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.

 

[TCK]

They shouldn't be complaining at all as long as I am obiding by the forum rules. Where and how I want to express my opinion is my privilege. IMO

No one is saying otherwise. Who's complaining?

So far my experience with Epik has been good, if there are any problems or issues I am not shy to bring them to Rob's attention.

Fantastic.

At the same you should allow legitimate questions, correct?

 

[frank-germany]

Recently Rob received over 200 "likes" in the Epik's promotions thread, now there are 3 people who seem to be unhappy about Epik, that seems to be less than the normal ratio of complaints for any company. Also Rob deserves to be given a little more time to get all the bugs and problems worked out of all these new services that he has created to help domainers before being criticized so harshly. IMO

are you brainwashed?


that "like" thing is no review

but a promotion gag

 

[oldtimer]

At the same you should allow legitimate questions, correct?

I don't want to stop you from asking questions or even criticizing Epik, I just Suggested that it shouldn't be done harshly for any company that has introduced new services. Give Epik a chance to get things together and work out their problems, it will do the domaining community good if innovation is encouraged and supported.

 

[Rob Monster]

I don't want to stop you from asking questions or even criticizing Epik, I just Suggested that it shouldn't be done harshly for any company that has introduced new services. Give Epik a chance to get things together and work out their problems, it will do the domaining community good if innovation is encouraged and supported.

TrustRatings is not not even launched. It is a live alpha which is inviting some feedback from early adopters. We tested the water and concluded that the idea is worthy, and funded a bootstrap in-house development project to bring it to life.The team is getting it done. We will be looking for a product manager or business unit manager as I clearly don't have the bandwidth to run it personally as I remain focused on running Epik. That said, I have the privilege of being able to listen to a lot of people and to allocate budget to skunkworks projects that I think might meet a market need in the foreseeable future.

 

[TCK]

I don't want to stop you from asking questions or even criticizing Epik, I just Suggested that it shouldn't be done harshly for any company that has introduced new services. Give Epik a chance to get things together and work out their problems, it will do the domaining community good if innovation is encouraged and supported.

Can you post an example of where I was harsh? To me, harsh means unfair. And I wouldn't want to be unfair to any person or company.

At the same time, too many people have been burned in this industry by promises made and money taken by certain people. I am not saying that Rob or Epik are in this category at all, but we must ask the tough questions. I expect no less of my company.

And I am sure that Rob wants the integrity and resilience of his companies tested if he wants them to endure.

 

[Samer]

I’m in process of moving all my domains to Epik.

I’ve never seen CEO so friendly, active, engaging.

Ever since the first day, I joined Epik, April 7 2017 (https://www.namepros.com/threads/wh...tter-alternatives-to-godaddy-company.1011180/)

Rob’s been a man of his word, ever since that day. Not much changed, free privacy, $8 .com renewal for ALL namepro members, added things still improving!

I think that’s what makes them scared, folks.

Rob has been godsend, and I’ve never felt more appreciated — simply for being a NP member!

That was my Epik experience.

 

[Dream Domains]

So far so good. Hopefully Epik is successful at convincing the registries on forever registrations. Then, hopefully Epik take the lead from GoDaddy. We need to give business to people who are promoting the best interests of ours, and surely we do!

 

[TCK]

forever registrations

No such thing. Will never happen. Unless you give ICANN or a registrar a credit card they can charge for ever without end.

 

[Rob Monster]

No such thing. Will never happen. Unless you give ICANN or a registrar a credit card they can charge for ever without end.

Forever registrations from registries will happen. It may start with the ccTLDs, but let's face the fact that most of the gTLDs are dead ducks because of price uncertainty.

When Uniregistry increased price from one year to the next by a factor of 30X, the seal was broken for gTLD price projectability.

I have been saying for more than 1 year that the only way for gTLD to come back into relevance is to introduce forever pricing -- buy it once and own it forever.

Forever domains from registries will happen. You can take that to the bank.

In the meantime, Epik is underwriting a tiny amount of risk, no different than an insurance company that sells policies. We modeled the risk, and provide a service.

And if I was crazy enough to acquire a registry, the very first thing I would do is introduce Forever pricing -- buy it once and own it forever. Slam dunk business plan.

 

[JB Lions]

But most domainers are not wanting to own their domains forever, the idea is to sell them.

So .com at forever pricing is $399, my renewals are $8.47. That's 47 years. You can just max it out and set to auto-renew, would be cheaper.

Maybe more for businesses but even then I would think most take a more hands-on approach. I wouldn't trust anybody but myself to renew my domains. What happens if you go out of business? What happens to the forever regs? Is that gone thru somewhere on the site?

 

[JB Lions]

So far so good. Hopefully Epik is successful at convincing the registries on forever registrations. Then, hopefully Epik take the lead from GoDaddy. We need to give business to people who are promoting the best interests of ours, and surely we do!

You've registered forever domains?

How many? Why, what is your thinking behind it?

 

[Rob Monster]

But most domainers are not wanting to own their domains forever, the idea is to sell them.

So .com at forever pricing is $399, my renewals are $8.47. That's 47 years. You can just max it out and set to auto-renew, would be cheaper.

Maybe more for businesses but even then I would think most take a more hands-on approach. I wouldn't trust anybody but myself to renew my domains. What happens if you go out of business? What happens to the forever regs? Is that gone thru somewhere on the site?

It may not be for you, but if you owned a strategically useful name like Lions.com, you might just set it and forget it. You don't know tomorrow.

Let's say you drop dead on Monday. Will your wife/family know what to do with your domains and have the presence of mind to deal with it?

Some folks know this story:

https://www.thedomains.com/2019/05/21/someone-needs-to-stop-roy-flanders-domain-names-from-expiring/

I know it very well. Hundreds of domains have gone missing from that portfolio because the sole next of kin had no clue and the deceased left no plan.

 

[JB Lions]

It may not be for you, but if you owned a strategically useful name like Lions.com, you might just set it and forget it. You don't know tomorrow.

Let's say you drop dead on Monday. Will your wife/family know what to do with your domains and have the presence of mind to deal with it?

Some folks know this story:

https://www.thedomains.com/2019/05/21/someone-needs-to-stop-roy-flanders-domain-names-from-expiring/

I know it very well. Hundreds of domains have gone missing from that portfolio because the sole next of kin had no clue and the deceased left no plan.

That didn't tackle any of my points or questions.

So you think it would be good for Roy, to spend $399 reg for each domain he's actually wanting to sell? How many domains did Roy own, you mentioned hundreds? 47 years worth for each domain? He knew he was sick, he could have renewed them for a few years at a time, with detailed instructions for when he passed.

This doesn't make sense for domainers. I own just 500 domains, I should spend $200,000?

Then, what if you go out of business? How does that work?

 

[Rob Monster]

That didn't tackle any of my points or questions.

You can go read the fine print:

https://epik.com/forever.php

I believe we covered all the bases there. It was a very nice piece of policy drafting done by @Slanted. It has stood the test of time.

For non-profits, and foundations where volunteers come and go, and funding comes and goes, that is a great candidate for Forever registrations.

For anyone who sells a domain to an end-user, the first thing they should do is up-sell a Forever registration for $399. Why? They can earn an easy 20% affiliate bounty.

And I just got the great idea from @Welberch that we should let all our SSL lander customers add a Forever domain affiliate link to their landers. We'll check that.

 

[JB Lions]

You can go read the fine print:

https://epik.com/forever.php

I believe we covered all the bases there. It was a very nice piece of policy drafting done by @Slanted. It has stood the test of time.

For non-profits, and foundations where volunteers come and go, and funding comes and goes, that is a great candidate for Forever registrations.

For anyone who sells a domain to an end-user, the first thing they should do is up-sell a Forever registration for $399. Why? They can earn an easy 20% affiliate bounty.

And I just got the great idea from @Welberch that we should let all our SSL lander customers add a Forever domain affiliate link to their landers. We'll check that.

I did, so how does this make sense for a domainer?

"Thereafter, so long as the Forever Domain remains registered at Epik, Epik shall annually renew said domain for 1 additional year, provided the TLD registry in question allows the expiration date to be extended that far."

So pay $399, so you can renew once a year or..........

Just set a domain to auto-renew each year, for me would be $8.47.

It says if it goes to another registrar, "Epik shall be released from any and all obligations associated with said domain"

Unless I missed it, what happens if you go out of business? The forever registration doesn't transfer to another registrar.

 

[Dream Domains]

JB Lions,

With year to year, you will continue paying after 47 years.

 

[Rob Monster]

I did, so how does this make sense for a domainer?

"Thereafter, so long as the Forever Domain remains registered at Epik, Epik shall annually renew said domain for 1 additional year, provided the TLD registry in question allows the expiration date to be extended that far."

So pay $399, so you can renew once a year or..........

Just set a domain to auto-renew each year, for me would be $8.47.

It says if it goes to another registrar, "Epik shall be released from any and all obligations associated with said domain"

Unless I missed it, what happens if you go out of business?

It makes great sense for a domainer in at lest 2 areas:

1. Premium domains which you will never drop and don't want to ever have to have anxiety about accidentally dropping.

2. As an upsell for any domain sold to an end-user. We have an API so anyone with their own domain store can do this upsell programatically.

Forever domains, like domain leasing, free SSL landers, and commission-free escrow are just a few recent examples of useful innovations that help set Epik apart.

Did you see this latest innovation?

https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1170337914959605767

That is a somewhat viral Tweet from Gab discussing what we did for them last week -- we enabled them to be their own ISP with dedicated IP, BGP and ASN.

That product is another logical upsell for some domainers to pitch to their clients. We have tons of great products that can help end-users survive and thrive online.

Gab would not be in business today without Epik. It is certifiable fact. We can do that for any lawfully-engaged client. Domainers need to sell solutions not just domains.

 

[JB Lions]

JB Lions,

With year to year, you will continue paying after 47 years.

I have no plans to hold my names for 47 years, the plan is to sell.

How many forever registrations do you have? You skipped that part.

 

[Rob Monster]

I have no plans to hold my names for 47 years, the plan is to sell.

How many forever registrations do you have? You skipped that part.

JB --Yes, you are smart, and all that. Fine. What works for you might not work for everyone else. If you can't figure that out, that is a limitation of your brain. Work on that.

 

[JB Lions]

It makes great sense for a domainer in at lest 2 areas:

1. Premium domains which you will never drop and don't want to ever have to have anxiety about accidentally dropping.

2. As an upsell for any domain sold to an end-user. We have an API so anyone with their own domain store can do this upsell programatically.

Forever domains, like domain leasing, free SSL landers, and commission-free escrow are just a few recent examples of useful innovations that help set Epik apart.

Did you see this latest innovation?

https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1170337914959605767

That is a somewhat viral Tweet from Gab discussing what we did for them last week -- we enabled them to be their own ISP with dedicated IP, BGP and ASN.

That product is another logical upsell for some domainers to pitch to their clients. We have tons of great products that can help end-users survive and thrive online.

Gab would not be in business today without Epik. It is certifiable fact. We can do that for any lawfully-engaged client. Domainers need to sell solutions not just domains.

You're talking about other stuff again, not actually what I posted.

And domainers sell domains.

Gab has nothing to do with anything I posted.

Still didn't reply to what happens if you go out of business.

If you take it to another registrar, they don't do forever domains, it's wasted money.

JB --Yes, you are smart, and all that. Fine. What works for you might not work for everyone else. If you can't figure that out, that is a limitation of your brain. Work on that.

I'm talking domainers. I said this makes no sense for domainers, you argue but have yet to put up any valid points on how I'm wrong. You start talking about other stuff.

How about this. How many Namepros members have done Forever registrations? Ones we can verify? I should pay $399 for a domain I hope to sell? Sooner than later?