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.

 

[RozasMD]

I would say the same about your comments. Is it not OK to say anything positive here, or is this just a place to complain? I have a great experience with SH, and since other domainers here may want to know the other side of the story, too, then why should I not say what I think, too?

I also try to go directly to SH with any issues I have with them. Not here.

And yes, as others have said about me here, I am vocal with SH, too. And guess what? They listen - but they do not and cannot always make decisions for their company to suit everyone. The reason this discussion never ends is because people are not getting what they want. So the conversation ended in the SH platform and moved over here!

SH has more than adequately answered all of these questions that have been asked over and over both here and in the forum-for weeks now. It's actually been a minority of people complaining, too.
They will make changes if they feel it necessary.

Anyway, this has all become an "attack anyone who supports SH forum".......... not only that, but "Make false allegations" about SH AND certain domainers that are being NAMED!

No. No, no and no. I've not denied the right of anyone to support whatever they like. It's you who is putting the bad faith accusation on those who are desagreeing with SH decisions. It's you who is judging other user's intentions and motivations. It's you who has gone personal.

And you've gone personal in order to protect SH after each critical or disagreeing post, whatever your reason is to do that.

And no, this has not become "an "attack anyone who supports SH forum".......... not only that, but "Make false allegations" about SH AND certain domainers that are being NAMED!". Absolutely not on any of my posts anyway, so if you want to go that way, quote the correct user, not me.

You're picking bits here and there -the domainers named and the false allegations is a tiny part of the debate and certainly not what most critical users are talking about- and try to make it the whole critical point of view about this changes. That's blatantly false and hypocritical. One could think you're trying to divert the course of the conversation from the original subject: the flaws and potential issues of the new system. Hope that's not the case.

If you're going that way, then I'm done with this. But if you have any point related to the so-caled 'experts system', I'd love to read your ideas on why the potential conflict of interest is not something a small seller should worry about.

 

[RozasMD]

I believe cooler heads will prevail on this subject. I invite people to ask themselves:
What if my accusations really are unfounded/false?
What if my suspicions are completely off-base?
What if I just aliened a whole bunch of people who could have been allies?

Accusations don't set policy - Sound decision-making does
Suspicions said many times are not truth - Facts reveal themselves
The few don't necessarily represent the many

If your names are being rejected, try subbing them at BB or Brandpa and see what happens. If you want your names approved on SH, be sure they are brandable and follow the basic naming conventions.

And most of all, follow that old adage that goes:
Don't sh, I mean defecate, where you eat.

Thanks to so many of you who have made positive points.

So to sum up. Once again: We cannot differ. We cannot disagree. Disagreeing is 'sh.g.ing where we eat'. Lovely. That sounds terribly totalitarian.

And we have to have faith everything will be flawless even if we perceive those flaws in the system are real. We must have faith that privileged SH users position won't harm the rest because... well, because, you know, this is not business and no one would make his/her own interests prevail.

C'mon, please.

 

[SuperBrander]

@Footprint789 Appreciate your detailed and thoughtful response.

Yes, most of the names at SH that sell are handregged. How many sell a year? 1000? 2000? 3000? There are currently around 50K domains at SH. I have nothing against hand registrations. I handreg sometimes and let SH reg for me. But again, almost all handregged domains are easily replaceable and creativity can always help a person come up with more options.

Here's the key point, IMO: Each and every handreg can sell. But with lower end domains, it's much harder to predict which one. That's why I call them lottery tickets. Any lottery ticket can theoretically win, but the absolute majority don't. And the problem with these domain lottery tickets is that if you own a bunch and they don't win within the first year, you often feel compelled to renew them to give them another chance. That's how profits get reduced and in some cases totally eliminated or even put you in the red. So yeah, let's say 2000 handregged domains sold. What about the other 40K+?

You wrote: "This is all about scope for potential conflict of interest, and the early access of names to experts before they are even approved and most importantly the "visibility". Let me try to address that:

1. Potential conflict of interest- I feel that's addressed by the amount of reviewers, the randomness of the listings, the need to get only 4 out of 20 to be considered, SH's supervision and the ability to submit a request for a review.

2. The early access- Gives Reviewers nothing. You already regged the domain reviewers see so your idea is protected. Reviewers and anybody else can see sold domains and already published domains and get inspiration from those, if they really need it. So even after you get a domain approved, someone can register a variation with 'a' instead of 'o' at the end. Seeing your name together with dozens of others that haven't been approved yet really gives a reviewer no advantage over you.

3. Visibility- here I actually agree with you. Points from reviews shouldn't be used for superboosts and lifestyle images, IMO. Personally, I haven't used points for these type of promotions but I can see where that could give Reviewers an advantage.

 

[DomainBanana]

Potential conflict of interest- I feel that's addressed by the amount of reviewers, the randomness of the listings, the need to get only 4 out of 20 to be considered, SH's supervision and the ability to submit a request for a review.

I recently gave an example that shows conflict of interest can be a legitimate concern with the number of current reviewers:

Most approvals are borderline (approved by one or two votes).

One of my domains recently received 3 / 14 votes.

If there were a conflict of interest here, a single reviewer could have shifted the domain from an auto-accept (4/14 or 29% approval) to an auto-reject (3/14 or 21%).

Allowing a single reviewer to shift the score by 8 percentage points -- when 25% approval is an auto-accept -- gives individual reviewers too much power.

This is why I would prefer to see each domain reviewed by at least 30 "experts".

This is not a significant change and it would go a long way toward minimizing potential conflict of interest.

Re: ability to submit a request for review -- as others have pointed out, we only have the ability to do this 5 times within 30 days.

 

[SuperBrander]

@DomainBanana By all means, SH can have as many reviewers as needed. 3/14 probably means this domain isn't a great fit though. Let's say that if 11/14 people didn't think it was good enough to be accepted, hanging on the statistical probability that one of these 11 was biased is kind of a stretch. We all want all our submissions to get accepted. But I feel like moving from that basic instinct domainers have, especially when they start out, that: every domain we own is great, why didn't it get accepted, if only one person would have voted differently etc. to a more rational approach and not being so emotional about each and every domain and decision that's made about them- is helpful in the long run.

 

[DomainBanana]

@DomainBanana By all means, SH can have as many reviewers as needed. 3/14 probably means this domain isn't a great fit though. Let's say that if 11/14 people didn't think it was good enough to be accepted, hanging on the stastical probability that one of these 11 was biased is kind of a stretch. We all want all our submissions to get accepted. But I feel like moving from that basic instinct domainers have, especially when they start out, that: every domain we own is great, why didn't it get accepted, if only one person would have voted differently etc. to a more rational approach and not being so emotional about each and every domain and decision that's made about them- is helpful in the long run.

As a general rule, you're right. I don't expect all my domains to be accepted and it's not healthy to get emotionally attached to domain rejections and approvals.

But if Squadhelp has decided to use this system, where sellers who are competing for sales on the marketplace are also tapped as reviewers, then extra measures should be taken to ensure that conflict of interest is ruled out. I don't think an expanded reviewer pool is an unreasonable request.

If the reviewer pool is expanded, I and many others will feel better about the integrity of the process.

 

[SuperBrander]

@DomainBanana Like I said, by all means. This issue doesn't worry me personally, but SH should consider it and implement if they decide it will help ease some people's minds. Not sure having more Reviewers won't annoy other people though for some reason or other. Every decision always sits well with some and doesn't sit well with others.

 

[RozasMD]

In the end, no one forces us to submit names to one marketplace or another. Obviously those who feel this can be an issue will probably move to other marketplaces as their prime option and that's all. Nothing we haven't seen before with all the ambassadors-insiders thing at BB a couple of years ago.

I've tried to be constructive on my criticism. I've tried to explain why this looks bad to me as a small seller who was trying to build a portfolio at SH.

Now SH staff is obviously free to take my and other user's opinion into consideration or they can just ignore them. You just can't satisfy everyone all the time and in the end it's their company, it's their decision.

But I think I should be free to give an opinion without:

A. The company feeling attacked.
B. Other users feeling attacked.
C. Other users trying god knows why to divert the conversation.
D. Other users taking it to personal levels.

I can't understand the level of aggresiveness this has raised. It's just someone disagreeing with a company decision, for heaven's sake.

I've decided I'm done here. Posted my point of view. Those who agree, great. Those who don't, great too. SH people take their decision regarding their company. I take mine regarding my domain names. That's all.

But it's terribly sad that a constructive conversation can't be held among domainers. I just can't understand it. And I feel terribly disappointed by some specific cases.

Have a great day everyone. Over and out.

 

[NameWell]

Here's my two cents' worth as an ex-reviewer who was doing it for about a week:

1. Acceptance to one marketplace doesn't mean a domain will be accepted elsewhere, especially when we're talking about unregistered or recently handregged domains. BB is full of low quality domains that likely shouldn't have been accepted. SH is too. Falling in love with low quality domains isn't beneficial and the sooner domainers get over their genius naming abilities, they're able to evaluate domains better and get the right perspective on their own domains and other people's domains.

2. Inspiration- no offense, but if you or me or anyone else handregged a domain lately or submitted an unregistered one for consideration- it's not the best domain out there by a long shot (unless it's a brand new trend that just emerged and you managed to catch a relevant domain early). Domains that people are so scared will be ripped off have been available for anyone to register for awhile and sometimes were never registered before. In 99.9% of the cases these domains aren't registered in any other extension. People who have been domaining for a long time don't need to be inspired by submissions- they can see which names sold and which names were recently added to the marketplace if they're really into getting relevant data and/or inspiration from others. Everybody has access to that data. And being inspired by submissions that haven't even been approved yet doesn't make much sense to me. If they're aftermarket domains- you can't tweak them and get something equivalent. If they're low end domains- it's very likely nobody with exeperience in domaining cares about them. Similar domains get submitted/registered all the time due to the limited amount of meaningful keywords and prefixes/suffixes. Even while submitting, I'm sure most if not everybody can see that many times other people already submitted their idea. People who have been in the industry for awhile can likely find better handregged domains than less experienced domainers and don't need to get inspired by them- so again, don't fall in love with your low end domains and accept them for what they are- lottery tickets that can be easily replaced. Personally I find it hard to believe that a reviewer will get 4 random domains to choose from and then take the time to go check who owns one and then decide not to choose it because he hates the owner. Or not choose it because it somehow competes with one of their own domains. I mean... it's only 1 vote out of 20 anyway in the worst case scenario. And reviewers are being monitored. Don't know. Seems OK to me. No solution can ever be perfect when humans are involved. Mistakes will always be made. But at least now submissions are reviewed super quickly without cost to sellers.

3. I'm not saying that the system is perfect and since people have concerns- the system should be tweaked to address that. That's the good thing about SH. They're attentive to sellers and often make changes based on feedback. People who feel like they're being dealt a lesser hand always speak out, especially when so called "insiders" are involved and are perceivably getting unfair advantages. It's been like that with BB. It's like that with SH. And that's fine. Hell, I also criticized BB and SH for a lot of things and I understand where people are coming from. I'm not a reviewer anymore so I'm in the same boat as the rest of the sellers. My acceptance rate is fine. Even higher than before, if I'm not mistaken. But either way, at least from my own experience, I think the power attributed to reviewers and the value of these benefits is somewhat exaggerated. Reading some of what people say- I could almost feel like an idiot for quitting being a reviewer after a week. The truth is, once the compensation switched from coins to points- it wasn't worth my time. Going over so many low end domains is super boring. $5 per sold name is renewal money for a few domains, at the best case scenario. As for points- I've had a lot of points I got the old fashioned ways and I continue to accumulate them like that so I always have enough. Personally, up till now I think I used points for one boost when the feature first came out and for one lifestyle image when that became available. I got some complimentary images automatically for some of the higher quality domains, as other sellers with domains that are priced high get.

Anyway... this post is waaaay too long so I'll wrap it up!

I came here to write a long post, but then I found this post by @SuperBrander and realized I no longer have to write one :D He said all I wanted to say and phrased it way better than I would have. I agree with everything.

Some people just need to get over their ego Those who submit premium names (a well-known dictionary word .com, sonorous pronounceable four-letter .com, 5letter .com that is a cleverly misspelled dictionary word etc.) have no problem getting their names approved. Only those who submit handregs have. And should have! With small exceptions of sudden outbursts (like it happened with CBD or cryptocurrency) and for a very limited time only. All mediocre handreg brandables are VERY subjective and each curated marketplace can and should have their own criteria for acceptance. And sellers should understand that.

 

[DomainBanana]

I came here to write a long post, but then I found this post by @SuperBrander and realized I no longer have to write one :D He said all I wanted to say and phrased it way better than I would have. I agree with everything.

Some people just need to get over their ego Those who submit premium names (a well-known dictionary word .com, sonorous pronounceable four-letter .com, 5letter .com that is a cleverly misspelled dictionary word etc.) have no problem getting their names approved. Only those who submit handregs have. And should have! With small exceptions of sudden outbursts (like it happened with CBD or cryptocurrency) and for a very limited time only.

Oh, okay, I guess I will go load up on well-known dictionary words and sonorous pronounceable 4Ls then.

Problem solved. Thanks, Namewell

 

[boker]

I came here to write a long post, but then I found this post by @SuperBrander and realized I no longer have to write one :D He said all I wanted to say and phrased it way better than I would have. I agree with everything.

Some people just need to get over their ego Those who submit premium names (a well-known dictionary word .com, sonorous pronounceable four-letter .com, 5letter .com that is a cleverly misspelled dictionary word etc.) have no problem getting their names approved. Only those who submit handregs have. And should have! With small exceptions of sudden outbursts (like it happened with CBD or cryptocurrency) and for a very limited time only.

You or me, one of us for sure is confused. The main debate is about the new system of reviews and the advantage reviewers get. I'm doing only handregs and I have close to 20% acceptance, so this is not an issue. Also, who owns a premium name, like a one word .com or even an LLLL.com, I don't think that they will want it listed for under $2499 and as far as I know the reviewers don't deal with over $2499 prices, it's going back through the old system. So your well prepared post it's about something that is not highly debated here at the moment. By the way, can you share how many well known one word dictionary domains or LLLL.com's do you have listed and sold at SH?

 

[Ntmt]

I think @SuperBrander mentioned that experts are rewarded with Points but for lifestyle image or visibility boost you need Coins. So seems Experts cannot use rewards to promote their names. Am I missing something?

 

[DomainBanana]

I think @SuperBrander mentioned that experts are rewarded with Points but for lifestyle image or visibility boost you need Coins. So seems Experts cannot use rewards to promote their names. Am I missing something?

500 points = 1 standard boost
2,000 points = 1 super boost

100 reviews per day equals approximately 2,000 points per day or 730,000 points per year.

200 reviews per day equals approximately 4,000 points per day or 1,460,000 points per year

1,460,000 points = 730 super boosts or 2,920 standard boosts

Reviewers are not limited to 200 reviews per day.

 

[SuperBrander]

Yeah, everybody. Stop handregging and buy expensive domains! But seriously... handregging can be great, when you manage it well. It can provide great ROI at low risk. Also, easier to drop, if you manage to get over the mental obstacle of letting a name you like go. My advice, for what it's worth is: don't let the hand registrations that sell blind you from the overwhelming majority that don't and never will. Comps with hand registrations are usually harder because all the obvious combinations are almost always taken. So you play around, stray away, try a synonym, add letters, find other words. It can sound good. But is it better than the other word you could have used? Is RoseAndFig.com better than FigAndOak.com, OakAndHoney.com, RoseAndPetal.com etc.? Is Zapion.com better than Zapizo.com, Zapial.com, Zapiro etc.? (totally random domains by the way. Don't have a clue what's registered and what isn't).

Ultimately- to make a decent or more profit with handregged domains you need enough decent names with potential to sell & the right price for the right buyer at the right time seeing one of your domains and deciding that's the one. Most domains that are/were available to handreg aren't worth stressing out over or getting paranoid about. There are exceptions to the rule and sometimes you can find available domains that have great comps or a higher than average probability of selling for other reasons. Most of the time though, even if it sounds great to you and could be great as a business name- it doesn't mean it's a slam dunk. It likely isn't and there are many alternatives. Sometimes it's worth trying for a year and then dropping. Sometimes it's better to let SH register it to eliminate the risk. Just experiment based on your budget and find out what works best for you. OK, I'm at a word overload so I'll call it a day. But I'll just add that I hope everybody can try not to attack each other. I think most of us can agree that SH is generally awesome and that everybody can like or dislike certain things and suggest changes or oppose them. Constructive discussions without accusations or provocations are probably best.

 

[NameWell]

You or me, one of us for sure is confused. The main debate is about the new system of reviews and the advantage reviewers get. I'm doing only handregs and I have close to 20% acceptance, so this is not an issue. Also, who owns a premium name, like a one word .com or even an LLLL.com, I don't think that they will want it listed for under $2499 and as far as I know the reviewers don't deal with over $2499 prices, it's going back through the old system. So your well prepared post it's about something that is not highly debated here at the moment. By the way, can you share how many well known one word dictionary domains or LLLL.com's do you have listed and sold at SH?

There were so many posts from people complaining that their personal acceptance rate dropped or that they were not able to get particular (usually mediocre) names approved or that ALL reviewers are villains and will do whatever it takes to harm other sellers that I have serious doubts about what the main debate is really about

If you feel that the current reviewer reward system is not adequate (and you may actually have a point here), then okay, make a constructive proposal and suggest a better system i.e. fewer points for approved domain names and more cash for sold ones or whatever. SH is known for taking into consideration constructive feedback and quite often improving their policies accordingly. 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).

 

[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.