My question to Godaddy's CEO at NamesCon: Domain Liquidity for the industry

[Rob Monster]

Earlier this morning, I wake up to seeing a lovely comment from Shane Cultra on his blog:

To my eyes, that comment from Shane is actually pretty crazy. Ironically, many people told me unsolicited, that my question was the highlight of the Q&A. This is not the first time that Shane has spoken out of school against me with trash-talk and it probably won't be the last since it shamelessly drives up his page views for his affiliate site. I don't know if anyone has a video of the Q&A section of Aman's keynote but if so, would be great if someone would upload the actual video clip. I believe anyone who objectively reviews my question will find it to be rather selfless. It was a question about domain liquidity. There were 2 parts, and I believe they were reasonable and sincere.

Part 1: Domain Liquidity via Loans

As some folks know, Epik provides interest-free loans secured by domains. This is popular but we cannot lend to everyone in the amounts that everyone might like. Compared to Godaddy, we are a relatively small company without access to the vast pool of capital that Godaddy has access to. I asked if Godaddy would consider extending domain loans to its customers. The lending model is proven. Godaddy has the ability to scale it to a much greater degree. Rather than forcing Godaddy customers to abandon domains to their expiry stream, why not allow Godaddy customers with liquid names to borrow against their portfolio? It seems reasonable to me.


Part 2: Working with US Congress to make domain names a bankable asset.

I have also been a long-time believer in the potential for domain names to be a respected asset class. The challenge there is that the banking industry does not recognize domains as a bankable asset class. People can donate domains to non-profits and can get a write-down for their investment basis, but if you go to a bank and ask to borrow against a 3N.com, they have no idea what you are talking about. The House subcommittee on banking could engage here but we would need some lobbying power to make that happen.

For anyone who has ever studied the history of the housing market, the correlation between the availability of borrowing capacity and the prices of the associated asset is indisputable. When credit is available, asset prices go up. If domain owners could more methodically borrow against their domains at conventional banking rates rather than only from hard money pawnshops that dominate the landscape today, it would be a game-changer for making the pie bigger for everyone.

I will be interested to hear what folks have to say on this very reasonable topic about domain liquidity that can greatly impact the future of the industry.

 

[alcy]

First, Epik parking is a dominant service. The indexing power can work wonders if your inquiries are low. I was using Bodis and my inquiries would vary greatly from 1 to 5 weekly. Epik turned that into 1 to 5 daily by simply focusing only on serving the page needed to collect an offer. I did most of the optimizing on the landing pages so they would display a relevant picture, text, and set higher minimum offers.

Rob knew I was under a lot of pressure with my daughter coming and I was bombing every inquiry with sarcasm. It was very difficult for me to be told I was sucking at my job. But I took it and shifted to let Rob handle some of the inquiries to help close sales quickly. Keep in mind I'm carrying 5000+ domains. My capital requirements are high. I was headed for serious trouble.

Rob introduced some mentality shifts that helped me relax, hunker down, and outperform my stress. It continues to work. In fact it has played into my strengths and I am at a height that I wasn't expecting to get to in such short period of time.

Rob has built the systems, anyone can use them to improve. You just have to be willing to take critique and apply it quickly.

I have since become dedicated to projects that will further help domainers like NameLiquidate and NameBrokers to name a few.

ok ty for this info. like most domainers in my beginnings, I had tons and tons of crappy regs... made godaddy rather happy with renewing them.. and couple more registrars... now I have fewer names, and much less crappy too. but... i stil pay nice chunks in sales.. like 20% to gd.

i almost forgot you can monetize trafic with epik. not because I have poor memory but because it is such a little know topic in general.. and on np... don't you think people would be talking about parking on epik a bit more or much more, if it was giving better results than bodis... parking crew... and others? we all want as much monetization as posible for our parked domains of course... but i am curious why would a service that you claim does better than bodis, be virtually unknown to most... and virtually not talked about anywhere here.. and on top, as result, I presume potentially also used by very few.

 

[DanSanchez]

ok ty for this info. like most domainers in my beginnings, I had tons and tons of crappy regs... made godaddy rather happy with renewing them.. and couple more registrars... now I have fewer names, and much less crappy too. but... i stil pay nice chunks in sales.. like 20% to gd.

i almost forgot you can monetize trafic with epik. not because I have poor memory but because it is such a little know topic in general.. and on np... don't you think people would be talking about parking on epik a bit more or much more, if it was giving better results than bodis... parking crew... and others? we all want as much monetization as posible for our parked domains of course... but i am curious why would a service that you claim does better than bodis, be virtually unknown to most... and virtually not talked about anywhere here.. and on top, as result, I presume potentially also used by very few.

I'm not talking about parking with ads though, its purely focusing on making sure the page loads and shows an inquiry form. I would abandon the few hundred a month in ads in exchange for more offers and deals.

 

[Rob Monster]

First, Epik parking is a dominant service. The indexing power can work wonders if your inquiries are low. I was using Bodis and my inquiries would vary greatly from 1 to 5 weekly. Epik turned that into 1 to 5 daily by simply focusing only on serving the page needed to collect an offer. I did most of the optimizing on the landing pages so they would display a relevant picture, text, and set higher minimum offers.

Rob knew I was under a lot of pressure with my daughter coming and I was bombing every inquiry with sarcasm. It was very difficult for me to be told I was sucking at my job. But I took it and shifted to let Rob handle some of the inquiries to help close sales quickly. Keep in mind I'm carrying 5000+ domains. My capital requirements are high. I was headed for serious trouble.

Rob introduced some mentality shifts that helped me relax, hunker down, and outperform my stress. It continues to work. In fact it has played into my strengths and I am at a height that I wasn't expecting to get to in such short period of time.

Rob has built the systems, anyone can use them to improve. You just have to be willing to take critique and apply it quickly.

I have since become dedicated to projects that will further help domainers like NameLiquidate and NameBrokers to name a few.

It is true, Dan is crushing it. He was a willing and able student and is a joy to have on the team. We have a few folks like that on the Epik team that I believe will go on to do great things. Some of them make more money domaining than they earn directly from Epik in compensation. This is of course a form of empowerment, and in fact it all started with a domain loan that kept Dan from losing his portfolio.

I have @Tia Wood to thank for that because it was her who brought this distress situation and we were able to turn it around very quickly with high impact. Dan is now debt-free and playing to his strengths while working from home near his new baby girl, Delilah Grace Sanchez. See picture below. I call that a success story for empowerment.

There are a lot of distress cases in this industry where people are trying to pay for schooling, feed their families, etc. It would be a game-changer that would transform a lot of lives if Godaddy would consider taking a page out of the Grameen bank playbook and introduce microlending. This is a billion dollar idea for them and I share it openly.

 

[alcy]

I'm not talking about parking with ads though, its purely focusing on making sure the page loads and shows an inquiry form. I would abandon the few hundred a month in ads in exchange for more offers and deals.

ah ok sorry my bad. that clarifies then why no one is taking about epik prking for revenue.. but correct if im wrong didn't epik once have a parking revenue with ads system in place? or maybe it was another registrar... can't recall

 

[Samer]

So I read this thread a little differently. It looks like we had a new CEO that didn't take the bait, seems professional, smart. Looks like some good things ahead for GoDaddy.

So you want GD stay disengaged, maintain the status-quo

whats point of a New leader, if same results?

Samer

 

[JB Lions]

I'm not talking about parking with ads though, its purely focusing on making sure the page loads and shows an inquiry form. I would abandon the few hundred a month in ads in exchange for more offers and deals.

So you got more inquiries because you went to a page with a form, instead of a page full of ads. I did the same a couple of years ago with Efty, you can do that at various parking companies as well. Just have a form. I did that with some domains when I had them over at Voodoo. I think Bodis has that option as well.

So you want them to stay disengaged maintain the status-quo.

What’s the point New CEO, same results?

What? Nobody has any idea what's coming. Disengaged? How does that work when he had a Q&A? And a Q&A session is not the only place people can communicate. Pick a phone, an email, schedule a meeting etc.

---------------
Just wanted to add an old post made about what Dan is talking about. I did the same thing, because somebody else mentioned it and it made sense to me. You will get more sales, this goes into it more:

"With PPC lander pages, some people are just confused when they get to the page, even if you have a banner or link to buy or make an offer. Seeing a This Domain For Sale with a form, is more to the point, less confusion, which results in more offers and then more sales..........."

It's bad advice, I disagree with a PPC lander, I did that in my early years. Now it's a Make Offer lander via Efty, you get more sales. He mentioned being able to see type in traffic with a PPC lander, well you can get those stats with a Make Offer/Buy Now page as well. I use Google Analytics and can get that info.

With PPC lander pages, some people are just confused when they get to the page, even if you have a banner or link to buy or make an offer. Seeing a This Domain For Sale with a form, is more to the point, less confusion, which results in more offers and then more sales. I did the PPC lander for many years, now it's the other way.

Think of somebody getting to your page and seeing:

A page full of ads, with a link somewhere to buy/make offer

This Domain For Sale/form

 

[Windoms]

Where's the video?
@Alvin Brown why does it stop at 36min? are you going to release part 2?
Thanks for namescon coverage, I read everything.

 

[Ivan Rasskazov]

Liqudity requires a functional market - having several major marketplaces that don't even communicate with each other is not it. The industry has really taken a step back in general over the past few years in terms of information sharing and the like. The truth is, it needs to cooperate and share more than ever in order to have an iota of a chance at true lobbying power, which is in fact required. You have to keep in mind that lobbying power and transition into commoditization also requires regulation. You'd have to prepare to deal with the CFTC (as an example) or SEC, and things like The Patriot Act. "But the PA and regulations are evil" is not a viable industry strategy.

I have many thoughts on market liqudity and loans. It's an interesting topic. Personally, I don't think House Banking Committee is the way to go for a small industry. There is a blue print for this, and it's in the commodity space, but that's my opinion.

If you want liquidity, start with information sharing and transparency first.

 

[Shaan Chopra]

Loan against domains "What a brilliant idea" I love it. I have been using Godaddy for almost 5 years now. Dec last year, I saw what GD was charging for, that was free on Google and the complete package was way cheaper. I have already started shifting. Then I joined NamePros, now I think I was a Fool for the past 5 years. As per my thinking, GD has become big because people don't know about the other great companies.

I don't know what he said and what you said. But I will back this idea of "Loan Against Domains". I know when mergers and acquisitions take place the domain name is also valued. In this age when e-com companies are giving financial help to the consumers Then why can't this be done on the domain industry. Now rest is all Blame Game Name...

P.S- Now, I am on Epik as well., so on Porkbun

 

[Rob Monster]

Loan against domains "What a brilliant idea" I love it. I have been using Godaddy for almost 5 years now. Dec last year, I saw what GD was charging for, that was free on Google and the complete package was way cheaper. I have already started shifting. Then I joined NamePros, now I think I was a Fool for the past 5 years. As per my thinking, GD has become big because people don't know about the other great companies.

I don't know what he said and what you said. But I will back this idea of "Loan Against Domains". I know when mergers and acquisitions take place the domain name is also valued. In this age when e-com companies are giving financial help to the consumers Then why can't this be done on the domain industry. Now rest is all Blame Game Name...

P.S- Now, I am on Epik as well., so on Porkbun

Seems you found the red pill.

Uh oh.

 

[Kassey Lee]

Liquidity as a topic, service, and solution will drive the next decade of winners into the stratosphere. I see it becoming an issue during the next economic recessive period in a major way.

Spot on!

 

[frank-germany]

Loan against domains "What a brilliant idea" I love it. I have been using Godaddy for almost 5 years now. Dec last year, I saw what GD was charging for, that was free on Google and the complete package was way cheaper. I have already started shifting. Then I joined NamePros, now I think I was a Fool for the past 5 years. As per my thinking, GD has become big because people don't know about the other great companies.

I don't know what he said and what you said. But I will back this idea of "Loan Against Domains". I know when mergers and acquisitions take place the domain name is also valued. In this age when e-com companies are giving financial help to the consumers Then why can't this be done on the domain industry. Now rest is all Blame Game Name...

P.S- Now, I am on Epik as well., so on Porkbun

before you get a loan on a domain
you need to have a valuable domain n the first place

second, you need to trust the lender
to be around long enough to give you the domain back
-and treat it well meanwhile-
and third, that he will do so

 

[eyedomainous]

As Godaddy provides 'estimated values', creates 'premium domains' and boast "GoDaddy Domain Appraisals gives you the most accurate estimate available. Our exclusive algorithm combines machine learning with real-market sales data compiled from our 20 years of experience."

The question is spot on... will they put their money where their mouth is?

Perhaps a more important question, than liquidity;

Will Godaddy leverage its publicly traded status and recently relaxed VC capital / fund raising rules to drive domain development investments on its upgraded (biz) tech services platform?

Now THAT would be an industry game-changer.

 

[Shaan Chopra]

before you get a loan on a domain
you need to have a valuable domain n the first place

second, you need to trust the lender
to be around long enough to give you the domain back
-and treat it well meanwhile-
and third, that he will do so

Well, I agree with all your points this same thing is happening in the financial market.
Loan against security, you take your shares/mutual funds to a broker he value as per the market value, he gives the loan, when you payback he gives you your security back. The point of the domain security will be the TnC doc that needs to be backed by legal actions.

If a domain that is just bought today and needs a loan now that will not happen. There has be a value behind the domain.

 

[.X.]

Loan against domains "What a brilliant idea" I love it. I have been using Godaddy for almost 5 years now. Dec last year, I saw what GD was charging for, that was free on Google and the complete package was way cheaper. I have already started shifting. Then I joined NamePros, now I think I was a Fool for the past 5 years. As per my thinking, GD has become big because people don't know about the other great companies.

I don't know what he said and what you said. But I will back this idea of "Loan Against Domains". I know when mergers and acquisitions take place the domain name is also valued. In this age when e-com companies are giving financial help to the consumers Then why can't this be done on the domain industry. Now rest is all Blame Game Name...

P.S- Now, I am on Epik as well., so on Porkbun

if GD gave loans on domains based off their domain valuator, I could actually start a hustle simply taking out loans on my names

 

[Shaan Chopra]

if GD gave loans on domains based off their domain valuator, I could actually start a hustle simply taking out loans on my names

Do you trust GD valuator? I just bought a domain today for $5. You what value GD is showing
$1,394 I am so RICH ...lol

 

[Samer]

Do you trust GD valuator? I just bought a domain today for $5. You what value GD is showing
$1,394 I am so RICH ...lol

Exactly. Notice very rarely Govalue under $1K

Samer

 

[Alvin Brown]

Where's the video?
@Alvin Brown why does it stop at 36min? are you going to release part 2?
Thanks for namescon coverage, I read everything.

@Windoms - The video can be found here. The video stops at 36 minutes. There is no part 2. The additional footage has spotty inaudible audio. Hopefully, in the future, video/audio of sessions/keynotes will be professionally recorded in their entirety and available on-demand portal of some sort.

 

[BrandCollectors.com]

Hi,
i just wonder why nameScon? i think it should be NameCon without s in the middle?! What do you think?

 

[.X.]

Do you trust GD valuator? I just bought a domain today for $5. You what value GD is showing
$1,394 I am so RICH ...lol

I only trust that the valuator can show me similar names that have sold to what I am registering or own, and even at that, the valuator doesn’t tell what year the names were sold, so basically, No, it brings no insight as to money figure of what a name may be worth IMO

I can throw in pretty much any run of the mill domain name, and it is giving me a $1,200 figure, it seems to like that $1,200 and $1,300 range a lot pretty consistently

 

[DanSanchez]

@Windoms - The video can be found here. The video stops at 36 minutes. There is no part 2. The additional footage has spotty inaudible audio. Hopefully, in the future, video/audio of sessions/keynotes will be professionally recorded in their entirety and available on-demand portal of some sort.

Thank you for taking that on, it is very difficult to record at a distance for that long. I will be at Namescon 2021 with all my equipment and a second/third shooter to ensure we capture critical footage and some attendee interactions.

 

[Domain Shane]

You all are getting a taste of exactly what I said. Right in the middle of a discussion of my post about him being all about promotion and advertising , he literally puts a Big Giant Ad in his post on this thread. All since taken down. I commend Epik for what they have built. But I also heard him talk and talk about Digital Town and tell us we didn't understand what he was doing. We understood. And I understand here too. You have let him take over and divide Namepros. This place is worse off for it. PS: Please explain to me why saying the CEO of Godaddy was Indian was relevant in the post above

The original ad is here

https://imgur.com/wjNlO36

if you are interested

 

[branding]

PS: Please explain to me why saying the CEO of Godaddy was Indian was relevant in the post above

Let's not go there.

 

[Rob Monster]

You all are getting a taste of exactly what I said. Right in the middle of a discussion of my post about him being all about promotion and advertising , he literally puts a Big Giant Ad in his post on this thread. All since taken down. I commend Epik for what they have built. But I also heard him talk and talk about Digital Town and tell us we didn't understand what he was doing. We understood. And I understand here too. You have let him take over and divide Namepros. This place is worse off for it. PS: Please explain to me why saying the CEO of Godaddy was Indian was relevant in the post above

The original ad is here

https://imgur.com/wjNlO36

if you are interested

@Domain Shane

The reference to India is about empowerment -- Aman has spent time in emerging markets. In case you missed it, there are many people in India earning $100-250 per MONTH. If you give them the ability to lever up even just $100, it can be the difference between financial independence and wipe-out.

The same story plays out in Nigeria and elsewhere, but let's face it, the Indian domain industry is ahead of the other emerging markets in terms of churning out success stories. My thesis is that it can be scaled materially and that Godaddy has the balance sheet to do it in India and elsewhere.

I disagree with your assessment that I was grandstanding and think you will find plenty of rational objective people who were in attendance who would agree with me.

 

[oldtimer]

Please explain to me why saying the CEO of Godaddy was Indian was relevant in the post above

I don't see anything wrong about saying that he is Indian in the context of associating him with someone who is knowledgeable about the domain market and empowerment strategies in India, why would you think of that as being something negative.

IMO