discuss My take on brandable marketplaces and why it spells ”Au revoir”

[trelgor]

Hey!

I’m a brandable domainer. I have been at it for years and I have amassed a sizeable portfolio. I am successful. I also love what I do. ”Brandable domainer” to me means that I value names based on their gravitas as a prospective brand. The quality of the name is not derived from past or current usage or readily quantifiable stats, but from a human evaluation of it’s overall applicabilities in form and function.

The question that has been silently fraying my sanity is to what extent this success is derived from my work and to what extent it is related to the connection to buyer crowds that frequent the brandable marketplaces I use. It is a question I have seen posed many times in different forms. The brandable marketplaces themselves mostly dodge it.

I am sure that the boutique modus gets frequent buyers that are captivated by their descriptions and logos. The creative representation of a brand prospect creates a boost of appeal that could mean the difference between sale or not. So the occasional sale is most likely secured on those merits. Browsing or searching the well known site and finding a match that conceptually connects to the venture...

But it is not the occasional sale that suffers the 30%+ commission structure. It is all of them.

Afternic for example charges 20% flat. That is also a lot, but they do offer a connection to an amazing buyer pool through their network. They also do not demand exclusivity. With say Afternic, Sedo, etcetera, You can still have a sweet and individualized lander with a more forgiving commission somewhere else, if you want a logo and a description it might cost you $10 per name. This time as a clean investment that is 100% towards your own success.

Here are the bulletpoints for my decision.

• Name selection. You are not subject to a review process other than your own. For good or for bad.
• Pricing. You don’t need to consider ”accepting” a price that feels wrong.
• Information. You are investing in knowledge about your buyers considerations and in their future business needs.
• Exclusivity. You are free to work with a plethora of sales services.
• Ease of management. You are in charge. You are less likely to not respond in time or to ignore - yourself.
• Learning. You can use the information you harvest to evolve.
• Commissions. Even though you may miss out on the occasional brandable marketplace sale, your commission percentages will be lower.
• Marketing. You would not be setting a marketing budget aside when you pay 30% commissions. You would actually expect that percentage to pay for serious marketing.

My opinion about the brandable marketplaces is that they increasingly find themselves in a downward spiral. They inherently cater first to more or less lottery tickets that get a minor boost by a professional presentation. It is a setup where the house almost always wins, but where the workload from submissions makes those wins increasingly hard earned for the marketplaces.

I think a strategy to tackle this has been to actively recruit more premium names from older portfolios. But the holders of those are not even remotely as ”loyal” as the non-premium type variety, as they are not invested in the marketplace. Sometimes noob loyalty is even promoted by 1% outlaw biker vernacular!

I think that the inability to cater to the portfolio holders that have passed the initial stage of actually selling a couple of names and are in a steady growth mode is something to consider. That is where focus should be. It is regretfully not.

I hope for a fruitful discussion that could fast-track an evolution that builds on two very underestimated facts. The important end user buyers of aftermarket domains are businesses. Businesses want business names. Those two facts in turn pose two critical questions. What is a business name? (I’m definitely not talking about ”JohnsAutoRepairLouisiana”), and how should marketplaces connect fledgling businesses with these names?

It is safe to say that this process today is undeveloped, fragmented, convoluted and inefficient on both buyer and seller end. You can simplify transactions all day long, but if you don’t simplify the process of finding a prospect domain in the first place, you will not have a bigger pie.

A bigger pie should be a priority for any industry.

I invite all leading brandable marketplaces (and every domain sales platform worth the name) to comment on these sentiments. I will interpret no input as a bit offensive as your partnership with me has been lucrative. I would also interpret it as the unability to grab a marketing opportunity. (Abide by NP:s rules though).

2020!

@DAN.COM @Joe Styler @margotb @Jowita Emberton @GrantP @Rob Monster @DomainAgents @Uniregistry

(To the inevitable questions about my sales numbers I will only say that I have made hundreds of end user type sales and that yearly sales are in the 6 digits and growing. My portfolio size is 5k. I currently do not actively list new acquisitions with brandable marketplaces.)

 

[Haykay2005]

Good points there, but I believe a brandable marketplace if run efficiently without favoritism will increase your chance of selling your names. The commission might be much but to me it's worth it

 

[trelgor]

I don't know what you mean by "favoritism".

 

[capybara]

I don't know what you mean by "favoritism".

Having made a statement like that, do you really qualify to discuss the brandable industry problems?

 

[Rob Monster]

Hey!

I’m a brandable domainer. I have been at it for years and I have amassed a sizeable portfolio. I am successful. I also love what I do. ”Brandable domainer” to me means that I value names based on their gravitas as a prospective brand. The quality of the name is not derived from past or current usage or readily quantifiable stats, but from a human evaluation of it’s overall applicabilities in form and function.

The question that has been silently fraying my sanity is to what extent this success is derived from my work and to what extent it is related to the connection to buyer crowds that frequent the brandable marketplaces I use. It is a question I have seen posed many times in different forms. The brandable marketplaces themselves mostly dodge it.

I am sure that the boutique modus gets frequent buyers that are captivated by their descriptions and logos. The creative representation of a brand prospect creates a boost of appeal that could mean the difference between sale or not. So the occasional sale is most likely secured on those merits. Browsing or searching the well known site and finding a match that conceptually connects to the venture...

But it is not the occasional sale that suffers the 30%+ commission structure. It is all of them.

Afternic for example charges 20% flat. That is also a lot, but they do offer a connection to an amazing buyer pool through their network. They also do not demand exclusivity. With say Afternic, Sedo, etcetera, You can still have a sweet and individualized lander with a more forgiving commission somewhere else, if you want a logo and a description it might cost you $10 per name. This time as a clean investment that is 100% towards your own success.

Here are the bulletpoints for my decision.

• Name selection. You are not subject to a review process other than your own. For good or for bad.
• Pricing. You don’t need to consider ”accepting” a price that feels wrong.
• Information. You are investing in knowledge about your buyers considerations and in their future business needs.
• Exclusivity. You are free to work with a plethora of sales services.
• Ease of management. You are in charge. You are less likely to not respond in time or to ignore - yourself.
• Learning. You can use the information you harvest to evolve.
• Commissions. Even though you may miss out on the occasional brandable marketplace sale, your commission percentages will be lower.
• Marketing. You would not be setting a marketing budget aside when you pay 30% commissions. You would actually expect that percentage to pay for serious marketing.

My opinion about the brandable marketplaces is that they increasingly find themselves in a downward spiral. They inherently cater first to more or less lottery tickets that get a minor boost by a professional presentation. It is a setup where the house almost always wins, but where the workload from submissions makes those wins increasingly hard earned for the marketplaces.

I think a strategy to tackle this has been to actively recruit more premium names from older portfolios. But the holders of those are not even remotely as ”loyal” as the non-premium type variety, as they are not invested in the marketplace. Sometimes noob loyalty is even promoted by 1% outlaw biker vernacular!

I think that the inability to cater to the portfolio holders that have passed the initial stage of actually selling a couple of names and are in a steady growth mode is something to consider. That is where focus should be. It is regretfully not.

I hope for a fruitful discussion that could fast-track an evolution that builds on two very underestimated facts. The important end user buyers of aftermarket domains are businesses. Businesses want business names. Those two facts in turn pose two critical questions. What is a business name? (I’m definitely not talking about ”JohnsAutoRepairLouisiana”), and how should marketplaces connect fledgling businesses with these names?

It is safe to say that this process today is undeveloped, fragmented, convoluted and inefficient on both buyer and seller end. You can simplify transactions all day long, but if you don’t simplify the process of finding a prospect domain in the first place, you will not have a bigger pie.

A bigger pie should be a priority for any industry.

I invite all leading brandable marketplaces (and every domain sales platform worth the name) to comment on these sentiments. I will interpret no input as a bit offensive as your partnership with me has been lucrative. I would also interpret it as the unability to grab a marketing opportunity. (Abide by NP:s rules though).

2020!

@DAN.COM @Joe Styler @margotb @Jowita Emberton @GrantP @Rob Monster @DomainAgents @Uniregistry

(To the inevitable questions about my sales numbers I will only say that I have made hundreds of end user type sales and that yearly sales are in the 6 digits and growing. My portfolio size is 5k. I currently do not actively list new acquisitions with brandable marketplaces.)

Very thoughtful commentary here @trelgor -- well done!

When it comes to selling brandables, it is more art than science and more heart than mind. To carry the art analogy further, we have masterpieces being sold alongside cheap reproductions.

When it comes to brands, they are essentially a promise embodied in a physical form. The brand eventually develops personality based on the public's relationship with that brand.

A uniquely ownable brand identity that is wrapped in a narrative is an enormous strategic asset. That is why we paid more for Toki.com than we budgeted. The goal is to build something worthy there.

As for selling brandables, I see this market evolving in 2 directions:

1. Stand-alone landing pages will feature just one brand. Domain owners avoid commoditization when they monetize their own inquiries. That is the essence of what the "Shoot the moon" strategy is about:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/yall-wanna-shoot-the-moon.1162085/

2. Digital marketplaces will combine many elements of a Digital brand including domain name, social handles, trademarks, logo and even a functional site. That is what this search is about:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/he...he-ultimate-digital-brand-marketplace.1167901

That said, there is no sign of a peak yet for these main brandable marketplaces:

Squadhelp

BrandBucket

BrandPa

That said, I think they will all peak in 2020 for reasons mentioned above plus the economic model and lack of transparency on the brand selection process will make these models a lot less attractive to sellers compared to what I believe will be compelling alternatives.

Nevertheless, let's acknowledge that brandables, notably in .COM, have shown tremendous capacity for asymmetric return and should continue to do very well for those with a good to spot them and enough patience to wait for someone else with money to agree with you!

 

[trelgor]

Having made a statement like that, do you really qualify to discuss the brandable industry problems?

I like to know what we are talking about. It's an annoying habit, I know.

 

[BrandPlease]

OK, imagine you are on the show SharkTank & you are presenting your product - your product happens to be domain names instead of widgets.

The goal of anyone (on that show) offering a product is to get it listed in a "big box store" - & pay attention to the CUT of the profit the seller split.

It's not a perfect analogy - but we have to stop thinking of our "products" as so abstract and will sell on their own - most wont - the top 1% will sell on their own. Most - dare say 99% dont have those 1%.

A little perspective -& domainers don't really have it so bad in the scheme of other businesses. Look at what CC sales do to retail, outrageous fees

 

[trelgor]

OK, imagine you are on the show SharkTank & you are presenting your product - your product happens to be domain names instead of widgets.

The goal of anyone (on that show) offering a product is to get it listed in a "big box store" - & pay attention to the CUT of the profit the seller split.

It's not a perfect analogy - but we have to stop thinking of our "products" as so abstract and will sell on their own - most wont - the top 1% will sell on their own. Most - dare say 99% dont have those 1%.

A little perspective -& domainers don't really have it so bad in the scheme of other businesses. Look at what CC sales do to retail, outrageous fees

Domains are unique assets that under unique circumstances can sell to a unique buyer. That don’t change too much with listing place.

 

[BrandPlease]

Absolutely agreed - but that is where your own skill and effort come in. Getting your name listed on "the big box store" isn't about maximizing profit per sale (per say) its about maximizing profit through volume of sales & access to customers who you wouldn't have found (or other way around).

It's 2 options to seriously consider - as a sales/biz direction - for that individual/business & finance goals/needs.

Domains are unique assets that under unique circumstances can sell to a unique buyer. That don’t change too much with listing place.

Great discussion - thanks for getting this one going @trelgor

 

[capybara]

I like to know what we are talking about. It's an annoying habit, I know.

There are people liked very differently by different marketplaces. And anticipating something like "if your names rarely get approved, they are not good enough", which is a favorite defensive line of every single marketplace, these people disliked by one marketplace list and sell successfully on another or even without a marketplace, which proves they are good with brandable names in general.

And at the same time you can see people in favor getting so many approvals they wholesale tons of their approved names at NP all the time. You can see marketplaces listing made-up names in alternate extensions when matching .com is taken and this made-up word is trademarked all over, and at the same time ok single dictionary words in these extensions won't get approval. Etc.

If you don't (didn't) know any of this, you might be in the favored group of brandable marketplace sellers too, and thus pretty much blind to the bigger picture.

 

[trelgor]

Absolutely agreed - but that is where your own skill and effort come in. Getting your name listed on "the big box store" isn't about maximizing profit per sale (per say) its about maximizing profit through volume of sales & access to customers who you wouldn't have found (or other way around).

It's 2 options to seriously consider - as a sales/biz direction - for that individual/business & finance goals/needs.



Great discussion - thanks for getting this one going @trelgor

Sure. I guess my position is questioning whether the percentage of sales enabled by access to ”unique buyers” create a total in-pocket value greater than the total in-pocket value for a setup with a brandable lander + legacy marketplaces.

 

[Sutruk]

In my opinion, brandable marketplaces are just useful for domains like duflsdfresfpfd.com that would not be found by nobody otherwise.

I mean, really, paying a commission of 30%... I repeat, 30%... AND even more funny, they want to be listed ONLY on their marketplace. I mean, really guys?

In my opinion, 20% already passes the limit, but ok Afternic has a wide net of registrars (Godaddy mainly) where your domain will appear.

But.. paying 30% FOR SENDING THEM YOUR TRAFFIC?

And what about the buyer that goes to your landing, looking for your domain, but ends purchasing another domain at their marketplace.

You bring the buyer to them and lost it in the same way, very nice.

Anyway this is just MY opinion and everyone is free to do what they want with their assets, of course.

 

[trelgor]

In my opinion, brandable marketplaces are just useful for domains like duflsdfresfpfd.com that would not be found by nobody otherwise.

I mean, really, paying a commission of 30%... I repeat, 30%... AND even more funny, they want to be listed ONLY on their marketplace. I mean, really guys?

In my opinion, 20% already passes the limit, but ok Afternic has a wide net of registrars (Godaddy mainly) where your domain will appear.

But.. paying 30% FOR SENDING THEM YOUR TRAFFIC?

And what about the buyer that goes to your landing, looking for your domain, but ends purchasing another domain at their marketplace.

You bring the buyer to them and lost it in the same way, very nice.

Anyway this is just MY opinion and everyone is free to do what they want with their assets, of course.

I am not questioning their merit, only how big it is.

 

[Haykay2005]

In my opinion, brandable marketplaces are just useful for domains like duflsdfresfpfd.com that would not be found by nobody otherwise.

I mean, really, paying a commission of 30%... I repeat, 30%... AND even more funny, they want to be listed ONLY on their marketplace. I mean, really guys?

In my opinion, 20% already passes the limit, but ok Afternic has a wide net of registrars (Godaddy mainly) where your domain will appear.

But.. paying 30% FOR SENDING THEM YOUR TRAFFIC?

And what about the buyer that goes to your landing, looking for your domain, but ends purchasing another domain at their marketplace.

You bring the buyer to them and lost it in the same way, very nice.

Anyway this is just MY opinion and everyone is free to do what they want with their assets, of course.

That's a good point but it can go either way, i.e another seller's traffic can end up buying your name

 

[Sutruk]

I am not questioning their merit, only how big it is.

I am not questioning nothing, I am just giving my opinion about the matter

 

[Sutruk]

That's a good point but it can go either way, i.e another seller's traffic can end up buying your name

Yes, its true. If you think it can benefit you, then it's ok.

 

[GrantP]

Thanks for tagging me @trelgor. You raise some interesting points. I will try to address this post from SH perspective.

In our experience, most businesses are looking for a great brand name first (they don't typically start with a domain name). We speak to thousands of customers as part of our branding consultations and most of them tell us that they want to build a great, memorable brand first. Of course, a matching domain name (ideally in .com) is a preference - but that is typically a secondary requirement.

It is a subtle distinction (brand name vs domain name), but it has some direct implications for domainers. Instead of selling domain names, it is important to think about how to package your domain as a brand.

We also find that many customers seek a modern, unique name that helps them stand out from the competitors. This has some implications as well. This typically means that the brand doesn't necessary need to include keywords related to the industry (in fact, to the contrary). Great brand names can be metaphors, or may evoke an emotion or feeling that resonates with the brand's promise.

This leads to the most important challenge in selling brandables - Discovery. Unless your domain name is a keyword rich domain, it becomes harder for end users to discover. This can especially be an issue when the domain is listed for sale in an uncurated marketplace with millions of other options. The customers must know precisely what to look for while searching for the domain name. Often times, this makes it harder to discover great brand names that do not include the keywords the customers may be searching for.

A benefit of curated marketplaces (it applies to all brandable marketplaces, not just SH) is that there is a pre-selection and curation to allow better discovery and buyer fatigue. If a buyer has to scroll through thousands of uncurated options, it is more likely they will get overwhelmed and miss out on the gems that are hidden in that sea of options.

However does the effort involved in curation and designing a logo alone justify the 30-35% commission? Absolutely not. We believe, it comes down to the level of investment being made in bringing potential end users. It is surprising to find that a large number of end users do not even know that after-market domain marketplaces even exist. Many of them start their search in Google, looking for a great brand name for their industry.

When it comes to Marketing investment, we believe there are four levels of investments that can be made by a marketplace:

1. Organic SEO (requires ongoing investment but can deliver long term results)
2. Retargeting (Requires low-moderate investment but can bring back the buyers who have already expressed interest in the brand)
3. Google Paid Search (Requires significantly higher investment, depending upon how many keywords are being targeted for paid ads)
4. Display Marketing (Highest level of investment because you are typically reaching prospective end users who haven't yet show an intent to buy a name)

Different Marketplaces make investments in some or all of the above categories. Some only rely on type in Traffic (no marketing investment). Others may have a decent SEO presence but very limited paid marketing.

At SH, we have built a set of highly extensive marketing campaigns that target thousands of keywords in Google and reaches entrepreneurs and brand managers via channels like Facebook, Twitter and google display. In addition, our organic SEO covers almost all industries that you can think of. For example, if you search for keywords like "clothing brand names" or "marketing brand name ideas", you will find SH in the top 3 organic search results in most industries. This is the reason, we are now getting over one million visitors per month.

However ultimately none of this matters if you are not able to sell more domain names than other alternatives. If you are able to achieve similar or better sell through rate on your domains via other alternatives, then it is prudent to list your domains at that platform which offers the lowest commission. Infact, even at SH, our basic listing commissions are only 7.5% - so if the domain is strong and keyword rich that it can attract type in traffic on it's own, one strategy could be to list it as a Basic listing. Of course you can also use your own lander or consider other alternatives.

Yes, there are certainly some restrictions when it comes to exclusivity and pricing flexibility. We do believe sellers should have more flexibility on pricing, which is why we recently announced that sellers can increase their selling price for upto 2X of originally approved price without needing any approval.

Regarding exclusivity, we are working on some syndication options that we will announce in the near future.

On the Discovery front, we have been making significant investment in combining the power of AI with the crowdsourced contest submissions. We have seen some very promising results from our AI based visual domain name search that allows buyers to discover great brand names after telling us their brand preferences. We plan to make further platform updates in this area in the near future.

The good news is that in 2020, there are lot more options and platforms for domainers than ever before. There will always be a Trade-off between sell through rate and commission % - and there is no single answer that can work for all domainers. Ultimately, we believe you should pick a platform (or a combination of platforms) that allow you to maximize your net returns (in aggregate, after accounting for all commissions).

 

[BrandPlease]

I suspect the answer for many , at least for me, is the marketplaces make up for my personal shortcomings in terms of sales.

I have been in sales my entire life, but never liked being the outbound sales type. I settled into a sales engineer role for over 20 yrs, constantly selling, writing, documenting, researching & preparing the sales people.

But I don't like cold call, but I do it or I have to go back to work for someone else.

If I was a dedicated outbounder & good at it - 100% better business off market, list yourself, promote yourself, drive your own traffic, etc..

For me personally - I had prob 10 -12 sales on BB & SH this yr, 4 on Afternic, - 2 outbound sales (again, very little put in OB, my shortcoming).

So, yes, for me they (the Marketplaces) kept my business profitable, & allowed me to focus on building & dev.

There is also a degree of liquid security that comes with those listing, check the NP domain requests. You could move some name quick, if your were in a financial pinch, when they are "appraised" by a perceived value expert/entity (e.g.not you -haha - but the marketplace).

 

[trelgor]

There are people liked very differently by different marketplaces. And anticipating something like "if your names rarely get approved, they are not good enough", which is a favorite defensive line of every single marketplace, these people disliked by one marketplace list and sell successfully on another or even without a marketplace, which proves they are good with brandable names in general.

And at the same time you can see people in favor getting so many approvals they wholesale tons of their approved names at NP all the time. You can see marketplaces listing made-up names in alternate extensions when matching .com is taken and this made-up word is trademarked all over, and at the same time ok single dictionary words in these extensions won't get approval. Etc.

If you don't (didn't) know any of this, you might be in the favored group of brandable marketplace sellers too, and thus pretty much blind to the bigger picture.

I hesitate to respond to this one, because every time I hear an argument that describes some kind of rigged elite system designed to crush the 99% I hear alarms go off in a distance. It is often a very convenient loincloth.

I have no opinion on the subject. Even if what you said was true I would not devote effort wallowing in it. To my bigger picture it is irrelevant. Please accept that.

 

[trelgor]

Thanks for tagging me @trelgor. You raise some interesting points. I will try to address this post from SH perspective.

In our experience, most businesses are looking for a great brand name first (they don't typically start with a domain name). We speak to thousands of customers as part of our branding consultations and most of them tell us that they want to build a great, memorable brand first. Of course, a matching domain name (ideally in .com) is a preference - but that is typically a secondary requirement.

It is a subtle distinction (brand name vs domain name), but it has some direct implications for domainers. Instead of selling domain names, it is important to think about how to package your domain as a brand.

We also find that many customers seek a modern, unique name that helps them stand out from the competitors. This has some implications as well. This typically means that the brand doesn't necessary need to include keywords related to the industry (in fact, to the contrary). Great brand names can be metaphors, or may evoke an emotion or feeling that resonates with the brand's promise.

This leads to the most important challenge in selling brandables - Discovery. Unless your domain name is a keyword rich domain, it becomes harder for end users to discover. This can especially be an issue when the domain is listed for sale in an uncurated marketplace with millions of other options. The customers must know precisely what to look for while searching for the domain name. Often times, this makes it harder to discover great brand names that do not include the keywords the customers may be searching for.

A benefit of curated marketplaces (it applies to all brandable marketplaces, not just SH) is that there is a pre-selection and curation to allow better discovery and buyer fatigue. If a buyer has to scroll through thousands of uncurated options, it is more likely they will get overwhelmed and miss out on the gems that are hidden in that sea of options.

However does the effort involved in curation and designing a logo alone justify the 30-35% commission? Absolutely not. We believe, it comes down to the level of investment being made in bringing potential end users. It is surprising to find that a large number of end users do not even know that after-market domain marketplaces even exist. Many of them start their search in Google, looking for a great brand name for their industry.

When it comes to Marketing investment, we believe there are four levels of investments that can be made by a marketplace:

1. Organic SEO (requires ongoing investment but can deliver long term results)
2. Retargeting (Requires low-moderate investment but can bring back the buyers who have already expressed interest in the brand)
3. Google Paid Search (Requires significantly higher investment, depending upon how many keywords are being targeted for paid ads)
4. Display Marketing (Highest level of investment because you are typically reaching prospective end users who haven't yet show an intent to buy a name)

Different Marketplaces make investments in some or all of the above categories. Some only rely on type in Traffic (no marketing investment). Others may have a decent SEO presence but very limited paid marketing.

At SH, we have built a set of highly extensive marketing campaigns that target thousands of keywords in Google and reaches entrepreneurs and brand managers via channels like Facebook, Twitter and google display. In addition, our organic SEO covers almost all industries that you can think of. For example, if you search for keywords like "clothing brand names" or "marketing brand name ideas", you will find SH in the top 3 organic search results in most industries. This is the reason, we are now getting over one million visitors per month.

However ultimately none of this matters if you are not able to sell more domain names than other alternatives. If you are able to achieve similar or better sell through rate on your domains via other alternatives, then it is prudent to list your domains at that platform which offers the lowest commission. Infact, even at SH, our basic listing commissions are only 7.5% - so if the domain is strong and keyword rich that it can attract type in traffic on it's own, one strategy could be to list it as a Basic listing. Of course you can also use your own lander or consider other alternatives.

Yes, there are certainly some restrictions when it comes to exclusivity and pricing flexibility. We do believe sellers should have more flexibility on pricing, which is why we recently announced that sellers can increase their selling price for upto 2X of originally approved price without needing any approval.

Regarding exclusivity, we are working on some syndication options that we will announce in the near future.

On the Discovery front, we have been making significant investment in combining the power of AI with the crowdsourced contest submissions. We have seen some very promising results from our AI based visual domain name search that allows buyers to discover great brand names after telling us their brand preferences. We plan to make further platform updates in this area in the near future.

The good news is that in 2020, there are lot more options and platforms for domainers than ever before. There will always be a Trade-off between sell through rate and commission % - and there is no single answer that can work for all domainers. Ultimately, we believe you should pick a platform (or a combination of platforms) that allow you to maximize your net returns (in aggregate, after accounting for all commissions).

Thanks for being open and communicative.

What you say about businesses willingly excluding the domain name in branding decisions is to me a big argument for setting all your domain names to make offer. 5 years down the road, countless $ on marketing later, the penny will drop.

I agree that discovery is crucial. I also agree that the potential for sales would be staggering if demand could meet supply in a more sophisticated way. I don’t agree that the solution is a couple of marketplaces that preselect their inventory.

The solution would be technology that let’s businesses find targeted options on the market anywhere in the blink of an eye.

That would be the holy grail, and I think also, inevitable.

 

[BrandPlease]

But that would make the industry a completely Brandless way of finding a Brand.

Keep in mind the power of a Brand - people buy from Brands they trust, spent big $ on brands they trust, Look to the Brands they trust for direction and advice.

Look at Amazon - many people (worldwide) perceive them as the holy grail of the best retail price....But, that isn't true.

So, realistically it's the next "market place" that can brand them selves as the one stop place to brand.

Competition - worldwide - will never allow a singular market, with some kind over management?

 

[trelgor]

But that would make the industry a completely Brandless way of finding a Brand.

Keep in mind the power of a Brand - people buy from Brands they trust, spent big $ on brands they trust, Look to the Brands they trust for direction and advice.

Look at Amazon - many people (worldwide) perceive them as the holy grail of the best retail price....But, that isn't true.

So, realistically it's the next "market place" that can brand them selves as the one stop place to brand.

Competition - worldwide - will never allow a singular market, with some kind over management?

Is Google brandless? For example.

 

[Ostrados]

@trelgor thanks for bringing up this topic into discussion..

The main answer to your questions is another question that needs an answer:
Why do you think the second route (no exclusivity, lower commission) is better option for you? Can you justify such decision based on financial projection?

When you evaluate a business model you do that based on some metrics like ROI, paying higher commission at higher sell through rate (STR) may give higher ROI than paying lower commission at lower STR. You can evaluate your situation, calculate expected sales if you switch to non-brandable marketplaces (Afternic, Sedo..etc) you can use the theoretical typical STR of 1%-2%, then find if it will be more profitable for you.

Also if you have 5k domains then you have enough number of donains to do split experiment with accurate statistical results, so you can split them and keep 2.5k at brandable marketplaces and move 2.5k to other marketplaces (Sedo, Afternic, Sedo). Run this experiment for 6 months at least then make decision.

 

[trelgor]

Thanks for the question. I have exclusivity on 2/3 but it’s looking promising for the other 1/3. Also, if given the choice between two equal options in terms of revenue, the one that allows for more freedom and data would be the natural choice.

 

[DomainBanana]

"Downward spiral" for brandable marketplaces seems like an unfairly harsh judgement that's probably not supported by numbers. I think these marketplaces will be solid pillars of the industry for the foreseeable future.

This doesn't mean they're right for everyone.

A chief advantage of these marketplaces is that they allow for passive selling. You submit the name, agree to a commission, and let the marketplace attract the buyer and close the deal. The exception here might be SH, who asks sellers to do a great deal of work, adds in a ton of marketing upsells, and charges the highest commission rate in the industry (I recognize they generate a great deal of sales, too).

A second advantage is that, by curating names, the marketplaces can serve as training wheels for new sellers who are learning how to sell brandables.

Given the size of your inventory and established success, you've probably transcended the need for brandable marketplaces and can stand on your own. More marketing effort on your part but with your scale and expertise it's probably the best option.

Transitioning a little at a time, as you're doing, is smart.