Brandroot are after Brandbucket listed names

[Ralph2472]

Hello everyone.

Here is part of an eMail I got today from Brandroot. I have some names listed at Brandbucket; and Brandroot are offering incentives to transfer them.


"If you're interested in listing free with us, respond to this message for your personal coupon key, which you must use when you are on the edit domain details page (before you verify the name.)

Additionally, if you are interested in moving your names from BrandBucket to Brandroot, we offer great incentives to do so, including double the free listings, lower commission paid to us for the names you move over, and featured listings on a select few. If this interests you, please respond with the list of names you would move over and we will get back to you with what we can offer you and the names we would like to take to our site.

We have had a couple of individuals who have taken this opportunity and even sold a couple that were moved over within a month of being on our site. If you're not getting the expected results from your brandables at BrandBucket, give Brandroot an honest try. You most likely won't regret it.

Keep in mind that BrandBucket requires a 30 days notice for any names moved from their site."


I guess they're after everyones business in an aggressive way. I haven't sold any thing at Brandbucket; but I will leave my names there for now.

Regards

Ralph.

 

[forge]

One of the stupidest names I've seen is Kasasa, and it's a fairly significant brand. It even fails the radio test. The thing about the "brandable marketplaces" I just don't get is, why would a company want a logo attached with a domain when the logo may not even remotely reflect the company's product or service, even if the name seems to work. To me the whole thing is completely back asswards. In the far majority of cases, companies develop a product and then find a name and possibly a logo that is a good fit. What kind of business goes shopping for a name and then tries to build something out of it? I know it is done, but most often it's counter-intuitive.

 

[DomainBFF]

Companies are still way behind domainers and most tech.

I worked in pharmaceutical advertising when I graduated college in 2002. I was in a meeting at GlaxoSmithKline and the marketing manager was talking about how they had just printed an ad and selected it's ad-buys already, so they weren't able to free up any money for our proposal.

While I was looking at the ad, I noticed something... they didn't include their URL on the AD.

Now here was a room of ad execs, brand managers, and VP's and nobody had noticed that their URL wasn't on the AD they just spent half a million dollars to produce and run.

Companies are always years behind technology and its usage, but that doesn't mean that they wont' catch up eventually.

Now they have caught up.

Companies want 'brandables', but not the trite Brandbucket is offering.

A company would much rather spend $20k on a domain name then have a laughable online presence for $5,000.

BrandBucket has had its heyday, and now it's over.

Yes they can continue to use sales 101 and SEO to target keywords for people looking for "business names", "business name ideas", "company names ideas" etc.. , but the days of the easy sell are over. You have to have quality brandable domains, or have such a high volume that the law of averages plays in your favor.

The next people to catch up will be small business, then the general public. This will still take 5 to 7 years, and yes nonsense brandables will still be profitable, but as of now big-business sees right through the charade which is the reason behind the lower prices and increased inventory.

This is the state of the market right now.

Good luck.

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I see what point you're getting at with the first part of your message. I 100% agree that domainers speculating on tech names are years ahead of endusers, but technology has nothing to do with the majority of brandables. If anything your example shows how having a website has become the standard for businesses, which would further increase the demand for domains.

I don't see what businesses catching up means either. What are they catching up to? All of your thinking is centered around big business and large companies, but they don't even account for 1% of endusers. Not to mention big businesses likely already have an established brand and wouldn't be in the market for a brand anyways.

Right now, more than ever before, people are turning to the internet and e-commerce to make a living, and they likely have multiple small businesses that generate a portion of their overall income. That's the beauty of the internet. It's these individuals, developers, and small start ups that are in the market for a brand, and $20k is likely not even an option. For instance, a developer that creates a new app and expects to make maybe $50k would be in the market for something brandable and affordable. Same goes for software developers. And developers are more often than not going to have multiple apps and tools instead of one large project that generates enough to deem a $20k name valuable.

A guy who makes $40k a year on the side selling books out of his house may find something like "booketeer" and drop $1k-$2k to make it his brand. A mom that's been saving to start a small online boutique that makes $60k a year would see $2k for a posh sounding made up word a reasonable investment. THESE are the endusers that make up the brandable marketplace. Go look at all of the names sold in the past on BB and see what they were used for. I promise you won't find any big businesses.

Lastly, you're exactly right, as a domainer it would not be wise to reg 100 brandables and hope to sell one. A lot of newbies will make this mistake and get burnt, but that is the domainers fault. The marketplaces just provide the market and take a cut, and there is no denying that there are endusers in the market for brandables. Period.

Facebook, Google, Instagram, and YouTube are all brandable domains. There is no domaining w/o brandables.
So what all the moaning is about is lower quality brandables. It happens.
Brandable is an adjective based on the verb "brand" not the noun.
It is a word. When anyone uses said word, everyone here knows what is meant. The dictionaries add words after people manifest them.
That's why English is the de facto standard for business, science, and academia. It is versatile because it evolves.

Brandable marketplaces aren't going anywhere.
Even though new words are coming into existence, new companies, sites, and products arise even faster.
New GTLDs are trying to solve the same problem that brandables do.
The difference is that a coined word is much easier to trademark and much easier to rank # 1 thru 10 for, than a generic GTLD.

Ok let me rephrase. Brandable is a "word", but there is not an agreed upon definition that makes one person right or wrong as to what is a brandable name.

And while you are correct, just for arguments sake, brandable could be an adjective based on the verb or noun and still make sense. For instance, something fashionable is something related to the noun fashion. Regardless, the point that there is no set criteria that makes something brandable by definition remains the same haha

One of the stupidest names I've seen is Kasasa, and it's a fairly significant brand. It even fails the radio test. The thing about the "brandable marketplaces" I just don't get is, why would a company want a logo attached with a domain when the logo may not even remotely reflect the company's product or service, even if the name seems to work. To me the whole thing is completely back asswards. In the far majority of cases, companies develop a product and then find a name and possibly a logo that is a good fit. What kind of business goes shopping for a name and then tries to build something out of it? I know it is done, but most often it's counter-intuitive.

I'm a designer at all 3 marketplaces and the owners of the sites all say hardly anyone uses the logos after buying a name, but they all care so much about the logo because it comprises the aesthetics of their own brand. Consumer psychology is crazy, but the smallest things like design and presentation can subconsciously influence a consumers perceptions and buying habits.

In my rant earlier I kind of touched on it and said "In addition, the "cheap $2 logos" made shopping much more user friendly and allowed for domains to stand out instead of run together like the pages and pages of 200 domains listed in 12px font. And all they had to do to improve their marketplace was offer designers the possibility of $100 that didn't even come out of BBs cut" I think the logos are awesome from a consumer standpoint, and it also makes the names pop out at you to give you more of an idea of the brands "wow factor" (not sure if that's the phrase I'm looking for).

It does suck from a sellers standpoint though since you have to give up a decent chunk to the designer when you make a sale, but the site owner can't design them all, and the only way to get designers to work for free is if there is the possibility of a worthwhile return in the future. The names sell for far more at brandable marketplaces than they would anywhere else though, so it kind of cancels out anyways.

 

[forge]

I'm a designer at all 3 marketplaces and the owners of the sites all say hardly anyone uses the logos after buying a name, but they all care so much about the logo because it comprises the aesthetics of their own brand. Consumer psychology is crazy, but the smallest things like design and presentation can subconsciously influence a consumers perceptions and buying habits.

In my rant earlier I kind of touched on it and said "In addition, the "cheap $2 logos" made shopping much more user friendly and allowed for domains to stand out instead of run together like the pages and pages of 200 domains listed in 12px font. And all they had to do to improve their marketplace was offer designers the possibility of $100 that didn't even come out of BBs cut" I think the logos are awesome from a consumer standpoint, and it also makes the names pop out at you to give you more of an idea of the brands "wow factor" (not sure if that's the phrase I'm looking for).

Those are very good points, the second of which I missed the first time around.

Interestingly, I just witnessed this phenomenon firsthand, which really hit home because it involved a domain I sold basically on the cheap here at NP. Several days later I just happened to spot the name that had sold on Ebay at a healthy profit, and I am convinced it was due to the fact the "flipper" had repackaged the domain, given it a flashy logo and font and, essentially, added hype. I was actually impressed.

 

[DomainBFF]

Those are very good points, the second of which I missed the first time around.

Interestingly, I just witnessed this phenomenon firsthand, which really hit home because it involved a domain I sold basically on the cheap here at NP. Several days later I just happened to spot the name that had sold on Ebay at a healthy profit, and I am convinced it was due to the fact the "flipper" had repackaged the domain, given it a flashy logo and font and, essentially, added hype. I was actually impressed.

Yep. People are attracted to aesthetics and they often don't even know it. I find myself skipping over awesome domains all the time because it's just little 12pt lowercase font surrounded by lowercase 12pt font.

It's especially nice for quick flipping to other domainers because they are even more likely to miss your name. After the time I browse my 3rd page at expireddomains for example I start scrolling faster and missing more and more domains. Then it just gets worse as I move on to the next place to browse.

Most important place to have a nice neat logo is at ebay. I just scroll and look at the picture, so all the people who don't put the domain name in the picture are idiots. SO MANY people don't do it too and I don't understand why at all.

 

[alistair80]

unless they are actually SELLING the names, I dont see why I should be paying ANY fees to get it just listed...I still like brandbucket but I always sell names of my own and while I have close to 10 decent names on bb (one of them being single dictionary word .com), none of them sold...so yeah...kinda disappointed. However, i sell domains every other day to both resellers and endusers but never sold a name via bb or namerific...I think thye now just want to listing money and they are happy with that...they dont care if your domains sell...

 

[DU]

I don't like it. That kind of business tactics smacks of desperation. Slightly unethical in my view.

In this industry calling something "slightly unethical" is almost like a better business bureau A+ rating.

 

[DomainVP]

<3 Happy by pharell is an amazing song.

 

[DomainVP]

I guess I don't understand why people get so worked up and are quick to foreshadow the downfall of others. BB/Namerific/BR aren't doing anything to discredit the domaining industry. They are making money, are helping others make money, and operate ethical businesses. With all the vitriol going on, you would think they are running a pyramid scheme or something.

It's their whole, "here, this is shiny," approach.

Are you familiar?

Here, this is shiny! It's perfect, and highly desirable! There can be only one owner... and today it can be you! Someone else will own this today, why let them own your shiny thing when you deserve it.

Unfortunately after you buy it, you realize it was just a polished piece of poo.

This is the brandables, and like the shiny thing, at its core it stinks.

 

[SearchEngineZ]

Imagine if one of these sites listed a brandable name that suits brand sellers? And it was a better name than theirs. And someone bought it and conquered the brandable market just from having a better name.

Because, really, the main 3 don't have very good brand names themselves.

I have BrandSeek.com if anyone is interested

 

[DomainVP]

Imagine if one of these sites listed a brandable name that suits brand sellers? And it was a better name than theirs. And someone bought it and conquered the brandable market just from having a better name.

Because, really, the main 3 don't have very good brand names themselves.

I have BrandSeek.com if anyone is interested

Develop it. Have a branable-bonanza!

 

[DomainBFF]

We are in different leagues then, and your not being able to comprehend my experience with whats going on in todays market is understandable. You can lead a gTLD to water, but you can't make a .horse drink. (zing)

I don't buy for $2.95 and hope for $500 to $5,000. I buy for $2.95 and know I can sell for $xx,xxx and up.

My buyers are higher-end 'small business', close to 'big business' scale.

Please don't be offended by what I am saying; you take great offense to both facts and opinions, and it is one of the greatest hurdles to get over.

When I entered into domaining I had a conversation with one of the worlds top domainers, and he told me that my list was 'pretty light'; to put it nicely. My first instinct was, "well what does he know?!?!"

I too was a bit offended.

Domaining is personal, we rise and fall on our own decisions and picks.

However after I took a step back from by hubris I reevaluated my approach and started investing smarter, now I do regular five figure deals with developed and undeveloped names.

I've been a developer for over a decade, I know that if I started any venture with some of the terrible brandable domains on the market it would be a failure.

If anything is an indicator of just how much lunacy goes on in 'brandables', BrandBucket turned down a name I get decent offers for once a month and their 'appraisal' process is just idiotic. It's all just shots in the dark while they appraise their own privately held names higher than the rest.

I said it before and I'll say it again, owning a GOOD brandable is a smart buy, buying a poor quality domain like TecqWhis from Brandbucket or ANY brandable site is just stupidity.

Buy gibberish, and your product comes off as gibberish, unless you have angel investors throwing money at you... and at that point you will have to ask yourself why you just spent $3k on Hawttly when you could have owned a decent name for $15k.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't sell crap to anyone just because I could make a profit. It's a personal perspective, and one that has always paid off. Sell good names, sell for good prices and everyone is happy.

I hope your thread achieves rank for the keyword "brandbucket", we know what you are up to silly.

Cheers!

I don't take offense to anything, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. None of it's personal and I hope you haven't taken anything personally either. Forums are for learning, so what better way than to have some heated conversations with a little more depth than your usual "How can I sell my crap domains?" thread.

My rant earlier wasn't directed specifically at you, though. It was built up from all of the hate and bashing brandable market places receive. You've shifted the conversation from brandable marketplaces to personal preference of brandable domains, which is not what I have been arguing about.

I don't focus my domaining strategy on brandable domains, and have stated several times that I personally don't think that is a wise route to take if you want to be a successful domainer. I have about 20 brandables in a portfolio of 170, and for a while now I have only been focused on aftermarket domains.

If you go back and re-read my posts, you'll see that I have been only defending brandable marketplaces because you started by saying things like:

"brandable domain charade"

"Their "free listing" strategy is a bit of desperation as well, they know whats going on, and what's to come of 'brandables'."

"Companies want 'brandables', but not the trite Brandbucket is offering."

"A company would much rather spend $20k on a domain name then have a laughable online presence for $5,000."

"BrandBucket has had its heyday, and now it's over."

I even ended my last post saying:

Lastly, you're exactly right, as a domainer it would not be wise to reg 100 brandables and hope to sell one. A lot of newbies will make this mistake and get burnt, but that is the domainers fault. The marketplaces just provide the market and take a cut, and there is no denying that there are endusers in the market for brandables. Period.

So this entire time I've been explaining why there is a market for brandables, who makes up the market, and ultimately, how brandables marketplaces will not be going anywhere because they are genius and get to make money off other peoples brandables without having to ever register a single one.

And if you're implying that I'm a brandbucket shill, you're dead wrong. I have domains at all 3, design logos at all 3, and wish all 3 the best. However, the thread was originally regarding brandbucket and they also just made some huge changes. While I support all 3 and, as an unbiased domainer I honestly believe BB is the best marketplace, which I'm sure just about everyone can agree on. BB may very well be surpassed in time, but they are the pioneer that shaped the structure of brandable marketplaces several years ago and they have made the most sales and generated the most revenue. Namerific isn't even 2 years old yet, and the founder Zane originally even worked for brandbucket. Then brandroot is still in it's infancy and just now starting to become more popular. So it's pretty self-evident that it isn't exactly an even playing field..

 

[DomainVP]

You will have to excuse me, It's that time of the month and I enjoy reading your paragraphs.

Best of luck with your listser endeavor!

Cheers!

 

[NameOffice.]

unless they are actually SELLING the names, I dont see why I should be paying ANY fees to get it just listed...I still like brandbucket but I always sell names of my own and while I have close to 10 decent names on bb (one of them being single dictionary word .com), none of them sold...so yeah...kinda disappointed. However, i sell domains every other day to both resellers and endusers but never sold a name via bb or namerific...I think thye now just want to listing money and they are happy with that...they dont care if your domains sell...

I can't speak for BB but we incur immediate costs per name that we accept at Brandroot. Not only do we pay our logo designers $3 per logo design that is accepted (in addition to releasing the logo award when it sells) but we also pay our writers to define names. Not to mention the time it takes to get the name finally published. These sites are not like Sedo, they are not a quick auto-listing, done just by the lister. It takes man power to get the names defined, designed, organized and listed.

As for our traffic, we receive about 5k unique visitors per day (all organic) and rank higher than BrandBucket and Namerific for almost all keywords that we target. We introduced this offer because we're confident your names will see more people than at our competitors. Our traffic has never stopped growing and our business plan has never stopped improving. We also received a huge influx of names after this offer was sent out. Thank you for your patience as we get your names accepted and designed!

 

[DomainBFF]

I can't speak for BB but we incur immediate costs per name that we accept at Brandroot. Not only do we pay our logo designers $3 per logo design that is accepted (in addition to releasing the logo award when it sells) but we also pay our writers to define names. Not to mention the time it takes to get the name finally published. These sites are not like Sedo, they are not a quick auto-listing, done just by the lister. It takes man power to get the names defined, designed, organized and listed.

As for our traffic, we receive about 5k unique visitors per day (all organic) and rank higher than BrandBucket and Namerific for almost all keywords that we target. We introduced this offer because we're confident your names will see more people than at our competitors. Our traffic has never stopped growing and our business plan has never stopped improving. We also received a huge influx of names after this offer was sent out. Thank you for your patience as we get your names accepted and designed!

I will say I'm definitely the biggest fan brandroots designer policy. I just wish all of the names pending logo weren't always taken!

 

[NameOffice.]

I will say I'm definitely the biggest fan brandroots designer policy. I just wish all of the names pending logo weren't always taken!

Thanks @listser. They get taken fast with the $3 incentive, which was the reason for the incentive, to decrease the wait. Now the design wait is nearly non-existent. We just approved a great logo designer who has made close to a 1k in less than a couple months with us. He gets them pretty fast and provides great work.

 

[DomainBFF]

Thanks @listser. They get taken fast with the $3 incentive, which was the reason for the incentive, to decrease the wait. Now the design wait is nearly non-existent. We just approved a great logo designer who has made close to a 1k in less than a couple months with us. He gets them pretty fast and provides great work.

I knock em out pretty quick, but I've primarily been designing at bb and nr lately just because the queue has been backed up with plenty of names to design at any time. Brandroot doesn't have an email notification feature that I've noticed, so I forget to go check availability. Or do you have the option and I just missed it?

 

[NameOffice.]

@listser we do have an email notification that goes out everyday any time there are logos waiting.

 

[forge]

Not only do we pay our logo designers $3 per logo design

trololololololololol !

 

[forge]

In this industry calling something "slightly unethical" is almost like a better business bureau A+ rating.

:D

Bare shoulder + backpack straps are just SO damn hot! Just sayin'. Sorry, off topic.

 

[JudgeMind]

I currently have three names listed on brandbucket. Has anyone sold anything on brand root? Would it make sense for me to transfer my listings to them?