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.

 

[JudgeMind]

LOL ... have you been paid to write all this?

Merry Christmas to you too!

No I most certainly have not been paid to share this. If it isn’t beneficial for me to share FREE helpful information with the community then I will refrain from doing so. No benefit to me.

 

[Deven Patel]

No I most certainly have not been paid to share this. If it isn’t beneficial for me to share FREE helpful information with the community then I will refrain from doing so. No benefit to me.

Just wanted to chime in here and mention that @JudgeMind seems like a very authentic person. Although I haven't known him for long, he has always offered valuable and unsolicited advice to everyone at NamePros including me.

Happy Holidays everyone!

 

[mzakaib]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I wanted to share some strategies you may want to consider adopting in 2021.

1. Ensure every domain is classified targeting its niche. Add a detailed description that will connect your name to that niche and make it clear to a buyer what the brand represents. Include keywords in the description as well as 3 strong root keywords. Choose appropriate categories that connect to your keywords and description.


2. Price names competitively with other similar names listed in the marketplace.


3. Ensure each name has an appealing logo that will catch the attention of perspective buyers.


4. Offer discounts to make your names more appealing to a buyer. When a discount is applied, potential buyers who shortlisted your name will be notified of the discount via email if they did not previously receive an email alert about a price change


5. Apply super boosts to your names weekly.


6. Submit names to contests frequently.


7. Promote your names, public profile or WLM on social media.


8. If you have keyword rich domains you can reach out to companies that may be interested to inform them your name is listed at Squadhelp.


9. Include your names in the Afternic listing program.


Since Squadhelp’s ai system shows buyers names based on their recorded interests; the keywords, descriptions and categories are extremely important to be filled out completely and in as much detail as possible.


There’s a lot of pieces to the puzzle and it takes a big investment in ones time to ensure your portfolio is getting in front of as many potential buyers as possible. Hard work, dedication and attention to detail is the recipe for my success.

....
... I agree & have done all the above Including requesting Revised or New “appealing logos” with no success (replies) to my logo reviews. It’s actually very frustrating as I have requested logo reviews well over 3 to 6 months on many. The other points though have worked for me!

 

[loredan]

No I most certainly have not been paid to share this. If it isn’t beneficial for me to share FREE helpful information with the community then I will refrain from doing so. No benefit to me.

Naah ... don't take it the wrong way, you know that I respect and appreciate you and the info you share for FREE as I'm sure the whole community does, however some of your points just seemed a bit forced, a bit "paid-like" if you want...

Especially the #8 which I would re-write like this: If you have keyword rich domains, make sure you reach out to companies that may be interested before you list at Squadhelp in order to save about 20% - 25% of your eventual comission.

Also #7 ...promote your names ... jeez they are the ones screaming left and right that the reason they charge 30% is because they spend so much on advertising your names but they never tell you they mainly use retargetting which is the cheapest, crapiest and most annoying form of advertisement...

#2 - Price names competitively - you know you cannot do that as long as SH undercuts every single seller with their domain-owned prices.

#3 and #4 - not really much you can do apart from begging them to re-design and when they do it you risk to have a logo even worse than the first one. Just compare Alter's logos with SH's to see the difference.

#5 Apply super boosts --- in other words advising the newbies to spend more money on the platform?

#6 submit to contests ... cmon again you do all the legwork so they can bag comission?

#1 and #9 - solid advice.

Overall (no offense I hope) bad advice for newbies imo ...

 

[loredan]

Just wanted to chime in here and mention that @JudgeMind seems like a very authentic person. Although I haven't known him for long, he has always offered valuable and unsolicited advice to everyone at NamePros including me.

Happy Holidays everyone!

That's why you let him skip the review process / or softenfor hundreds of names at your marketplace?

 

[boker]

That's why you let him skip the review process / or softenfor hundreds of names at your marketplace?

The same is happening at SH as well, members who have skipped the review process for thousands of domains, so it seems that this is the standard for all brandable marketplaces.

 

[loredan]

The same is happening at SH as well, members who have skipped the review process for thousands of domains, so it seems that this is the standard for all brandable marketplaces.

Yeah ... talking about spine and integrity ... naah better stop here

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[boker]

Yeah ... talking about spine and integrity ...

I'm not talking about @JudgeMind in SH case, I don't know anything about him.

 

[Ostrados]

LOL ... have you been paid to write all this?

Merry Christmas to you too!

Why you say that?! he is helping others by posting helpful tips, and if you think about it for a moment, it is against his interest to help others doing good at SH because they will compete with him in selling.

@JudgeMind

Thanks for the valuable info that you provided through out all of this thread .. it is greatly appreciated.

 

[Deven Patel]

That's why you let him skip the review process / or softenfor hundreds of names at your marketplace?

What now? We treat every seller the same way on our marketplace but I appreciate the baseless accusation.

The same is happening at SH as well, members who have skipped the review process for thousands of domains, so it seems that this is the standard for all brandable marketplaces.

I can't speak for SH but we certainly don't do that at Alter.

 

[loredan]

Why you say that?! he is helping others by posting helpful tips, and if you think about it for a moment, it is against his interest to help others doing good at SH because they will compete with him in selling.

@JudgeMind

Thanks for the valuable info that you provided through out all of this thread .. it is greatly appreciated.

Naah, you got me wrong too ... that was a kind of a bad joke ... he obviously wasn't paid to write that.

 

[loredan]

What now? We treat every seller the same way on our marketplace but I appreciate the baseless accusation.

Yeah right. Apologies for the "baseless accusation".

 

[Berserker]

Why you say that?!

He explained it above. It may very well not be a "paid" post, sure. But I have to admit I was also a little surprised when reading the point number 8: When you to the work to find the customer by yourself, you do not send it to someone taking a commission for the job you actually just did for them

At least I wouldn't. It's like paying someone to paint your kitchen, paint it all yourself with some paint you bought, and send them a check for a job well done.

 

[Ostrados]

Marketing your SH domains (as long as it is free) is better than sitting and doing nothing. I don't see anything wrong with that.

 

[Berserker]

Great. Please PM me when you want to paint your kitchen (which you'll do yourself), and I will also make you a rebate on what I charge you

Kidding aside, point taken. It all depends how you view these 7.5%. They process the payment, do the escrow, provide you a white label marketplace, and maybe a few other things I'm not thinking about right now. You may find 7.5% being a fair price for this (it doesn't seem outrageous). Or you may find it a bit expensive. If you have the customer, he's OK to pay by wire transfer (no payment processing fees involved), and escrow isn't needed, you can basically do it for free. Escrow.com would charge you 3,25% for escrow alone. There are solutions to do the escrow for free with cryptos, but that's another subject.

Sure. I more had their full commission in mind when thinking this.

 

[Ostrados]

Great. Please PM me when you want to paint your kitchen (which you'll do yourself), and I will also make you a rebate on what I charge you

Kidding aside, point taken. It all depends how you view these 7.5%. They process the payment, do the escrow, provide you a white label marketplace, and maybe a few other things I'm not thinking about right now. You may find 7.5% being a fair price for this (it doesn't seem outrageous). Or you may find it a bit expensive. If you have the customer, he's OK to pay by wire transfer (no payment processing fees involved), and escrow isn't needed, you can basically do it for free. Escrow.com would charge you 3,25% for escrow alone. There are solutions to do the escrow for free with cryptos, but that's another subject.

Sure. I more had their full commission in mind when thinking this.

Actually I edited my post and removed the 7.5% part because I just learned that it is only true for your standard domains!! so I needed to do more research. I found out that for SH premium domains if they get sold at your WLM then you will receive back 20% of the commission you pay to SH, so 25% commission becomes 20%... that's it just 5% commission reduction!!

And to be honest I see that taking 20% commission on a domain that was sold at your own website with your own traffic is totally unfair! even if it is a SH premium domain why would SH still take this big commission for doing nothing other than processing the payment? @GrantP comment on this would be appreciated.

 

[JudgeMind]

however some of your points just seemed a bit forced, a bit "paid-like" if you want...

Forced? The title of my post states tips and tricks you may CONSIDER..

listen, I was simply sharing what has worked for me in 2020. If you don’t want to adopt any of these strategies then don’t. Everything I have done or am doing to achieve 38 sales of premium squadhelp listed names is outlined in my post.

I am not paid to post in this form and receive no benefit from doing so, other than trying to support the domain community which I am passionate about.

was also a little surprised when reading the point number 8: When you to the work to find the customer by yourself, you do not send it to someone taking a commission for the job you actually just did for them

Promoting your names on social media, forums or direct to end users, regardless of the sales venue is a great way to get some exposure. If i spend 20min promoting a premium domain which I likely paid reg fee for or close to it and it results in a sale, I’m pretty dang happy with that! I think there’s benefit in sending a buyer to Squadhelp landers as there is a level of trust associated with squadhelp.

 

[Berserker]

Promoting is great. Finding customers is amazing. Selling is the ultimate goal. I'm not arguing with any of this. I 100% agree with you on all of that. The only thing I was pointing out is actually keeping the benefits of your work for yourself.

I think there’s benefit in sending a buyer to Squadhelp landers as there is a level of trust associated with squadhelp.

Here you're loosing me. For 7,5%, OK. For 20% (if that's correct), hell no. I don't think customers will really find any "level of trust" in acquiring through SH. Not more than with any other service. And probably less than just using escrow.com. I actually think most people outside of domaining won't probably even know about them, or not very well.

In the end, you do as you want. I would be damn happy to have people like you if I were SH And on top of things, suggesting to others to do the same on an open forum dedicated to the subject. No offence, and I don't have any problem with any of it. I was only telling my surprise when reading it. That's all.

 

[Ostrados]

@Berserker

SH published domains are exclusive and selling them outside SH is against their terms. If you have lets say 500 domains listed at SH then they are stuck at SH unless you request them to be delisted, so if you want to do marketing on these 500 domains then you have no other option other than pointing buyers to SH or WLM landers.

What you are arguing translates to: remove your domains from SH to sell freely. While that is totally valid approach but you will lose the targeted traffic that SH provides and you will need to do a lot of effort to market your domains instread of relying on SH marketing & retargeting. If you sell freely then yes you will pay 3.5% Escrow fees but your STR will be lower than if you list with SH and what you save from commissions will not compensate lost potential sales.

 

[Berserker]

you will lose the targeted traffic that SH provides and you will need to do a lot of effort to market your domains instread of relying on SH marketing & retargeting

There is an argument that's what you're paying for. So, don't do the job you're paying for. It was exactly my argument above. What I am arguing translates to: Work on some domains you do not put on SH. And if you put them there, let them do what they are paid for. Unless a customer falls on your lap for one of these, then OK. But don't promote actively these domains.

I get your points, but something doesn't seem right to me in the whole concept. I think my "paint the kitchen" joke above is exactly what you're arguing for. (I get the "you're stuck in a situation", and well, maybe it is one solution to do the work you've paid for, and still pay for it)

 

[loredan]

I have received this message below, anyone please care to explain? So someone saw my name but bought another and I'm getting a boost ... is this boost like my name jumped say 3 pages higher for whatever keyword or is it featured somewhere? How does it work?

"Your domain name, ********* was viewed by a buyer before they ended up buying other domains (*******). This is a great validation that the domain is resonating well with buyers. As a result, we have boosted it's ranking in the Marketplace."

Thanks lads

 

[Lil85]

i got auto approve hehe

Saw your sold listing...envy you, only took 1 week to get it sold at a great price. Well done!

 

[Bima Priyo Sembodo]

@Lil85 yess thank you very much the name is on featured sales now

 

[JudgeMind]

I have received this message below, anyone please care to explain? So someone saw my name but bought another and I'm getting a boost ... is this boost like my name jumped say 3 pages higher for whatever keyword or is it featured somewhere? How does it work?

"Your domain name, ********* was viewed by a buyer before they ended up buying other domains (*******). This is a great validation that the domain is resonating well with buyers. As a result, we have boosted it's ranking in the Marketplace."

Thanks lads

squadhelp indicated to me that the boost is compareable to a superboost. They also said that these special boosts last 30 days opposed to the standard 7 days for a superboost.

 

[loredan]

squadhelp indicated to me that the boost is compareable to a superboost. They also said that these special boosts last 30 days opposed to the standard 7 days for a superboost.

Oh, thank you! I see this particular name has that little flame next to it for quite a while, it's a 5 fig domain, who knows maybe this special boost will help!