BrandRoot Experience...

[gina ferrano]

Since there's a thread for Namerific and BB, I started a thread on BR. What are people's experiences?
Jury is still out...not sure if I should submit more names, as names pending in the cue waiting for logos jumped back 20 spaces. What's the turn around time? On the front end, names being approved are on par with namerific, BB is very slow, w/o a yay or a nay, though maybe once the names are approved it may be faster going into the description, logo stage.

Also, paying more than $100 on logos for names valued at under 2k, is it worth it to pay more. Does it make a difference? How long to wait till name is published? Do the logo designers pick and choose? The $10 fee, what does that insure? The idea behind BR is a sped up process, how long must one wait...

 

[slimjim270]

Hi Everyone,

Good news... I just had another sale on Brandroot. S*Y*N*E*P (.com)

That is 2 sales in the first 10 weeks of 2016... with only 118 currently listed.

Looks to be another 7-8% sales year. (for 2015 I had 6 of 84 sold = 7%)

-Jim

 

[Robozy]

I primarily use BR at this point. I switched everything over from BB because I was getting a better rate of sales at the time (Jan 2015). I have no idea what the average rate of sale at BB is at the moment, but I am currently getting about 3.3% per annum at BR.

 

[Zoltan P.]

I just had an other sale as well. This is my 4th sale out of 44 names this year. I started to add names to BR late 2015. Thanks BR!

 

[slimjim270]

Hi Everyone,

Good news... I just had another sale on Brandroot. D*U*X*R*O (.com)

That is 3 sales in the first 15 weeks of 2016... with only 122 currently listed.

2016: With 3 of 122 sold YTD, I am currently trending at 8% (annualized)
2015: I had 6 of 84 sold = 7%

-Jim

ps: FYI - I happen to focus on 5L - 8L names. YMMV.

 

[Zoltan P.]

Thank you. I bought this name on GD auction a few months ago. I knew it was a good name, sold pretty quickly for a nice price.

I N S T A R U N dot C O M

 

[Recons.Com]

@Brandroot

Clearly something weird is happening with your platform.

One example: I made exact search for my listed names on your platform (letter for letter) and they did not come up. Instead, bunch of other names came, including some listings being shown twice next to each other (orangic).

Of course, you also would expect, like on BB, that searching part of the word would turn up your listing, but with BR, if it cannot return the exact search one, the partial, sure, returns anything but the name.

Anyone here selling any names on brandroot? Wondering if more sales would come from their marketplace having far less listed domains then brand bucket

Frankly, I had similar expectations. So far, however, hasn't happened.

I had 2 sales with around 55 names with BB and 0 sales with around 110 names at BR.

 

[Cristi Marin]

Hey there fellow NPers,
People who knows me here or outside this community knows that I'm not an antagonist nor do I see the point on wasting time and energy going into disputes or anything alike.

I'm a thou a true believer in sharing thoughts and experiences with the community, that way we can all learn from eachter and grow together.

I'm here just to express in a few words my deepest disappointment with @Brandroot or to be more precise with Michael Rader.

From a tech standpoint the platform is quite good, clean & easy UI with innovative and useful features.

However, all I want to say is...heads-up dear fellow domainers, even if you sold domains with BR before and you decide at some point that you want to unpublish some of your domains for good and pertinent reasons, there is a high chance that the access to your account will be suspended and you'll also might end up having your domains unpublished, of course with no possibility to get refund of your listing fees.

Take care and always learn from others experiences! ✌

 

[slimjim270]

@Robozy and a couple others shared their 2015 results, I will do the same.

I have been an active seller on Brandroot since Dec 2014 and on BrandBucket since Oct. 2014.

My experience on Brandroot (BR)...

1) During 2015, I had 6 sales on 84 names listed with Brandroot ( 7% sales rate for 2015).

2) I currently have 119 names listed with Brandroot and already kicked off 2016 with a sale in January 2016.

3) I only ask 2 things of a broker - A) they sell product, and B) they pay promptly after the sale. Michael Rader (Brandroot) has met both these objectives consistently.

4) My experience dealing with Michael Rader? I am prompt to transfer when requested, my tone with Michael is respectable, and Michael has consistently responded the same way with me. He is brief in his responses and does not appear to be a conversationalist. Okay by me... He sells. He pays. That is all I care about! I hired the guy to do a job for me... and he is doing it well.

My opinion - When BrandBucket recently implemented their new $10 Listing Fee, they made a mistake. It has become a catalyst for many loyal BB sellers (those in the Top 50 account size and expanding) to rethink their channel partner strategy. What BB should have done was grandfathered their existing Top 50 members to not have to pay the new $10 Listing Fee (or at least provide them a discounted rate of only $5 per listing as a show of allegiance to top members). What BB should have done instead, was they should have only initiated the new Listing Fee requirement for new members and let it phase in over time as new members joined the site and expanded their inventory. BrandBucket's new Listing Fee along with Brandroot's higher sales rate opened the door for Brandroot to gain experienced product suppliers. (or at least caused many experienced sellers to think twice about giving BrandBucket 1st dibs on submissions) If BrandBucket want's to stop the bleeding, they should immediately offer 50% off their Listing Fees for their Top 50 members, otherwise there will be a consistent flow of capital and experienced members migrating to Brandroot.

I hope this overview is helpful...

-Jim

 

[mreynolds]

Yes, the sale is now completed. They sent money to my PayPal acct yesterday. I submitted my domain on 08/26, they approved it on 08/30, paid $10 listing fee same day, then waited until 09/16 to have logo and went live on their site. Received an offer on 09/22, replied with counter offer. Domain sold on 09/26. Money in my PayPal acct on 09/27.

I have 9 domains live on their site, sold 1. I hope to sell the rest fast

 

[Coral Cove]

We buy domains mainly targeting end users. If you are to buy and flip, its better to buy liquid domains from the very beginning, like Chips or 6N.coms. This will make you much more money than liquidating brandables!
Brandables are an end users ecosystem!

A very profitable ecosystem.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

PSA: Make sure you stay current with your BrandRoot portfolio or else your account will be closed.

I responded 7 minuted later...

40 minutes later...

Mind you -- the domain in question was caught by DropCatch for HugeDomains on 3/14/2017

(I'm not trying to deflect blame to BR as it was my responsibility to keep my portfolio current. Just stating my experience)

Between the domains expiration and now - I received countless emails stating my domains risk removal as it's not forwarding properly -- yet they were never removed.

 

[BrandZen]

PSA: Make sure you stay current with your BrandRoot portfolio or else your account will be closed.

Show attachment 62506

I responded 7 minuted later...

Show attachment 62507

40 minutes later...
Show attachment 62508
Mind you -- the domain in question was caught by DropCatch for HugeDomains on 3/14/2017

(I'm not trying to deflect blame to BR as it was my responsibility to keep my portfolio current. Just stating my experience)

Between the domains expiration and now - I received countless emails stating my domains risk removal as it's not forwarding properly -- yet they were never removed.

Show attachment 62509

No big deal. Brandroot is second tier anyway.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

(I'm not trying to deflect blame to BR as it was my responsibility to keep my portfolio current. Just stating my experience)

BUT -- If I were to deflect blame onto BrandRootd -- I would question why they send out months worth of domain not forwarding properly warnings, without taking actions themselves. Or, prior to emailing me a low ball offer (like all my other BrandRood sales have been) they could have typed the domain in the URL to verify the domain can't be negotiated. Just saying, it's better to be proactive than reactive. (Competent marketplaces like BrandBucket have their buyers best interest in mind by only supplying domains they know they can provide. They do this by auto removing domains no longer forwarded for less than a week. This way, they don't upset sellers AND they don't have a Qoni.com fiasco on their hands)

Speaking of the Qoni.com fiasco - it's seems like you're asking for it to happen to you again by failing to keep up with marketplace inventory. There comes a point where you (as a marketplace) need to accept responsibility rather than blaming everything on your sellers. I say this with confidence after reviewing all BrandRood published domains not forwarded to BrandRood...

SleekOwl.com has a LIVE BIN on BrandRood right now of $1404: brandroot.com/names/sleekowl

Yet - SleekOwl.com has been owned by and forwarded to HugeDomains since September 27th, 2015!

Let's see if you can figure out how to use WHOIS and uncover the other live published BrandRood domains that forward to HugeDomains / others.

Perhaps you're wondering why Modelosa.com isn't forwarding properly to BrandRood? Check your nameservers...

What happens if somebody buys Sawona.com from brandroot.com/names/sawona for $990??

Will you buy it from BrandBucket for more? (currently redirects to BrandBucket )

Lastly, I still own domains that are live on BrandRood that weren't in my BrandRood account. Being that I am no longer welcome to sell on BrandRood anymore, it'll be an interesting bridge to cross if a buyer ever hits BIN on one of my domains.

Actions / Inactions have consequences

 

[RevolutionaryDomains]

That whole incident/thread was painful to [read] watch unfold, to say the least. Hopefully things get back on track and their reputation can continue to be repaired. I wish him/them much success. We need more auction platforms, as the current few are far too inundated...IMO.

That said, namepros nancies will live on in infamy. lol

 

[slimjim270]

@Recons.Com

Yes, near identical quality and naming styles. I submit names to each platform periodically and am benchmarking the 2 platforms based on $ produced / inventory count.

Units sold is less informative than assessing ($ dollars produced divided by total inventory supplied). On that note, for me BR outproduced BB by 3X for $ / units on shelf.

BB sales are more "high line" (higher $ / sale), but BR produced more cash-flow per total units on shelf.

FYI - I currently have over 220+ names on BB. My 2015 sales rate for BB was less than 2%.

Will I shift all-in to BR? Not yet, but it is on my radar for consideration. Like others, domains are an investment for me... and I vote with my wallet.

My current plan is to continue to expand my portfolios on both platforms, then will make adjustments in early 2017 when I review year-end 2016/2015 results.

Hope the response is helpful...

-Jim

 

[slimjim270]

BB just reported Jan sales. Annualized, it is about 3.8% sale rate. What do you think of that?

@Recons.Com

A couple thoughts...

1) well... 1st... it appears someone is doing better than me. glad they shared that data and also glad to hear others are having better success on the platform.

2) the data would be more informative if you separated out out sales from "Ambassadors & BB Management" accounts and provided a sales rate number for "all others". Why do I suggest this? Well, BB Mgmt has a unique selling advantage of seeing exact Search Metrics. The typical seller on the platform (you & I) do not have this data to assess and provide product for. Generic category results are not the same as exact "search term" metrics. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what they provide, but I am an analyst by trade and like to draw my own conclusions based on supporting detail specifics.

3) 3.8% < 7 % (had to toss that out)

4) As I briefly mentioned in my earlier (above) posts... "$ produced / inventory units on shelf" is a better standard as it normalizes units sold to cash-flow produced / total units on shelf. All inventory has cost, not just those sold. I focus on average $ produced per item listed. Gives a better sense of overall production.

Another way to look at it... shelf space is key in retail. All retailers measure "$ produced per square foot of retail space" as a metric to determine individual store success. Translate that to the internet... and you end up with a similar formula of "average $ produced per units listed".... then you bench against average cogs and you get a sense of how you are doing.

My suggestion to BB, BR and others is to segment their data and show what products sell better... this would give product providers (domain owners) a true sense of what sells and what doesn't on their platforms.

Hope I answered your question...

-Jim

 

[Zoltan P.]

Great sale before the long weekend. Domain pushed, waiting for payment.

I am really impressed with BR so far!

 

[kaposzta]

We also have over 250 seller applicants waiting

Waiting? I think it's a terrible strategy to "steal" sellers from BB in such an agressive way, meanwhile hundreds of potential sellers are waiting (for how long?) BR is telling them: FU, you are not important, only ex-BB sellers are. It's disgusting.

 

[Recons.Com]

And yet, no response from @Brandroot

While even the standard wordpress installation has the search feature that can handle this.

Another thing I don't understand why BR does what it does is its newsletters.

It sends a newsletter with a single new name and calls it "check out this awesome new name" and then with that awesome new name (by the way, how does one get picket up for this?) they then promote the same spotlight names over and over. I won't be surprised if the subscribers ignore these mails more and more.

Just for comparison, BB newsletter gives equal exposure to all new listings and it is worth looking through the email (not the setup of 1 name + the same old paid listings).

And the much advertised brandylitics feature is still not activated.

BR is too focused on promoting paid listings, forgetting that even regular listings are also "paid" and also they get to keep $500-1000 or more per name on those regular listings.

 

[Calvenor]

I have 4 names with BrandRoot at the moment (all published within last 4-5 weeks) so that is hardly a representative sample to draw conclusions from, but my experience is this:

• Once names are submitted, initial review takes approximately 1 business week

• Once accepted and paid for ($10 fee per name), domains enter the logo que. It takes approximately 1 more business week for domains to be picked by designer. No clue how selection actually works internally, but domain owner has no say over what will final logo look like. However, once logo is published, domain owner can give it either a "thumb up" or "thumb down" and in that way critically appraise quality of designer's work.

• Designing and publishing of a logo takes approximately 1 business week

Entire process, starting with domain name(s) submission and ending with logo(s) being published takes roughly 3 business weeks, which is much faster response than that of BB and especially Namerific. Quite frankly I don't think it can get much better than that if you'd like to have job done the right way.

Only issue with BrandRoot that I have experienced is certain slowdown in site's work as of recently. As a matter of fact since yesterday, when I first visited the site after a week or so, I haven't been able to load more names in so called Browse View (by clicking on a wide bar at the bottom of page). Hopefully that'll get sorted soon since it hampers proper functioning of the site.

 

[ECUpop]

Sold two names over the holidays at Brandroot. One at full asking and the other negotiated. Payment for both received within a week of each sale. Both listed this past spring (2014). Very happy with results.

 

[ECUpop]

I think it's ok to since they were on the Brandroot home page. If not I apologize in advance.

V - E - S - T - I - C - O - R

And

T - R - U - V - A - E

 

[Archangel]

Brandroot didn't seem to be moving my names, thus I removed them. I recently received this email:

Hi Randy,

I see you have removed your domains from Brandroot. You were not clear as to why you removed them and two of them were not properly forwarded. I'm not sure if you sold any of them directly or what but we have disabled your account and removed all of your domains to avoid any unfavorable circumstances.

Michael Rader
1.866.WE.BRAND
[email protected]

Instead of replying to his email privately, I decided to do it here,in public.

1.) ALL DOMAINS to this second point to BR, as I haven't removed any forwarding.

2.) You were told in perfect detail why one was removed. It was assumed you'd have understood the reasoning to be the same with the rest.

3.) None of them were sold but if you wanna be a little bitch about it, I could ignore your 30-day window and sell them now. Would you prefer me to do that?

Your email shows nothing but immaturity on your part--that and ignorance (research before you start chastising your users). This is the 2nd time you've disabled my account, and neither was justified.

To everyone who uses BrandRoot, I recommend you DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT ASAP before @Pluto gets pissy and acts like a child to you, too. Keep my account closed, Michael.I don't want the embarrassment of your cloud hovering over my head. I'm an adult, and I haven't the time to put up with children like you.

 

[Coral Cove]

Hi @Archangel,

I understand how my message could have come off as rude and I'm sorry but it certainly was not intentional. We have to protect the interest of our business whenever possible. You removed your domains and your reason was as follows:

"Off sale"

I'm sorry but I wouldn't call that perfect detail. Honestly I'm not even sure what that means.

Also about the bad forwards, please see these two domains of yours where the forwards do not work:

http://flirz.com/
http://axpex.com/

By your domains being removed from Brandroot of course I don't expect you to adhere to the 30 day publish period.

The most common reason for domains being removed from our marketplace is because the owner was contacted directly about buying a name. When I saw that two of your domain forwards did not work I wanted to take them down from Brandroot right away in case they sold and we were in another situation where the domain had already been sold to someone else.

I'm sorry you haven't had much luck at Brandroot. We are more and more trying to become a marketplace of just a few large sellers instead of many sellers who own just a few names, which is why we have seller applications in place now. Having just a few names among thousands makes it quite difficult to make a sale.

 

[Doron Vermaat]

I've read somewhere in few months ago, that they are in process of upgrading their website. Will all the issues, I wonder are they still in business?

They launched a completely revamped site a couple of months ago. They are still in business because they sell plenty of names. I've sold 10% of my listed names with them during a relatively short period (14 months).