Domain.io - The Portfolio Dashboard (Official Thread)

[aoxborrow]

Hello Domain Pros!

For the past year I have been building Domain.io to be the portfolio management tool I always wanted. My portfolio is only around 400 domains but it was such a mess, strewn across so many registrars and marketplaces. I wanted to manage all my pricing in one place, a single source of truth, and I wanted my ALL my verification TXT records to be automatically added with one set of nameservers. Whether you use the nameservers and landers or not, Domain.io is gonna help you reach maximum exposure for your portfolio.

When I first brought my entire portfolio together into Domain.io, I was surprised to see that less than 50% was actually listed on all three of Afternic/Sedo/Dan. I knew I had been lazy about updating listings, but I had no idea how bad it was. Now I am at 92% listed for each market, and November and December have been my best months ever by far. Below is what I did to get there.

1. First I went to every domain registrar where I own names and exported a list of all my names. This ensures my initial working list is 100% clean and up to date with no expired or sold domains. Optional: While I was logged into each registrar I also set the nameservers for all my domains to ns1.domain.io and ns2.domain.io, so I can use the Domain.io landers and Bulk DNS.

2. Once I had gathered all my registrar export files, I just imported them directly into Domain.io, one after another. If you click the big "Add Domains" button there is a "Bulk Importer" option. From there you can import just about any spreadsheet -- I have tested with dozens of registrars and marketplaces. Once all my domains were in Domain.io I carefully went through and set BIN and minimum offer prices.

3. Now with my freshly updated portfolio I was ready to hit the aftermarkets. On the Domain.io Markets page, there are three separate Export buttons, each specifically tailored for Afternic, Sedo, and Dan. I exported a fresh file for each market and promptly wiped all my accounts entirely clean. I highly recommend this, it felt great! There were so many long gone, expired, poorly priced, and sold domains in my accounts, it would have taken weeks to sort them all out. I uploaded the fresh new spreadsheets to each of Afternic, Sedo, and Dan. If you don't want to wipe your account clean, be sure to use the "reconcile" options when uploading your portfolio. Because my domains were using Domain.io nameservers with TXT verification configured, they were all verified quickly. It is of course easy to monitor your listing status from within the Domain.io dashboard.

Domain.io can do a lot more, but this core benefit of getting my portfolio fully syndicated with consistent pricing has been the biggest difference maker so far.

Some other fun features are:

Seriously Awesome Bulk Management Tools
Whether it's 20 or 20,000 domains you are updating, Domain.io can handle it.

Ridiculously Configurable Payment Options
You can configure your BIN and contact buttons exactly how you want them using button rules and custom fields. Our Dan.com integration means 5% commission on BIN checkouts directly from the lander.

HOW ABOUT ALL THE BUTTONS SIR? (not recommended!)

We're just getting started. Try Domain.io free for 30 days, no credit card required, and let me know what you think!!

 

[aoxborrow]

@aoxborrow , I signed up today few hours ago but haven't gotten any verification email as of now, checked SPAM and also tried to get verification email by clicking Resend button but still no email. Also sent an email to your support.

Sorry for the email issues, I have activated your account. My email provider Mailgun says the emails were delivered without issue, so not sure what happened.

 

[Dane]

oooh... gotta try this one...

 

[Dane]

@aoxborrow

1. Can we set up Categories for our Portfolio? And is it possible to link to a list of all names within a specific Category?

2. Can we remove the "DOMAIN PARKING BY DOMAIN.IO" from the bottom of every page?

3. Can we change the background color of the large area behind the domain name? Currently it's black (or dark grey).

4. Can we change the color of the buttons? (the Contact Us button currently has no color)

5. I found a bug. If we choose to display both the Make an Offer and the Contact Owner buttons, only the Make an Offer button works. When the Contact Owner button is clicked it shows the Make an Offer form, NOT the Contact Owner form. Can that be fixed?

6. The instructions say that the landing pages are SSL but so far mine are not. Does that just take time, or ??

7. Would it be possible to adjust the font-size ON MOBILE for domain names that are too long to fit on one line?

Thanks!

 

[aoxborrow]

Thank you for the kind words. Some responses below:

By default you show most recent names added. So cool. Can you make default 100 names per page instead 25?

I plan to make the number of results a user preference.

I like how you add the phone number and its clickable on mobile, however adding an email it is not clickable.
That phone number could be afternic broker, or your toll free number.
Can you make email clickable and if could use html on body description that be super cool.

The phone number being clickable is a mobile browser thing. That said, a lot of people have asked for HTML or formatted text and links in the body, so that will come soon.

I havent touched half the features you have. Did i read somewhere, i can point dns to you, and then from inside your panel, send it to sedo or afternic? If so, any ways can get a google analytics hit before it redirects?

Yes, individual DNS records for domains will support either direct pointing DNS to other landers, or redirecting to any arbitrary URL. I have thought about analytics, and in order to do that the redirect would need to be Javascript (i.e. You will be redirected...." interstitial page). I'm not sure anybody would want that, but it is possible.

You logo needs to be optimized. With standard logo as can be seen in PHP.io whats shows above the fold is perfect. 4 buttons you can still see full body description above fold.
Adding a logo makes logo area much larger, showing the rest of the page cut off half way above fold.
On mobile its not super bad, but flipping phone sideways the logo takes up to much space

Can you send me the logo you used? The height of the logo image should be automatically scaled to fit about the same area as the standard logo text.

I changed one name to not for sale, but it still shows the price and bin buttons
A page with no listed by, no for sale buttons, just a contact form on right side in place of buttons would really be nice for pages i have plans for, I just see mega opportunities with that set up.

Right now there is only changing domains to "Sold", there is no "Not for Sale" yet. If you changed the domain to sold, it doesn't show the normal landing page at all. I agree about having a "Not for Sale" status and a separate minimal template that is only a contact form. I would like that for some of my project domains as well. It is in the works.

 

[Dane]

@aoxborrow Is it possible to not show a price at all, but simply display a Contact Owner button?

 

[Dane]

Hi Dane, thanks for trying it out.


There is the concept of Groups. You can add domains to one group, and filter by groups. Also if you click on a group name, it automatically filters by that group.



Not currently, but possibly in the future. Right now it is helpful for me to grow the business and get SEO links and referrals to Domain.io. Unlike other branded landing pages, there is no marketplace at Domain.io so there is no harm in customers potentially clicking through.


For logos it tries to pull the most common background color and uses that, although it doesn't always work perfectly. I plan to fix that and make the background color and text color editable. I will also introduce additional templates/themes.


The button colors will likely be tied to a "theme" color.


Yes, that is a known bug, will be fixed shortly.


Yes, the SSL certificates can sometimes take an hour or two to be provisioned, depending on how many new domains were added.


It should be autoscaled to fit, and only wrap if it is just super long. Can you send me an example of one that is wrapping incorrectly?

>> There is the concept of Groups. You can add domains to one group, and filter by groups. Also if you click on a group name, it automatically filters by that group.

But is it possible to link to a list of all names within a specific group? Like if I want someone to see all names within a particular category.

>> I plan to fix that and make the background color and text color editable. I will also introduce additional templates/themes.

Any idea when that will be? Currently the landing page seems kind of "blah", mostly dark grey or black and white.

>> The button colors will likely be tied to a "theme" color.

Same question as above.

>> Yes, that is a known bug, will be fixed shortly.

Any way to be notified so we can change the settings on certain names?

>> Yes, the SSL certificates can sometimes take an hour or two to be provisioned, depending on how many new domains were added.

I'm talking about over 24 hours now and all names are still showing as Not Secure.

>> It should be autoscaled to fit...

I don't think it's working. All lettering for all names seems to be the same size on mobile.

>> Can you send me an example of one that is wrapping incorrectly?

Sure, where should I send it to?


Thanks!

 

[aoxborrow]

@aoxborrow - Currently we can use {domain} to automatically insert the domain name into the Headline. It would be nice if we could also use {domain} to insert the domain name into the Body / Description. Would that be difficult to implement?

I added the ability to use {domain} and <br> tags in the description. Also made the font size slightly bigger.

No nameservers on mobile in domains area

I made all columns visible on mobile.

 

[Embrand]

Make your own custom button and direct it to
https://dan.com/buy-domain/*****.com and if you have installments set up, both BIN and installments option should be on that page. Easy to do

Thanks, I have also done that. But then the installment button will show for all names listed at DAN, and I have some names listed at DAN that do not offer installments. It seems like you cannot remove the custom button from individual domains.

Also, it would be nice to have a button with the same layout (logo) as the standard DAN button. But still a great and good-looking lander I think.

 

[Embrand]

It seems the problem is only with a few names at Dan - not Sedo. E.g. xeoa.com and vymu.com which are mine, but listed through BrandBucket at Dan, but appear as not listed in my Domain.io account.

I have tried refreshing these listings several times and also removed and added them again, but they still show as not listed. Thanks.

Just to follow up. I found out the problem does not lie with Domain.io.

Xeoa.com, for example, does appear to be listed for sale at Dan. But when I click on the listing, it says "xeoa.com is already sold". So I guess maybe someone put the name in the cart at Dan but didn't proceed with payment. That is why is appears as not listed in my Domain.io account.

 

[Embrand]

@Embrand After reading your post I found I had two names with same issue and decided to write Dan support.

Here is their reply.

Good morning Steve,

Thanks for reaching out.
This is not a problem at all. The domains were still in the accounts of the previous sellers. I've already deleted them.

Now, you will see both of your domains for sale and only on your portfolio.

Have a great day!

@Embrand After reading your post I found I had two names with same issue and decided to write Dan support.

Here is their reply.

Good morning Steve,

Thanks for reaching out.
This is not a problem at all. The domains were still in the accounts of the previous sellers. I've already deleted them.

Now, you will see both of your domains for sale and only on your portfolio.

Have a great day!

Yes, I just reached out to Dan as well and got the same response. Mystery solved

 

[aoxborrow]

Can you order the Marketplaces on the Lander (GD first, Dan second, etc.?) or is it ordered by default.

And if it's static, what is the default order?

Thanks.

You can set the order of the buttons using the up/down arrows in Settings->Buttons.

 

[Embrand]

The issue with not being able to add names that are in another user's account is really becoming a problem now.

If you cannot manage your complete portfolio, then the whole purpose is lost.

 

[vravis9]

I have been told by @aoxborrow that there is no way to find where a lead came from...

doesn't this create problems...? I mean all are not priced similar and all marketplaces are not charging same commission...

knowing which platform the potential buyer clicked for an inquiry will help us respond accordingly...it for sure affects price...negotiation...and also giving other payment options.

having the customer email and replying to his inquiry through email is good but not knowing where he saw our domain listing is going to leave us in miscommunication.

not to forget our pricing is changed at different partner registrars of afternic and sedo...this is done by registrars to get some additional funds for themselves...and usually sellers are not aware of this change of their listed prices.

have anyone saw any work around for this...

or am i missing something here...and totally wrong ?

I think number of leads and where they are coming from are very important data.

Thanks.

@Embrand @MasterOfMyDomains @Steve Andersen

 

[Steve Andersen]

Seriously? I assumed with the amount of integration on the platform, that there was a DNS ID Code you could use to prove ownership. Seems weird to implement it with Dan, GD, Sedo, etc, and not use the same format for authorizing on Domain.io.

This would not work. A previous owner that tracks their sold names in the platform may want to keep them in portfolio. This means the database currently is same for all users and uses the domain name as key Id and user as another field so there is no way for a person to track sold names if they have to delete them from your account to add to another domainers account, using Domain.io. This would tell me it’s pointless to enter sales price to track revenue if your name may get deleted because someone else adds it to their portfolio by proving they now own it.

Personally I am not just strictly talking about liquidated names. I have sold multiple names $xxxx only to see new owner list them at a higher price, honestly sometimes I don’t get it. Guy in January, bought a name from me on Dan for $1600 then re-listed same day for $3000. But if he used domain.io too I am sure he would want name in his portfolio, but I would want to track the sell also.

This brings up another point why do sold names count against your domain listing limit. They are sold. No longer listed, which means we should stop seeing alerts, expiring, and unlisted warnings on market places for those names. And like wish should count against our limits.

 

[aoxborrow]

Hi everyone, sorry for not keeping up with the thread last week. See responses below:

My last request is going to be more difficult. Is there a way to combine little registrars to partner registrar that manages them. Example NameBright uses probably over 100 various registrar accounts but all are managed at NameBright. Godaddy uses several also, Network Solutions uses several. As it is now its not so easy to tell where you domain is managed by the registrar field alone and I find I have to revert back to my spreadsheet to figure it out.

Domain.io does have the concept of aliasing random registrar entities to a parent registrar name in the backend. I have done that with Snapnames, Park.io, and others that I come across. I'm not familiar with all of them, and it's not always so obvious as "Snapnames23". I don't think I've done any for NameBright, but happy to do so, just let me know which registrar names.

I'm using the free trial now and I don't know where to get the landing pages views of the parked domains, it only shows the LEADS column.

Also, it would be great if we can get the number of clicks for every button on the landing page for example:

I don't have any immediate plans to do click tracking on the outgoing buttons, although it would be interesting data. Maybe after visitor analytics.

I have been told by @aoxborrow that there is no way to find where a lead came from...

doesn't this create problems...? I mean all are not priced similar and all marketplaces are not charging same commission...

knowing which platform the potential buyer clicked for an inquiry will help us respond accordingly...it for sure affects price...negotiation...and also giving other payment options.

having the customer email and replying to his inquiry through email is good but not knowing where he saw our domain listing is going to leave us in miscommunication.

As others have said, there is no way for me to track this. There are no marketplaces that I know of that have a direct link to the domain name. In other words, if you go to Afternic, Sedo, GoDaddy, Dan, BrandBucket, Squadhelp, Alter (RIP), and view a domain listing, none of them will actually have a link that goes to the domain landing page. Why would they link to the domain when they could lose that sale, or the lander just has ads or whatever on it. So that means I can't track referral links because there is no referral data for 99% of visitors to Domain.io landers. If someone saw your domain at a marketplace and then visited the lander, it is because they copied and pasted the name or typed it in.

I am still looking for colour number of top button php.io so can make logo similar colour.

The green primary button is #10b981. You can use a simple eyedropper app if you need to do this often.

This would not work. A previous owner that tracks their sold names in the platform may want to keep them in portfolio. This means the database currently is same for all users and uses the domain name as key Id and user as another field so there is no way for a person to track sold names if they have to delete them from your account to add to another domainers account, using Domain.io. This would tell me it’s pointless to enter sales price to track revenue if your name may get deleted because someone else adds it to their portfolio by proving they now own it.

I think you're completely missing what I am saying. It would appear the fact we see these "Can't add because they are in another domainers account alerts" is because instead of each customer having a database instance his site is using one master database. He needs to fix it so. As a seller you can still track your sales. While a new domain owner, can still put any domain in their account. Or he needs to create a secondary database if he is using master databases so sold names move to this database that the accounts can still see allowing a new owner to put names in there account without issue.

Steve, your assumptions are correct, currently there is one table for domains and I do not currently allow duplicate names, although I plan to change that. The truth is I did not think this was going to be a problem so quickly -- i.e. two domainers who are both using Domain.io that are buying each other's names with any frequency. Currently when that is reported I am manually deleting the domain, so that the new owner can add it. This is quite unfortunate because as you said, the previous owner loses the financial data of the sale price. (It is a soft delete so I could potentially restore it in the future.) But I would never allow any existing data for a domain to be visible by the new owner. I will explain the steps I'm taking for a more automated solution in the next post.

Exactly how are these "subsequent sales and prices" on Dan, GD, Sedo, etc. being tracked by Domain.io and then displayed to the old owners of said domains?

Does Domain.io have full access to these sales venues or do they rely on user IDs and logins?

Currently I only have access to sales completed through the Dan.com integration -- so only those sold directly from my landers. As I said above, I would never display ANY data from a previous owner to a new owner. I will describe my solution to domains changing hands in the next post.

The problem seems to be that Domain.io started as a portfolio management system, then morphed into a place where you can conduct sales, but no work was done to tailor the old system with what is required of the new.

It's patently insane to have a Marketplace and then tell the legal owners of domains that they can't list it because some guy who owned it 5 years ago is still tracking it. WTF?

We're not talking about past history, which is available on any marketplace, but future sales/revenue tracking while it's owned by someone else, thus limiting the actual domain owner from listing the domains he owns, which seems to be what a lot of people are using Domain.io for.

The owner of Domain.io has to decide whether it's purely a portfolio or if he wants to transition to marketplace integration, and then stick to that. There can be no in-between, where it's trying vainly to service both sides, which seems to be what is leading to the problems others are experiencing.

One thing is for certain, if the system is in any way involved in the sales side of things, such as landers or marketplace integration and listing, then if push comes to shove and the database remains the same, the domain owner absolutely must have precedence over "some guy who used to own it 5 years ago".

Domain.io just launched less than 6 months ago, and has always aimed to be a central hub for portfolio management, including landing pages and other sales integrations. You are making a lot of wild assumptions and you really need to chill out.

 

[narek]

Just moved over 300 domains to domain.io. Very intuitive UI, easy to bulk edit prices and other properties. I have been looking for something like this for a long time. Thanks to the creator.

 

[Dane]

Is your new role at Namecheap likely to affect development @aoxborrow?

New role at Namecheap ??

 

[aoxborrow]

New role at Namecheap ??

I recently joined Namecheap/Namebase to work on decentralized domains, which has long been a major interest of mine. This shouldn't affect Domain.io too much, as I have been splitting time between it and other projects since it launched last year. I am interested in taking on a business partner though, particularly someone to help with customer support, documentation, and marketing.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1540054582864187393

 

[Steve Andersen]

@aoxborrow​

When will the issue with "domain was skipped because it exists in another account" be resolved?

I also would like to know when this would be fixed. Would not be as big as an issue if you had a decent customer support system in place that could resolve these issues in a few hours (24 hours or less). But at present this is not the case.

 

[aoxborrow]

Anyone hear from @aoxborrow lately?

Sorry, been crazy busy. New features will come after I roll out some new infrastructure -- all new nameservers that can handle wildcards and larger capacity.

 

[GoKaizen]

I've tried to contact him but he never responds. @sircc

 

[Dane]

Has anyone in here heard from @aoxborrow ?

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

I signed up again as its the best domain management tool there is. Landers are excellent, but the html body area is not recognizing the code.
I sent email week or two ago, no response.
Totally agree @Sameh

 

[Embrand]

Hi Alex, do hope your well. I fixed the issue with body/description not updating in bulk.
Wondering how daddys sales platform Dan.com and their raising of commission is going to affect our sailing commission via your landers.
We, me and my business partners, look forward to a reply

Doran says Efty customers will still only be charged 5%, so I guess the same will apply to Domain.io:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1610833930831433728

 

[aoxborrow]

Are people still using Domain.io with the Godaddy/Dan commission updates?

I love the portfolio organization and the ability to export to upload to afternic etc.

Sales through Domain.io landers using the "Buy Now" Dan.com integration still only cost 5%. But yes, on the downside, if your domains sell on Afternic while using Domain.io landers, you pay 25% now.