DAN EXit: Is Afternic/Godaddy Killing Sales Of Domainers?

[jideofor]

I have noticed an increasing level of complaints from domainers on X sharing their frustration about low conversion from inbound leads at Afternic.

Just yesterday, a friend told me he had an offer of $3500 in February, which he worked for via outbound by first contacting the buyer. Unfortunately, that lead didn't materialize into a sale. He narrated a few other experiences since that time that seem to have become a pattern.

I have my fair share of failed transactions at Afternic, which wasn't the case when DAN was alive. I have lost a few. All through my years of using DAN, I only had one domain transaction cancelled because it got sold elsewhere.

Afternic is not friendly to domainers who rely on outbound sales, as I have seen. Inbound? Yes, but outbound? no and this was the niche Dan served effectively. You have chance of losing a sale if you depend on outbound for your sales with Afternic as your lander.

Another discovery was when I used the 5% checkout at Afternic, and after sending it to the buyer, I checked the link and discovered that $50 was added to the original price, which may have caused some level of distrust in the buyer because that clearly portrayed me as a liar. I am still trying to save that transaction as I type this, as the buyer hasn't replied since then. My friend, whom I mentioned above, said this was also another problem that caused him to lose sales. He has had to move his domains that need outbound to DAAZ.

As I type this, it is looking like the most recent inbound I got may not convert into a sale for something that started last month and up till this moment, it is as been back and forth with broker and whoever is on the other end as the buyer because I can't deal directly with the buyer.

Personally, I feel the kind of people that have been recruited to handle brokerage at Afternic are somewhat inexperienced. Many of these inefficiencies started as soon as Dan was killed, not before.

Below are some stories and experiences as shared by other domainers.

Below is another one:

Here is another one

The complaints are from different handles:

You may not have been affected but it does not mean you won't be affected with this growing trend.

 

[D Haynes]

A lot of people complaining but still using them. Doesnt make sense. There are other options out there especially if you're outbounding.

 

[jideofor]

A lot of people complaining but still using them. Doesnt make sense. There are other options out there especially if you're outbounding.

They bought DAN and made a promise to retain the standard and people trusted their words.

So yeah, they will lose a segment of the industry to others who maintain that standard.

 

[alcy]

A lot of people complaining but still using them. Doesnt make sense. There are other options out there especially if you're outbounding.

bro like 1percent of us outbound
its not even worth mention

for rest of us it's out of options. except for type in sale lander.

marketwise exposure its sedo afternic atom ... and u are 100percent at their mercy.. their boost fees or just whatever exposure they wanna give u... u have zero say

so yea domain sales have a real bad future

 

[phaethon]

Outbound is worth it if you are willing to sell your domain for $300 max. Even $300 is not achievable, more like $50-$100. And you should have names that worth that $50 which businesses never thought to buy.
You'd better get a normal a job instead of doing that.

 

[jideofor]

Outbound is worth it if you are willing to sell your domain for $500 max. Even $500 is not achievable, more like $50-$100. And you should have names that worth that $50 and businesses never thought to buy.
You'd better get a normal a job instead of doing that.

But you read up there that someone did outbound, got $3500 offer but Afternic killed it.

He probably wouldn’t have that problem if he had the opportunity to deal with the buyer directly. You treat something that isn’t yours with levity because you don’t value it. How do you expect a broker who is not the owner to handle your domain sales with care when they know that by end of the month, they will still get paid whether your domain sells or not?

I have done 4 figures sales via outbound so please this is not about poor names. I have never lost a domain sale with DAN. Instead of allowing self brokerage, they decided to ask you to pay for it.

At the end of the day, Godaddy’s greed will be their undoing.

 

[alcy]

agreed.. but u know it's still a small success rate for hours of work.

if it was 60p and up success rate we would all do it to get 50 to 200 per handreg. and we all millionaire in 2 year hahaa

there is no easy way out. but hey making money is never easy. some die for money.. some spend day in gold mine at 12 for it etc.. so its obvious domains are not easy.. however we can still say it was easier 5 or 15 yr ago. its just getting worse in time. not better

I guess the interesting question is why big players may be making it harder... the easy answer is.. gd wants to own and sell all
best and sellable names.

that's still way more profit to them than a commission on our sale

that's really not a.dumb conclusion

but maybe u all got better one

 

[marijuanadomain]

Their house their rules
If you don't like it ,just move

They need your domains more than you need them
Without your domains they won't survive
You don't need them

What don't you understand #$$$

They should be paying us to put our domains in their crappy platform
Without our domains they have no business

 

[jideofor]

Their house their rules
If you don't like it ,just move

They need your domains more than you need them
Without your domains they won't survive
You don't need them

What don't you understand #$$$

They should be paying us to put our domains in their crappy platform
Without our domains they have no business

Then they should shut it all down and stop wasting people’s time and inconveniencing us all.

 

[alcy]

Their house their rules
If you don't like it ,just move

They need your domains more than you need them
Without your domains they won't survive
You don't need them

What don't you understand #$$$

They should be paying us to put our domains in their crappy platform
Without our domains they have no business

move where lol

its just couple markets and sale lander

remove above and everyone make 0 sale lol

and no they sont need our stupid domains or commission

gd is likely wanting all domainers gone so they can own and sell everything

that's why fee hikes
boosts
less sales
less exposure
etc

domains already in a coffin.. and most nails are in

 

[Brian Baird]

I dumped Afternic a few weeks ago, I wont go back to sell anything through them, even if they promised no fees.

 

[Jeff_Libert]

Same as it ever way: Desirable domains sell themselves when they are priced to their market's ability to fund a purchase.

AFAIC, Afternic's most valuable function is to filter out tire-kickers, the misinformed, the know-nothings, etc. It's a thankless task, one that is occasionally rewarded by a broker bringing home a sale that complies with the ^first paragraph^.

Things MAY go sideways when a broker doesn't communicate effectively with a domainer OR when a broker doesn't know how to "read the room" or when to do a hand-off to a more experienced broker.

If you don't think they're doing your domains justice then de-list your domains and deal with interested parties directly. That's the best way to sort out the answer to the question: Is it the broker's fault or is it my prices or the quality of my domains?

As far as I can tell there are a lot of interested parties who don't have a clue. What a PITA that must be for Afternic brokers to have to deal with day in and day out. (Of course there's likely other days when the brokers think that I don't have a clue. <0>..<0> C'est la vie!)

 

[biggie]

What a PITA that must be for Afternic brokers to have to deal with day in and day out.

Hi

as is, we've seen how gd pulls, what once were, other options under it's umbrella and how effectively or not, they've integrated/migrated each within.
the latest being 'smartnames" which is being migrated.

nowadays,
since anyone can walk in the door and call themselves a broker....
unless you know them personally/previous experience, how do you know they are qualified?

did they even take the domain course?

 

[domainer111]

I think a lot of domainers are pricing too high for the current environment.

It's crazy to be lashing out at Godaddy, the ultimate ally of the domainers!

if you go back to Covid, we had:

- zero/low intetest rates worldwide
- cash subsidies for many

Now we have:

- higher intetest rates
- no cash subsidies
- war raging in Ukraine and the Middle East
- the whole tartiff thing
- stubborn inflation

Demand is there - but the price must be right!

Was it Jack Welch CEO from Ford who said "you're never done on cost".

Well fellow domainer let me paraphrase:

You're never done on pricing!

 

[AbdulBasit.com]

There are lots of ups and downs I've been facing since I started using Afternic in January 2020. Since that time I'm using their "price request" lander and I'm pretty much satisfied with the results. Of course, it mainly depends on the quality and quantity of domains, pricing and Afternic team skills to get the deals done. However, more than 50% of my sales happen via GoDaddy search path where there is no need of any brokers involvement.

 

[AEProgram]

everything could be solved if afternic only counts a lead if they clicked on a link in an email and confirmed by phone they have an interest in buying the name. Right now most of what you see are drunks and bots that filled out a form. This causes domainers to get anxious and think the brokers don't care. Most of your sales via afternic will happen so fast that you never even get to see it in your dashboard before it closed. When you had your domains at dan you got a fraction of the interest because Dan didn't notify you of anything unless the person verified a link via email and they did better work at stopping bots.

 

[Nametra.com]

Hi, everyone

I’m one of the “frustrated” domain investors who posted about this on X (see my post above).

I’m not really sure how much Afternic is the reason why my lead conversion has been abysmal this year. Sure, there are economic factors at play and admittedly I tend to price on the high to very high side. But I think there’s more to it.

I do think that I should have way more sales for the number of leads I’ve received. I do know that I’m getting way too many “confused” leads with their RP landers. I do think bombarding a new lead with a flurry of emails (often without a single phone call) and then marking the lead as “stalled” hasn’t been too effective selling my domains. I do think their Boost feature hasn’t boosted anything for most sellers other than Afternic’s profits (I ran a survey on X confirming this). I do think that Afternic has way too many poor quality domains which may make it harder for buyers to find the good stuff, especially when GD seems to treat all extensions as equal (which they are NOT).

I think their approach is volume focused and attempts to automate the sales process as much as possible to help them manage the huge number of leads they probably receive. This may work well for lower priced domains, but I’m not sure it works for higher value stuff where the negotiation requires more hands on. At least not from my experience so far.

 

[smartwebby]

Great thread. So sorry to read each tough account. I am in the same boat and keep thinking my domains are bad... till I see so many names I wouldn't recommend a client use ever sell in 4 figures.

I think the issue could be that their efforts are focussed on the big portfolio. Anyone with less than 1500 domains are suffering. That's my gut feeling. It's just sad how so many have stopped using Afternic and Atom when those are the places endusers are flocking to.
I have been mulling a solution for a while where we cross market each other's domains - without commission and maybe later a minimal membership fees to keep things running on the tech side as it gets bigger. Not sure how many people will be onboard with it though.

 

[biggie]

I do know that I’m getting way too many “confused” leads with their RP landers.

Hi

never received a "confused" status for a lead.
didn't even know it could be such a classification.

so, who in this situation is confused, the buyer, the broker or the system?


imo....

 

[jideofor]

Hi

never received a "confused" status for a lead.
didn't even know it could be such a classification.

so, who in this situation is confused, the buyer, the broker or the system?


imo....

That is the classification Afternic gives it.