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.

 

[Footprint789]

Thanks @GrantP firstly. Could you please clarify about few of the doubts mentioned below.

• Your submission limits will be lower. You may be able to submit 3-5 domains at a time depending upon your overall approval rates.
• The approval/rejection time frame will be significantly longer compared to the current review process.

1. Is the manual review time frame longer for without coin submissions only or for coin submissions too ?

2. On choosing manual review, are lower submission limits(3-5 as mentioned above) valid for without coin submissions only or for coin submissions too ?

3. During Manual review by SH team, will they give weightage to the votes given for a name by experts or will the votes be not considered by the SH team ?

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[GrantP]

If one requests for a manual review acc, does it affect only the registered domain submissions (as the expert review is only for registered domains) or will it affect the unregistered submissions as well?

Once an account is switched over to a manual review, your submissions will go through a different workflow. As a result, there might be a slight delay in unregistered submission reviews as well.

1. Is the manual review time frame longer for without coin submissions only or for coin submissions too ?

The manual review time frame will be longer for coin based submissions as well (since all such submissions will need to be reviewed by internal SH team members).

2. On choosing manual review, are lower submission limits(3-5 as mentioned above) valid for without coin submissions only or for coin submissions too ?

The lower submission limits do not apply to coin based submissions. However depending upon the volume of submissions, we may change this policy in future.

3. During Manual review by SH team, will they give weightage to the votes given for a name by experts or will the votes be not considered by the SH team ?

The SH internal reviewers take into account several factors before accepting or rejecting the domains. The number of review votes (if available) can be considered even in case of manual reviews. Since the workflow for manual reviews will be slightly different, it is possible that some of the names submitted via this method may not go through the full expert review process. The ultimate decision to approve or reject the name will be at the discretion of the reviewer.

I would also like to add that opting out of the standard process may lead to some limitations around new features that utilize the review data. For example, today we announced that the Basic Plus listings can now be automatically searchable in the Premium Domain Marketplace if they receive a minimum of 3 votes via the Expert Review process. If you decide to switch your account to a manual review, your Basic Plus listings (if any) will not be able to participate in this automatic review process. However you can still submit your Basic Plus listings for a manual review in case you would like to upgrade them to Premium.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

It's funny that the ones approving your submitted names are your competitors.

Imagine if Audi employees were 'selling cars' at the Chevrolet car lot. I guess it's a bit like that.

"No that piece of junk will never work... thought about an Audi?"

That's a systematically integrated conflict of interest. What bright spark thought up that one?

 

[Joakim]

So as you are all aware of, Squadhelp recently started accepting .app domains along with some other extensions to be listed at their marketplace.

However, they were not prepared for SSL secure landing pages, as all of the current listings (including mine) shows a privacy error/invalid certificate.

When I contacted support about this issue, they told me they only accepted .com domains. Wow.

Are you working on sorting this out @GrantP? And how about informing your staff about important updates?

 

[DomainBanana]

Not to belabor the issue (I know you're tired of reading my thoughts on this -- I am tired of writing about it) but given all the disadvantages of opting out, there is really no choice but to remain in the standard review system.

So it seems the choice creates an illusion of freedom where there is none.

Also, allowing sellers to opt out doesn't address the other side of the equation, which is the formidable competitive advantages seller-reviewers have over non-reviewer sellers.

Regardless, thanks for going out of your way to accommodate here. In spite of the disagreement on this new system, I've been appreciating Squadhelp more and more.

Once an account is switched over to a manual review, your submissions will go through a different workflow. As a result, there might be a slight delay in unregistered submission reviews as well.



The manual review time frame will be longer for coin based submissions as well (since all such submissions will need to be reviewed by internal SH team members).



The lower submission limits do not apply to coin based submissions. However depending upon the volume of submissions, we may change this policy in future.



The SH internal reviewers take into account several factors before accepting or rejecting the domains. The number of review votes (if available) can be considered even in case of manual reviews. Since the workflow for manual reviews will be slightly different, it is possible that some of the names submitted via this method may not go through the full expert review process. The ultimate decision to approve or reject the name will be at the discretion of the reviewer.

I would also like to add that opting out of the standard process may lead to some limitations around new features that utilize the review data. For example, today we announced that the Basic Plus listings can now be automatically searchable in the Premium Domain Marketplace if they receive a minimum of 3 votes via the Expert Review process. If you decide to switch your account to a manual review, your Basic Plus listings (if any) will not be able to participate in this automatic review process. However you can still submit your Basic Plus listings for a manual review in case you would like to upgrade them to Premium.

 

[h2o]

On a positive note, I just logged into my SquadHelp account today to find out that one of my domains received a Contest Love. This is pretty surprising to me since the name was recently added about a week ago and I was not the one to even submit the name to the contest! Thanks the anonymous person who submitted my domain! This is a reminder that SH does offer a great benefit to sellers regardless of the politics. (You may view my previous SH reviews to see that it was not all sunshine and roses from my perspective.) A full updated review of SH will come sometime in the near future.

 

[YairDD]

Does that mean that there is 5 positive review or it can be positive or negative, it just shows the total

 

[Seyikp]

Does that mean that there is 5 positive review or it can be positive or negative, it just shows the total

Show attachment 153527

Don't worry, that means 5 reviewers have checked/reviewed your domain. More will still review it. When your domain is approved or rejected, that is when you will know the numbers of positive or negative.

 

[Kamaldeen]

Don't worry, that means 5 reviewers have checked/reviewed your domain. More will still review it. When your domain is approved or rejected, that is when you will know the numbers of positive or negative.

I don't think we get to know of those that liked our names when it got accepted.

 

[domains21]

Is anyone else seeing a difference in the number of shortlists shown in the dashboard compared to that shown on the page for the name itself?

As in the dashboard listing is showing 100 next to it but the name page is showing 99?

 

[awwalmb]

I don't think we get to know of those that liked our names when it got accepted.

There is a notification stating your name will likely be approved because it was favorited by 5 reviewers

 

[Kamaldeen]

There is a notification stating your name will likely be approved because it was favorited by 5 reviewers

I have never seen such, any clue how I can get the notification?

 

[awwalmb]

@Kamaldeen It's on the dashboard, the bell. I have seen others mention theirs not working sometimes.

 

[Seyikp]

@Kamaldeen It's on the dashboard, the bell. I have seen others mention theirs not working sometimes.

Thank you for telling him.

 

[The Durfer]

After 4 weeks I’ve got my first sale through SQUADHELP. Pending completion of installments.

Mudaris (com)
$2299

78 domains listed

how much did you make net, pls? ty.

 

[JudgeMind]

I’d like to thank everyone for taking part and being active in my thread and thank @GrantP for his continued support in answering everyone’s questions and responding to comments here.

here’s an update. I started 2020 with 273 premium listings at sh. I have been building my portfolio since and now have 407 premium listings.

in January I had no sales at squadhelp. It was being out performed by the other marketplaces I list at. Things changed in February and I had 3 sales totalling $5397. March I had 2 sales totalling $3198 and in April I had 3 sales totalling $6597. So far May has been good with one sale of $2499. I will continue to share updates here every so often.

most recent sh sale for May Harmoni.io $2499
Take care.

 

[DomainBanana]

Congrats, @JudgeMind. Your results are commendable and inspiring.

Curious if you spend any time promoting your domains or do you leave all the marketing to Squadhelp?

 

[Ntmt]

I’d like to thank everyone for taking part and being active in my thread and thank @GrantP for his continued support in answering everyone’s questions and responding to comments here.

here’s an update. I started 2020 with 273 premium listings at sh. I have been building my portfolio since and now have 407 premium listings.

in January I had no sales at squadhelp. It was being out performed by the other marketplaces I list at. Things changed in February and I had 3 sales totalling $5397. March I had 2 sales totalling $3198 and in April I had 3 sales totalling $6597. So far May has been good with one sale of $2499. I will continue to share updates here every so often. Take care.

Congrats and thanks for sharing! Don't you mind to share how much you invested in sold domains and holding time?

 

[JudgeMind]

Congrats, @JudgeMind. Your results are commendable and inspiring.

Curious if you spend any time promoting your domains or do you leave all the marketing to Squadhelp?

95% of marketing is left to sh. I do superboost a few listings each week

 

[JudgeMind]

Congrats and thanks for sharing! Don't you mind to share how much you invested in sold domains and holding time?

It varies. Some names like verosity.com which I sold I had paid $79 for. Most are hand reg or picked up on back order.

 

[NameMedia]

I’d like to thank everyone for taking part and being active in my thread and thank @GrantP for his continued support in answering everyone’s questions and responding to comments here.

here’s an update. I started 2020 with 273 premium listings at sh. I have been building my portfolio since and now have 407 premium listings.

in January I had no sales at squadhelp. It was being out performed by the other marketplaces I list at. Things changed in February and I had 3 sales totalling $5397. March I had 2 sales totalling $3198 and in April I had 3 sales totalling $6597. So far May has been good with one sale of $2499. I will continue to share updates here every so often.
QUOTE


That is encouraging. Thank you for sharing, JudgeMind. My own portfolio is now well over 300 names.
I have had 4 sales total. I have been with them more than a year. Quite a difference in results.

My sales have been slow, much slower than other platforms would be at the number of names. But I am still hopeful, and somehow, very confident, that sales will improve. Their customer service is great, they are always seeking to innovate and add new sales partnerships. So even though my sales have been slow, to date,I am continuing to increase my portfolio.

 

[Nametree]

So as you are all aware of, Squadhelp recently started accepting .app domains along with some other extensions to be listed at their marketplace.

However, they were not prepared for SSL secure landing pages, as all of the current listings (including mine) shows a privacy error/invalid certificate.

When I contacted support about this issue, they told me they only accepted .com domains. Wow.

Are you working on sorting this out @GrantP? And how about informing your staff about important updates?

+1 on this inquiry about .app, @GrantP - I've listed a handful of names and they're searchable and have even had logos made, but they are not resolving. I contacted support but they had no idea what to say.

Easy fix would be allowing names to be forwarded to the SH sales page as opposed to using nameservers, but if I do that I get emails warning me the names will be delisted because I'm not using the right nameservers.

 

[Ntmt]

That is encouraging. Thank you for sharing, JudgeMind. My own portfolio is now well over 300 names.
I have had 4 sales total. I have been with them more than a year. Quite a difference in results.

Thanks for sharing your results. Did you started from 300 names year ago? How many of domains in your portfolio are listed for 1 year or more? Or could you share your calculated sell thru rate from SH Dashboard?

 

[NameMedia]

I started early in 2019 with 0 names, and have been adding. At a rough guess, without checking, maybe a quarter of names are over 1 year total listed. My sell through average on dashboard shows at around 2%.

 

[Samer]

@GrantP my first SH negative experience. After buy $39 wholesale, i contacted buyer further details, and received this response;

“Samer I did not list this name wholesale. have not listed anything wholesale and I never will.”

This guy is top-3 seller on Squadhelp platform. take his word for it, legenhis own right.

I bought SH wholesale unknowingly listed

Customer support re-directed me to billing and feel wronged, lost faith in the process.

Notes:
Only buy Seller-listed SH-Premium names. Overhaul, streamline removal.
Sad part, get refund, will it happen again? SH wholesale market has been very kind to me, Grant; never problem; had two deals before.
Thank you again, @GrantP

Samer