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.

 

[Dane]

Wanted to let everyone know I recently sold an Atom Premium name on Afternic.

Atom verified my AN payout and paid the $300 via their Commission Match Guarantee

In the past some in the thread had issues collecting, but it went smoothly for me. Just thought I'd add that data point.

Even though it sold on Afternic - my gut feeling is that it was due to Atom's marketing (although obv I can't be sure).

I've also had names sell on Afternic even though the DNS was pointing to Atom (Squadhelp at the time). But they weren't Premium names so there was no marketing from Atom. Why did they sell on Afternic instead of on Squadhelp/Atom? Beats me.

For the record, I had a name sell on Atom fairly recently, a non-premium name -- so they DO sell. But all the bugs and issues and glitches are pushing me away.

 

[DomainRecap]

In other weird news, I just sold my second domain (over the past week) on Sedo and I can't even remember my prior sale there. Still zero sales on Atom since early-May.

I think we're officially in the Twilight Zone.

P.S. I just checked and my previous Sedo sale was in 2021. Yes, 2021, back when I sent all my traffic there.

P.P.S. And no, I don't use Atom's "Sedo Syndication" to cross-post my domains - these are all my own personal Sedo listings from way back to today. And these were all 15% "found on Sedo" offers, not MLS ones.

Very, very weird.

 

[NameGroove]

I've also had names sell on Afternic even though the DNS was pointing to Atom (Squadhelp at the time). But they weren't Premium names so there was no marketing from Atom. Why did they sell on Afternic instead of on Squadhelp/Atom? Beats me.

For the record, I had a name sell on Atom fairly recently, a non-premium name -- so they DO sell. But all the bugs and issues and glitches are pushing me away.

When they are non-premium, the likelihood of the buyer finding on Atom is very small. As such, I'd lean into Afternic being the primary reason it sold.

It's a great data point that you were able to sell a non-premium on Atom. Was it Sapphire or Plus? Or just Standard?

As for bugs/glitches... sadly, no matter where you go, you're gonna find em. Afternic has them. As does Sedo, etc. The way of the tech world these days.

 

[DomainRecap]

It's a great data point that you were able to sell a non-premium on Atom.

Why? He already stated he's sending all his traffic to Atom, and that's what generates 90%+ of buyer interest. If he wasn't doing this, and the traffic was going to Sedo or Afternic, then it would be a great data point.

The amazing part is selling one on Afternic when his NS are set to Atom.

 

[Optixgroup]

I've also had an Atom premium name sell on Afternic despite using Atom landers, and I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I agree that Atom's promotion of the name didn't hurt matters.

 

[D Haynes]

Sales on Afternic not using their landers are likely through the GD or partner registry stream (at least that's what makes most sense to me).

 

[Dane]

Sales on Afternic not using their landers are likely through the GD or partner registry stream (at least that's what makes most sense to me).

As much as I dislike Afternic, the fact that their network sells names -- even when the landing page is something else -- is pretty hard to ignore. I just wish there was an alternative to Afternic with a similar type of network.

 

[DomainRecap]

Sales on Afternic not using their landers are likely through the GD or partner registry stream (at least that's what makes most sense to me).

I have heard from several buyers (who contacted me about other stuff) who specifically chose to buy through GoDaddy (Afternic is dead and buyers never see the brand) after viewing the domain elsewhere, simply due to a) trust and b) they had an existing GD account.

Nothing to do with searching on GD or finding the domain on an MLS partner, they know what they want to buy and GD just provides them less friction.

I've also had brokers contact me to buy a domain, and I sent them a direct link for payment (5% or so), but they instead request one from GoDaddy for the same reasons I listed above.

I really don't think Search has a lot to do with it. MLS maybe a little bit, but you can barely see private marketplace listings on GD search anymore, due to the preponderance of junk registrar listings. Most buyers just know the GoDaddy name and if your domain is cross listed, then some will try to buy it there instead.

 

[NameGroove]

Sales on Afternic not using their landers are likely through the GD or partner registry stream (at least that's what makes most sense to me).

But the question is how did the buyer first hear of it? Happenstance? Coincidence? Or did they find it on Atom (or via Atom's ads)? And then go to the reg path at GoDaddy (or partners) to buy?

To assume it's Afternic, that'd be some heck of coincidence of timing for a name that has been registered since 1999, and that was for sale for 13 years at 1/3 of the price.

Suddenly 4 months after Atom starts promoting the name it finds a buyer? Unloved for 25 years... then whammo? Could be for sure. Boost was on - so perhaps GD boosted it - although I've rarely seen this correctly happen, but hey, perhaps it did in this case.

I do agree with others, GoDaddy's reach is undeniable, so perhaps I'm weighing Atoms marketing too heavily.

Perhaps after the site goes live I'll reach out to the buyer to ask. Solving the mystery would be interesting!

 

[D Haynes]

I have heard from several buyers (who contacted me about other stuff) who specifically chose to buy through GoDaddy (Afternic is dead and buyers never see the brand) after viewing the domain elsewhere, simply due to a) trust and b) they had an existing GD account.

Nothing to do with searching on GD or finding the domain on an MLS partner, they know what they want to buy and GD just provides them less friction.

I've also had brokers contact me to buy a domain, and I sent them a direct link for payment (5% or so), but they instead request one from GoDaddy for the same reasons I listed above.

I really don't think Search has a lot to do with it. MLS maybe a little bit, but you can barely see private marketplace listings on GD search anymore, due to the preponderance of junk registrar listings. Most buyers just know the GoDaddy name and if your domain is cross listed, then some will try to buy it there instead.

But if someone searches your name at a partner registrar to check availability, it'll come up as available for your selling price but I agree that their on site search function is useless.

 

[D Haynes]

But the question is how did the buyer first hear of it? Happenstance? Coincidence? Or did they find it on Atom (or via Atom's ads)? And then go to the reg path at GoDaddy (or partners) to buy?

To assume it's Afternic, that'd be some heck of coincidence of timing for a name that has been registered since 1999, and that was for sale for 13 years at 1/3 of the price.

Suddenly 4 months after Atom starts promoting the name it finds a buyer? Unloved for 25 years... then whammo? Could be for sure. Boost was on - so perhaps GD boosted it - although I've rarely seen this correctly happen, but hey, perhaps it did in this case.

I do agree with others, GoDaddy's reach is undeniable, so perhaps I'm weighing Atoms marketing too heavily.

Perhaps after the site goes live I'll reach out to the buyer to ask. Solving the mystery would be interesting!

Yeah I mean it's hard to say how the lead would have come in but it's entirely plausible someone just typed it into their registrar of choice that was a GD partner and it came up with your asking price and they pulled the trigger.

I personally switched all my landers to Atom about 6 months ago (maybe a bit more) and have had 3 passive sales there and not a single view (and I mean not a single view) of any of may names at AN since which tells me the majority of my sales come throught the landers (had a sale at Sedo and auctioned another name off)

 

[NicTraders]

Personally I'm very pleased with Atom. I don't have any premium listings (a conscious decision) and haven't noticed any real issues with landers etc (using their WLM). Might be a numbers game. I have around 170 names listed so am a lot less likely to experience issues than if you have a few thousand names.

I wonder if there is any difference between delivery of the WLM and their standard landers which makes glitches less likely on the WLM?...

 

[NameGroove]

Yeah I mean it's hard to say how the lead would have come in but it's entirely plausible someone just typed it into their registrar of choice that was a GD partner and it came up with your asking price and they pulled the trigger.

I personally switched all my landers to Atom about 6 months ago (maybe a bit more) and have had 3 passive sales there and not a single view (and I mean not a single view) of any of may names at AN since which tells me the majority of my sales come throught the landers (had a sale at Sedo and auctioned another name off)

Did you mean reg path?

 

[DomainRecap]

But the question is how did the buyer first hear of it? Happenstance? Coincidence? Or did they find it on Atom (or via Atom's ads)? And then go to the reg path at GoDaddy (or partners) to buy?

More than likely they typed the name into a browser and found it that way. Google searches are another initial search method employed by buyers.

Then if they didn't know or like the marketplace it's forwarded to, they could look elsewhere for it, and decide if a viable/trustworthy (to them) option is available. If the potential buyer doesn't find it listed on their venue of choice (let's say GD in this instance), then they may employ a GD broker to initiate the negotiations and ensure the transaction processes through GD.

I'll say it once and I'll say it again, organic searches through domain marketplaces is a vastly overrated sales metric. The image of "thousands and thousands of buyers immediately flocking to Atom, Sedo, Saw, etc. to search for the domain of their dreams" is a fairy tale you'd tell your kids at night.

GoDaddy is a bit different, as they are a multi-tiered registrar and the 'husk of Afternic' doesn't have a search engine, so they would inherently get a lot more traffic. But it's only a slight step up from pure marketplaces.

 

[D Haynes]

Did you mean reg path?

Thats what I meant yes

 

[D Haynes]

I wonder if there is any difference between delivery of the WLM and their standard landers which makes glitches less likely on the WLM?...

Entirely possible as they seem to run them as separate things where certain features were not available on WLM untill recently.

 

[Dane]

The image of "thousands and thousands of buyers immediately flocking to Atom, Sedo, Saw, etc. to search for the domain of their dreams" is a fairy tale you'd tell your kids at night.

They LOVE that story!

 

[DomainRecap]

I do agree with others, GoDaddy's reach is undeniable, so perhaps I'm weighing Atoms marketing too heavily.

I think this statement is very close to the truth.

 

[DomainRecap]

They LOVE that story!

Domain investors also love that fairy tale, as it allows them to sleep at night.

 

[love4ever]

See a simple example of importance for the domain to be indexed . @NameGroove

If i decided to create a brand for my product/website/company etc .. And for whatever reason i decided to
call it ( extava ) .
Then i went to google to check this name is what about ? and showing what results ? Is it bad or good ? Odd or normal ? Is it used before or no ? There is a similar to it or no , or or or ........

Then i will see the results as below , You can see how nice to see your own domain exposed to the eyes of potential interested person/buyer

After seeing the google results, The interested person/buyer could go to his preferred registrar to see if he can buy it from there in case he is not comfortable with company/marketplace called atom , But at lease he saw it in google results and it took his attention .
The below example applied for most domains we own & listed for sale .

.