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.

 

[NameFinest]

Good luck NameFinest. No luck with any of my names with Atom after 9 months. Had them with prices at first and then changed half to make offer. Best of luck with your names!

Thanks buddy! Have you tried any other platform/marketplace with more luck?

 

[phaethon]

Good luck NameFinest. No luck with any of my names with Atom after 9 months. Had them with prices at first and then changed half to make offer. Best of luck with your names!

I have started in January, testing them for a year, I have only 60 premium names, 550 Plus. 900 shortlists, 0 sales. I will stay them with them for two years and see what happens, but I will downgrade to Plus if no sales by the end of first year.

 

[NameFinest]

I have started in January, testing them for a year, I have only 60 premium names, 550 Plus. 900 shortlists, 0 sales. I will stay them with them for two years and see what happens, but I will downgrade to Plus if no sales by the end of first year.

Oh wow, zero sales on all these domains must be frustrating! Did you try any other marketplace? Why are you going to downgrade them?

 

[likemike]

Sure Name tried Sedo and Afternic. Sold a few on Sedo and got a couple low ball offers on Afternic but nothing worthwhile. Been looking for other sites to market my names on that get good action. It takes a long time to sell for resale.

 

[phaethon]

Oh wow, zero sales on all these domains must be frustrating! Did you try any other marketplace? Why are you going to downgrade them?

0 sales in 6 months on ATOM I mean. I have sales on Afternic.
Downgrade because there won't be any value to justify a 30% commission, but loss as I have spent money on coins and logos.
Plus is 15%.

 

[NameFinest]

0 sales in 6 months on ATOM I mean. I have sales on Afternic.
Downgrade because there won't be any value to justify a 30% commission, but loss as I have spent money on coins and logos.
Plus is 15%.

Alright thanks I understand.
Do you keep BIN or MO or something else at Afternic? And Atom?

 

[silentg]

Any sales from your plus / sapphire listing?

 

[phaethon]

Nothing, no sales, no offers, just the special effects, strong buyer interest etc..

 

[DomainRecap]

I have started in January, testing them for a year, I have only 60 premium names, 550 Plus. 900 shortlists, 0 sales. I will stay them with them for two years and see what happens, but I will downgrade to Plus if no sales by the end of first year.

Are you forwarding your domain traffic to Atom or to somewhere else?

 

[phaethon]

Are you forwarding your domain traffic to Atom or to somewhere else?

I use their nameservers for the premium ones only.. I cannot stop using AN nameservers that have been delivering sales over 2.5 years to try something new and pay 25-30% comission.
I'm trying ATOM to see if it's possible to get more sales annually and increase my STR..Also for some names that are unlikely to be found on AN.

 

[DomainRecap]

I use their nameservers for the premium ones only.. I cannot stop using AN nameservers that have been delivering sales over 2.5 years to try something new and pay 25-30% comission.

Well then Afternic will continue to be your sales leader as 90%+ of my sales come the sales venue where I forward my traffic to. It's just the way the business works, as the first thing a potential corporate buyer does is type the domain into a) the address bar or b) Google or some other search engine.

Sure, the other 5-10% of sales will come from random buyers poking around marketplaces and searching on keywords or clicking on partner links at registrars, but with only 60 domains forwarded to Atom, you really shouldn't be worried about how many you sell there - at a 2% STR you might sell one a year.

That's because as long as you forward the vast majority of your domain traffic to Afternic, that's where the majority of your sales will be. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

[phaethon]

Yeah probably, and the Plus listings market on Atom is over saturated. I will probably just leave my names as Plus listings and rely on AN where I'm doing well.
Most of my sales are GoDaddy searches, I don't think the nameservers or PR play a significant role.

 

[DomainRecap]

Most of my sales are GoDaddy searches, I don't think the nameservers or PR play a significant role.

Exactly how do you know that?

I seriously doubt that any GD searches would outpace type-ins + partner clicks + Google/search engines, but if you have hard data I am prepared to be proven incorrect.

I went to Afternic after Dan closed and all was traffic was sent there, along with receiving 100% of my offers. Then towards the end of February I got tired of GD brokers and switched to Atom, sending all my traffic there, along with receiving 100% of my offers between then and now.

The only activity I've had at Afternic since moving were a couple of counter offers on already existing negotiations. Back when I was forwarding traffic to Dan, almost 100% of my offers came through Dan. The same with Sedo when I tried sending traffic to them a few years ago.

I'd love to see data that states the majority of offers are due to marketplace searches, rather than traffic.

You should put it to the test and send ALL your traffic to Atom for a few months, while listing at Standard to get self-brokerage, and see how many brand new offers you get from Afternic. I would bet serious money the number drops way down, while the Atom offers will noticeably increase.

 

[NameFinest]

Exactly how do you know that?

I seriously doubt that any GD searches would outpace type-ins + partner clicks + Google/search engines, but if you have hard data I am prepared to be proven incorrect.

I went to Afternic after Dan closed and all was traffic was sent there, along with receiving 100% of my offers. Then towards the end of February I got tired of GD brokers and switched to Atom, sending all my traffic there, along with receiving 100% of my offers between then and now.

The only activity I've had at Afternic since moving were a couple of counter offers on already existing negotiations. Back when I was forwarding traffic to Dan, almost 100% of my offers came through Dan. The same with Sedo when I tried sending traffic to them a few years ago.

I'd love to see data that states the majority of offers are due to marketplace searches, rather than traffic.

You should put it to the test and send ALL your traffic to Atom for a few months, while listing at Standard to get self-brokerage, and see how many brand new offers you get from Afternic. I would bet serious money the number drops way down, while the Atom offers will noticeably increase.

Absolutely agree with you

 

[draco]

Anyone know how long Premium reviews are taking? I have one that's over 3 weeks old now.

 

[phaethon]

Exactly how do you know that?

Because almost all my sales are registered on GoDaddy, there is no negotiation / communication lead, just a lead that shows that a sale happened without any agent-buyer contact or further details. I only had two sales out of 15 that a negotiation took place after a PR or a call and those domains sold for less.
Every domainer has different names and targets though, what works for me, might not work for someone else and vice versa.
I even had two small xxx sales that the names did not resolve at all as PPC parked, due to being blacklisted, but sold.

 

[Exot]

Anyone know how long Premium reviews are taking? I have one that's over 3 weeks old now.

They are really backed up right now, my last ones took over a month

 

[DomainRecap]

Because almost all my sales are registered on GoDaddy, there is no negotiation / communication lead, just a lead that shows that a sale happened without any agent-buyer contact or further details. I only had two sales out of 15 that a negotiation took place after a PR or a call and those domains sold for less.

No idea what you're talking about here and you might want to rewrite it.

You've got domains just magically selling out of nowhere without mentioning a BIN and somehow that 100% confirms (to you) that the buyer found it through search and not type-in, which makes less than zero sense. I've auto-sold domains at BIN using landers that don't have any search mechanism at all (like DomainEasy) - how is that possible?

I think I'm done here and you can go back to magic and sorcery.

 

[End Game]

Exactly how do you know that?

I seriously doubt that any GD searches would outpace type-ins + partner clicks + Google/search engines, but if you have hard data I am prepared to be proven incorrect.

I went to Afternic after Dan closed and all was traffic was sent there, along with receiving 100% of my offers. Then towards the end of February I got tired of GD brokers and switched to Atom, sending all my traffic there, along with receiving 100% of my offers between then and now.

The only activity I've had at Afternic since moving were a couple of counter offers on already existing negotiations. Back when I was forwarding traffic to Dan, almost 100% of my offers came through Dan. The same with Sedo when I tried sending traffic to them a few years ago.

I'd love to see data that states the majority of offers are due to marketplace searches, rather than traffic.

You should put it to the test and send ALL your traffic to Atom for a few months, while listing at Standard to get self-brokerage, and see how many brand new offers you get from Afternic. I would bet serious money the number drops way down, while the Atom offers will noticeably increase.

Do you think it would be worth it to list Domains on Atom standard tier, even if their name servers aren't used?
I don't see how anyone would find the domain at that tier level. Thanks

 

[NicTraders]

Do you think it would be worth it to list Domains on Atom standard tier, even if their name servers aren't used?
I don't see how anyone would find the domain at that tier level. Thanks

No, I think @DomainRecap is saying the best way to do a proper test is to change the NS to Atom's for a while so you're using their landers. It's only then that you could properly compare the past performance of AN/GD with that of Atom's.