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.

 

[NameGroove]

duplicate post (see below)

 

[NameGroove]

Show attachment 293646


Yikes, they charge an extra credit card fee...

Show attachment 293647

That's a first?

AtomEdge pricing is lower at $10.69 (once you have 100 names regged with them (see below)
https://www.atom.com/edge

Assuming there is no cc fee, it's a no brainer to transfer Atom premium names to Atom as an Edge customer.

However if they add a $.61 cc surcharge that results in $11.3 transfers (and registrations) which makes alternate registrars competitive unless you value the ancillary (non commission) benefits.

Renewal options for .com:

$11.30 at Atom (+~5% commission savings for Premium names) (price assumes cc surcharge is real)
$11.08 Porkbun & Unstoppable (Afternic and Sedo FT partner)
$10.99 Godaddy DDC Pro (requires $359.88 membership)
$10.88 at Dynadot (Afternic and Sedo FT partner)
$10.69 at Atom (+~5% commission savings for Premium names) (if cc surcharge is not real)
$10.18* at Spaceship (Sedo FT partner) *note: first yr transfer is $8.17 with code SPSCOMTR

As an example vs Dynadot, transferring to Atom's registrar would mean you'd spend $420 extra each year.
Thus you'd need to sell one $8,400 name each year to break even or sell two $4,200 names each year to break even.

 

[NameGroove]

@Atom.com is there a way to qualify for Atom Edge pricing at transfer #1, if we agree to transfer 100 names? Or are we required to transfer 100 names at the higher rate and only starting with transfer 101 do we receive the lower pricing?

Is this cc surcharge actually real? That is, are you actually charging this to registrar customers? No other registrar charges cc fees (except gname), which is why I ask. Further, you don't charge it to premium buyers if the charge is less than $2,500 - so it seemed incongruent here

Will your registrar be an Afternic Fast Transfer partner (today or in the future)?

Will add'l premium extensions be added shortly? For example you currently accept .co, .app, .now, .vc, .ly, .co.uk & com.au for Premium but we are unable to transfer these 7 Premium extensions to your registrar.

 

[King]

Time to hunt wabbits

 

[NameGroove]

Show attachment 293646


Yikes, they charge an extra credit card fee...

Show attachment 293647

That's a first?

I went through a new buy process via Domain Hunter and saw an $11.30 charge incl ICANN w/o any cc processing fee. I did not click the final "buy now" since I just wanted to see the price. But unless it pops at that point, it is not in the new reg charge

 

[Optixgroup]

Will your registrar be an Afternic Fast Transfer partner (today or in the future)?

This one is make-or-break for me.

 

[JJAllan]

AtomEdge pricing is lower at $10.69 (once you have 100 names regged with them (see below)
https://www.atom.com/edge

Assuming there is no cc fee, it's a no brainer to transfer Atom premium names to Atom as an Edge customer.

However if they add a $.61 cc surcharge that results in $11.3 transfers (and registrations) which makes alternate registrars competitive unless you value the ancillary (non commission) benefits.

Renewal options for .com:

$11.30 at Atom (+~5% commission savings for Premium names) (price assumes cc surcharge is real)
$11.08 Porkbun & Unstoppable (Afternic and Sedo FT partner)
$10.99 Godaddy DDC Pro (requires $359.88 membership)
$10.88 at Dynadot (Afternic and Sedo FT partner)
$10.69 at Atom (+~5% commission savings for Premium names) (if cc surcharge is not real)
$10.18* at Spaceship (Sedo FT partner) *note: first yr transfer is $8.17 with code SPSCOMTR

As an example vs Dynadot, transferring to Atom's registrar would mean you'd spend $420 extra each year.
Thus you'd need to sell one $8,400 name each year to break even or sell two $4,200 names each year to break even.

Show attachment 293653

Thanks for this breakdown !!

 

[NicTraders]

$11.30 at Atom (+~5% commission savings for Premium names) (price assumes cc surcharge is real)
$11.08 Porkbun & Unstoppable (Afternic and Sedo FT partner)
$10.99 Godaddy DDC Pro (requires $359.88 membership)
$10.88 at Dynadot (Afternic and Sedo FT partner)
$10.69 at Atom (+~5% commission savings for Premium names) (if cc surcharge is not real)
$10.18* at Spaceship (Sedo FT partner) *note: first yr transfer is $8.17 with code SPSCOMTR

Also, Porkbun is only $10.54 if you register for ACH-only pricing (and pre-fund your account).
And Dynadot's final price is also less if you pre-fund your account, as you get a discount. E.g. pre-fund with Wise or Bank Wire and you pay the equivalent of $10.77, or pre-fund via Checking Account and it will equate to $10.55.
I wonder if Atom will offer discounts for pre-funding your account too, since other registrars clearly pass on the savings in the cost of doing business...

is there a way to qualify for Atom Edge pricing at transfer #1, if we agree to transfer 100 names? Or are we required to transfer 100 names at the higher rate and only starting with transfer 101 do we receive the lower pricing?

Since you have to 'reach Edge status' as per @King's screenshot, it sounds like you have to do the first hundred at full price. That's a bit of a bother. In comparison, you can register for Unstoppable's Domainer Club (so long as you show that you're an investor with a decent qty of domains) and qualify for 2,000 transfers @ $5.99 each from transfer number 1. Admittedly, their renewals are $11.08, but with the low-cost transfer in that's not terrible.

 

[Hypersot]

...And Dynadot's final price is also less if you pre-fund your account, as you get a discount...

That's how it used to be. Not anymore I'm afraid :/
I'm a super bulk user that always has funds in the account and I still get to pay $10.88

 

[NameGroove]

Also, Porkbun is only $10.54 if you register for ACH-only pricing (and pre-fund your account).
And Dynadot's final price is also less if you pre-fund your account, as you get a discount. E.g. pre-fund with Wise or Bank Wire and you pay the equivalent of $10.77, or pre-fund via Checking Account and it will equate to $10.55.
I wonder if Atom will offer discounts for pre-funding your account too, since other registrars clearly pass on the savings in the cost of doing business...


Since you have to 'reach Edge status' as per @King's screenshot, it sounds like you have to do the first hundred at full price. That's a bit of a bother. In comparison, you can register for Unstoppable's Domainer Club (so long as you show that you're an investor with a decent qty of domains) and qualify for 2,000 transfers @ $5.99 each from transfer number 1. Admittedly, their renewals are $11.08, but with the low-cost transfer in that's not terrible.

Thanks for adding the prices for pre-funded accts. In the US, many of us hold rewards credit cards that often beat alternate payment methods (at redemption) so we tend to use those in lieu of pre-funding (as even though we initially pay more, once the redeemed reward is taken into acct, we'd "save" more by using the cc). However, not everyone is able to optimize in this fashion and for those outside the US where these sorts of cards are less prevalent pre-funding can make a lot of sense.

If Atom is truly forcing domainers to pay full price before "earning" edge - then the $14.89 .com registration cost will make the calculations change dramatically.

tbh, I'm not 100% sure Atom even has settled on pricing as of yet. They already changed the page and removed the $10.69 price they showed a few hours ago and now show this.

If I were Darpan and my team couldn't get the prices correct at launch, I'd pull them all into my office for a chat.

A few hours prior it was this

 

[NicTraders]

That's how it used to be. Not anymore I'm afraid :/
I'm a super bulk user that always has funds in the account and I still get to pay $10.88

Yeah, I'm Super Bulk too. It was disappointing that those discounts disappeared, but I can assure you that if you pre-fund your account there are new discounts (open to anyone who prefunds their account). I just added $1k to my account and it cost me $990 (1% discount for Wire transfer).

Here is the full list of discounts:

 

[NicTraders]

Yeah, I'm Super Bulk too. It was disappointing that those discounts disappeared, but I can assure you that if you pre-fund your account there are new discounts (open to anyone who prefunds their account). I just added $1k to my account and it cost me $990 (1% discount for Wire transfer).

To be clear - yes, the cost is still $10.88 a time of renewal, but the 1% discount at time of account funding means it equates to $10.77 for me.

 

[Hypersot]

@NicTraders ,
oh, that's why! You see, I have set an automatic pre-fund via PayPal (which doesn't seem to be in that list).

 

[NicTraders]

@NicTraders ,
oh, that's why! You see, I have set an automatic pre-fund via PayPal (which doesn't seem to be in that list).

Yeah, there is no discount for PayPal. Not sure if you might get a discount for setting up an auto pre-fund, but using one of the discounted methods (I assume you would)...

 

[King]

I went through a new buy process via Domain Hunter and saw an $11.30 charge incl ICANN w/o any cc processing fee. I did not click the final "buy now" since I just wanted to see the price. But unless it pops at that point, it is not in the new reg charge

It looks like they removed the cc fee and instead increased the price to $11.30

 

[Future Sensors]

It's encouraging to see that Atom Registrar isn't chasing maximum margins on domain registrations. There will always be cheaper registrars, and I think there is little point in always wanting to be the cheapest registrar, as long as the price-quality ratio feels right.

The AtomEdge reduced sales commission (when a domain is sold through Atom marketplace) appears to be Atom Registrar's primary long‑term incentive, designed to attract sellers who will move large portfolios to the registrar platform and keep them there. The hard reality is that for most investors, registration costs are guaranteed and immediate, while future sales (and therefore any commission savings) are uncertain.

Either way, it's positive to see a key industry player achieving yet another milestone.

Congrats @Atom.com.

 

[NicTraders]

It's encouraging to see that Atom Registrar isn't chasing maximum margins on domain registrations. There will always be cheaper registrars, and I think there is little point in always wanting to be the cheapest registrar, as long as the price-quality ratio feels right.

The AtomEdge reduced sales commission (when a domain is sold through Atom marketplace) appears to be Atom Registrar's primary long‑term incentive, designed to attract sellers who will move large portfolios to the registrar platform and keep them there. The hard reality is that for most investors, registration costs are guaranteed and immediate, while future sales (and therefore any commission savings) are uncertain.

Either way, it's positive to see a key industry player achieving yet another milestone.

Congrats @Atom.com.

I thought they had said at some point that they would be 'at cost' for AtomEdge (yes, that's what Andrew reported). So you'd expect them to be as low as anyone, aside from the likes of the loss-leaders @ Unstoppable.

 

[NicTraders]

They seem to be iterating as they go...

 

[NicTraders]

It is really weird seeing them adjust pricing throughout the day (or night, for many people).
I really would have thought they'd have final pricing nailed down well before publishing it live.

And 'retail' prices at Edge all display as 20c more than standard prices on the main page:

Edge:

Standard:

Maybe just a typo that they'll fix in due course...

 

[Future Sensors]

First baby steps as a registrar.