BrandBucket Experience

[xtremex]

hello

I am new to BrandBucket. Before getting my hands on this

I wish to experience about brandbucket from my fellow members


Thanks

 

[Recons.Com]

Thanks for info.
I was wondering why 4L.com prices are so low on BR? There are quite a few below $2K and a lot in $2K-3K range. I saw one for around $1.5K, meaning the owner would get only around $1K with the wholesale price for pronounceable LLLL.coms starting from around $340, that is not much at all.

 

[NameOffice.]

Thanks for info.
I was wondering why 4L.com prices are so low on BR? There are quite a few below $2K and a lot in $2K-3K range. I saw one for around $1.5K, meaning the owner would get only around $1K with the wholesale price for pronounceable LLLL.coms starting from around $340, that is not much at all.

For the most part we let sellers price how they want. They are lower because the seller set it low.

 

[Grilled]

BB sells 3-4 domains every weekday

Do you know if they sell domains on weekends? I'm slightly troubled to find they don't offer support to purchase offer inquiries on weekends.

My hopes is they have been in communication with my buyer as they also sent an inquiry prior to my email.

My buyer reached out to me with concern that BrandBucket has yet to contact them.

The buyer and I assumed BrandBucket doesn't offer weekend support for buyers, and I advised them they should hear back from BrandBucket Monday morning. Minor problem being my buyer is from Asia, and Monday morning is Monday night for them.

 

[Grilled]

I saw this data from SEM when I visited their booth at Namescon. Their data is off by a lot. 428 backlinks? That is incredibly too low and so is the organic traffic.

I reached out to SEMRush.com with a link to this thread and asked if they could clarify this indiscretion. I haven't seen them around NP, so it's a longshot. Nonetheless, I'm interested in their response, and any possible SEM insight they can add on Brandable Domains / MarketPlaces.

 

[Theydon]

I'm sure they are on it Grilled, good luck.

 

[Grilled]

I'm sure they are on it Grilled, good luck.

Thanks @Theydon

I reassured my buyer the domain won't be sold to anybody else in the mean time.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned anything about BrandBucket not offering support to buyers on Weekends. I promptly respond to any and all domain inquiries. I assumed and expected BrandBucket did the same since they are after all the broker our domains.

 

[Grilled]

I finally cracked earlier this morning, as depicted in my 10 response emails to 10 recently published domains with logo's you can basically do in 5 minutes with NamePros text editor

BrandBucket support just got back to me regarding my dissatisfaction with several recently published logo's. They noted my feedback and said they'd take it into consideration when assigning my logo designers in the future.

Additionally, Julia mentioned a great addition soon to be implemented.

"...at some point in the near future we plan to implement a system which will enable sellers to request a logo redesign if domain hasn't sold within a certain period of time. If your domain is still listed when that time comes, you will be able to request a change once again."

 

[DNGear]

I think this thread is for BrandBucket.

 

[Grilled]

I think this thread is for BrandBucket.

Competition keeps industries accountable. Adapt, evolve, and overcome.

If it becomes standard Brandable Marketplace procedure to correct unsatisfactory logo's, the industry as a whole will adapt to this. If the largest marketplace doesn't correct unsatisfactory logo's, why should other marketplaces adapt to this?

Namerific recently published a logo I wasn't satisfied for. I emailed them prepared to pay another listing fee to have the logo redesigned. Their support responded another listing fee wasn't necessary, and that if I wasn't satisfied with they logo they would redesign it for free. I was pleased with the revised logo.

 

[Grilled]

VS

I saw this data from SEM when I visited their booth at Namescon. Their data is off by a lot. 428 backlinks? That is incredibly too low and so is the organic traffic.

I reached out to SEMRush.com with a link to this thread and asked if they could clarify this indiscretion. I haven't seen them around NP, so it's a longshot. Nonetheless, I'm interested in their response, and any possible SEM insight they can add on Brandable Domains / MarketPlaces.

The response given by SEMRush...

"Hi *****,

Thank you for contacting SEMrush! Normally we pass a request like yours to our Marketing team to handle, but I wanted to give you a response as soon as possible.

I'll first give you a breakdown on how we gather our data. We have a database of a little over 80 million keywords for Google US, selected based on monthly search volume. When we update a keyword, we do a search for it in Google at the national level and take a snapshot of the first 10 results pages. We then apply a series of mathematical formulas to bring you the data you see.

That being said, the monthly traffic estimates most likely seem low for brandroot.com because we are only gathering data on the keywords within our database, and this is what we base our estimations on. If the domain is receiving traffic from other countries, or from keywords outside of our database, that traffic will not be reflected in our estimates. We also do not take into account referral or direct traffic. However, the overall traffic trend for the domain tends to compare very closely to actual results.

As for backlinks, we are reporting on any backlinks that we have found for the domain as of today. This data gathering is done by our own crawler, and is not imported from a third party. If the number of backlinks that we provide is currently not accurate, we will most likely be gathering the newer backlinks as we continue our crawl through the internet. We also try to avoid displaying backlinks from spammy sources, this way you are only viewing backlinks for your competitors that have some quality to them.

I hope that helps the members of your forum. If there is anything else I can help you with, please feel free to ask!"

Without exact data from the companies, we can only assume BrandBucket receives more type-in traffic based on the amount of domains and BrandRoot receives more organic search traffic based on targeted keywords.

Traffic aside, what we all care about most is sales. It's been reported that BrandBucket has an established clientele of buyers who buy on a regular basis. It's why I have so much faith in their newsletter. I want these buyers to see my domains, and want it to buy it before anybody else.

Anybody who's lost a domain to another buyer understands urgency. This is essentially what made me want to be a BrandBucket seller in the first place. Toygaroo.com, "Shark Tank's worst deal" was listed on BrandBucket. With strong backlinks from strong PR/PA sites such as ABC.com, I thought this would be the perfect failed business to bring back to life. How awesome would it be to bring it back to life, and re-present shark tanks worst deal back to the sharks. I asked if the price was flexible, to which I learned how BrandBucket operated. The domain sold while I was still thinking of purchasing. The domain sold over a year ago, and is still forwarded to BrandBucket. I have to imagine they receive a marginal amount of traffic from this domain alone. Not just any traffic, targeted traffic to people interested in the status of SharkTank which is an uber popular show about everyday start ups and branding.

Anyways, Brandable Domains are heating up and I'm looking forward to the growth in both sales and marketplaces. Competition is sure to heat up to keep up with the growth of the industry. I hope their sales teams or closers are prepared for this growth and readily available to our buyers.

 

[Grilled]

I asked if the price was flexible, to which I learned how BrandBucket operated. The domain sold while I was still thinking of purchasing. The domain sold over a year ago, and is still forwarded to BrandBucket.

According to the WHOIS Toygaroo.com is owned by Boxador, BrandBucket's parent company. Please don't tell me BrandBucket listed this domain for sale, then reported it as sold to keep it for themselves as a marketing advantage...

@michaeljkrell Say it ain't so?

 

[12345]

@Grilled Jesus - Only names that have been sold and transferred to the buyer are included in our sales data. I don't know any details regarding the domain that you mentioned. Khalan has also reached out to the buyer regarding your domain and we are waiting to hear back from there.

In addition to providing our number of sales, average sales price, number of sellers, etc we will also be posting some more specific sales information quarterly such as number of names sold in certain price ranges, number of repeat buyers, and so on.

 

[Grilled]

Thanks for the quick response @michaeljkrell

Toygaroo has been reported as sold by BrandBucket for over a year via sales ribbon on the domain itself. The domain still redirects to the following:

Before I became a BrandBucket seller, and never having heard of BrandBucket before I called to ask if the price was flexible. The domain apparently sold shortly after while I was still deciding if the $X,XXX investment was worth it.

The domain WHOIS was updated around the same time the domain sold. After a year the WHOIS owner is still Boxador. I am left to asume this is the second time BrandBucket sniped a domain away from me after expressing interest. Once as a buyer, and once as a seller.

I very well could be wrong, and this is just a case of the buyer never transferring the domain to their account but that seems a little fishy given it's been over a year. In the event Boxador purchased the domain for themself, leaving a sold banner on the domain seems like a form of shill bidding for a marketing advantage.

 

[Grilled]

Khalan has also reached out to the buyer regarding your domain and we are waiting to hear back from there.

Thank you for following up on this.

I informed Khalan of the time zone issue and expressed my concern to the lack of weekend support. Julia responded several hours before Khalan while it was still business hours for my buyer. By the time Khalan responded, it was 11 PM Monday night for my buyer. Effectively giving my buyer 2 additional days to second guess the purchase.

I don't believe the sale is in jeopardy as I've been in contact with my buyer. Nonetheless, I hope this incident is reviewed for future consideration of adding weekend support.

I broker and respond to inquiries 7 days a week. I expect my broker who receives 30% to do the same. Perhaps, we can forward all domain inquiries to the domain owner on the weekend to ensure a prompt response? I'm just sayin...

 

[Grilled]

I don't know any details regarding the domain that you mentioned.

Here's the story behind the domain...

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/shark-tank-regrets-investment-flops-successes-23577276

The bit on Toygaroo.com being Shark Tanks worst investment begins at the 1:25 mark.

 

[Grilled]

While certain frustrations have turned me into a BB reseller as of late, I still remain loyal to BrandBucket when it comes to endusers.

Email transcript from today:

Hi Christopher,

Hope you are well and having a great weekend.

I wanted to reach out about your domain name of kid***.com. While I am totally in love with it, paying around 2k dollars is a bit out of my budget.

As a mumpreneur, I was wondering if there is any way you could make this more affordable?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,
**********

My response:

Hi *******,

Thanks for reaching out! As a Vetrepreneur myself I can appreciate your savviness.

As you probably know Kid***.com is listed with BrandBucket.com. Per our agreement, while listed, I am bound by their pricing module.

For a quick sale, I can lower it to $x,xxx and authorize an additional 10% off. Let me know if this interests you, and I'll set it in motion.

Regards,
Chris

Ironically, today I looked up this domain for the first time in while after I noticed a similar 6L BB approved Kid domain for sale at $XXX reseller price on NP. I was troubled to see the domain had been cached in 15 different NP sales threads for several months since the member didn't S*t*a*r out the domain or delete the body of the thread.

The point being, I separate resellers from endusers and NP Selling from BB Selling. Obviously, I can make the domain more affordable by setting up a Escrow.com transaction and eliminating BrandBucket's 30%. Nonetheless, the line between BrandBucket reseller and seller has to be drawn somewhere. Fingers crossed for a BB Sale soon...

...The sale will come as soon as BrandBucket responds with a purchase link :D​

Them
Hi Seller,

Thanks for coming back to me so quickly. Really appreciate it.

Just a quick question. Does the below offer of $X,XXX also include the logo as mentioned on Brandbucket?

Me
Hi Buyer,

Yes. All purchases through BrandBucket include full rights to the domain and logo.

Them
Hi Seller,

We have decided to go ahead with the purchase. I have contacted Brand Bucket but haven't heard yet from them.

Could you help us buy this domain?

Me
Hi Buyer,

Great news! It's definitely a lovable kid themed domain that deserves to be developed. I'm really excited to see what it ends up becoming.

I emailed both BrandBucket's sales and support staff. They are usually pretty responsive, however, it's Sunday morning, so we may have to wait a few hours to receive a response. I instructed them to email you a purchasing link.

BrandBucket will provide you detailed instructions about the purchase and transfer process. DOMAIN is currently registered with GoDaddy.com. You will have the option to push or transfer the domain to the registrar of your choice. In respect of your mumpreneurship, I'll add an extra year of registration time to the current expiration.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.

Regards,
Chris

PS. It's been a tough week silencing my BB frustrations. I've tried to avoid the stress of looking at the undoted I's and uncrossed T's. I finally cracked earlier this morning, as depicted in my 10 response emails to 10 recently published domains with logo's you can basically do in 5 minutes with NamePros text editor.

On one hand, I wish I didn't flood their email system (only 10) thus delaying my buyer from receiving their link to purchase at 10% off listed price. On the other hand, as demonstrated by my buyers logo inquiry, a good logo helps sell a domain. It would be upsetting to see a similar knockoff domain with a better logo sell on another marketplace because of the better visual presentation. Don't get me wrong, BB has some great logo designers, but there's a few who basically use a generic font, and change the color of one letter, and expect $100 for their 5 minutes of work when the domain sells.

The buyer provided payment, and the sold banner instantly went up.

 

[Theydon]

Congrats Grilled.

Suspicion will eat your mind

 

[Grilled]

Suspicion will eat your mind

One suspicion keeps leading to another. I wan't to stop, but every time I look, I find something new to be suspicious about.

This whole suspicion thing has left my perception of BrandBucket hanging by a thread right now. I really hope there is a good explanation to why Toygaroo has been "sold" for over a year, and domain ownership has not changed from that of BrandBucket's parent company. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

 

[margotb]

@Grilled Jesus regarding Toygaroo.com...

This domain was listed by one of our long-time sellers in 2014. A couple of months went by and the seller lowered the price to the maximum allowed by our system. I liked the name (it's very in line with the rest of my portfolio) and thought it was a good deal in general. I saw the history with the company on Shark Tank, and the existing links to the domain, so I purchased the domain from the seller at his full asking price.

With a lot of names of my (Boxador's) personal domain portfolio, I have plans/dreams to someday build something on them, as I'm an entrepreneur first and a domain investor second. While the plans for Toygaroo brew, I'm leaving it on as "sold" as an example of a domain transaction that happened on our platform. It gets lots of eyeballs, especially from the type of end user that we love (watchers of Shark Tank, readers of business articles), so I see leaving it as sold as a sound marketing decision that builds trust and intrigue with buyers. If my idea every gets outdated or I lose interest in it, I'll probably put the domain back up for sale.

The name was for sale on our marketplace for a total of 5 months, and the price was dropped after 2. You weren't the only person to inquire about it during that time frame...it's a great name!

 

[Grilled]

@Grilled Jesus regarding Toygaroo.com...

This domain was listed by one of our long-time sellers in 2014. A couple of months went by and the seller lowered the price to the maximum allowed by our system. I liked the name (it's very in line with the rest of my portfolio) and thought it was a good deal in general. I saw the history with the company on Shark Tank, and the existing links to the domain, so I purchased the domain from the seller at his full asking price.

With a lot of names of my (Boxador's) personal domain portfolio, I have plans/dreams to someday build something on them, as I'm an entrepreneur first and a domain investor second. While the plans for Toygaroo brew, I'm leaving it on as "sold" as an example of a domain transaction that happened on our platform. It gets lots of eyeballs, especially from the type of end user that we love (watchers of Shark Tank, readers of business articles), so I see leaving it as sold as a sound marketing decision that builds trust and intrigue with buyers. If my idea every gets outdated or I lose interest in it, I'll probably put the domain back up for sale.

The name was for sale on our marketplace for a total of 5 months, and the price was dropped after 2. You weren't the only person to inquire about it during that time frame...it's a great name!

@margotb Thank you for chiming in! I really appreciate your honesty. Out of curiosity, does full price mean you didn't deduct the 30% commission and the logo fee from final the price of purchase? You confirmed this is specifically targeted to your clientele. While I understand the marketing advantages to this, ethically speaking there are more effective ways of utilizing this traffic oriented domain.

Slapping a sold sticker on a domain, deceives the interested buyer / shark tank viewer that somebody bought the domain before they could. The enduser is now subconsciously thinking "If I want a domain that's on BrandBucket, I better buy it before somebody else does." While this may be a true perception, there is one minor detail left out.

If this was an auction, and the marketplace bid on their own domain, we would call this shill bidding. I understand the huge marketing benefits to this, but this sort of thing can be considered shill marketing if done in an unethical manner. The unethical manner is failing to omit that this domain was bought, and is used for marketing to the advantage of BrandBucket by the parent company of the marketplace.

Please set an example for the other marketplaces, and consider changing the sold banner to a more targeted message to your targeted traffic. Thank you again for your honesty. I will now drop this issue.