Domain Liquidation Platform - Seeking input for new Epik project

[DanSanchez]

Dear Namepros,

The team at Epik is exploring the development of a project that aims to shift the painful domain name expiration process into a more profitable experience for domainers. Perhaps you have read my opinions about registrars selling expired domains and refusing to help registrants in recovery. The time to disrupt this with action has come!

In the meantime, since joining Epik last month, I decided to do something about it with the help of some amazing engineers. The goal of this "name liquidate" idea is to sell domains directly to buyers that may otherwise wait to acquire these domains at expired auctions or being filled as registrar backorders which pays zero to the registrant.

The planned solution addresses two domainer pain points,
1. Liquidation of expiring inventory brings much needed capital, meaning you can renew more of your portfolio.
2. Buyers get clear title and dont waste time bidding on names that can be recovered post-expiry.

Here is the process,
1. Submit your domains: you unlock your domains, provide auth codes.
2. Seller acknowledges that a fast-transfer of the domain will occur once domain has a bid.
3. Bidders agree to non-revocable change of ownership if their bid prevails.
4. Sellers receive a large portion (80%?) of auction proceeds.

The process begins with a 7 day reverse auction counting down hourly/daily, down to $1 plus renewal/transfer for delivery. The domain doesn't have to be expired or expiring. You can submit the name multiple times during the life of the name but not more than once per year. Once the auth code is verified:
• Epik parks the domain with auction template with Make Offer pricing so retail bids can come in.
• Wholesale buyers are informed of expired auction inventory update.
• Domain goes through reverse auction in 7 days
• Domains are fast transferred to Epik as soon as one bid is made.
• If seller locks name, all domains will be removed and no further listings will be accepted from seller.
• Domains already at Epik are pre-qualified for "name liquidate" services, but you must opt in manually.
• External domains are eligible once auth codes are verified.
• Data will include number of views, expiration date, and expected delivery.
• Pre-set domain buys will give you the ability to buy any name when a price hits a certain target.
• Once a bid is submitted, it cannot be revoked. All purchases a final non-refundable.
As for brand name, we are considering NameLiquidate.com — very descriptive name and targeted at a very specific audience. That said, open to considering other names. A separate brand naming project is coming shortly for what Rob describes as the “Ultimate Digital Brand Marketplace”. This is separate.

 

[7363824]

If someone has a distress sale for a 3L.com, that should be done in a different venue.

Great.


Absolutely. Even a cheapskate like myself will fork out more than $100 for a 3L.com!

Agreed. That said if you know someone who is selling a 3L .com for that cheap just slip me a quick pm first will ya. Lol.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

OK I tried adding NameLiquidate names I had at a variety of registrars today. In all cases I unlocked the domain name, got the auth code, and after signing into my Epik account added them individually at NameLiquidate. In all cases the domains had not reached expiration, although within a few days in some cases, in case that has bearing on the following. It seems to me that some TLD/registrar combinations do not validate so won't list. I did try a second time and confirmed the auth codes were copied correctly. None of mine are premium renewal new gTLD so the failure is not related to that.

It seemed to me that there are issues with some registrar/registry combinations, at least in new extensions? Have others encountered this?

• All that I tried from Moniker and Domain Cost Club seemed to go through fine and are listed.
• None that I tried from GoDaddy were validated (the ones I tried were all new gTLDs, mainly .online and a couple of .fun. Similar domains gave different error messages but most said "Domain is unsupported for valiation AuthCode" (note your error message has a spelling error by the way - presume validation intended.
• Some that I tried at Porkbun worked. It seemed not to work for .best domains at Porkbun for me. Interestingly two .best at Porkbun that did not work gave different error message, one the one above with the spelling error and one said simply "Unable to verify domain info"
• Most I tried that were registered at Name.com did not work. One domain, a .link TLD at Name/com did get listed. I tried multiple .games and .xyz that were at Name.com and they did not get added, generating one or the other of the two error messages.
• I plan to try some from Dynadot but have not done so yet.

Is it a matter I need to wait longer after unlocking and generating auth code, or is there some other issue?

If you need a specific name to investigate here are a few that failed this morning for me:
plans (.best) (at Porkbun)
precisely (.xyz) (at Name.com)

I realize perhaps I should just send this to support, but in case there is a broader registrar/registry verification issued I thought I would mention it here, or in case someone has figured out the workaround.

Thanks for any guidance.

Bob

PS probably your error messages need to be a little more clear. Does unsupported for validation mean Auth Code failed (i.e. wrong auth code) or something different. What exactly does validation failure mean that is different from auth code. Ideally something like what you have for domain transfers, perhaps in coded, that indicates whether domain record exists, whether unlocked, whether auth code is right, whether within date window, etc.

PPS I tried to add 23 so far of which 9 succeeded.

 

[7363824]

OK I tried adding NameLiquidate names I had at a variety of registrars today. In all cases I unlocked the domain name, got the auth code, and after signing into my Epik account added them individually at NameLiquidate. In all cases the domains had not reached expiration, although within a few days in some cases, in case that has bearing on the following. It seems to me that some TLD/registrar combinations do not validate so won't list. I did try a second time and confirmed the auth codes were copied correctly.

It seemed to me that there are issues with some registrar/registry combinations, at least in new extensions? Have others encountered this?

• All that I tried from Moniker and Domain Cost Club seemed to go through fine and are listed.
• None that I tried from GoDaddy were validated (the ones I tried were all new gTLDs, mainly .online and a couple of .fun. Similar domains gave different error messages but most said "Domain is unsupported for valiation AuthCode" (note your error message has a spelling error by the way - presume validation intended.
• Some that I tried at Porkbun worked. It seemed not to work for .best domains at Porkbun for me. Interestingly two .best at Porkbun that did not work gave different error message, one the one above with the spelling error and one said simply "Unable to verify domain info"
• Most I tried that were registered at Name.com did not work. One domain, a .link TLD at Name/com did get listed. I tried multiple .games and .xyz that were at Name.com and they did not get added, generating one or the other of the two error messages.
• I plan to try some from Dynadot but have not done so yet.

Is it a matter I need to wait longer after unlocking and generating auth code, or is there some other issue?

If you need a specific name to investigate here are a few that failed this morning for me:
plans (.best) (at Porkbun)
naming (.games) (at Name.com)
ideally (.online) (at GoDaddy)
precisely (.xyz) (at Name.com)

I realize perhaps I should just send this to support, but in case there is a broader registrar/registry verification issued I thought I would mention it here, or in case someone has figured out the workaround.

Thanks for any guidance.

Bob

I have successfully listed external names from Namecheap, Dynadot, and even Park.io. Though the first two were all coms. I tried listing a .site from Namcheap but it said that extension wasn't supported for external names and I would have to transfer it to Epik myself first, so I suspect if it were a compatibility reason it should have told you. Maybe someone else who knows more can weigh in here.

 

[7363824]

Great to see pre-bidding finally available. I would say that's guaranteed to improve finally sales prices.
So, is $9 once again the official minimum? For a while it was $1. I know there was a fair bit of talk about that from some people. Personally I think $9 is too high. I have seen lots of names I would bid maybe $1 - $5 on, but not $9. To me this means there are a fair few names which won't get bids (but with a lower minimum they would have). If you don't want to go to $1 maybe you could consider $3 (or $5 at the absolute highest). Though I think the lower, the better. With the release of pre-bidding it will still maximise the sale prices, so I don't think a lower minimum is a negative step, and it should ensure a higher sell-through rate.

Ya I took advantage and got some for $1 myself. Though I have to imagine Epik lost money on those in CC processing fees considering their commission was 9 cents. But I agree, I see a bunch of legal domains were added, and I noticed a geo from my city, very long domain but I would probably take it for $1 just to see if that were still an option, but I doubt I will bother for $9, which is probably just as well because it probably would end up not being worth it.

 

[tonyk2000]

Some customers (in this thread in particular) reasonably asked for lower ($1 or up to $0.01) minimum. Not to make a lot of $$$, but to remove the domain from the hands or pre-release auction houses or from hugedomains. This makes sense. Other customers (well, also reasonably) noticed that they would not bother to list domains for $1. So, the result: let the sellers set their own minimum. Asap. To simplify everything, it might be either $1, $9, or lets say $59 (an amount we are all familiar with from old snapnames and current dropcatch). I mean a few "fixed" options, not 100% random...

 

[7363824]

Some customers (in this thread in particular) reasonably asked for lower ($1 or up to $0.01) minimum. Not to make a lot of $$$, but to remove the domain from the hands or pre-release auction houses or from hugedomains. This makes sense. Other customers (well, also reasonably) noticed that they would not bother to list domains for $1. So, the result: let the sellers set their own minimum. Asap. To simplify everything, it might be either $1, $9, or lets say $59 (an amount we are all familiar with from old snapnames and current dropcatch). I mean a few "fixed" options, not 100% random...

Agreed. I have domains I wouldn't mind selling for $1 because I know they are bad domains that I purchased when I first got started and didn't know any better. If someone wants to take a chance on them for $1 I'd much rather take their $1 then get nothing when it drops. But I also have better names that I wouldn't want to sell for that cheap, it just depends on the name really,

 

[Bertrell]

...what @tonyk2000 & @Ryan217 said!

 

[DanSanchez]

Have some questions about NameLiquidate. I looked in the KB for info and got some info on the NameLiquidate page but was still wondering about these questions:

- do you have to have your names registered at Epik to participate?
- what happens when a domain name doesnt sell, does it go back to you?
- is there a way to "watch" a domain or set a reminder?

Thanks!

Apologies for missing this! Here are the answers that apply,

- do you have to have your names registered at Epik to participate? No, any domain up to 10 days post expiration can be listed. Just need to provide valid auth codes and leave the domain unlocked. In the event of a sale, you will receive an email from Epik and a request to transfer.

-what happens when a domain name doesnt sell, does it go back to you? Domains never leave your ownership, they are yours until someone pulls the trigger. If a domain does not sell, it can be relisted 90 days after the end of the auction to try liquidation again.

- is there a way to "watch" a domain or set a reminder? Yes! You can set a pre-set buy in price that will automatically buy the domain for you when the hourly price drop gets to that point. Here is the process you should follow:

Find a domain you like:

Place a bid, keep in mind this example has a Current Bid of $100 which means in order to win the domain, you would need to "Buy Now" at $110. Once you have a bid placed, you can go into your account and find the link shown.

I lost the auction, which is not good because I really liked the name! Someone likely got it for $110.

Ensure your account is prefunded to cover the bids and you will be all set!

 

[7363824]

Apologies for missing this! Here are the answers that apply,

- do you have to have your names registered at Epik to participate? No, any domain up to 10 days post expiration can be listed. Just need to provide valid auth codes and leave the domain unlocked. In the event of a sale, you will receive an email from Epik and a request to transfer.

-what happens when a domain name doesnt sell, does it go back to you? Domains never leave your ownership, they are yours until someone pulls the trigger. If a domain does not sell, it can be relisted 90 days after the end of the auction to try liquidation again.

- is there a way to "watch" a domain or set a reminder? Yes! You can set a pre-set buy in price that will automatically buy the domain for you when the hourly price drop gets to that point. Here is the process you should follow:

Find a domain you like:

Place a bid, keep in mind this example has a Current Bid of $100 which means in order to win the domain, you would need to "Buy Now" at $110. Once you have a bid placed, you can go into your account and find the link shown.

I lost the auction, which is not good because I really liked the name! Someone likely got it for $110.

Ensure your account is prefunded to cover the bids and you will be all set!

It will only work with a refunded account? Any way in the future for me to authorize you charge my card if I get it. You cpuldnplace a hold for the video amount to ensure sufficient funds but only complete the charge if I win.

 

[7363824]

It will only work with a refunded account? Any way in the future for me to authorize you charge my card if I get it. You cpuldnplace a hold for the video amount to ensure sufficient funds but only complete the charge if I win.

I answered my own question I put a scheduled bid on a name and once it hit that I got the email receipt showing my credit card on file was charged for it. Best part because I got my default profile all configured it not only got in my account but parked on an Epik lander and listed for make offer all without me having to do anything after setting the bid. So I'll leave it like that for now to get some traffic data before deciding on my final price and setting a BIN.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks for the helpful information, @Ryan217 - it is good to know that a credit card on file works for leaving bids.

@DanSanchez Would it be a simple change to make it so that the number of hours remaining in the auction shows on the page for that individual name? That is if I promote a link to a specific domain name using e.g. www(.)nameliquidate(.) com/example.TLD, it has information and the links to buy or bid, but as far as I can see, not a listing of how many hours remain. They can of course get that information by going to the NameLiquidate home page where it is clearly shown, but I thought it would be nice to see it on the single domain link.

Or is the problem I should be sending them to a different link?

It is nice to see that a number of names seem to be getting pre-bids of late - including a number of non-com. I see that a .company name today has $75 currently in prebid, closes in about a half day (not my domain name), and also many .org have bids today.

Also super impressed how many well-aged com are listed today. Many, many names with 10+ years registration.

The interface is clean and I like it. I think we will see more and more liquidating their domain names at it. Thank you for this initiative.

Bob

 

[7363824]

Almost 900 domains, glad to see it taking off. Even got some bids on some names I listed so that's nice to see.

 

[DanSanchez]

Thanks for the helpful information, @Ryan217 - it is good to know that a credit card on file works for leaving bids.

@DanSanchez Would it be a simple change to make it so that the number of hours remaining in the auction shows on the page for that individual name? That is if I promote a link to a specific domain name using e.g. www(.)nameliquidate(.) com/example.TLD, it has information and the links to buy or bid, but as far as I can see, not a listing of how many hours remain. They can of course get that information by going to the NameLiquidate home page where it is clearly shown, but I thought it would be nice to see it on the single domain link.

Or is the problem I should be sending them to a different link?

It is nice to see that a number of names seem to be getting pre-bids of late - including a number of non-com. I see that a .company name today has $75 currently in prebid, closes in about a half day (not my domain name), and also many .org have bids today.

Also super impressed how many well-aged com are listed today. Many, many names with 10+ years registration.

The interface is clean and I like it. I think we will see more and more liquidating their domain names at it. Thank you for this initiative.

Bob

Bob thank you for the suggestion, I am going to ask the dev team to implement it. I agree completely, it is necessary.

For now you could use the old method of linking to a search query like this
https://nameliquidate.com/?searchText=domainname.com for example. You would replace your domain after the = sign on the link. This will simply send the person to the results of a query, which will show the time left till end.

We are seeing some successes already, this is the work of all of us coming together. Thank you for your continued support and suggestions. I am extremely proud of our team for executing such an idea. Next is to include expiry streams from Epik and other registrars that want to give back to their registrants.

New Feature! The engineering team recently added the filter option to search queries. It works great and it makes it easy to segregate domains you want to find. See the image below:

Feedback is always welcomed!

 

[7363824]

@DanSanchez

Is there no email confirming when you sell a name? I just sold two and got the transfer auth emails from the external registrar with no indication from Epik that they sold. But I approved the transfers and checked back to see the transfer completed and I now have funds in my Masterbucks account...though strangely still no email from Epik about the sales.

Also anyway to get a breakdown of the full sale amount and commission paid for my tracking? All my masterbucks account shows is the net amount paid to me.

 

[NicTraders]

@DanSanchez

Is there no email confirming when you sell a name? I just sold two and got the transfer auth emails from the external registrar with no indication from Epik that they sold. But I approved the transfers and checked back to see the transfer completed and I now have funds in my Masterbucks account...though strangely still no email from Epik about the sales.

Also anyway to get a breakdown of the full sale amount and commission paid for my tracking? All my masterbucks account shows is the net amount paid to me.

I received an email when I sold an Epik domain, however I haven't sold any external domains so maybe things are different for them?.... (Doesn't make much sense though).

Here's the content of the email, which seems pretty suitable (though no breakdown of commission - it just lists the total it sells for):


Dear xxx,

We are pleased to inform you that your domain xxx has sold for the fee of $xxx.
The domain has been pushed to the buyer's account. Funds have been deposited into your Masterbucks account. You can now use these funds anywhere on Epik. Alternatively you can cash it out from your Masterbucks.com account. Congratulations on your sale.
Regards,
Marketplace Operations

 

[JoeCanadian]

Great to see NameLiquidate showing more inventory and bids. Two questions:

- noticed there is an option to cancel the auction. Is that a permanent feature? I have some names that I may list so long as I can bail well above $9.
- glad to see option of placing a bid. I'm surprised that a bid is public. Problem with making bid public is that invites someone to snipe you. If I see a domain I like I'd be inclined to wait for it decline to my price where I can I do a Buy-Now rather than creating a potential auction. Maybe disclose number of bids instead of value of bids?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I have started a thread in expiring names for anyone to highlight either their own or other names that they want to give a shoutout to, provided they are at NameLiquidate.

My plan is NOT for me to post daily, but hope it will be a community thread where various people will post some of the more interesting names at NameLiquidate.

Here is a link to the thread.

Bob

 

[wrolie]

Great to see NameLiquidate showing more inventory and bids. Two questions:

- noticed there is an option to cancel the auction. Is that a permanent feature? I have some names that I may list so long as I can bail well above $9.
- glad to see option of placing a bid. I'm surprised that a bid is public. Problem with making bid public is that invites someone to snipe you. If I see a domain I like I'd be inclined to wait for it decline to my price where I can I do a Buy-Now rather than creating a potential auction. Maybe disclose number of bids instead of value of bids?

I actually like it that the bid is public, as names with bids will generate more interest. I suppose it depends whether the platform is optimized for buyers or for sellers. My vote is to optimize for sellers to fetch the best price. Would be nice also to filter on names with bids.

 

[7363824]

I think I tend to agree that the high bid should not be publicly shown, just the number of bids. It still shows a measure of interest but without giving away how little you can get away with bidding which would optimize more for sellers IMO.

But I would like if I could see the actual high bid on my names as a seller. I know Rob mentioned in another thread a sellers dashboard coming soon, that would be nice to see everything I got listed in one place along with its current status including listing that are now ended either sold or unsold.

 

[wrolie]

I think I tend to agree that the high bid should not be publicly shown, just the number of bids. It still shows a measure of interest but without giving away how little you can get away with bidding which would optimize more for sellers IMO.

But I would like if I could see the actual high bid on my names as a seller. I know Rob mentioned in another thread a sellers dashboard coming soon, that would be nice to see everything I got listed in one place along with its current status including listing that are now ended either sold or unsold.

I think the high bid must be shown because buyers are required to bid a higher amount.