discuss No Domain Sales For A While

[lknights1987]

Last year with a portfolio of 500 domain names I sold 5 domain names priced at
$2888 , $2500 , $265 , $120 & $999 with my last sale in July 2022

The year before that I sold 7 domain names each sale was for $265

All sales were from Afternic apart from the highest sale $2888 which was on Dan.

I believe my domains are decent but with no sales what should I do? Reduce prices? Try another lander?

( I'm currently using Afternic NS3/NS4 landers )

 

[411domains]

I think that with ns3 ns4 you have three things that cause a stalled or confused status.

1. If you have a domain that was once a business, or it is an exact match name for something, many people that show up will just fill out the form, they don't read, they don't think, they just fill the form out.

2. Bots. If those landers had real bot protection, you will have a lot less entries on these forms.

3. Price shock but the buyer doesn't tell you. Ns3/4 has no price or even price range. I am not saying this should change, however, some people think that they could buy shoes .com for 500 bucks using a 6 year payment plan.

HD has great landers. It educate buyers, gives a price, shows testimonials, it really is a great lander. I do see some HD domains with only a contact form, I guess for names they didn't price yet or they prefer talking to the buyer.

Oh, I know there are many things that can cause confusion or stalled leads. This isn't about about sticker shock or confused buyers. It's about auto-stall leads where the lead is closed out within a few minutes without a single call being made or email sent.

If you know your portfolio, you know which domains are hit the most with spam/bots.

If you know brokers, you know they're not that not that quick.

From my portfolio alone, there were two brokers who were assigned 26 of the 100+ leads.
Every single lead assigned to them was auto-stalled within minutes, while the rest of the leads assigned to the other brokers had follow-ups, calls logged, etc.

I've already made the necessary changes to protect my investments. This was just word of advice for others using the landers. (If they're going to kill your leads, you're better off fielding them yourself.)

I agree with you about HD landers. They've always had great landers.

 

[WillW]

however,
if you list on goodaddy/afternic, they will "put" their appraisal value for your name, somewhere on the page.

Are you talking about landing pages, GD search, or something else?

I thought the appraisal value was only viewable under their appraisal section or if the listing price is lower than the estimated GD appraisal value.

 

[biggie]

Are you talking about landing pages, GD search, or something else?

I thought the appraisal value was only viewable under their appraisal section or if the listing price is lower than the estimated GD appraisal value.

Hi

inside your gd account, go to control panel and click on settings for any domain listed.

there you will see expiry date and below that is GD appraisal.

imo...

 

[lknights1987]

Hi

inside your gd account, go to control panel and click on settings for any domain listed.

there you will see expiry date and below that is GD appraisal.

imo...

Only we as the seller can see this. The only way the buyer can know about the GoDaddy appraisal is if they go to the GoDaddy appraisal page or the broker tells them.

 

[lknights1987]

Oh, I know there are many things that can cause confusion or stalled leads. This isn't about about sticker shock or confused buyers. It's about auto-stall leads where the lead is closed out within a few minutes without a single call being made or email sent.

If you know your portfolio, you know which domains are hit the most with spam/bots.

If you know brokers, you know they're not that not that quick.

From my portfolio alone, there were two brokers who were assigned 26 of the 100+ leads.
Every single lead assigned to them was auto-stalled within minutes, while the rest of the leads assigned to the other brokers had follow-ups, calls logged, etc.

I've already made the necessary changes to protect my investments. This was just word of advice for others using the landers. (If they're going to kill your leads, you're better off fielding them yourself.)

I agree with you about HD landers. They've always had great landers.

The ones that auto stalled were they priced low or high?

 

[biggie]

Only we as the seller can see this. The only way the buyer can know about the GoDaddy appraisal is if they go to the GoDaddy appraisal page or the broker tells them.

Hi

the point was, that it was there for you to see.

once you see it, then the pondering begins.
this is particularly true for those who don't have an idea of what their names are worth.

still, any potential buyer can see "estimated value" for domains listed in gd auctions as well.
and those estimations are tied to gd appraisal algorithm.

it's not outside of the realm of "common sense" that a random searcher will connect the dots.

imo...

 

[magnificentdomains]

I'm curious if you are underpricing your domains... Could you list some domains at random that you sold for <$500?

 

[411domains]

The ones that auto stalled were they priced low or high?

I guess that depends entirely upon what your definition of low and high is.
It was a mix. (2K to 50K)

 

[lknights1987]

I guess that depends entirely upon what your definition of low and high is.
It was a mix. (2K to 50K)

Is 50k your highest priced domains?

Only asking because one thing I’m noticing is when a lead comes in for one of my low priced domains within a few minutes to a few hours the status changes to stalled or confused.

I had 1 lead come through for a high priced domain the other day. That domain name is still sitting in the qualifying status ( broker has sent 3 emails and called twice). So are brokers only interested in working on the high priced domains and the rest can be forgotten about ?

 

[Dane]

So are brokers only interested in working on the high priced domains and the rest can be forgotten about ?

Good point / question.

 

[phaethon]

Good point / question.

I don't think the brokers kill leads, they probably have loads of leads to work with and prioritize, and there are definitely many time wasters that expect to buy a premium domain for peanuts.
A serious buyer will always find the way to buy a decent domain.
I think the contact with Afternic over the phone is crucial and the anticipation process is helpful.
Lastly, it has been said here multiple times that most sales come through the AN network or from GoDaddy and not from the nameservers though.

 

[lknights1987]

What needs to happen is a verification process in place before we see a lead generated on our end.

A simple verification email sent to the lead, which they have to confirm, and then once they've done that, the lead center broker can contact them.

This should save the broker from going through thousands of leads which could turn out to be a load of spam/bots.

Can this be looked at @James Iles

 

[411domains]

Is 50k your highest priced domains?

My prices range from the low 4 figs to mid 6 figs. Nothing crazy.

Only asking because one thing I’m noticing is when a lead comes in for one of my low priced domains within a few minutes to a few hours the status changes to stalled or confused.

I had 1 lead come through for a high priced domain the other day. That domain name is still sitting in the qualifying status ( broker has sent 3 emails and called twice). So are brokers only interested in working on the high priced domains and the rest can be forgotten about ?

I can't speak for the brokers, but I imagine most of them enjoy making money.

 

[James Iles]

What needs to happen is a verification process in place before we see a lead generated on our end.

A simple verification email sent to the lead, which they have to confirm, and then once they've done that, the lead center broker can contact them.

This should save the broker from going through thousands of leads which could turn out to be a load of spam/bots.

Can this be looked at @James Iles

I'll add this to feedback for the sales/landing page teams. Thanks.

Regarding the rest of the thread - stalled is essentially closed - little chance of the domain selling following this status. I'll see whether wording can be improved there. If a domain goes into stalled status quickly, it'll be a spam message. Again - I'll work on getting the wording improved.

 

[Dane]

Regarding the rest of the thread - stalled is essentially closed - little chance of the domain selling following this status. I'll see whether wording can be improved there. If a domain goes into stalled status quickly, it'll be a spam message. Again - I'll work on getting the wording improved.

James, would it be possible to get them to add a few words explaining what happened, rather than simply marking them all as "Stalled" or choosing another generic word? A ton of information is not required, just a short blurb would do he trick.

 

[James Iles]

James, would it be possible to get them to add a few words explaining what happened, rather than simply marking them all as "Stalled" or choosing another generic word? A ton of information is not required, just a short blurb would do he trick.

I'll explore that. Alternatively I could do a blog explaining the wording. That might be a little while coming based on other projects I'm currently working on, but I could definitely do that.

 

[biggie]

What needs to happen is a verification process in place before we see a lead generated on our end.

A simple verification email sent to the lead, which they have to confirm, and then once they've done that, the lead center broker can contact them.

This should save the broker from going through thousands of leads which could turn out to be a load of spam/bots.

can this be looked at?

Hi

they, as in GD brains, can look right under their umbrella and use a process at unireg.
and... if they wanted to, could implement the same method used for brokers and those like myself, who "self-brokered" their own inquires.

however, at uni, if you broker your own leads, then no commission if transaction done elsewhere.

but since they are shutting that platform down, that loophole is closed.



imo....

 

[Dane]

"if they wanted to"

Bingo.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

What needs to happen is a verification process in place before we see a lead generated on our end.

A simple verification email sent to the lead, which they have to confirm, and then once they've done that, the lead center broker can contact them.

This should save the broker from going through thousands of leads which could turn out to be a load of spam/bots.

That's a useful aspect when using escrow.com for leads through bodis. They offer both email verification as well as Captcha, to help confirm that the lead is legit.

 

[Joe drake]

Do you watch news. Or youtube? Recession is already here, banking crisis in US and EU.. Energy and food crisis in EU etc... earthquake in Turkey...global warming , water crisis . People do not invest anymore... We need money for food and living not for domains .

not true ,companies need domains more than ever -to get business ,the trick is to buy the right domains

 

[Mytz.com]

good luck !hope we all can come to big deal

 

[411domains]

What needs to happen is a verification process in place before we see a lead generated on our end.

A simple verification email sent to the lead, which they have to confirm, and then once they've done that, the lead center broker can contact them.

This should save the broker from going through thousands of leads which could turn out to be a load of spam/bots.

Can this be looked at @James Iles

Exactly! Verification emails.

This is Spam control 101.

DNS had it...UNI had it...

It's the simplest of solutions and it's been around for decades.

I would love to have been sitting around the brainstorming table listening to them way overthink this one.

Anyway, they updated the "wording" and only the exposed bot is now referred to as "Afteric Automation."

It seems we have to expose them in order for them to be referred to as "Afternic Automation."

The fact that they felt it necessary to create bots to handle leads that wouldn't exist if they had email verification in place, proves that they still don't get it.

It's really sad.

 

[lknights1987]

Exactly! Verification emails.

This is Spam control 101.

DNS had it...UNI had it...

It's the simplest of solutions and it's been around for decades.

I would love to have been sitting around the brainstorming table listening to them way overthink this one.

Anyway, they updated the "wording" and only the exposed bot is now referred to as "Afteric Automation."

It seems we have to expose them in order for them to be referred to as "Afternic Automation."

The fact that they felt it necessary to create bots to handle leads that wouldn't exist if they had email verification in place, proves that they still don't get it.

It's really sad.

That's good to know they've updated the wording. It wasn't really rocket science to figure it out they were using bots.

I redirected all my domains to my own site domainknights(dot)co(dot)UK because of this.

 

[411domains]

That's good to know they've updated the wording. It wasn't really rocket science to figure it out they were using bots.

I redirected all my domains to my own site domainknights(dot)co(dot)UK because of this.

The wording means nothing to me. I just thought I would share the update and I agree 100%, figuring out isn't rocket science.

What's most disappointing is the fact that all the "experts" in the room thought that a bot solution would be the best solution.

Even worse, they thought giving it a human passing it off as a real broker would be ok. (As if we wouldn't know.)

When you hire the wrong people for the job, this is what you get.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

The wording means nothing to me. I just thought I would share the update and I agree 100%, figuring out isn't rocket science.

What's most disappointing is the fact that all the "experts" in the room thought that a bot solution would be the best solution.

Even worse, they thought giving it a human passing it off as a real broker would be ok. (As if we wouldn't know.)

When you hire the wrong people for the job, this is what you get.

That is an excellent point.

Wasn't the exciting announcement one that implied that human brokers would manage these leads, not bots?

Perhaps AI is in the works as the new GD brokerage?

As @lknights1987 iterated, having the email verification first of a lead may really help allow humans to take care of the leads up front, rather than bots.