news GoDaddy to acquire domain sales platform dan.com!

[MadAboutDomains]

Looks like GoDaddy is acquiring Dan.com!

Via Domainnamewire... https://domainnamewire.com/2022/06/28/big-news-godaddy-is-acquiring-dan-com/

 

[Pusang Gala]

This is bad news, hope the commission remains the same, otherwise I'm out.

 

[aliweb]

Competition must be there, otherwise it will be pure oligopoly, where only a few will control the market. Moreover, GoDaddy is very famous for sticking to decades old system, no new innovation, no dynamism, no new products. With big name like GoDaddy, we expected a better price, better and Faster services.

Yup. Just look at Afternic. Looks like site from the 90s.

 

[Future Sensors]

Epik could actually disrupt the 'battlefield' if they decided to let go of some of their old ways.

You've got a registrar, you've got a marketplace. Decent Landers. Able to work on low comission.

All the ingredients are there if it wasn't for a tarnished brand.

With the right rebranding and repositioning you can easily change that around and challenge the status quo... There's so much untapped potential.

The thing is that Epik tried to acquire this same company a couple of years ago, but did not deliver. It would've been a success story otherwise. A missed opportunity that cannot easily be corrected with any ambitious posting by the same CEO in this thread.

 

[alcy]

Thanos is collecting infinity stones; and only one stone remains: SEDO.
Once that is done: SANP

sedo sucks. that's like a regular rock. like piece of coal.. not infinity stone

 

[Silentptnr]

For some reason, I don't feel joy about this news. I guess it's GoDanny now.

 

[Gabriel360]

Paul Nicks sounds like a politician all through the interview.

That's never a good thing.

Anyway, congrats to Dan.com owners. Quite certain they got a huge payday.

 

[branding]

Not a fan of this acquisition... Really sad news. Good for GD, good for Dan but I foresee trouble for us users.

Oh well... It was good for as long as it lasted.

 

[Revisiting]

OK well that is back to Sedo for me, just for the higher profile and exposure. I just don't trust Godaddy due to historical reasoning and experience. They being the bigger dog will dictate the future this so called new partnership

 

[HotKey]

Always have a backup plan. Plan B.

Yeh, my backup is back to my personal landers on own site, should things get wonky. Basically for me, when I switched to Dan last November to test, was happy that though my sell-thru didn't change much, the ease of the transaction was worth the extra dollars in commission.

Dan is truly phenomenal, a well-oiled machine that stands apart from anything else.

If we jump to 20% or whatever after this acquisition, I much prefer the extra work, basically just a couple more emails back and forth with the buyer, on a personal site than exorbitant commissions.. and who knows what else.

Pointless in jumping the gun though, maybe things will remain smooth and worthwhile as they currently are. Or is that naivetivity?

 

[Embrand]

It is not a big surprise, but I am not sure it is good news for domain investors. Apparently, they haven't yet decided if Dan will still offer low commission rates.

 

[bmugford]

Hmm. I use GoDaddy (Afternic) and I use Dan.com.

Afternic has a wide reach, but Dan.com has better landers, a lower commission, and you control your leads.

I hope GoDaddy does not mess with Dan.com and kill it.

Either way, likely not a good move for domain investors. Consolidation and fewer choices never are.

Brad

 

[Mister Funsky]

It has been quite a day and it is far from over.

That is a bit cryptic...what else might be coming?!?!

Epik is still my marketplace of choice...wouldn't now be a great time to discount from 9% to 5% to encourage those leaving Dan to list on the Epik marketplace? Just a thought...maybe do it for a month or two.

Also, is there a transfer deal on the horizon? There are still a few domains I'd like to move...I will keep an eye on the Epik thread so you do not have to post anything in this thread that might be off topic.

It has been whispered for a while Godaddy was acquiring someone of note and it seems the Dan buyout fits the bill...are there any 'back room' discussions you have been privy to suggesting another buyout? I've heard there is still another acquisition coming and someone has mentioned the name of a potential party in this thread already.

 

[J.R.]

When I entered domain speculation in 2015, GoDaddy had great prices, discounts and competitive renewal rates. In 2022, they now have the least competitive renewal rates, highest BIN commissions, and a 1 coupon limit per customer, literally one coupon per account - one time usage.

I don't see Dan.com deal being good for domain speculators, though I congratulate Dan.com on a successful exit. Building a good product or service isn't easy, let alone building a company or brand to GTO said goods or services.

Still, no matter the level of ambiguous PR talk I hear from GD and Dan, I'll wait to see where things are one year from now. Historically, all these deals do is increase costs for users of GoDaddy. Study the record since 2015 and prove me wrong.

With every acquisition the costs are passed onto customers, and domainers are 70% of the domain business.

Ironically, one of the arguments from monopolists for monopoly is lower costs!

On the bright side, I use NameCheap, Epik, and Dynadot registrars and the removal of Dan from the innovation lane opens a huge opportunity for aforementioned registrars and others. Customizable landers, single digit commissions, flexible payment plans, and registrant controlled negotiations are key to filling the Dan.com vacuum.

Many like myself were expecting the big announcement from Dan as a newly minted registry, so total let down in that regard.

If all fails, I'll focus on building my own landers in 2023 to keep all commissions to myself.

 

[bmugford]

I still don't get it.. is there like official gd dan link or info saying what will happen to Dan... changes.. etc

Nope, and it appears they have been quite cagey about it. The lack of clarity is a major problem.

There has been no real pushback to speculation from me and others that they are just going to jack up the commissions to "align" with their other services.

If they want to kill Dan, that is a good way to do it.

However, I don't think it makes sense for GoDaddy as a business. Dan is capturing sales GoDaddy is not capturing, and certainly won't be at 20%.

As someone who uses both, GoDaddy clearly has the larger market share but Dan has the superior system.
Landers, leads, negotiation, payment, transfer. The entire process is far more intuitive.

If they leave it largely as is, with re-branded landers then fine. If they come in and try to take control of people's leads, negotiation, and/or raise the commissions many people will simply leave.

Brad

 

[DomainRecap]

My prediction is that it will close Dan or Afternic because they serve the same purpose.

It's obvious from the comments by Paul Nicks that Dan will eventually be absorbed by Afternic. That's all he talks about, Afternic this and Afternic that, with little mention of Dan, so can see what the future will bring.

I'm actually depressed about the new "20% Commission World Order" that this acquisition will herald.

 

[Haroon Basha]

Competition must be there, otherwise it will be pure oligopoly, where only a few will control the market. Moreover, GoDaddy is very famous for sticking to decades old system, no new innovation, no dynamism, no new products. With big name like GoDaddy, we expected a better price, better and Faster services.

 

[karmaco]

It is not a big surprise, but I am not sure it is good news for domain investors. Apparently, they haven't yet decided if Dan will still offer low commission rates.

I am so disappointed in DAN. They fought the law and the law won. People use DAN because they don’t want to use GoDaddy and don’t want the high commission. Meet the new boss same as the old boss. This is a huge step backwards for everyone except GoDaddy’s monopoly.

 

[Dane]

The more I think about this, the more unhappy it makes me.

 

[karmaco]

We understand that the first reaction many Dan users have can be a negative one. However, please know that this is not your typical exit.

100% of Dan's employees including management and Reza won't leave the company and the reason for that is because we're given the chance to do what we do well at a larger scale.

We will build out our vision just with more resources at our disposal which we needed to push forward faster.

Give us some time and we will make our roadmap clearer and when that's in place, we believe the sentiment will turn positive.

Good things are ahead for domain investors!

If you didn’t want negative reactions you shouldn’t make announcements patting yourselves on the back without any facts that matter to us.

What day is GD taking over? What will the commission be? What other changes?

You should know this would be the overwhelming reaction.

 

[bmugford]

It's obvious from the comments by Paul Nicks that Dan will eventually be absorbed by Afternic. That's all he talks about, Afternic this and Afternic that, with little mention of Dan, so can see what the future will bring.

I'm actually depressed about the new "20% Commission World Order" that this acquisition will herald.

If you are handling the leads and the negotiation, 20% is absurd.

I do have a gut feeling that GoDaddy will raise the fees to 20% to "standardize" their fee structure.

Will GoDaddy even allow people to handle their own leads anymore?

People used Dan.com because they offered things GoDaddy did not. If GoDaddy comes in with a wrecking ball a lot of people are just going to leave.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

TBH DAN doesn't have the influx of end-users like GoDaddy.

GoDaddy buys Superbowl ads.

Can't wait for the integration.

Interesting take. I remember how long it took to integrate Afternic and GoDaddy, and it is still far from perfect.

Dan.com brings the entire framework - the backend, the landers, the negotiation and transfer process. GoDaddy brings their name.

It will probably be nothing more than sticking a GoDaddy logo on the landers and raising fees to 20%.

This would be the perfect opportunity to largely leave Dan.com as is. They capture a lot of the market GoDaddy does not - landers and negotiated sales. They are not going to get nearly as many at 20%.

Brad

 

[Samer]

Godaddy has more domains than next 10 competitors. It’s unhealthy;

DAN; what happened to getting “accredited”?!! Why didnt go through becoming your own registrar! I was excited.

 

[HandmadeLife]

Epik feelings now

 

[Armageddon]

I think Epik will be next acquisition of GoDaddy.

Neh Rob not allow this ( imo )

 

[Josytal]

Always have a backup plan. Plan B.