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This thread is going to detail my first experience with Afternic Custom Checkout Link.
This involves a relatively small $1,800 sale.
11/4 (morning) -
After agreeing to terms with the buyer, I created a Custom Checkout Link via my Afternic account.
I had to confirm with @GoDaddy that this was still a valid method, as the link created was a Dan.com link not Afternic.
11/5 (morning) -
The buyer used the link to pay for the domain.
(I would not know about this for a few days.)
11/8 (morning) -
The buyer reached out to me and asks for a status update. They provide proof of payment from 11/5.
Up until this point, I had no idea that the buyer had paid.
There were no updates provided to me or the seller by GoDaddy/Afternic. There were no status updates on the domain in my Afternic account.
At this point I reached out to my contacts at GoDaddy, including James and my GoDaddy account rep.
James escalated the issue, and finally later that day the domain appeared as "SOLD" in my Afternic account.
Like with normal sales, I was instructed to unlock the domain and provide the AUTH code.
I did that. Then nothing happened.
The domain was not transferred. The domain didn't go into pending transfer.
I called my GoDaddy account rep and was told they were looking into it. Towards the end of the day, I was updated that nothing is likely to happen over the weekend.
So, I contacted the buyer myself and apologized for GoDaddy's slowness and lack of updates.
As expected, nothing happened over the weekend.
11/11 -
I followed up with GoDaddy about what was going on. There were no updates.
11/12 -
Finally, I was contacted by Afternic TA and asked to manually start a push to their account.
I did that, and the push was accepted by Afternic TA towards the end of the day.
I contacted the buyer and let them know.
At this point, I asked the buyer if GoDaddy had any communication with them via the entire process.
Their response -
"No - We haven't received any correspondence from GoDaddy."
So, in over a week after submitting payment GoDaddy had no communication with the buyer.
Meanwhile, I had many contacts with the buyer reassuring them the transaction is in process and apologizing on behalf of GoDaddy.
If I was the buyer in this situation, I probably would have felt like I was getting scammed after a week with no communication.
11/13 -
Afternic confirmed they sent the funds. I expect them to arrive tomorrow.
From start the finish this transaction will have taken almost 10 days.
Overall Thoughts -
Brad
This involves a relatively small $1,800 sale.
11/4 (morning) -
After agreeing to terms with the buyer, I created a Custom Checkout Link via my Afternic account.
I had to confirm with @GoDaddy that this was still a valid method, as the link created was a Dan.com link not Afternic.
11/5 (morning) -
The buyer used the link to pay for the domain.
(I would not know about this for a few days.)
11/8 (morning) -
The buyer reached out to me and asks for a status update. They provide proof of payment from 11/5.
Up until this point, I had no idea that the buyer had paid.
There were no updates provided to me or the seller by GoDaddy/Afternic. There were no status updates on the domain in my Afternic account.
At this point I reached out to my contacts at GoDaddy, including James and my GoDaddy account rep.
James escalated the issue, and finally later that day the domain appeared as "SOLD" in my Afternic account.
Like with normal sales, I was instructed to unlock the domain and provide the AUTH code.
I did that. Then nothing happened.
The domain was not transferred. The domain didn't go into pending transfer.
I called my GoDaddy account rep and was told they were looking into it. Towards the end of the day, I was updated that nothing is likely to happen over the weekend.
So, I contacted the buyer myself and apologized for GoDaddy's slowness and lack of updates.
As expected, nothing happened over the weekend.
11/11 -
I followed up with GoDaddy about what was going on. There were no updates.
11/12 -
Finally, I was contacted by Afternic TA and asked to manually start a push to their account.
I did that, and the push was accepted by Afternic TA towards the end of the day.
I contacted the buyer and let them know.
At this point, I asked the buyer if GoDaddy had any communication with them via the entire process.
Their response -
"No - We haven't received any correspondence from GoDaddy."
So, in over a week after submitting payment GoDaddy had no communication with the buyer.
Meanwhile, I had many contacts with the buyer reassuring them the transaction is in process and apologizing on behalf of GoDaddy.
If I was the buyer in this situation, I probably would have felt like I was getting scammed after a week with no communication.
11/13 -
Afternic confirmed they sent the funds. I expect them to arrive tomorrow.
From start the finish this transaction will have taken almost 10 days.
Overall Thoughts -
- It's odd that Dan.com was shut down, but they are still using a Dan.com link for an Afternic transaction. GoDaddy confirmed that they will be replacing the Dan.com links with Afternic.com in the near future.
- The lack of communication with the buyer and seller is unacceptable. I had to take the role of communicator, because GoDaddy didn't do it. I found myself apologizing on behalf of GoDaddy several times.
- This type of transaction could have been completed in hours via Dan.com. Meanwhile, Afternic seems to add inefficiency to the process.
- The Custom Checkout Link has been a disappointing process that reflects poorly on me as a seller. It looks like I am dragging my feet, when it is @GoDaddy.
- The support tries to be helpful, but I think GoDaddy, Afternic, and Dan.com (the checkout link) seem to have poor communication with each other regarding the transaction status.
- I think it's reasonable to say that GoDaddy didn't really do much to earn a commission on this sale, not even 5%.
- I would have just closed some other way if I knew it was going to be such a pain.
- GoDaddy is a multi-billion dollar company. It's well within their resources to actually have employees working on weekends. People are online all days and times now from around the world. The entire world doesn't shut down just because it is a weekend.
Brad
. Hopefully, GoDaddy sorts things out soon—it shouldn’t take this much effort to close a deal.
