information New Afternic & GoDaddy Commission and Pricing Structure

[Nitindomains]

Received the following mail just minutes back:-

Hello Member,

Good news! We’ve made it easier for you to list your domain in one place and reach a broader audience of buyers to increase your sales velocity and income.

How are we making things simpler?
• Reduce time spent in pending review, domains are listed immediately after passing the required integrity checks
• Reducing commissions on higher-priced sales to increase your earnings
• Lowering minimum sales price and minimum offer amounts so you can list more domains and earn more money

We’re also taking the guesswork out of promoting your domains. Domains with fast-transfer enabled are promoted through the Afternic Premium Network automatically. Domains without fast-transfer are placed in the Afternic Standard Network.

Know that you can always list a domain without fast-transfer and then enable fast-transfer later. When you do, it jumps from the Standard Network to the Premium Network, which includes 8 of the top 10 registrars, gives you the broadest reach, and exposes your domain to over 75 million monthly search queries.

We also want our fees to be simple and straightforward, so they’re now based on your domain sale price. The three commission tiers look like this:
Sale price of domain >>> Commission fees
$0-$5,000 >>> 20% ($15 minimum)
$5,000-$25,000 >>> $1,000 +15% of amount over $5k
$25,000+ >>> $4,000 + 10% of amount over $25k

To help you list and sell more domains inventory, we lowered our minimum sales prices. The buy now minimum is only $50 (versus $250), and the minimum offer amount decreases to only $20 (from $250).

These changes take place Early April new listings. In the next [3-4] weeks, we’re converting existing listings over.


In a Separate mail notifying the change in Pricing Structure @ GD Aftermarket, the mail states the following:-

Please note we're setting a minimum of $50 for Buy-It-Now Auctions and $100 for Premium listings. We're also setting a $20 minimum listing price for 7-Day Auctions and Offer/Counter-Offer domain listings.

Along with the changes to new listings moving forward, we'll be converting existing listings over to the new system over the next 3 to 4 weeks for an early April launch.

• If your domain is below the new minimum offer price, we'll bump the minimum offer up to $20 for 7-Day Auctions and Offer/Counter-Offer listings.
• If you have a Buy-It-Now Auction listing priced below $50, we'll switch it to an Offer/Counter-Offer listing with a minimum price of $20.
• If you have a domain that's listed as both a Premium Domain and a Buy-It-Now Auction, we'll consolidate it and use the higher of your two price points.

If you don't want us to change your listing prices automatically, simply update your domain pricing manually before March 31st, and it will default to the new listing rules when we roll out the new structure.

 

[carob]

@carob - If you take it into your cart. What price does it show? If it's the old price, then that is what it is being sold for.

Hi every time I put one of these in the cart (before 24 hours have elapsed after I change the listed price) it shows the old price.

What I don't know is if the transaction would go through, or if it would refuse to take the money and say the domain was no longer available, or no longer available at that price. Or if it would take payment, then say the domain was no longer available, and then refund the payment.

Just noticed, it adds 20% VAT to the price of a premium domain in the cart - but not until it is in the cart. Clicking the convenient link there (below the currency and above the ICANN fee) to change the country there to USA immediately removes the 20% VAT though.

 

[Ted.T]

Everyone is complaining here, but in the end all of us, or a majority, will continue to use Godaddy because we don't have too many other choices... It's difficult to adopt new thinks, but that's what the human race does for millions of years.

 

[Shimmy]

We may, but I know I already raised my godaddy prices up 20% , compared to the prices on my own site.

 

[Sukhvir-Singh]

Everyone is complaining here, but in the end all of us, or a majority, will continue to use Godaddy because we don't have too many other choices... It's difficult to adopt new thinks, but that's what the human race does for millions of years.

Aptly said....still not a better deal than Godaddy!

 

[tonecas]

i can only say: W T F??

the announcement email is just incompressible. the changes will take place on April, but they are moving in the next weeks.

completely insane.

and no one seems at the helm of Afternic. no answer to questions, emails. nothing. they reply to what they want, when they want. GoDaddy killed Afternic.

 

[Name Trader]

Afternic support definitely got worse these last few weeks.

 

[N-A]

We may, but I know I already raised my godaddy prices up 20% , compared to the prices on my own site.

You simply cannot raise your prices with flat rate percent of 20% without sticking it to the customer.

Say you had BIN's of $100, commission would have been $10, with you receiving $90. Now, you raise your price 20%. Your new BIN is $120, but after 20% commission, you now receive $96. In essence, raising your prices 20% is effectively making your customers pay more and getting you more money. For this example of $100, you would have to raise 12.5% to get your previous $90, even though they raised 20% (or a new BIN of $112.50).

Below are the numbers to show you the higher you go, the more you will end up charging your customers if you also go up 20%. (I know, it's tiered, just an example for the "20%" comment)

Price  Your Cut (10%) Raise 20% (New Price) Cash After Commission Difference
100    90             120                   96                    6
250    225            300                   240                   15
350    315            420                   336                   21
500    450            600                   480                   30
700    630            840                   672                   42
1000   900            1200                  960                   60
1250   1125           1500                  1200                  75
1800   1620           2160                  1728                  108
2000   1800           2400                  1920                  120
5000   4500           6000                  4800                  300
10000  9000           12000                 9600                  600
15000  13500          18000                 14400                 900
50000  45000          60000                 48000                 3000
75000  67500          90000                 72000                 4500
100000 90000          120000                96000                 6000

 

[Name Trader]

I for one, understood that David. Any comment from me about raising prices by 20% was just approximate. For me it would be slightly different calc, because before I ate the commission, but now I'm not going to eat any of the commission. So if my price is $1000, and I want to receive $1k, the calc is, $1000 = 80% therefore the price will be $1000 / 0.8 = $1250.

And before, I wasn't using BIN pricing. But should I decide to GoDaddy Premium Listings (which seems the likely choice), I have to review more closely the price I set for my thousands of domains. No more flat minimum offer price. It's going to make things much more difficult for me to manage. Thousands of domains with fixed prices. Like how often will I need to review my pricing, up or down?

 

[N-A]

I for one, understood that David. Any comment from me about raising prices by 20% was just approximate. For me it would be slightly different calc, because before I ate the commission, but now I'm not going to eat any of the commission. So if my price is $1000, and I want to receive $1k, the calc is, $1000 = 80% therefore the price will be $1000 / 0.8 = $1250.

Ok, I didn't read the whole thread to know. I just referenced someone stating that they raised their prices 20% to reflect commissions being raised to 20%. I'm sure you did your math right, as well as others, but it just came out wrong. Probably meant to say that they will raise prices to reflect the change. I was just pointing out the math associated with a flat 20% raise if commissions were changed to 20%.

Anywhoo, someone has to pay for all the GoDaddy Promo Codes.

 

[Name Trader]

@David Walker -I also added the second paragraph, whilst you were replying. Apart from the difficulties of managing a large portfolio at fixed pricing, this migration is going to swamp the GoDaddy Premium Listings. I don't think GoDaddy has thought that through, at all. The only domains potentially left on GoDaddy (regular) Auctions, will be Make Offer sales.

 

[N-A]

@David Walker -I also added the second paragraph, whilst you were replying. Apart from the difficulties of managing a large portfolio at fixed pricing, this migration is going to swamp the GoDaddy Premium Listings. I don't think GoDaddy has thought that through, at all.

Shouldn't be too hard to get new pricing for names in each tier. The only problem will be updating the prices to reflect with their UI.

If you could do it with a CSV, uploading the name and new BIN, all of this could be accomplished within mere minutes once you have the formula down.

 

[Name Trader]

The difficulty for me, is I have to sit down and decide a fair price for each and every domain, up front. As we know, we only sell a small portion of our portfolios every year. So we are going to waste a lot of time pricing domains which might never sell, and in say one year we need to review our prices, some up and some down, or the same. This is why I actually liked Make Offer pricing. You don't have to repeat the process for each and every domain, and review them each year. The price is set correctly at the response to the offer. The potential to undersell is increased with Fixed Prices. Fixed prices also crowds out you selling on other platforms.

 

[Name Trader]

And. As I have said before, GoDaddy needs to take the onus on themselves for domains which have changed hands or dropped. I can foresee a nightmare scenario where domains which are no longer owned being sold on their Premium Platform. ie: If it moves from the domain it is listed in, it is dropped from the Godaddy Auctions (for those domains registered at GoDaddy at least). If the registrant changes, it is removed from the GoDaddy Auctions (for those domains registered at other Registrars). If the domain expires, it should be removed from GoDaddy Auctions, either at expiry or 45 days after expiry. Not perfect, but much better than the current system.

If the domains need to be at GoDaddy for Premium Auctions, I shall not be listing my domains on Premium Auctions. If it's ok they are part of the Afternic System, I will.

 

[Shimmy]

I actually did raise my prices 20%. I obviously know the math, but for me the point is not to just go along with their greed. Before I just ate the 10% fee and was okay with it, it was fair. That is no longer the case. Now customers will be able to see the price is 20% lower if they visit one of my domains. I know I would get more money by raising my prices 20% if I had sales, but I don't expect sales through Godaddy because I raised my prices 20%. And good. Maybe if they get less revenue after their price change, they will revert.

 

[tonecas]

yes, the way to go is have you own sales page and don't leave money on the table for all these greedy bastards.

the service all theses guys give, SEDO, GoDaddy, etc, is not value 20% commission, not even 10%. they bring 0 value. the guys that make all transparent to you and go the extra mile are at DomainNameSales and 4.cn. Fair commissions for good service.

However, GoDaddy and SEDO have a sales channel funneled to clients when they try to register a domain that we have. this is where the only value is because many times buyers see the domain as unavailable and do not even visit the website and see that the domain is for sale. But in no way this is valued at 20%.

Another problem with this is that sellers are now obliged to raise their BINs and this can move the price above the sweet spot. A buyer can walk away if it sees that 10% extra above what he thinks is fair and not even contact the seller to negotiate the price. So, listing domains with these greedy bastards is not innocuous.

 

[tonecas]

another thing. Afternic is denying access to the information on which partner a domain sold. This is ludicrous. They say is confidential information. I say it's BS. They can sell a domain in their site with no third party involved and bill me with 20% commission.

 

[Name Trader]

The probability is quite high that it will be from GoDaddy.

 

[Joe Styler]

Shouldn't be too hard to get new pricing for names in each tier. The only problem will be updating the prices to reflect with their UI.

If you could do it with a CSV, uploading the name and new BIN, all of this could be accomplished within mere minutes once you have the formula down.

We do have a spreadsheet option for updating premium domain name pricing in bulk. This is available through your account rep (if you have a large amount of domains you likely have one already assigned to you). If you do not have an account rep and have enough names that updating in bulk via a spreadsheet upload makes sense reach out to me and I will have someone contact you with the spreadsheet you need and assist you in updating the pricing.
I know our bulk tools can use some work we are working on them. I also took notes on each suggestion from this thread and will look into getting some of them implemented for the community here who use our products. Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[newbie191]

Have they implemented the new fee structure? The fees look the same. Correct me if I am missing something.

Annual Membership: $4.99

Seller Fees: 10% ($5 minimum)

Buyer Fee: None*

Basic Listing: Free!

 

[Joe Styler]

Have they implemented the new fee structure? The fees look the same. Correct me if I am missing something.

The fees are changing in the next week or so on GoDaddy. The email we sent was to give everyone time to get ready for the change and adjust pricing etc to be ready to minimize impact on your portfolio.