Discuss your Epik Experience!

[Dandelion]

I think Epik is building the best ever Domain Lander in the history of domaining, and it really needs to be talked about extensively. That's why I am creating this discussion thread. A lot of thought process really goes into the project. And I can see (for the first time) a landing page that is built from the stand point of domainers rather than for just the marketplace itself.

Everything you have ever dreamt of getting or seeing in a professional landing page can be found in the new Epik marketplace landing page design.

Some of my Favorites Features:

1. The ability to optimize your "domain for sale" landing page to actually rank on Google, displaying your sales pitch/domain description. I just did that with few of my generic domain names such as ASAP.TV, targeting certain keywords, and they are showing pretty well on Google. That's a huge plus in my marketing effort.

2. Being able to change background image is another huge one for me. If you are good with pictures and images, you will surely find this very useful. I did that with Nagasaki.org and the result was truly amazing, showing the city of Nagasaki right at the background.

There are too many positive features and I don't want to mention all of them, all alone

So I am leaving you guys to share and discuss what you loves most or dislike about the new Epik marketplace and the landing pages.

The only negative for me is the checkout process. There are too many terms and conditions buttons to tick before checking out. It will be nice if they can streamline those into one beautiful big button

They also need to place the checkout button directly under the payment options. Right now it is awkwardly place somewhere below at the sidebar, which I don't find cool at all.

Sales experience is also welcomed in this discussion. I haven't had any sells so far at Epik because I started using the marketplace just recently, but the future is looking so bright.

 

[Rob Monster]

@Rob Monster If I transfer a freshly acquired domain from Godaddy's expiring auction (which automatically adds one year renewal) to Epik, how much would it cost? Thanks.

We do transfers at cost.

If you pay with a credit card or PayPal it is $8.49 for .COM.

If you pre-fund your account via bank transfer, ACH, or wire, it is $8.10.

 

[Dandelion]

About the Live Chat on parked domains, I think that need to be removed. As noble as it may seem, I am afraid the regular customer supports that handles it may not be up to the task when it comes to domain sales.

Nothing pisses potential buyers off faster than a support person acting unfamiliar with the domain in question, and I have seen the possibilities for that from my previous chats.

What do you think about that Mr. Monster?

 

[Rob Monster]

About the Live Chat on parked domains, I think that need to be removed. As noble as it may seem, I am afraid the regular customer supports that handles it may not be up to the task when it comes to domain sales.

Nothing pisses potential buyers off faster than a support person acting unfamiliar with the domain in question, and I have seen the possibilities for that from my previous chats.

What do you think about that Mr. Monster?

Actually, the support team does a good job there with converting inquiries. That said, we are adding additional parking lander configuration options so you can turn on/off various features, including the live-chat. Some domains like typo domains get inbound inquiries which are not domain-related so we'll appreciate turning the livechat off for those.

 

[frank-germany]

Frank - SEO is absolutely needed for domain sales. Here's why.

Let's suppose you own the domain name ILoveGermany.com and someone builds a marketing campaign called "I Love Germany". The people who run that campaign don't own the domain they need, and that's all fine and well until the day they found out that ILoveGermany.com is ranked on page 1 of major search engines and people are being diverted to a site that is run by a different commercial entity. Now it is a competitive vulnerability that they don't own the domain, but also a clear ROI if they do own it.

As for forests and trees, I think you are mistaken there. It is precisely because we get to see the inner workings of a lot of forests that we have figured out how to grow better trees. I also have the habit of speaking very openly which I realize annoys you at times but I think others finds refreshing since they are used to registrars, marketplaces and escrow agents that ignore their input, and do little to engage the industry in a constructive effort to lift all boats. There are some heroes though like @easyDNS.

I doubt you find a domain set for sale at pos1 of google
competing against a bigger company using that slogan
for that slogan

but no worries:
they will find you anyway


at dan/undeveloped
looks like SEO is ok too

 

[Kassey Lee]

Sorry I could not find the information elsewhere. How much does Epik charge for a domain sold via the Epik landing page?

 

[Windoms]

RobMonster.uno is in today's diamond list..
....

 

[CJ6]

Sorry I could not find the information elsewhere. How much does Epik charge for a domain sold via the Epik landing page?

9%

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I spent some time last night playing with the configurable landers for the Epik Marketplace. Wow, absolutely wow!!! Congrats to @Ala Dadan . @Rob Monster and the Epik team on providing a dream for sale lander. And to @dande for starting this thread!

What do I particularly like about it?

• They have great images you can trivially choose from or upload your own.
• You can have long text descriptions if you want (not sure that is good selling wise, but as you all know it suits me ).
• Your text can be formatted with all of the obvious things including lists, bold/italic etc., rulers, even images there and tables. You can even add code.
• The lander starts with the elegantly designed simple message with buy it now, make offer, start payment plan and contact the owner all easily seen.
• At the bottom information on Epik to build trust on transaction and what payment options are offered.
• But my favourite? You can have links in your description! Like for a .co you can link to the .co registry showcase examples, or you can link to other similar domains you have for sale, or your own portfolio if you want.
• You can even add your own .ico file if you want to add that last professional touch.
• Not part of the lander per se, but all of the various payment plan options that are so easily set with Epik are an important part.

Admittedly, it takes some time to do this. I am not sure I plan to bother with it for all of my domains, but definitely will for some of them. The example I worked on last night is at this link if anyone wants to see some of what I describe (it is still a work in progress, and too wordy) - has custom image, formatted description, my ico, links, bullet text, etc..

If you purchased a lot of .co in the recent promotions, one nice thing the links allow you to do is to link to the examples of sites using.co. The showcase by the .co registry is at this link. If you go to the map you can find .co examples from your own region. Really nice! Hats off to the .co registry for doing right what each registry should (but most don't).

Am I excited about the Epik landers? Yes!!! The only downside is now I want to spend so much time making all of my domains at Epik Marketplace look nice and descriptive.

Bob

 

[Dandelion]

I spent some time last night playing with the configurable landers for the Epik Marketplace. Wow, absolutely wow!!! Congrats to @Ala Dadan . @Rob Monster and the Epik team on providing a dream for sale lander.

What do I particularly like about it?

• They have great images you can trivially choose from or upload your own.
• You can have long text descriptions if you want (not sure that is good selling wise, but as you all know it suits me ).
• Your text can be formatted with all of the obvious things including lists, bold/italic etc., rulers, even images there and tables. You can even add code.
• The lander starts with the elegantly designed simple message with buy it now, make offer, start payment plan and contact the owner all easily seen.
• At the bottom information on Epik to build trust on transaction and what payment options are offered.
• But my favourite? You can have links in your description! Like for a .co you can link to the .co registry showcase examples, or you can link to other similar domains you have for sale, or your own portfolio if you want.
• You can even add your own .ico file if you want to add that last professional touch.
• Not part of the lander per se, but all of the various payment plan options that are so easily set with Epik are an important part.

Admittedly, it takes some time to do this. I am not sure I plan to bother with it for all of my domains, but definitely will for some of them. The example I worked on last night is at this link if anyone wants to see some of what I describe (it is still a work in progress, and too wordy) - has custom image, formatted description, my ico, links, bullet text, etc..

If you purchased a lot of .co in the recent promotions, one nice thing the links allow you to do is to link to the examples of sites using.co. The showcase by the .co registry is at this link. If you go to the map you can find .co examples from your own region. Really nice! Hats off to the .co registry for doing right what each registry should (but most don't).

Am I excited about the Epik landers? Yes!!! The only downside is now I want to spend so much time making all of my domains at Epik Marketplace look nice and descriptive.

Bob

You should add me on the thank list for bringing it to you guys notice

 

[Bob Hawkes]

You should add me on the thank list for bringing it to you guys notice

Indeed I should have thanked you too @dande and my apologies for that oversight! Thank you!

I really liked your Nagasaki example with cityscape as background image. Also, I had not mentioned the search ranking features so I am glad that you mentioned that in your original post.

I have noticed that my Dan/Undeveloped listings sometime make it relatively high on the right Google search (as has been mentioned by @frank-germany), and presume with optimized settings these Epik landers will do the same. With so much flexibility in content, it is possible that some sites will earn decent search recognition even though they are essentially for sale landers.

We have seen minor improvements from Afternic, and I think Sedo are working on improvements in their landers (? not sure where I heard that mentioned), and of course Efty continue to expand and offer more powerful landers, so lots of positive developments. This from Epik sets a high bar in my opinion.

Bob

ps I discovered it was not too late to add mention of you in an edit, @dande so double thanked now!

 

[Dandelion]

Thank you @Bob Hawkes for the thanks, though I was just kidding

Epik has really done a great job with the landers and I felt everyone should know about it. I am currently experimenting with the search ranking. Another good things about this lander that has not been mentioned is the options for payment plan/rentals which to me is one of the richest part of the whole development. I also like the domain certificate too.

Thanks

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I also like the domain certificate too.

I must have missed this. What is the domain certificate about?

 

[namemarket]

I spent some time last night playing with the configurable landers for the Epik Marketplace. Wow, absolutely wow!!! Congrats.....Bob

Hi Bob,I know you have experience with Dan and Epik so the question is if you absolutely must choose only one Epik.com or DAN.com (possibly because it can be too much work and get complicated using both platforms - at least for me) which one 1 of the 2 would you select (without reflecting any negativity on the other, since they are both excellent overall)?

As a side note, the way EPIK allows links on your page can be of very high value and also help SEO, etc. which is something DAN unfortunately does not do, last time I checked.

P.S. I apologize for putting you on the spot with such a difficult question (thanks to your opinion being of immense value).

 

[Rob Monster]

I must have missed this. What is the domain certificate about?

Bob - in your domain Manager:

It is a feature under Reports. It generates a jazzy-looking PDF certificate. See attached example. I think this is especially helpful for resellers and people who are buying on behalf of others on a full-service basis. A .COM domain might cost you $8 but too some low-tech client, the printed piece of paper might be worth a lot more than that due to peace of mind and literal paper trail.

 

[Abdillahi Abdillahi]

I am slowly moving my names here. I applied for a loan last night when I had some issues with my cards and Rob quickly approved it for me and I did not lose the names. Amazing service really. Keep up the good work @Rob Monster

 

[namemarket]

I am slowly moving my names here. I applied for a loan last night when I had some issues with my cards and Rob quickly approved it for me and I did not lose the names. Amazing service really. Keep up the good work @Rob Monster

That seems like a nice benefit if cash is needed fast, How does the loan work and what percentage of value do they lend and how is valuation determined?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Hi Bob,I know you have experience with Dan and Epik so the question is if you absolutely must choose only one Epik.com or DAN.com (possibly because it can be too much work and get complicated using both platforms - at least for me) which one 1 of the 2 would you select (without reflecting any negativity on the other, since they are both excellent overall)?

Let me first emphasize that I hugely like both DAN and the Epik landers. I also find that Efty is a really good solution for many as well.

But just about DAN and Epik as you asked, they both

• are in my opinion elegant,
• build trust from the potential purchaser in the transaction process,
• allow descriptive narratives to a greater degree than some other options.
• Also, both platforms allow payment options to be easily implemented.
• The principals in both are highly responsive on NPs.

I have not had an Epik transaction, but all of the ones at DAN, including one since the introduction of the DAN transfer system, have been fast with rapid payout. Both landers launch fast most of the time (maybe tiny edge to Epik, but I am physically closer to their servers).

What do I particularly like about each?

Epik pros

• I hugely like the possibility of having links (I think the aftermarket has failed with first time end users partly because they don't get all the information they need easily and directly. Expanded text with links can overcome this. Also, it really helps to highlight similar domain names for sale.)
• I like the power, flexibility and simplicity of setting up payment plans (DAN have them but I think only for $500+ sales and with fewer options).
• If the domain name is at a registrar, there are advantages to selling it at that registrar (not just true at Epik, but all the registrar places) I've sold through other registrar marketplaces and just like that it all happens and I get a notice.
• I like the provided images and the ease of uploading them
• Not re lander per se, but I like the tools Epik provide the how many times Whois was queried and Estibot valuation on domains registered at Epik that I am selling.

DAN pros

• For a beginner, the DAN interface is simpler. It takes me almost no time to get a listing that looks elegant and has some basic information up. They allow a tiny bit of text customization like italic and bold etc. I am still learning Epik. It has more bells and whistles, but also more overhead in knowing where to access them.
• I think the DAN automation transfer system is forward looking and smart and will catch on and is a plus valuable for those of us who have domains across many registrars (I use 10 currently).
• To my knowledge (possibly wrong!) Epik does not have something like the logo on business card/letterhead presentation that is really elegant in DAN. If I am right that it is in DAN but not Epik for certain domain listings that is a plus for DAN. I know that feature is important to you for at least some of your listings @namemarket.
• I have not yet used the corresponding Epik feature, but the ability to have all my DAN domain names for sale at a single place with a link I can share is really nicel I can customize that with an image and text about me.
• The DAN dashboard and Portfolio are both informative and intuitive. Easier to use and see at a glance your names, prices, their traffic, etc. (you can do all this with Epik, and much more, just I think DAN is more user friendly).

You know me and not wanting to take sides. I think most domainers will be incredibly well served by either. For those who have limited time, are just starting out, or want to deal with only one marketplace, I would suggest DAN. For those who want to essentially develop tiny mini sites which provide a wealth of information on individual domain names, Epik is a powerful solution offering power features.

Just in further balance, of course should be pointed out that the huge networks with agents speaking multiple languages of Sedo and Afternic have distinct advantages in closing sales and getting good prices, and there are many other registrar sites with nice features (I like NameSilo landers a lot too!).

Bob

Edit: In case relevant for disclosure here is my personal plan. I plan to use Epik and NameSilo and Dynadot as the primary stop for the domains registered with each of them, and to use DAN as my location for listing the majority of my domains, and to continue to use Sedo and Afternic (not as many listings, increasingly focus on fast transfer eligible) as well as the Namecheap Marketplace (where I have actually the largest number of sales). I partly use a lot to learn about each directly.

 

[Abdillahi Abdillahi]

That seems like a nice benefit if cash is needed fast, How does the loan work and what percentage of value do they lend and how is valuation determined?

You request a certain amount and you put forward a collateral domain. They determine if the domain is worth the loan you need then if all is ok they approve you and you accept and you agree on payment date.

 

[namemarket]

........You know me and not wanting to take sides. I think most domainers will be incredibly well served by either. For those who have limited time, are just starting out, or want to deal with only one marketplace, I would suggest DAN. For those who want to essentially develop tiny mini sites which provide a wealth of information on individual domain names, Epik is a powerful solution offering power features...........

Thanks Bob for you time and great in-depth analysis and incredibly helpful details on Epik and Dan. I know you don't want to take sides as I asked you to do so sorry about that!

It's a fabulous benefit with Epik allowing links on the pages (I was not aware of it) and offering fast domain loans said by Abdullah Abdullah (didn't know they did loans) which I am real impressed by. To me the links alone are a game-changer since I can put helpful links up for SEO benefits and also add to sales potential and overall traffic.

In addition, the payment plans at Dan seem less flexible and I also didn't know was only for plus $500 sales. I also like the idea of an image gallery to select from and can say it is far from easy to setup images at Dan which must be sized right and be your own images and only in .PNG format for some reason.

So those are more nice pluses for Epik. A possible and important negativity is at first glance and without much Epic experience the platform looks to be not nearly as easy to navigate and use vs Dan.

In fact, I am so impressed by links at Epik (and loans, more payment plans and images) that I just sent DAN.COM a message asking if they can also do links and more If not, in all likelihood will start moving some important domains to EpIk, which are now at Dan however I really like the great ease of use by Dan and the cool business cards on the page with a well-placed image doable on the cards.

 

[Rob Monster]

Thanks Bob for you time and great in-depth analysis and incredibly helpful details on Epik and Dan. I know you don't want to take sides as I asked you to do so sorry about that!

It's a fabulous benefit with Epik allowing links on the pages (I was not aware of it) and offering fast domain loans (also didn't know they did it) which I am real impressed by. To me the links alone are a game-changer since I can put helpful links up for SEO benefits and also add to sales potential and overall traffic.

In addition, the payment plans at Dan seem less flexible and I also didn't know was only for plus $500 sales. I also like the idea of an image gallery to select from and can say it is far from easy to setup images at Dan which must be sized right and be your own images and only in .PNG format for some reason.

So those are more nice pluses for Epik. A possible and important negativity is at first glance and without much Epic experience the platform looks to be not nearly as easy to navigate and use vs Dan.

In fact, I am so impressed by links at Epik (and loans, more payment plans and images) that I just sent DAN.COM a message asking if they can also do links and more If not, in all likelihood will start moving some important domains to EpIk, which are now at Dan however I really like the great ease of use by Dan and the cool business cards on the page with a well-placed image doable on the cards.

There is no question that DAN and Epik are out-innovating Sedo and Afternic. Anyone still using PPC landers is missing the boat completely notably for anything other than names that actually make money with high traffic or very high CPC. There is plenty of opportunity to go around for both DAN and Epik as we finally see a massive shift away from archaic PPC landers.