix, but they need to fix legal bugs as well.

I would imagine SH is trying fulfill the time line from submission to approval in a shorter space (within hours not days up to one month plus, so by utilizing 'experts', not SH staff but folks who are just like you and I but who have been on the SH platform and are tier A, won contests and have a higher rate of acceptance and domain sales. If you want SH staff to review this would only work on unregistered names.

Yes, but now they are not using that vast statistical data when accepting names. Now they are relying on "Domain Experts" who, among other things, do not know which categories are over saturated, which niches are hot, etc.

I understand that this is a very challenging task and that there is no perfect answer. That being said, I think the previous method is better.

So true

Question - Does anybody know if the Expert Reviewers are shown the Domain Description when they rate your names? I ask because I think the description can make all the difference. The description can open up minds and opportunity. It's also good for niches that the reviewers may not be familiar with. Because let's face it, nobody is an expert in everything.

The 'experts' are essentially our peers (anywhere from 7-15) or those on the SH platform who have a proven sell through, high ranking, higher acceptance rate who are shown 4 names only and in mere seconds are incentivized to click on names that will A. likely be accepted (points) and B. sold ($5 per). Their criteria is different than 'experts' who will take their time and have worked many years in advertising and are looking at internal data as in the case of BB, though different than BP that uses AI to assess. So sadly no, it's like playing the slots at Vegas, a bit like a poll for those that partake (I participated in this model for points at BB several years prior, though only for names that had already been selected and on the platform) So, like you I was taking my time in writing descriptions only to realize, why? The only plus I see for sellers is that one can technically reg a name, have it reviewed/accepted all within a space of 5 hours, then to speed things up further, you can write your own description/categories and be live w/ logo within 3 days time.

 

[boker]

I would imagine SH is trying fulfill the time line from submission to approval in a shorter space (within hours not days up to one month plus, so by utilizing 'experts', not SH staff but folks who are just like you and I but who have been on the SH platform and are tier A, won contests and have a higher rate of acceptance and domain sales. If you want SH staff to review this would only work on unregistered names.

So true


The 'experts' are essentially our peers (anywhere from 7-15) or those on the SH platform who have a proven sell through, high ranking, higher acceptance rate who are shown 10 names only and in mere seconds are incentivized to click on names that will A. likely be accepted (points) and B. sold ($5 per). Their criteria is different than 'experts' who will take their time and have worked many years in advertising and are looking at internal data as in the case of BB, though different than BP that uses AI to assess. So sadly no, it's like playing the slots at Vegas, a bit like a game for those that partake (I participated in this model for points at BB several years prior, though only for names that had already been selected and on the platform) So, like you I was taking my time in writing descriptions only to realize, why? The only plus I see for sellers is that one can technically reg a name, have it reviewed/accepted all within a space of 5 hours, then to speed things up further, you can write your own description/categories and be live w/ logo within 3 days time.

As far as I know, they can review domains in batches of four, they can favorite one of the domains from the batch or can pass all of them. If your domain has over 5 favorites from reviewers, it will automatically accepted, if it has 5, it will be reviewed one more time by SH staff, if it has less than 5, it will be rejected. The domains will be reviewed by 10 to 20 reviewers, depending how many favorites it has until it will reach ten or so. If the domain has 2-3 favorites until it reaches 10 reviews, it will be reviewed by others, up to 20, if it has 0-1 favorites until it will reach 10 reviews, usually it will be rejected. I was doing pretty fine until the review system has changed, but now I'm a few % better, so depends by who is reviewed and which domains were competing with it, if all are average, you have big chances, if at least 1 of them is a valuable backorder or a domain won at auctions in the xxx range, usually you can't compete with it.

 

[ArielT]

As far as I know, they can review domains in batches of four, they can favorite one of the domains from the batch or can pass all of them. If your domain has over 5 favorites from reviewers, it will automatically accepted, if it has 5, it will be reviewed one more time by SH staff, if it has less than 5, it will be rejected. The domains will be reviewed by 10 to 20 reviewers, depending how many favorites it has until it will reach ten or so. If the domain has 2-3 favorites until it reaches 10 reviews, it will be reviewed by others, up to 20, if it has 0-1 favorites until it will reach 10 reviews, usually it will be rejected. I was doing pretty fine until the review system has changed, but now I'm a few % better, so depends by who is reviewed and which domains were competing with it, if all are average, you have big chances, if at least 1 of them is a valuable backorder or a domain won at auctions in the xxx range, usually you can't compete with it.

I understand that the poll is ramdomized and "not the same" to more than one reviewer so if in one poll there is a top domain it wouldn't be a problem because there would be different polls for other reviewers

But anyway maybe not perfect

 

[boker]

I understand that the poll is ramdomized and "not the same" to more than one reviewer so if in one poll there is a top domain it wouldn't be a problem because there would be different polls for other reviewers

But anyway maybe not perfect

It's random, but out of 100 domains reviewed, there could be 10-15-20 good one's, bought in the low xxx range, so there are big chances to compete with at least one of them in each selection. On top of that, there could be another 20-30 good one's, that will steal some votes. In the end, you would be happy to compete all the time with the average one's, the rest of them, but it's random, so you can't count on this.

 

[ArielT]

It's random, but out of 100 domains reviewed, there could be 10-15-20 good one's, bought in the low xxx range, so there are big chances to compete with at least one of them in each selection. On top of that, there could be another 20-30 good one's, that will steal some votes. In the end, you would be happy to compete all the time with the average one's, the rest of them, but it's random, so you can't count on this.

I understand that is out of much more than 100

Maybe @GrantP could clarify

 

[boker]

I understand that is out of much more than 100

Maybe @GrantP could clarify

I was just giving an example, with 100. I guess there are couple of thousands at certain times.

 

[ArielT]

I was just giving an example, with 100. I guess there are couple of thousands at certain times.

I agree, so as that can fluctuate, probably they could test something like "Vote for one or more if you think we should accept. Or mark none if you don't like any of them"

I don't know if they have already tested it or not

 

[capybara]

This sucks. Contests can be dragged on for months, why should the name stay locked because someone is slow to decide? If by 0.0000000.....001 chance the name sells elsewhere at the same time, it should just disappear from all other contests.

 

[h2o]

As far as I know, they can review domains in batches of four, they can favorite one of the domains from the batch or can pass all of them. If your domain has over 5 favorites from reviewers, it will automatically accepted, if it has 5, it will be reviewed one more time by SH staff, if it has less than 5, it will be rejected. The domains will be reviewed by 10 to 20 reviewers, depending how many favorites it has until it will reach ten or so. If the domain has 2-3 favorites until it reaches 10 reviews, it will be reviewed by others, up to 20, if it has 0-1 favorites until it will reach 10 reviews, usually it will be rejected. I was doing pretty fine until the review system has changed, but now I'm a few % better, so depends by who is reviewed and which domains were competing with it, if all are average, you have big chances, if at least 1 of them is a valuable backorder or a domain won at auctions in the xxx range, usually you can't compete with it.

This is super helpful info to know boker. I appreciate your time in laying down the details.