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.

 

[doidomnola]

Oh no, he doesn't want to do that. He wants his name to be listed #1 and he wants it to happen while his name is Standard and he's paying 7.5% commission. He says anything else than this is "bad-faith" and unethical This guy is something else. He's so dug into his belief, I'm just wondering if I'm missing something - perhaps someone else gets his pov (cause I sure don't)

The end user doesn't care what about premium or standard or how much Atom makes vs the seller they just expect exact match to actually be exact matches not something hidden from them because they're not premium.

 

[doidomnola]

So how do you mitigate the fact that someone pays 25-30% commission to be listed first and yet someone else drops ahead of them with their 7.5% commission? What is the extra commission for then? Wouldn't this just create weird incentives (no point in paying more and becoming Premium... I'll just stay as Standard and show #1). Oh and I'll also take advantage of all the marketing dollars Atom spends to acquire buyers and market to them on my behalf. Doesn't sound like a sustainable business model to me

Contrary to the fact Atom promotes itself foremost as a brandable marketplace, single English words names are their bread and butter and hiding them from end users is just odd to me. I personally don't think Atom needs to waste any marketing dollars on single word .com names as they sell themselves. I'd be curious to know how much direct traffic Atom gets from single word standard listings that results in sales of other domains. I mean I doubt Atom is going to reward the domainer with any reasonable cut of a sale they wouldn't have otherwise gotten.

 

[NameGroove]

Contrary to the fact Atom promotes itself foremost as a brandable marketplace, single English words names are their bread and butter and hiding them from end users is just odd to me. I personally don't think Atom needs to waste any marketing dollars on single word .com names as they sell themselves. I'd be curious to know how much direct traffic Atom gets from single word standard listings that results in sales of other domains. I mean I doubt Atom is going to reward the domainer with any reasonable cut of a sale they wouldn't have otherwise gotten.

Hilco, the company that funded Atom probably sees great benefit in cross marketing. obv if someone knows the exact name they want, no marketplace is necessary. However, I've heard over and over (from Atom) that buyers generally don't know what name they have in mind when they come to the marketplace. And while their answer could be self serving - it makes sense. After all, why come to a marketplace and type the word "repair" into it - if all you want is repair.com or repair.io? If you know those are the names you want, you just type them into the browser and see what's going on with them. It is my guess that most buyers are unclear of the name they want. So they come to a marketplace to test, read, surf, and gather ideas. And that's why Hilco, even though they own all the banger one worders, invested in Atom and put their names here. Because it likely increased their STR by getting their names in front of buyers that would have otherwise not thought of them.

The marketing isn't just in promoting the name itself. It's promoting the company. It's promoting the brand. it's promoting Atom to the myriad companies who have myriad options of where to look when they need a name. So while it's great and all that they do retargeting (and it likely helps) they need to be paid to stand out and be the first thought in a companies mind as the go to resource for all things naming. That's what we're paying 25-30% commissions for. Without that, they are just another of the many unknown marketplaces that exist online (and there are many).

 

[br1ll1on]

The end user doesn't care what about premium or standard or how much Atom makes vs the seller they just expect exact match to actually be exact matches not something hidden from them because they're not premium.

Wrong, if they wanted exact match they would most probably type in directly instead of coming to marketplace, secondly there is a clearly visible button for exact match only.

 

[doidomnola]

Wrong, if they wanted exact match they would most probably type in directly instead of coming to marketplace, secondly there is a clearly visible button for exact match only.Show attachment 273511

Exact match only doesn't deliver exact match only results. It's littered with other suggestions often nothing to do with the search query and likely boosted or super boosted names.

There's quite a bit of back and forth with Atom on this topic a few months ago. Ultimately, they added exact match (though hobbled) once so many folks here and elsewhere pushed them on it.

 

[DomainRecap]

Oh no, he doesn't want to do that. He wants his name to be listed #1 and he wants it to happen while his name is Standard and he's paying 7.5% commission. He says anything else than this is "bad-faith" and unethical

From Atom and the seller's POV, this might seem rational, but from a customer point of view, artificially salting the results with inferior domains (with a higher commission rate) while pushing superior domains (with a lower commission) much lower on the "exact match" search list, certainly doesn't look above board.

After all, the customer doesn't give rat's ass how much commission you're paying, they just want the best "exact match" domains that Atom has to offer.

And no, repair.ai should not be first on the list in an EMD search, but it should be right after all the other Premium repair.tld domains, and certainly ahead of stuff like Fixuro.com, RepairKart.com, GemRepair.com, or RepairCarnival.com.

P.S. I just ran generic and EMD searches on Atom and now repair.ai shows up first in both of them. Squeaky wheel gets the grease or did the owner go Premium?

 

[biggie]

Honestly exact match should appear first regardless of plus, standard or premium. Its not like they'll ever be more than 2 or 3.

When it comes to exact match I can't ever recall Atom doing things the way any common sense would lead one to think.

Hi

in the "search results" game, nowadays, you have to pay to play at the top
at least that was squadhelp does with all their different marketplace levels and what afternic tried to do with Boost.

it's not about a common sense approach anymore...it's about the dollars and cents now.

imo....

 

[Atom.com]

@Atom.com As of today, there is a cookie notification that will not disappear, no matter what you choose.

(Dashboard, landers, marketplace)
Show attachment 273484

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Our team hasn’t been able to reproduce the issue so far, but we’re actively investigating it

 

[Atom.com]

Hi @Atom.com The team said that in the first quarter they would launch new tools for logo designers. Q1 is already over, and there's no news. When should we expect the innovation? Thank you.

This is actively in progress and remains on our roadmap for this year. Please note that our roadmap is intentionally fluid, allowing us to quickly adapt to emerging opportunities and shifting priorities. That said, there’s a good possibility that our AI Logo Generator for end users will go live this quarter. This will also offer opportunities for end users to collaborate directly with logo designers.

It’s an important initiative for us, and we appreciate your patience as we work to bring these features to life.

 

[Future Sensors]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Our team hasn’t been able to reproduce the issue so far, but we’re actively investigating it

Thanks. Some additional info: It appears to be happening with Firefox across different devices (pc and mobile). It started yesterday, when other browsers like Chrome also showed the Atom cookie notification. In Firefox it's just not able to dismiss, and the cookie notification will bug the visitor/Seller on every screen.

 

[Atom.com]

>15 weeks (and counting) for domain appeals @Atom.com

I realize you're focused on new products and other fun things, but it's important to also give effort towards the primary goal of the platform which is to get listings approved for sale (or rejected so we can move along).

Thanks for your feedback—we hear you. The appeal review timeline has taken longer than we’d like, and we're actively working on ways to improve and speed up this process. Ensuring a timely and consistent review experience remains an important priority for us

 

[kor]

In order to perceive the purchasing process from the user's perspective, I added a domain name that I priced at $2995 with a 6-month installment option to the cart and proceeded to the checkout step.

When I select Wire Transfer, the system displays a notification saying "Save $500 by sending funds via Wire Transfer". Will Atom pay the first installment from his pocket?

Apart from this, I understand that you rounded the prices to make it look more appealing on the landing page. However, shouldn't the monthly amount to be paid be ($2995 / 6 = $499.17) in the billing section? The extra $5 added to the total price without being disclosed may create a negative perception in some buyers.

 

[Atom.com]

From Atom and the seller's POV, this might seem rational, but from a customer point of view, artificially salting the results with inferior domains (with a higher commission rate) while pushing superior domains (with a lower commission) much lower on the "exact match" search list, certainly doesn't look above board.

After all, the customer doesn't give rat's ass how much commission you're paying, they just want the best "exact match" domains that Atom has to offer.

And no, repair.ai should not be first on the list in an EMD search, but it should be right after all the other Premium repair.tld domains, and certainly ahead of stuff like Fixuro.com, RepairKart.com, GemRepair.com, or RepairCarnival.com.

P.S. I just ran generic and EMD searches on Atom and now repair.ai shows up first in both of them. Squeaky wheel gets the grease or did the owner go Premium?

Thanks for your feedback. Just to give a bit of context: Atom was built as a discovery-first marketplace. Our goal is to help buyers uncover names they may not have originally searched for — but that resonate with them when they see them. That’s an important reason why we prioritize curated Premium listings in search results. These domains have gone through a review process and are more likely to align with what buyers are actually looking for.

That’s not to say Standard listings are lower quality — but showing uncurated results above curated ones can hurt the overall experience and lead to buyer drop-off due to search fatigue.

Now, to address the point about commissions — yes, Premium listings carry a higher commission. But there’s a reason for that: we invest heavily in marketing these domains. From paid ad campaigns and syndication to brand strategy and buyer outreach, we put real resources behind bringing traffic to Premium listings. That investment is what justifies both the commission rate and the increased visibility. So in that sense, it’s not about favoring one tier over another — it’s about aligning exposure with where the investment is being made.

It’s also worth noting that not all buyers searching for a keyword are looking for an exact-match domain. For example, someone searching for “clothing” isn’t necessarily looking for clothing.io or clothing.xyz — they may just want a strong brand for a clothing business. In fact, our purchase data demonstrates that a large number of buyers end up buying domains that do not include the explicit keywords they searched for. If we only showed exact-match keyword domains with alternative extensions at the top, it could limit creative discovery (imagine a first page of only clothing.io, clothing.xyz, clothing.agency, etc.).

Our algorithm is designed to balance relevance, creativity, and pricing integrity — not just keyword matching. And when someone searches for a full domain (including the extension), it will always appear first, regardless of its listing tier.

Previously, Standard listings weren’t shown in main marketplace search at all. We've since expanded that — but they appear after Premium listings to preserve a consistent and high-trust buyer experience. For example, if someone lists a one-word domain in a lesser-known extension for $10M and it surfaces first due to an exact match, it can throw off the pricing expectations for everyone.

We’re always working to improve how relevant Standard listings show up in search, without compromising the experience that buyers rely on when they come to Atom.

 

[Atom.com]

In order to perceive the purchasing process from the user's perspective, I added a domain name that I priced at $2995 with a 6-month installment option to the cart and proceeded to the checkout step.

When I select Wire Transfer, the system displays a notification saying "Save $500 by sending funds via Wire Transfer". Will Atom pay the first installment from his pocket?

Apart from this, I understand that you rounded the prices to make it look more appealing on the landing page. However, shouldn't the monthly amount to be paid be ($2995 / 6 = $499.17) in the billing section? The extra $5 added to the total price without being disclosed may create a negative perception in some buyers.

Show attachment 273596

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We do occasionally offer incentives to encourage buyers to use wire transfers instead of credit cards, and when we do, the discount is covered by Atom.

That said, the specific message you saw appears to be a glitch from a recent platform update, and we’ll get that corrected.

Regarding installment pricing, we round off the monthly payment amounts for simplicity and clarity on the checkout page. However, we’ll share your feedback with our product team for further review.

 

[DomainRecap]

@Atom.com

In the Offer Center it would be really nice if the Offer Amount in the column would update to the latest/highest Buyer Offer. That way, this section would be useful and up to date, rather than always displaying the first and often-outdated offer, thus forcing you to click on each transaction to view the actual current Offer Amount.

In the recent "Respond to Questions/Suggestions/Bugs" flurry, this one seems to have been missed.

@Atom.com

 

[doidomnola]

If we only showed exact-match keyword domains with alternative extensions at the top, it could limit creative discovery (imagine a first page of only clothing.io, clothing.xyz, clothing.agency, etc.).

No one is suggesting you show only exact-match keywords on the first page. Rather, when users click your exact-match button, then actual exact match domains (if any) appear first whether premium, plus or standard.

I don't think it would dawn on most end users that you have exact match domains but since they're not premium they're buried somewhere down the page.

 

[Atom.com]

In the recent "Respond to Questions/Suggestions/Bugs" flurry, this one seems to have been missed.

@Atom.com

Thanks for the suggestion — it's a good one. We’re currently working on a completely revamped Offer Center, and your feedback has been shared with the product team. One of the goals is to ensure that recent activity is clearly visible on the main page without having to click into each offer.

 

[Atom.com]

No one is suggesting you show only exact-match keywords on the first page. Rather, when users click your exact-match button, then actual exact match domains (if any) appear first whether premium, plus or standard.

I don't think it would dawn on most end users that you have exact match domains but since they're not premium they're buried somewhere down the page.

Appreciate the feedback. It's worth noting that the overwhelming majority of buyers on our platform—over 85%—are specifically looking for .com domains. When they use the “exact match” filter, our click-through data shows that most are looking for domains that include the exact term within the name, rather than a domain with that precise SLD in an alternate extension.

When buyers are specifically seeking an alternative extension, they typically include the extension in the filter—and in those cases, the exact-match domain will surface right at the top.

That said, we do surface some exact-match SLDs (across popular extensions) toward the top of results when relevant. But we’re intentional about not creating an experience where the first page is dominated by alternate TLDs at the expense of strong .com names that include the keyword. Our goal is to strike a balance that respects user intent while delivering a high-quality, intuitive discovery experience.

 

[doidomnola]

When they use the “exact match” filter, our click-through data shows that most are looking for domains that include the exact term within the name, rather than a domain with that precise SLD in an alternate extension.

But you removed starts with, contains and end with options so you really can't know the intent of the user. You're making a lot of assumptions. But I think practically all end-users assume exact match searches will yield exact match results (all 1 or 2 of them).

But we’re intentional about not creating an experience where the first page is dominated by alternate TLDs at the expense of strong .com names that include the keyword.

How is displaying 1 or 2 exact-match alternate TLDs ever dominating a page?

 

[NameGroove]

From Atom and the seller's POV, this might seem rational, but from a customer point of view, artificially salting the results with inferior domains (with a higher commission rate) while pushing superior domains (with a lower commission) much lower on the "exact match" search list, certainly doesn't look above board.

After all, the customer doesn't give rat's ass how much commission you're paying, they just want the best "exact match" domains that Atom has to offer.

And no, repair.ai should not be first on the list in an EMD search, but it should be right after all the other Premium repair.tld domains, and certainly ahead of stuff like Fixuro.com, RepairKart.com, GemRepair.com, or RepairCarnival.com.

P.S. I just ran generic and EMD searches on Atom and now repair.ai shows up first in both of them. Squeaky wheel gets the grease or did the owner go Premium?

I hear you. There is a fine line to be struck here though. Using an ultra premium like repair .ai make the conversation go "easier". I mean, after all - who would suggest (regardless of commission) that this name shouldn't appear at or near the top. However, I don't think all repair.tld are created equal. What if the guy who has repair.horse shows up and says - this should also appear at the top. Is the buyer seriously expecting to see this at t the top when they search "repair"? Isn't that a disservice to the buyer? It's not easy for Atom to pick and choose - except that's exactly what buyers and sellers want them to do. Should the first 40 results be all exact match words in any and every tld? Is that truly why a buyer comes to Atom? I'd say no. Again, if they want an exact match keyword they'll either (i) type it in the URL bar or (ii) type it into goDaddy or NameCheap, etc - and see all the avail EM TLDs and/or aftermarket prices.

Thanks for your feedback. Just to give a bit of context: Atom was built as a discovery-first marketplace. Our goal is to help buyers uncover names they may not have originally searched for — but that resonate with them when they see them. That’s an important reason why we prioritize curated Premium listings in search results. These domains have gone through a review process and are more likely to align with what buyers are actually looking for.

That’s not to say Standard listings are lower quality — but showing uncurated results above curated ones can hurt the overall experience and lead to buyer drop-off due to search fatigue.

Now, to address the point about commissions — yes, Premium listings carry a higher commission. But there’s a reason for that: we invest heavily in marketing these domains. From paid ad campaigns and syndication to brand strategy and buyer outreach, we put real resources behind bringing traffic to Premium listings. That investment is what justifies both the commission rate and the increased visibility. So in that sense, it’s not about favoring one tier over another — it’s about aligning exposure with where the investment is being made.

It’s also worth noting that not all buyers searching for a keyword are looking for an exact-match domain. For example, someone searching for “clothing” isn’t necessarily looking for clothing.io or clothing.xyz — they may just want a strong brand for a clothing business. In fact, our purchase data demonstrates that a large number of buyers end up buying domains that do not include the explicit keywords they searched for. If we only showed exact-match keyword domains with alternative extensions at the top, it could limit creative discovery (imagine a first page of only clothing.io, clothing.xyz, clothing.agency, etc.).

Our algorithm is designed to balance relevance, creativity, and pricing integrity — not just keyword matching. And when someone searches for a full domain (including the extension), it will always appear first, regardless of its listing tier.

Previously, Standard listings weren’t shown in main marketplace search at all. We've since expanded that — but they appear after Premium listings to preserve a consistent and high-trust buyer experience. For example, if someone lists a one-word domain in a lesser-known extension for $10M and it surfaces first due to an exact match, it can throw off the pricing expectations for everyone.

We’re always working to improve how relevant Standard listings show up in search, without compromising the experience that buyers rely on when they come to Atom.

Well said!