Just got the below email.........
Introducing a New Way to Sell on BrandBucket
Due to significant interest from both our buyers and sellers, BrandBucket is pleased to announce the soft launch of a new program that will allow buyers to pay for your domains over time. Please keep reading for more details on how the program will work and when you can expect the option to be available for your BrandBucket listings.
The Program
What we are calling the "Lease-to-Own" program will begin to roll out in the next few days. You as a seller will need to log in to your account and opt-in to the program. This will enable the lease option on all of your eligible* domains.
The Lease-to-Own option allows buyers to pay for domains over the course of twelve months using any of the current payment method BrandBucket supports (credit cards, bank transfers and cryptocurrency.)
When a lease starts on one of your domain names, we will ask that you transfer it into a BrandBucket registrar account. During the lease term BrandBucket will hold the name and facilitate the buyer's use of it. When the lease is paid in full, BrandBucket will transfer ownership of the name to the buyer. If at any time the buyer cancels or defaults on the lease, the domain name will be transferred back to you.
Each monthly payment that the buyer makes (minus the standard marketplace commissions) will be available for you to withdraw from your BrandBucket account balance within five (5) business days.
The Math
As the e-commerce market has shifted towards more flexible payment options for buyers, we have seen increasing interest in monthly payments from buyers and increasing acceptance from sellers. 2020 saw a boom in services that facilitated "pay over time" for retailers; companies like Affirm, Sezzle, Klarna, Afterpay and PayPal Credit offer consumers a multitude of payment timeframes and financing options. While digital goods like domain names are different than most physical products, we believe there is value in offering startups at the beginning of their journey a way to manage costs and reduce risk.
The BrandBucket Lease-to-Own program will offer payments over a twelve (12) month timeframe. A varying level of extra service fees will be assessed based on the full price of the domain name:
· $0 to $9994: 20%
· $9995 to $49,994: 15%
· $49,995 and above: 10%
At each tier, 5% of the total service fees will be charged with the first month's payment, and the rest will be spread over payments two through twelve. For example, a domain priced at $3000 will be divided into 12 payments of $288 (15% service fee) with an additional $150 (5%) charged the first month.
All extra service fees collected will be split equally (50/50) between the seller and BrandBucket.
Why the Extra Fees?
Many retailers offer installment plans to buyers with no added monthly fees. While this makes sense to us for physical products that depreciate in value once owned, we feel that it does not make sense for digital goods. Domain names in particular have shown a consistent trend of increasing in value year over year, and they are very easy to "return" if the buyer decides to end the lease term early. We feel that sellers and their marketplaces should be compensated with something extra for helping carry the buyer through the year.
Why the Larger Amount Upfront?
Our research has uncovered that domain payment plans are paid in full at a much lower rate than payment plans for physical goods. Retail purchases are more of a hassle to return once they are used than domain names. Domain names are also purchased towards the beginning of the business startup journey, and (unfortunately) many startups aren't around a year after their journey starts. For both of these reasons, we feel that a larger upfront cost helps identify serious buyers, and helps compensate the seller and marketplace a bit extra for leases that are cancelled before completion.
The Fine Print
*During the first phase of the program, the Lease-to-Own option will be available only for domain names currently registered at GoDaddy and Namesilo. This will allow roughly 70% of the current BrandBucket inventory to participate at the time of launch.
This is a beta program, and all terms, calculations, and exclusions are subject to change as we gather feedback and data from our communities.
How to Opt-In
Visit your BrandBucket account, click the Account navigation button on the top-right of the page, and scroll to the Sales Settings area. There you will find a checkbox to enable Lease-to-Own on your eligible domains.
Introducing a New Way to Sell on BrandBucket
Due to significant interest from both our buyers and sellers, BrandBucket is pleased to announce the soft launch of a new program that will allow buyers to pay for your domains over time. Please keep reading for more details on how the program will work and when you can expect the option to be available for your BrandBucket listings.
The Program
What we are calling the "Lease-to-Own" program will begin to roll out in the next few days. You as a seller will need to log in to your account and opt-in to the program. This will enable the lease option on all of your eligible* domains.
The Lease-to-Own option allows buyers to pay for domains over the course of twelve months using any of the current payment method BrandBucket supports (credit cards, bank transfers and cryptocurrency.)
When a lease starts on one of your domain names, we will ask that you transfer it into a BrandBucket registrar account. During the lease term BrandBucket will hold the name and facilitate the buyer's use of it. When the lease is paid in full, BrandBucket will transfer ownership of the name to the buyer. If at any time the buyer cancels or defaults on the lease, the domain name will be transferred back to you.
Each monthly payment that the buyer makes (minus the standard marketplace commissions) will be available for you to withdraw from your BrandBucket account balance within five (5) business days.
The Math
As the e-commerce market has shifted towards more flexible payment options for buyers, we have seen increasing interest in monthly payments from buyers and increasing acceptance from sellers. 2020 saw a boom in services that facilitated "pay over time" for retailers; companies like Affirm, Sezzle, Klarna, Afterpay and PayPal Credit offer consumers a multitude of payment timeframes and financing options. While digital goods like domain names are different than most physical products, we believe there is value in offering startups at the beginning of their journey a way to manage costs and reduce risk.
The BrandBucket Lease-to-Own program will offer payments over a twelve (12) month timeframe. A varying level of extra service fees will be assessed based on the full price of the domain name:
· $0 to $9994: 20%
· $9995 to $49,994: 15%
· $49,995 and above: 10%
At each tier, 5% of the total service fees will be charged with the first month's payment, and the rest will be spread over payments two through twelve. For example, a domain priced at $3000 will be divided into 12 payments of $288 (15% service fee) with an additional $150 (5%) charged the first month.
All extra service fees collected will be split equally (50/50) between the seller and BrandBucket.
Why the Extra Fees?
Many retailers offer installment plans to buyers with no added monthly fees. While this makes sense to us for physical products that depreciate in value once owned, we feel that it does not make sense for digital goods. Domain names in particular have shown a consistent trend of increasing in value year over year, and they are very easy to "return" if the buyer decides to end the lease term early. We feel that sellers and their marketplaces should be compensated with something extra for helping carry the buyer through the year.
Why the Larger Amount Upfront?
Our research has uncovered that domain payment plans are paid in full at a much lower rate than payment plans for physical goods. Retail purchases are more of a hassle to return once they are used than domain names. Domain names are also purchased towards the beginning of the business startup journey, and (unfortunately) many startups aren't around a year after their journey starts. For both of these reasons, we feel that a larger upfront cost helps identify serious buyers, and helps compensate the seller and marketplace a bit extra for leases that are cancelled before completion.
The Fine Print
*During the first phase of the program, the Lease-to-Own option will be available only for domain names currently registered at GoDaddy and Namesilo. This will allow roughly 70% of the current BrandBucket inventory to participate at the time of launch.
This is a beta program, and all terms, calculations, and exclusions are subject to change as we gather feedback and data from our communities.
How to Opt-In
Visit your BrandBucket account, click the Account navigation button on the top-right of the page, and scroll to the Sales Settings area. There you will find a checkbox to enable Lease-to-Own on your eligible domains.
