Atom / Atom.com - Marketplace (formerly Squadhelp)

[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.

 

[Dansam]

Can u share the price range for your domains?

 

[TBN]

@TBN,
I disagree. 700 domains is way .. as in, waay over the number of domains most of us have with SH. It is a high number to be considered a good metric.

I only had around 10-15 domains or so at BB and around half had been sold. Those are old stats but still...

Thanks. Yes. Actually, I totally agree with you on that. I am very concerned myself. I am just aware there are others doing better. I appreciate the insight. I have been unsure how long to hold on for, given the amount of money I am losing.

 

[TBN]

Can you share the list of names? Or some common keywords, niches? I'd be curious to see what kind of domains get ignored at SH

I prefer not to share my portfolio at the moment. I have a higher mix of non-tech names than I would like, so I suspect that has an impact. But with all names being approved, nothing that should impact sales to this extent.

 

[TBN]

Can u share the price range for your domains?

2000-4000 typically.

 

[Maged Khatab]

2000-4000 typically.

Thank you for sharing your experience at SH with us. As everyone said 700 premium domains with no sales in 2 years is clearly an indication that something is wrong here, and since you're not comfortable sharing your portfolio at the moment, I'd appreciate it if you answered the following questions to help identify the problem here.

1- What is the approximate percentage of Invented Brandable domains in your portfolio? Examples: Vittex, Roxers, Wikkz.. etc.

2- What is the approximate percentage of Compound Brandable domains in your portfolio? Examples: GoodPlace, NiceCar, RapidCare.. etc.

3- Do you have Exact Match domain names in your portfolio? If so, what is the approximate percentage of them? Examples: DigitalAssets, CarRental, WeightLoss.. etc.

4- What is the majority of your portfolio? Hand Registered, Closeout, or Auction domains?

5- What is the approximate percentage of .com domain names in your portfolio?

6- Do you have the "Lease to Own" option activated on your domains?

7- Do you have your SH domain names on Afternic Network?

 

[Hypersot]

@Maged Khatab ,
this is beginning to feel like an interrogation.

Let's appreciate what @TBN shared so far and stop there.

 

[Maged Khatab]

@Maged Khatab ,
this is beginning to feel like an interrogation.

Let's appreciate what @TBN shared so far and stop there.

Interrogation?! Please read my message again, I'm trying to help here.

I do respect @TBN decision not to share his portfolio and this is why all my questions are mostly generic. If he chose to answer we might be able to identify the problem and probably reduce the loss and start making profit, and if he chose to keep the answers to himself it's completely up to him! Anyone can learn from this forum and enhance their portfolio and experience over time. I always do and sometimes I share when I can.

Domaining is not an easy job and I believe a single detail here might be vital information in someone's domaining journey.

So If you're an expert and don't see the benefit from discussions and sharing information that's fine, but please don't impose your opinion on others making false statements and assumptions. Thank you!

 

[Dansam]

Interrogation?! Please read my message again, I'm trying to help here.

I do respect @TBN decision not to share his portfolio and this is why all my questions are mostly generic. If he chose to answer we might be able to identify the problem and probably reduce the loss and start making profit, and if he chose to keep the answers to himself it's completely up to him! Anyone can learn from this forum and enhance their portfolio and experience over time. I always do and sometimes I share when I can.

I was in a similar position in the past with a smaller portfolio at SH and I didn't feel interrogated but was lucky to have experts looking into my portfolio and believe it or not small comments had a huge impact on my portfolio and success in this industry over the past few years.

Domaining is not an easy job and I believe a single detail here might be vital information in someone's domaining journey.

So If you're an expert and don't see the benefit from discussions and sharing information that's fine, but please don't oppose your opinion on others making false statements and assumptions. Thank you!

Interrogation?! Please read my message again, I'm trying to help here.

I do respect @TBN decision not to share his portfolio and this is why all my questions are mostly generic. If he chose to answer we might be able to identify the problem and probably reduce the loss and start making profit, and if he chose to keep the answers to himself it's completely up to him! Anyone can learn from this forum and enhance their portfolio and experience over time. I always do and sometimes I share when I can.

Domaining is not an easy job and I believe a single detail here might be vital information in someone's domaining journey.

So If you're an expert and don't see the benefit from discussions and sharing information that's fine, but please don't impose your opinion on others making false statements and assumptions. Thank you!

Hi

Any suggestions to improve our SH sales are more than welcome.

Thx!

 

[Maged Khatab]

Hi

Any suggestions to improve our SH sales are more than welcome.

Thx!

Sure, my first question was about "Invented Brandable" domains. The problem with these kind of names is that most of them are worthless. And unfortunately, I've seen lots of portfolios with a huge portion of these domains.

I understand that some are building portfolios only for brandable platforms. In this case, it's fine but if most of your domains or your main portfolio is at SH or other brandable platforms then I think it would be wise not to fall for the trap of getting as many "Invented Brandable" domains into your portfolio but build a portfolio that sells everywhere even on simple DAN landing page with no logo or retargeting ads.

Based on my previous questions here are some recommendations to build/boost your portfolio:

- Reduce the percentage of "Invented Brandable" domains to 10 or 15% max, and invest in names that passes radio test only. 4L and short names are the best.
*Good examples: Daka, Senta, Planto.. etc.
*Bad examples: Qrinzett, Pikkza, Bartcle.. etc.

- "Blended Brandable" are even better option than "Invented Brandable" domains.
*Good examples: Microsoft, Instagram, Playformance.. etc.
*Bad examples: Nothing in particular but a blend that doesn't make sense like Fridayellow.

- Focus more on "Compound Brandable" domains in your portfolio "Should be the majority of your names if you're building a separate portfolio for brandable platforms".
*Good examples: GoodPlace, NiceCar, RapidCare.. etc.
*Bad examples: WoodenSky, HomesFancy, YellowModernGates.. etc.

- Focus more on "Exact Match" and "Generic" domain names "Should be around half of your portfolio if you're selling on or off brandable platforms".
*Good examples: Ocean, CarRental, WeightLoss.. etc.
*Bad examples: Nothing in particular but any keyword with rare usage or not a proper use case like Impignorate

- Hand-registered domains are not bad but they work better with new trends and brandables. Closeouts and Auctioned domains are not always the best but you can definitely get real premium aged and valuable names based on many factors.

- .com domains should be the majority of most portfolios.

- "Lease to own" option is a great choice for recurring payments and helps with cash flow.

- Afternic Network syndication is a must as it exposes your names on hundreds of registrars and platforms over the web.

One more thing if your portfolio is loaded with these kinds of invented names, you might also try to re-design some logos and participate in SH contests where you can propose your names and hopefully generate sales.

I understand that some might disagree with any of the above points but that's fine. We're here to share our experiences and learn from each other. I hope I was helpful and please feel free to correct, add to the above points, or ask me anything regarding this topic.

 

[Dansam]

Sure, my first question was about "Invented Brandable" domains. The problem with these kind of names is that most of them are worthless. And unfortunately, I've seen lots of portfolios with a huge portion of these domains.

I understand that some are building portfolios only for brandable platforms. In this case, it's fine but if most of your domains or your main portfolio is at SH or other brandable platforms then I think it would be wise not to fall for the trap of getting as many "Invented Brandable" domains into your portfolio but build a portfolio that sells everywhere even on simple DAN landing page with no logo or retargeting ads.

Based on my previous questions here are some recommendations to build/boost your portfolio:

- Reduce the percentage of "Invented Brandable" domains to 10 or 15% max, and invest in names that passes radio test only. 4L and short names are the best.
*Good examples: Daka, Senta, Planto.. etc.
*Bad examples: Qrinzett, Pikkza, Bartcle.. etc.

- "Blended Brandable" are even better option than "Invented Brandable" domains.
*Good examples: Microsoft, Instagram, Playformance.. etc.
*Bad examples: Nothing in particular but a blend that doesn't make sense like Fridayellow.

- Focus more on "Compound Brandable" domains in your portfolio "Should be the majority of your names if you're building a separate portfolio for brandable platforms".
*Good examples: GoodPlace, NiceCar, RapidCare.. etc.
*Bad examples: WoodenSky, HomesFancy, YellowModernGates.. etc.

- Focus more on "Exact Match" and "Generic" domain names "Should be around half of your portfolio if you're selling on or off brandable platforms".
*Good examples: Ocean, CarRental, WeightLoss.. etc.
*Bad examples: Nothing in particular but any keyword with rare usage or not a proper use case like Impignorate

- Hand-registered domains are not bad but they work better with new trends and brandables. Closeouts and Auctioned domains are not always the best but you can definitely get real premium aged and valuable names based on many factors.

- .com domains should be the majority of most portfolios.

- "Lease to own" option is a great choice for recurring payments and helps with cash flow.

- Afternic Network syndication is a must as it exposes your names on hundreds of registrars and platforms over the web.

One more thing if your portfolio is loaded with these kinds of invented names, you might also try to re-design some logos and participate in SH contests where you can propose your names and hopefully generate sales.

I understand that some might disagree with any of the above points but that's fine. We're here to share our experiences and learn from each other. I hope I was helpful and please feel free to correct, add to the above points, or ask me anything regarding this topic.

Yes, you right, but we talk here about SH sales and they say:

"Hi there! We're Squadhelp, the world's largest platform for company naming and branding."

Branding names seems to be a must on this platform and they approve these kind of names for sale on their platform.
Maybe we need to see some sales stats from SH, with real numbers, and maybe we can improve our sales too..

 

[Maged Khatab]

Yes, you right, but we talk here about SH sales and they say:

"Hi there! We're Squadhelp, the world's largest platform for company naming and branding."

Branding names seems to be a must on this platform and they approve these kind of names for sale on their platform.
Maybe we need to see some sales stats from SH, with real numbers, and maybe we can improve our sales too..

Forget about the exact match domains and the rest of the above points apply to SH. I didn't say don't invest in brandable names, I only suggested what kind of brandable domain names to focus on and what to avoid in them with examples. Please read the first 3 points again regarding the brandable domains.

I currently don't have names with SH but I've seen many successful domainers at SH admitting the fact that their names would've sold anywhere else if they weren't on SH and that takes us to the same point again that I've mentioned above which is building a portfolio that sells everywhere is better than building for a specific platform whether you're investing in brandables, exacts match names, or a mixed portfolio.

 

[karmaco]

Sure, my first question was about "Invented Brandable" domains. The problem with these kind of names is that most of them are worthless. And unfortunately, I've seen lots of portfolios with a huge portion of these domains.

I understand that some are building portfolios only for brandable platforms. In this case, it's fine but if most of your domains or your main portfolio is at SH or other brandable platforms then I think it would be wise not to fall for the trap of getting as many "Invented Brandable" domains into your portfolio but build a portfolio that sells everywhere even on simple DAN landing page with no logo or retargeting ads.

Based on my previous questions here are some recommendations to build/boost your portfolio:

- Reduce the percentage of "Invented Brandable" domains to 10 or 15% max, and invest in names that passes radio test only. 4L and short names are the best.
*Good examples: Daka, Senta, Planto.. etc.
*Bad examples: Qrinzett, Pikkza, Bartcle.. etc.

- "Blended Brandable" are even better option than "Invented Brandable" domains.
*Good examples: Microsoft, Instagram, Playformance.. etc.
*Bad examples: Nothing in particular but a blend that doesn't make sense like Fridayellow.

- Focus more on "Compound Brandable" domains in your portfolio "Should be the majority of your names if you're building a separate portfolio for brandable platforms".
*Good examples: GoodPlace, NiceCar, RapidCare.. etc.
*Bad examples: WoodenSky, HomesFancy, YellowModernGates.. etc.

- Focus more on "Exact Match" and "Generic" domain names "Should be around half of your portfolio if you're selling on or off brandable platforms".
*Good examples: Ocean, CarRental, WeightLoss.. etc.
*Bad examples: Nothing in particular but any keyword with rare usage or not a proper use case like Impignorate

- Hand-registered domains are not bad but they work better with new trends and brandables. Closeouts and Auctioned domains are not always the best but you can definitely get real premium aged and valuable names based on many factors.

- .com domains should be the majority of most portfolios.

- "Lease to own" option is a great choice for recurring payments and helps with cash flow.

- Afternic Network syndication is a must as it exposes your names on hundreds of registrars and platforms over the web.

One more thing if your portfolio is loaded with these kinds of invented names, you might also try to re-design some logos and participate in SH contests where you can propose your names and hopefully generate sales.

I understand that some might disagree with any of the above points but that's fine. We're here to share our experiences and learn from each other. I hope I was helpful and please feel free to correct, add to the above points, or ask me anything regarding this topic.

You really don’t have a clue what you are talking about. The current number one seller on the leaderboard at SH sells invented and open vessel brandables like crazy. Its his thing. And with good reason.

People opt for open vessel/invented so they don’t get pigeon holed into one set niche or idea. If their idea fails they can use the name for another project.

Even Margot at BB recently said invented name purchases have skyrocketed this year.

 

[Maged Khatab]

You really don’t have a clue what you are talking about. The current number one seller on the leaderboard at SH sells invented and open vessel brandables like crazy. Its his thing. And with good reason.

People opt for open vessel/invented so they don’t get pigeon holed into one set niche or idea. If their idea fails they can use the name for another project.

Even Margot at BB recently said invented name purchases have skyrocketed this year.

It's not that I don't have a clue but you refuse to look at the big picture, someone is having 700 premium domains with no sales in 2 years! What kind of names are in this portfolio or what is the problem do you think?! I'm not against "Invented Brandable" domains in general. I've clearly stated that "Invented Brandable" names that pass the radio test, 4L, and short are the best and provided good and bad examples of them.

I've also stated that some are building portfolios only for brandable platforms aside from their portfolio which is completely okay. Invented names are only one type of Brandable Names and they are the hardest to sell. This is why brandable marketplaces might be a better choice of course as they provide logos and retargeting ads.

So based on your points the questions here are:

- What kind of "Invented Brandable" domains sell like crazy on SH and BB? Please check the examples in my previous message.

- Do you know what is the percentage of "Invented Brandable" domains in their portfolio and if this is their main portfolio or not? Because I'm sure we've seen several successful domainers with >500 names on SH/BB while their main portfolios on Dan are more than 10 times this number.

I think it's ridiculous to explain myself more than once on the same point but I think some may misunderstood my message that I'm against a certain domain type or a marketplace, I absolutely like SH & BB and they're definitely doing a great job and currently, I have a very small percentage of my portfolio invested in "Invented Brandable" domains that are short, 1 and 2 syllables, and passes the radio test.

The bottom line is building a diversified portfolio that sells everywhere will definitely sell on brandable marketplaces. I'm not here to argue and I think I made my points clear enough, I was just trying to help and again the problem might not be with "Invented brandable" domains, it might be another type or even one of the points mentioned above like Afternic syndication not active.

I just mentioned this type of domains at first as it's not the first time to look into someone's portfolio with the same problem and most of the names are barely readable like the bad examples mentioned in my previous message and of course not like the good examples of "Invented brandable" domains that sell like crazy as you said.

In the end, we have the choice to learn the hard or the easy way and It's said that a wise person learns from his mistakes and a wiser one learns from others' mistakes.

I enjoyed this conversation and I hope it was beneficial for you @TBN and for us. Thank you!

 

[TBN]

I don't know what the problem is, but there definitely is one, yes. All of the names are reviewed and approved, so that should mitigate some of the potential for issues, but, no, it is definitely not currently. I don't have exact percentages for you, but I will say most of my names are compound brandable names. Most of my invented brandables are short and mostly .com. I do have lease to own enabled, and my portfolio optimized decently (though always room for improvement).

 

[Furquan]

I don't know what the problem is, but there definitely is one, yes. All of the names are reviewed and approved, so that should mitigate some of the potential for issues, but, no, it is definitely not currently. I don't have exact percentages for you, but I will say most of my names are compound brandable names. Most of my invented brandables are short and mostly .com. I do have lease to own enabled, and my portfolio optimized decently (though always room for improvement).

What @Maged Khatab suggested is one of the best replies here I have seen.

If I were in your position believe me I just give up on domaining specially brandable domaining.

SH approved or rejected don't have any merit. I have seen bad names getting approved and listed every day and I have also seen good names getting rejected.

I am sure you have listed all the SH premium domains on Afternic also. Did any got sold there?

If not then you really need to sit and analyse the entire portfolio and your domain investment strategy.

 

[lovely4ever]

Most of my premium domains at squadhelp were listed at DAN and was no issue , Just today they put this red icon asking to remove the domains from DAN !! but allowed to be listed at afternic only !!

Afternic and DAN belong to the same godaddy so i dont understand the logic to allow one and deny the other !!
for squadhelp Instead to find solutions to increase sales for listers,They are only busy with silliness !!

.

 

[TBN]

If I were in your position believe me I just give up on domaining specially brandable domaining.

SH approved or rejected don't have any merit. I have seen bad names getting approved and listed every day and I have also seen good names getting rejected.

Interesting response.

 

[silentg]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1687544555686490112

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Is anyone else experiencing that if one goes to Premium Domains and select Rejected most of the names previously there no longer appear? Like I only have a handful now, and I have more rejections than that .

They also seem very old rejections. Like two recently submitted names, that no longer appear in appending, don't appear in rejected (or accepted).

I presume related to the new panel? I did try logging out and in, and then in fact switching to a different browser, in case a cache issue, but still the list is almost empty.

-Bob

 

[silentg]

New dashboard beta is live now: Click the Switch to button

 

[Blueleaf66]

Something's not right with the traffic I get to my domains listed at SH. I suspect it's fake - just to 'fool' me that something is going on. I get roughly 30-40 views and 5-7 shortlists each day around the same time. This is a burst of visits and shortlists that doesn't look organic - it happens almost at the same time everyday and then nothing until or after that - no more views and shortlists, nothing (unless I visit my own domains). Given the fact that each visit reflects rather quickly (when I visit my own domains, I can see in the stats that it's reflected almost immediately), it's very weird. These are not visits/shortlists spread out throughout the day, they happen in bursts.

 

[Blueleaf66]

Today's fake boost has just happened: 35 views and 5 shortlists.

 

[capybara]

Their stats always get updated at this time of the day (UTC 10 AM). Its not a "fake boost" but simply the time when more data gets added by their system. Doesn't mean you need to take these views/shortlists seriously, I am certain no one should.

After all, they don't even filter out sellers' own visits – check your own domain a few times and you'll get the fiery "strong buyer interest" icon, well there's no "buyer", just you.

 

[Hypersot]

I tend to agree with @Blueleaf66 . Reason being the small difference in the amount of 'views' between the domains that have been accepted as premium.

As a new user I only have four domains accepted: two of them are domains I used to park and earn money and the other two are made-up and should have minimal traffic. Yet, the difference in the 'views' stats on SH is marginal.

One could argue that the views include visits from within the marketplace, ie. the domains get visited by users and that's how the lower traffic domains show a higher number of views than expected... but still, I can't help but wonder how accurate those 'views' are.

 

[Templr]

Is anyone else experiencing that if one goes to Premium Domains and select Rejected most of the names previously there no longer appear? Like I only have a handful now, and I have more rejections than that .

They also seem very old rejections. Like two recently submitted names, that no longer appear in appending, don't appear in rejected (or accepted).

I presume related to the new panel? I did try logging out and in, and then in fact switching to a different browser, in case a cache issue, but still the list is almost empty.

-Bob

I noticed this recently. Sent support a message regarding the issue. Support sent a query to the team. Hopefully should be resolved soon?