Atom marketplace (formerly Squadhelp Marketplace)

[JudgeMind]

Hey Folks,

I've just started using squadhelp.com to list some of my brandable. So far I have 76 domains listed, there is no fee to list. I've had some decent action so far in the way of interested buyers but no sales as of yet. I've only been with them for 1 week now.

A bit of a summary review of SquadHelp:

PROS

• No Listing fee
• No Logo design fee
• Ability to submit your names to end users holding naming contests
• Ability to chat directly or send a message directly to end users.
• Stats of your marketplace domains are shown in the marketplace dashboard.
• Their customer service and support has been great, 24hr a day chat.
• Ability to increase or decrease the list price of your domains or to show a discount. You can decrease or increase the price yourself by $200. If you want to lower more, you can contact support.
• End users can shortlist your domains before they make a decision on which they want to purchase. The number of shortlists is shown in you marketplace dashboard.
• When you submit your names you get to set the price you wish to get. Because their commissions are high I recommend listing at a higher price to offset the commission costs.
• Their landing pages are fairly basic but they work. Because the marketplace is fairly new, I'm sure we will see style improvements in the future.
• One thing I really like is they accept multiple extensions. I have listed .co and .io along with .com
• Each seller gets a direct link to their marketplace portfolio, HERES MY PORTFOLIO. It is handy if your trying to p[promote your portfolio through social media.
• I like that their marketplace doesn't have tens of thousands domain listings like BB. They are fairly strict on the domains they accept to list and so this helps keep the number of domains in the marketplace down and gets your listings more exposure.

CONS

• Their commissions are very high, depending on the domain name they are usually between 30% and 35%. However, there are no listing fees, no logo design fees, so in the end their commission is very similar to brand buckets.
• Their logos are not top quality, in fact I requested to have some of my logos remade.
• I think they have a big backlog of logos to design, the wait time for logo design has been around 1 week, but your names are still listed while the logos are being designed.
• After your names are accepted you need to agree to their commission rate, at this point you also need to apply your own keywords, descriptions etc. I found this was very time consuming.

 

[Recons.Com]

I strongly feel that this process needs to be better streamlined. It is just as important for the buyer to receive their name promptly as it is for seller to receive their payout promptly. Perhaps sh could add the preferred registrar choice at checkout for the buyer. Then the name can be transferred in a timely manner. It seems that Squadhelp waits until checkout is completed to find out from the buyer where they want the name transferred to. I’m dealing with this now, it’s been a week since the name sold and still no direction from the buyer or from Squadhelp where it should be transferred. So I’m just sitting and waiting.

What really upsets me is the lack of communication. I can understand that the name is not transferred, even though BP, for example, takes the ownership itself and then deals with the client, if the client is slow to guide.

But, for me to have to chat few times over 3 weeks to find out the status, and now to ask again where the hell is the payment with no response, that is awfully unprofessional.

These kind of experiences, possibly on buyer side too, might explain why even their declared STR keeps falling all the time.

 

[ecomslice]

@GrantP

After an eternity, SH finally sold 1 name on Feb 11. I am appalled by what has been happening since with complete lack of communication. First, there was no option for me to submit the auth code that was requested. I was told it is a glitch and I can submit it in chat, which I did promptly. Then it took multiple reminders and asking just to get info why transfer is not happening and finally after 16 (!) days, on Feb 27 the name was confirmed by SH as moved and transaction complete. I immediately requested the payment. It normally takes from there for BB, BP few minutes to transfer the money. But SH has been sitting on funds since then, now almost a week since the transfer and a month since the sale. Yesteday, I asked in the chat what is happening.

Here is their response

"Thank you for reaching out to us. We’re still waiting an update for this from our team. As soon as we have an information from them, we will notify you right away. Thank you for your patience on this."

I wrote that I am not patient with this anymore and want the response right away and ... radio silence since.

This is completely disgusting and unprofessional. You know a platform is on its downward spiral, when it starts holding to its partners' money (((

I certainly feel for you on this one, its bizzare. I thought it would be fair to mention it is rare. I have had very little issues with transfers and receiving payments on a dozen sales.

 

[ecomslice]

You are absolutely right. 77 days for a second review is way too long. Anything that takes more than 2-3 weeks for any kind of review should not be acceptable by any standard.

While this is not an excuse, lately the submission volume to the Marketplace has been extremely high, which is causing the second review requests to fall behind. We are aware of this issue, and are working on finding ways to improve this timeline. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

I have a bulk list waiting 60 days now also. but thanks for your agreeance on the issue.

I have one other request, You should have a live and transparent % weekly of what you're accepting from coin submissions. What an intense burn of time we put in , and if your rate is dropped for the week due to over liquidity, then we should be the first ones to know.

 

[Ostrados]

@GrantP
I suggest that sold domains get pushed to escrow SH account first then to buyer (like in Dan & Sedo), then release the money once the domain is transfered to SH account, this way the process can be automated and SH no longer need the buyer to confirm domain transfer is completed, so payment can be completed within 1 day of the sale.

At Dan.com this is exactly how sales are handled and I usually get paid after 1 day of a domain sale.

 

[capybara]

I suggest that sold domains get pushed to escrow SH account first then to buyer (like in Dan & Sedo), then release the money once the domain is transfered to SH account, this way the process can be automated and SH no longer need the buyer to confirm domain transfer is completed, so payment can be completed within 1 day of the sale.

That would be against their policy, they promise buyers 10 days to ask for refund if the transfer was not completed.

 

[capybara]

@GrantP
Sometimes contests include non-mainstream domain extensions like .biz or a country code extension, but it is not possible to list your own domain as Basic Plus to suggest it:

Could something be done about it?

 

[Ostrados]

That would be against their policy, they promise buyers 10 days to ask for refund if the transfer was not completed.

This 10 days will not be needed because SH will handle the transfer, it will be extra manual work for them but not too much to ask when considering the hefty 30% to 35% commission. Also this will save time and make transactions much faster, with less support tickets opened, so it will end up reducing the manual work for SH teams considering the time needed to answer support tickets related to domain transfers.

 

[NameWell]

That would be against their policy, they promise buyers 10 days to ask for refund if the transfer was not completed.

I think it's 10 days to ask for a refund for any reason on Earth. I might be wrong, though.

To my personal understanding, a client can buy a name they like just to reserve it (to make sure no one else buys it), then launch a contest to see if a better (and preferably free to hand reg.) name comes up. If it does, they can simply ask for a refund for the name they bought (given it hasn't been more than 10 days since the purchase). In this case, the seller is not compensated for the time the domain name was removed from the marketplace. I might be wrong again, though.

It would be interesting to see a different approach. The client could reserve the name for 5, 7 or 10 days by paying a non-refundable reservation fee of $50, $70 or $100. Then they can launch a contest, perform a trademark research (possibly performed by a SH attorney, so SH earns), audience testing (possibly performed by a SH branding team, so SH earns), have board meeting or do anything they want. If they decide not to purchase the name, the name is returned to the marketplace and the reservation fee is released to the seller. If they decide to purchase the name, they only have to pay the remaining amount (i.e. if the price is $1999 and they have already paid $100 reservation fee, they only have to pay the remaining $1899). Over the year these reservation payments could add up to a significant amount for the seller as compared to current $0 for canceled sales and an off market time caused by them. And SH could earn from the trademark research and audience testing. Or, if it's really necessary, 10% from the reservation fee.

I know SH had a reservation option in the past, but a thing is, that it was FREE. Since there were no financial obligation clients could reserve anything and everything they kind of liked without giving it a second thought and sellers were understandably annoyed by the outcome. Paid reservations could change that. When you think about it, 10 days of "ask a refund for any reason you want" is the same as offering a FREE reservation. So why not make it a paid, but (very) affordable reservation instead? In cases where a reservation fee was paid, keep the option of 10 days refund window for that particular sale. Sellers could have an option to turn on or off this reservation feature for their names (much like we now have an option to turn on or turn off installments)

 

[Andore]

Hello everyone.

I've been lurking these forums for some time, but only now decided to create an account to report something... I finally had my first domain sold!

Right. First of all, I'm not a domainer.

I have been trying to find a way to make money on the internet for a while and basically accumulating failures. Survey platforms were definitely the most frustrating, since I wasted hours not to earn a single penny.

If I'm not mistaken, I found out about Squadhelp through YouTube and it just seemed too good to be true. (Looking back, it kinda was, but mostly because the people promoting it would leave some important details aside...)

Still, I tried to participate in some contests without success, until I discovered the possibility of submitting names to the marketplace, without any cost.

The thing is, I had no idea about all this "domaining" stuff. (In fact, I still know very little.)

This thread was one of the first results I found about this feature in Squadhelp and I really liked the information, mostly because it seemed unbiased enough.

So I tried to learn a thing or two here, while submitting a few names.

The problem is that the whole process seemed to be like "shooting in the dark". I understand why they don't tell the reason behind rejections, since it would take time and time is a valuable resource. But I still dislike the feeling of not having idea if I'm improving or becoming worse.

Not only that, but the anxiety caused by the wait followed by seeing the approval rate drop and points being deducted... I don't wish this feeling to anyone.

So I kind of left my portfolio with only 3 domains. Sometimes I would remember and check, but without much expectations.

Then 26 weeks later, I get an email saying that one of my domains has been sold:

Optello / com (SH registered)
$1899 ($474 was my comission)

I still couldn't believe. Maybe I was missing something, maybe the buyer could still cancel it or whatever. In 4-5 days another email saying that the transfer had been completed.

Again, I was like "right, the next step probably is going to take more than 2 weeks"... It took about 6 hours. What followed was a Joker-like laugh...

Now I'm not sure about how to proceed. I still feel my anxiety skyrocketing when participating on contests or trying to submit something to the marketplace. It just doesn't seem to get easier.

If anything I'm staying in Squadhelp, because I don't feel I have experience or money to invest anywhere else. I have no idea about their criteria... but now I have proof it just works.

And that's it, just a heads up for any hopeless lurker passing by, as I was. I thank everyone for the information shared here.

 

[Votumejero]

One of my domains got sold on Tuesday. Eloxee//com

SH registered
My Commission $424

My second sale on SH, July will make it a year since I had premiums on SH. I'm quite impressed.

 

[Votumejero]

One of my domains got sold on Tuesday. Eloxee//com

SH registered
My Commission $424

My second sale on SH, July will make it a year since I had premiums on SH. I'm quite impressed.

But I have a pending payout, I need it cancelled asap so I can request my current payout. @GrantP

 

[Votumejero]

But I have a pending payout, I need it cancelled asap so I can request my current payout. @GrantP

Rectified

 

[Footprint789]

Anyone experiencing reduced quality of response from support executives these days. SH, a year back used to have one of the best support I have seen anywhere.

Now, For most questions, even generic ones sometimes, I keep seeing "we'll forward it to our team, you will get an update when they respond" Or sometimes they ignore messages after "seeing them"

 

[karmaco]

What really upsets me is the lack of communication. I can understand that the name is not transferred, even though BP, for example, takes the ownership itself and then deals with the client, if the client is slow to guide.

But, for me to have to chat few times over 3 weeks to find out the status, and now to ask again where the hell is the payment with no response, that is awfully unprofessional.

These kind of experiences, possibly on buyer side too, might explain why even their declared STR keeps falling all the time.

Brandpa now has an automated transfer process between the seller and the buyer and it works fine. That started like 4 to 5 months ago.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

@GrantP"I'm sorry to know about your approval rate. Unfortunately, we do not have detailed information as to what caused such changes. This is automatically computed by the system based on several factors and is computed daily"

Oh man! This is how your business is supposed to make money for you, the sellers and help the buyers get the names they want.

Isn't that something you should know off by heart... how your site works?

Ever heard of Test Driven Development? (Automatic unit testing of every program block).

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

The approval rate is currently determined based upon a ratio of total live listings in your account to total submitted listings in your account.

An irrelevant calculation.

You should also discriminate between Premium listings, basic plus and basic because they all fall under different rules, percentages and other factors if I have read correctly.

It's the statistical difference between fine dining and throwing all you got in the same pot.

The approval rate is currently determined based upon a ratio of total live listings in your account to total submitted listings in your account.

Aren't all our listings live?

When domains are transferred to other sellers, it is possible that it may skew the approval rates for both sellers. The approval rate may drop for the seller, while the approval rate may increase for the buyer since the buyer now has more live listings in their account as a percentage of total submitted listings.

Why doesn't the calculation recalibrate?

This calculation is not perfect, since ideally the approval rate should be tied to the "original" seller even though the domain is sold to another seller. We may adjust this calculation in future.

This is almost comical...

...I say almost because we are many who are spending $$$ on increased exposure, coins, submissions, hours in our days to a system that is at best "unknown in it's workings to those who have developed, and are selling it".

My question:

How many coins has SquadHelp sold on average since that part of the system was introduced?

I want to know that.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

Sorry about the delay. Let me check with the team because 30+ days for a Logo design is unacceptable. There must be some glitch which has caused this issue.

I have waited 3 months + for 2 domains that were upgraded to Premium because of their popularity scores.

Meanby.com got a logo in the last few days but Digitrails.com is still minus a logo... even though I paid 4 coins for each so that you would manage them in the marketplace, in connection with the upgrades.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

I have waited 3 months + for 2 domains that were upgraded to Premium because of their popularity scores.

Meanby.com got a logo in the last few days but Digitrails.com is still minus a logo... even though I paid 4 coins for each so that you would manage them in the marketplace, in connection with the upgrades.

Digitrails just got a logo...

 

[Rhinnnn]

SquadHelp just announced automatic Sedo syndication:

"All Premium and Basic Plus listings at Squadhelp will be automatically listed for sale in Sedo as well as other registrars via the Sedo MLS feature."

"Squadhelp will pay for the Sedo commission."

No extra costs for domain owners. Domains will be listed at Sedo starting the coming days.

 

[Votumejero]

SquadHelp just announced automatic Sedo syndication:

"All Premium and Basic Plus listings at Squadhelp will be automatically listed for sale in Sedo as well as other registrars via the Sedo MLS feature."

"Squadhelp will pay for the Sedo commission."

No extra costs for domain owners. Domains will be listed at Sedo starting the coming days.

A welcomed development..

But my question is, what about basic plus names already listed on sedo by the owner, any effect on this sedo syndication?

 

[Rhinnnn]

what about basic plus names already listed on sedo by the owner, any effect on this sedo syndication?

I haven't seen any official info on this yet.

 

[KDN]

My Cliqly.com sale is in danger of getting cancelled after 3 months. The only logical reason I can think of right now is the corona virus.

 

[KDN]

My Cliqly.com sale is in danger of getting cancelled after 3 months. The only logical reason I can think of right now is the corona virus.

Sale still going strong! Kudos to SH support team for following up with the buyer.

 

[YairDD]

I rejected their price on a domain 5 months ago and I'm trying for the last 2 months to get it listed with their price, with no luck. Used the review button twice and it's still under review
messaged them on chat multiple times and they always say to wait for the team to answer my review request

but nothing


annoying.

 

[ecomslice]

I rejected their price on a domain 5 months ago and I'm trying for the last 2 months to get it listed with their price, with no luck. Used the review button twice and it's still under review
messaged them on chat multiple times and they always say to wait for the team to answer my review request

but nothing


annoying.

I have had a list waiting for review for over 3 months now I just burned last of coins sick of waiting, I will not buy more, I will not submit more. im done with growing with them now, ill just sit on what I have while watching their hyper-growth causing an implosion. good luck all. It was nice while it lasted.