news Dan.com to increase comission from 9% to 15% effective Feb 1st 2023

[MadAboutDomains]

Just received this email from Dan.com about commission increases (snippet of email):

Thoughts?

 

[Acroplex]

Hi @Juan v2 - useful to clarify that the reduced 15% commission rate applies to more than just afternic.com nameservers. It also applies to:

• smartname.com
• uniregistrymarket.link
• dan.com
• undeveloped.com
• internettraffic.com
• cashparking.com

Please don't call this price jacking a "reduced commission rate" - those of us who never wanted to use Afternic but were forced to (e.g. via Uniregistry) or didn't care for the trickle-down tweaks Afternic 2.0 is receiving during the past 3 years, are offended.

GoDaddy didn't even have the decency to give us 30 full days of notice, instead, it sent out emails from its marketplaces with very weak arguments over the benefits to domain investors.

It's a price grab by GoDaddy and I am disappointed by Dan's forced demise. Watch how fast 1.7 million domains leave the DNS when you impose an increase from 9% to 15% AND a 25% taxation of non-GoDaddy DNS!

 

[Laguna]

Everything in this world is supply and demand. All these comments are water off a ducks back to them . The only way to change something is act with your feet and walk away. Move to a lower commission site or have your own landing pages. These big companies with massive overheads cannot survive without the customers. So if your really unhappy walk away and force a change

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I asked Namecheap on social media if they could, finally, introduce landers (other than the pathetic solution of redirecting to their marketplace listing). Just landers, like Dynadot, NameSilo, Sav, Porkbun, etc. all have.

Their account first told me they would forward it as a suggestion. But then, their CEO Richard Kirkendall replied to my Tweet saying that Spaceship (their new platform in closed beta testing) would have landers. Good news.

He went on to add in a second tweet in the thread:
"What I plan to do at Spaceship is offer domainers registrations, renewals and transfers at cost. No fee for being part of the "club" or whatever. Offer landers and a low percentage on any commissions." It looks like they are approaching it from a domainer friendly way, make the money as a percentage of aftermarket sales, not on the actual domain registrations and renewals. Their current NC Marketplace commission is 10%.

And then someone asked if it would be just for names registered at Namecheap (which is the case for their existing marketplace) and he responded:
"Will be open to all."

So assuming that really means that a domain name registered anywhere can be listed, and that their marketplace is good (the current one is slow at search) this could be significant competition. He also tweeted about advanced technology and software powering Spaceship.

Is anyone in the Beta trial, and if so are they at liberty to share any opinions, or is it NDA restricted?

-Bob

PS Someone asked about commissions on the forthcoming Spaceship. He did not give a figure but said they would probably be flat, ie not tiered, and low.

 

[enterscope]

Godaddy S U C K S. Plain and simple. End of Story. PERIOD.

They represent everything that is wrong with the domain industry.

 

[Vivere]

GoDaddy really tried to package this commission 'alignment’ as an all-around positive for domainers, but that’s just not the case.

They led with the shiny “reduced 15% commission” bit, so at a cursory glance one would see this as a great move. But they conveniently buried the fact that the former tiered commission structure (which was a huge benefit/consideration for higher sales) has now been nixed. They based their before-and-after comparison table on some incorrect rates. And they downplayed the fact that they have now also introduced a higher commission rate (25%) for domains that aren’t pointed to their nameservers.

As it stands, this seems to be the situation for DAN and Afternic users:


DAN:

• Before: Domains using DAN nameservers = 9% commission. After: Domains using DAN nameservers = 15% commission.
• Before: Domains not using DAN nameservers = 9% sales commission. After: (i.) Not using DAN nameservers but using other GoDaddy nameservers = 15% commission (ii.) Not using DAN nameservers or any other GoDaddy nameservers = 25% commission.
• Before: Domains integrated into Afternic DLS via DAN = 20% commission. After: No longer a relevant factor... because "aLiGnMeNt" (and it has done its job).
• Unchanged: Commission for imported leads -- 5%.

Afternic:

• Before: $0 - $5,000 domains using Afternic nameservers = 20% commission. After: $0 - $5,000 domains using Afternic nameservers = 15% commission.
• Before: $5,001 and above domains using Afternic nameservers = Tiered commission. After: $5,001 and above domains using Afternic nameservers = No longer tiered. 15% flat commission. Terrible news for higher sales. Examples: Before, a $60k sale would’ve incurred a 12.5% commission ($7.5k). Now, a $60k sale will incur a 15% commission ($9k). A $100k sale would’ve incurred an 11.5% commission ($11.5k). Now, a $100k sale will incur a 15% commission ($15k). A $250k sale would’ve incurred a 10.6% commission ($26.5k). Now, a $250k sale will incur a 15% commission ($37.5k). On and on. Just obscene.
• Before: $0 - $5,000 domains not using Afternic nameservers = 20% sales commission. After: (i.) not using Afternic nameservers but using DAN / other GoDaddy nameservers = 15% commission, (ii.) not using Afternic nameservers or any other GoDaddy nameservers = 25%.
• Before: $5,001 and above domains not using Afternic nameservers = Tiered commission. After: No longer tiered: (i.) not using Afternic nameservers but using other GoDaddy nameservers = 15% flat commission. Terrible news for higher sales. (ii.) not using Afternic nameservers or any other GoDaddy servers = 25% flat commission. Even more terrible. Examples: Before, a $60k sale would’ve incurred a 12.5% commission ($7.5k). Now, a $60k sale will incur a 25% commission ($15k). A 100k sale would’ve incurred an 11.5% commission ($11.5k). Now, a $100k sale will incur a 25% commission ($25k). A $250k sale would’ve incurred a 10.6% commission ($26.5k). Now, a $250k sale will incur a 25% commission ($62.5k). This is beyond crazy.

The only reduction here seems to be a decrease in commission from 20% to 15% for domains that are (a.) within the $0 - $5,000 range AND (b) using any of GoDaddy’s nameservers.

If your $0 - $5,000 SH or BB premium domains are listed on Afternic, you won’t enjoy said reduction because your premium domains will, by requirement, be pointed to your brandable marketplace’s nameservers.

TL;DR: GoDaddy's revised rates are extremely unfriendly and unfair.

I hope they reconsider this move. At a minimum, the tiered commission system should be brought back.

 

[internext]

the seller is charged 25%...

What terrible system design.

I consider it a moral deficit. 25%!!? How can that even be suggested with a straight face? That is a laughably immoral amount to ask. One-quarter of MY asset when they haven't actively outbound-marketed, didn't give me free renewals etc. No skin in the game but claiming a percentage as if they own equity in my asset. GoToHellDaddy!!

 

[bmugford]

Thanks @tonyk2000 - these are great points, and in my new role as community manager I'm trying to help affect changes with some of these points you've raised.

Well, outside the commission changes which are not justified, the 25% stuff landed like a lead balloon.
The domain investment community is not for anti-competitive measures like that.

So you should probably relay that back.

Again, this is coming from a long time GoDaddy supporter. I have had an account there almost since they started.
I use Afternic. I use Dan. I am not some "hater".

I just hate these moves by GoDaddy.

Brad

 

[Nuno Casimiro]

Bad news!
Sedo will benefit from this situation:
20% in SedoMLS
15% in Sedo Marketplace
10% if point to Sedo.

 

[Future Sensors]

Current status as of Jan 4 2023, info from over 1,200 TLD zonefiles.

Number of domains using Afternic nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 302K
NS3 & NS4 - 572K
NS5 & NS6 - 527K

Number of domains using UniRegistry nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 265K

Number of domains using DAN.com nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 1,796K

Number of domains using Undeveloped.com nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 110K

Number of domains using NameFind nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 1,015K

Number of domains using SedoParking.com nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 1,084K

Number of domains using Sedo.com nameservers
SL1 & SL2 - 78K

Number of domains using Efty nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 176K

Number of domains using Bodis nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 1,033K

Number of domains using ParkingCrew nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 1,053K

Number of domains using Domain.io nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 19K

Number of domains using Above nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 80K

Number of domains using BrandBucket nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 145K

Number of domains using Squadhelp nameservers
NS1 & NS2 - 226K

Number of domains using CashParking nameservers
NS01 & NS02 - 751K

 

[Recons.Com]

Question to GD:

Will anyone get preferential treatment or the terms are the same for all?

HugeDomains uses their own landers. Demanding 25% from them instead of 20% before could mean around $5 million a year additional money going from HD straight to GD. I can't fathom them taking this lightly. So are you giving them different terms?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

It is worse. Someone on Twitter pointed out, and it seems right, that the B-7 clause about the Afternic price must equal the BIN price on your lander elsewhere was only recently added recently. It shows in the Feb. 2, 2023 crawl, but as far as I can see (lots was changed so hard to be sure) not in the previous crawl version. I show the previous section from where it is currently in the Afternic Members Agreement -- here is link to full Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/2022120...nic.com/legal/agreements/membership-agreement

 

[bmugford]

This is an alignment of commissions across the GoDaddy aftermarket. You can read more about this move here: https://uniregistry.com/blog/post/godaddy-aftermarket-alignment
or https://news.dan.com/221733-dan-and-godaddy-aftermarket-commission-alignment

Well, this is what I predicted from day 1.

You can wrap this news in some shiny package, but it is nothing but a turd for customers.

@Paul Nicks @Joe Styler @Michael Cyger

I think GoDaddy is making a massive mistake. You were capturing leads you would not from Afternic, and at a higher commission.

As I said in the past, expecting a customer to handle leads, negotiation, AND pay a higher fee is unreasonable.

Brad

 

[internext]

give domainers a louder voice at GoDaddy

We all hate the 25% punitive commission rate. There's your chance to show us GD hears us

 

[bmugford]

Yes. The new structure will be a flat 15% or 25% depending on where nameservers are pointed at the time of sale, regardless of price.

Absolutely pathetic.

This is nothing but a greedy cash grab, while bringing no benefits to customers.

@Paul Nicks @Joe Styler @Michael Cyger

Not only that, it is framed in a way like it is supposed to be beneficial in some way to customers.
What an absolute joke.

Brad

 

[tonyk2000]

GoDaddy forgot that for example their ns5/ns6 landers have issues, such as:

1. No support for httpS forwarding via ns5/ns6

2. No visitor stats

3. Blocked from being indexed by Google, by design (confirmed by Joe Styler in afternic thread).

4. Not multilingual (at least last time I checked)

5. No way to contact support in reasonable way (since GD disabled email support and does not have built-in tickets system)

Punishing for NOT using this landers system? How about fixing all the above? Members who host their own landing pages, or who are using alternate DNS and forwarding solutions, where the visitors do end up @ godaddy, but the domain DNS are different, are working hard to INCREASE sales for both themselves AND GoDaddy. Now they are punished for doing this.

 

[DaaZ]

I will check it out.

I am not making any impulsive decisions but I am certainly going to consider my options going forward.

Even though it doesn't really effect me, the 25% thing pisses me off even more than the Dan commission.
It is just so blatantly anti-competition.

That is not something I saw coming.

Brad

Thanks brad, we are not competing with anyone. At the same time just want to remind the community , we are ready to serve those who trust and join us. Some of the features about DaaZ:

1) 3.5 Years old platform: DaaZ.com started its project in 2017 and gone live on August-2019
2) Customers from 60+ countries are using DaaZ.com effectively
3) Service / success fees are industry low by any pure domain marketplace:

• BIN listings success fee is just 5%
• Make an offer success fee is just 7%
• Auctions success fee is 7%
• DaaZ secure ( for offline agreed leads aka import leads ) – 5%
• Lease to Own offering – 8% success fee
  4) Payouts are processed with in 48 hours ( at least 99% cases so far )
  5) offers 22 payment options. (
  https://twitter.com/x/status/1607516202724913152
  )

Further details - pleaser refer our official thread: https://www.namepros.com/threads/daaz-com-domain-marketplace-official-thread.1217160/

 

[bmugford]

Hey everyone, I'm feeling rotten with a chest infection that I've been fighting since last week (not great timing but no sympathy needed) so I'll likely be out of action for a couple of days. If you have any questions on the commission alignment, DM me and I'll respond when I can.

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you feel better soon.

With that said, GoDaddy is a company worth billions of dollars not some mom & pop operation.

It is not like they don't have the resources for someone to step in and address the concerns, on the largest domain forum by far.

Honestly, it is pretty silly how little engagement they have with the domain investment community in general.
This is something I have mentioned many times in the past.

Brad

 

[TangoTango]

It seems people aren't happy.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I think for me one disappointment is that I had hoped that they would let Dan continue as a different marketplace from Afternic. Lower commissions, different landers, rent and lease-to-own options, largely automated processing. When I listed for 9% at Dan I realized that a few things at Afternic were missing, mainly the 24/7 phone system with a huge network of agents to deal with potential buyers, and not as much marketplace traffic. I know some asked that to be added to Dan, but I prefer differentiation, choose Dan or choose Afternic or choose both, but don't try to make them the same thing.

My big bank well over a decade ago bought out a discount brokerage competitor. Many thought they would integrate or close it down, but they have kept offering both services, one for people who want to manage things online themselves without direct advice, and one for those who want phone or in-person investment, with a level of advice, but at higher fees. I think that really is the best of both worlds.

So my personal plea to GoDaddy is to do a bit of a rethink. Keep Dan as something different from Afternic, but under the GoDaddy umbrella, please.

Thanks for listening.

-Bob

PS I also favour a competitive climate, and hope that Sedo, the brandable places, and services like Efty will all thrive, and a new domain marketplace will shake things up.

(@James Iles)

 

[xcloud123]

DAN
R.i.p

 

[bmugford]

@James Iles has his work cut out for him here, as GoDaddy liaison to the domain investment community.
Good luck defending this decision and spinning it like it is beneficial to customers in any way.

9% to 15% = 60% increase in Dan.com commission

Then they also raised Afternic commissions on higher dollar sales.

Brad

 

[Joe123]

My final message to Dan:

 

[Janoss]

@LaszloSchenk Can you ask the team at Dan to remove these payout fees after the February alignment changes? We know there are other payout methods but to charge extra on Credit card processing and Paypal payouts isn't very justifiable at 15%/25% commission.

 

[Ostrados]

BTW DAN also charges 21% VAT on EU seller like me
So old 9% at DAN was actually 10.9%
And now 15% at DAN will become 18.14%

Can @James Iles tell me why I should pay almost 19% commission to a landing page provider that takes my traffic and leads and has ZERO contribution to traffic on my domains?

And why should I stick with that provider and be penalized 25% if I chose better service?!!!

 

[Ostrados]

Even better for me, 15% instead of 20%

Yes we know that 15% is good news for many, we got your point you repeated it many times already.

But it is not about only you, the 25% is bad news for the users of:

• Brandable marketplaces such as SquadHelp , Brandbucket, Brandpa ..etc.
• Bodis & other parking services
• Domain.io and other new landing page providers
• People who use their own websites

Additionally, few top sellers will not be happy with the removal of tiered commission at Afternic.

So what Godaddy did is almost crushing all other small competitors with one simple move, they knew that Afternic traffic is indispensable and that the 25% penalty will put pressure on all of us.

It would have been seen as positive move if Godady did in the following way:
"We will reward you if you point to us by reducing commission to 15%, if not then you will pay the old 20% commission"

If they did it that way then it would have been seen as a huge positive plus to them, because it is rewarding system not penalty system. And I am sure that if they used that then people will automatically start converting more to their NS, but now many people will get angry and will do the opposite.