Statement By Dan on Epik!!

[Ostrados]

This statement was just released by Dan:

We’ve ignored many of their actions in the past, because we’re laser focused on executing our ambitious product roadmap. However, last Friday, Epik has taken their attacks of our brand to the next level by sending a fabricated story about us to over 100,000 contacts in a mass email. As of today, we still haven’t received an apology or explanation from them. Their primary goal with this email was to hurt our brand and to gain new customers and this attempt was pre-planned and announced by them in June 2020* (See exhibit #2).

Full statement:
https://blog.undeveloped.com/statement-about-recent-events-b7c875cc6314

Have anyone received that email from Epik attacking Dan? I wonder what is the fabricated story Dan taking about?

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

I recall coming across your posts where you mentioned you didn’t have sales for months.

Is that possible your weak sales have more to do with the quality of your domain portfolio?

No.
No problems with quality.

And my last sale was yesterday on Sedo.

 

[Rob Monster]

Obviously, we would have loved to feature as many top domains as possible but as it happened Rob Davis could not even access the domains that were powered by Dan to make a screen shot.

Let's not turn something that was meant for the greater good of the industry as some kind of condemnation for a good deed done by an Epik staff member on the weekend on the summer.

 

[bmugford]

Same shit happens.
Insert Video Clip to promote the company in a discussion section.

Self promotion + distraction. A go to combo for Epik.

Brad

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

No blame... Just facts...
Lowball, fakes or non-payers...

Some Russian company even clearly informed me via WHOIS email that they will NOT pay to Dan their $1K marketplace bid...
They were ready to proceed only via REG.RU brokerage.
It was just recently, this summer.

And it has nothing to do with nTLDs.
On Epik and Dan most my domains are legacy.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Let's not turn something that was meant for the greater good of the industry as some kind of condemnation for a good deed done by an Epik staff member on the weekend on the summer.

Shitting on @DAN.COM was meant for the greater good?

 

[Windoms]

All I understand is that DAN is 10 times bigger than epik.
And DAN is not yet a public registrar, about to become one in q4 2020.

+ lots of exciting new implementations.

Until then, epik's in trouble.

 

[Brands.International]

I was one of the 46 that received your “marketing” email and if you guys consider the content of that email to be marketing, I really suggest you hire some outside help.

Send out a campaign that talks about how good your platform is and why I should use your landers, don’t spend 3 paragraphs disparaging a competitor.

A registrar should be a neutral platform that instils a sense of security in its customers – I wouldn’t say Epik is doing either of those things right now (and it makes you guys look more like a used car lot than a tech company).

This is one of the few industries where the best competition is collaboration. We all have domains with multiple registrars and we all sell on multiple platforms. Keep things friendly and you’ll see success. Bothered by what another company is doing? Do it better and let your product speak for itself. I feel like DAN really excels at these two points.

Also, this “greater good” nonsense is ridiculous. If Epik was concerned about the greater good of the domain industry, it wouldn’t spend its time trying to take down innovator within in.

Figure it out, guys.

Words of wisdom

 

[Bonsu]

That's too easy Rob. He claims it's part of his personal issues with Dan yet he takes his grudge to bother your customers. It's not something done just on the weekend, it's an ongoing grudge by one of your staff members.

The claims are pathetic really. Just because some of your ips have been blocked doesn't mean this will have any impact on your sellers. I have yet to see any proof of mass blocking of ips. And if it really is a problem for you, as your personal ips are blocked , you are all tech savvy enough to use a vpn. Problem solved.

As for the supposed API issue. If there really is one, and there has been a data breach, Dan would be required to report that by law. If they don't and your employee has evidence, there are proper channels to report this to.

I cannot stress enough that bothering your customers with personal issues you have with another company and stooping to this level is absolutely not ok. No matter what the arguments are.



So do they actually refuse to transfer SAV registered names? I have a hard time believing that. I can understand they don't want to work with them but you don't have to work with a company to get a domain out.

Dan does not accept a push from SAV

 

[branding]

I think that if @DAN.COM will build a registrar on minimum prices, a few cents on top of fees, to cover expenses, they could hit the jackpot, with a prelisting agreement that they will handle everything in a fraction of the time. It could be like an afternic fast transfer with much better customer service for buyers and no headache for sellers, with payouts in a few hours( they can handle the push, they have the auth codes) and 25% of afternic fees.

They've said earlier on they will be offering domains at cost. For a registrar their size that would be a gamechanger. And yes, domain delivery within minutes. Can't wait.

 

[oldtimer]

On the subject of fair competition and fair trade,

Who is making all these fake bids at some of the sales platforms (and also auctions) and why is it that some platforms are having more than their fair share of these fake bids.

This is the biggest thing that has plagued the domain Industry, whether these fake bids are by random (which I doubt it) or are being done purposely as a part of a conspiracy to undermine the competition (or in the case of auctions to drive up the prices) it needs to be looked at more closely.

IMO

 

[boker]

They've said earlier on they will be offering domains at cost. For a registrar their size that would be a gamechanger. And yes, domain delivery within minutes. Can't wait.

I wonder if afternic will still name it's thing 'afternic fast transfer', if that will happen. I mean, 5 days to check the funds, 11 days for pay off...if that's fast, than dan's minutes/couple of hours delivery/payment, how it should be named, LightSpeed?

 

[boker]

I think they might but in the end the question will be, will the other venues join Dan?

Fast transfer is something of the past. Afternic is stuck in the past. It works, and it works well to some extent, for now.

It works, but for me at least it never as good as a landing page. It's good to have, but in the same time, the buyers checking the domain at their own registrar, will be checking the landing page as well (most if the times) so dan landing pages could revert a big part of them. Also, the registrars are mostly from US and a few other countries, so there are just under 200 countries or so mostly excluded from this networks.

 

[boker]

Afternic is valuable because of GoDaddy distribution. GoDaddy joining Dan? It's easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle...

Godaddy is the biggest registrar and probably most buyers( at least from US are using them) but that's only around 30% of the total buyers from around the world. For example, most of my domains are listed through afternic fast transfer( including godaddy), but at least this year, I've had over 10 times more buyers coming from landing pages. The true is that US buyers are on the first place, but they are not a majority, they account only for around 30% of the total. If I would try to remember my last 5 buyers, they were from Turkmenistan, Russia(2), Germany, South Africa....but most of the times, I still have around 2-3 US buyers, out of 10.

 

[uzver]

Thanks for that. You would be the guy to know I was under the impression they were but it seems I'm wrong.

I saw on Twitter Reza mentioning they started moving the domains under payment plans to their own registar like 6 months ago.

The registrar is there. Just not yet public

 

[uzver]

Easies way to know for sure:

@DAN.COM are you already an (albeit non public facing) ICANN accredited registrar?

Perhaps, it’s better to move this question to DAN’s thread This one is too “toxic”, IMO

 

[jmcc]

They could have bought some european companies, but I have never sold even 1 european cctld on afternic and godaddy and I've sold tens of them, mostly through whois or landing page.

Host Europe Group had been buying up a lot of smaller hosters. Then Godaddy bought HEG. The European markets have their own sales/auction sites and the European market is heavily ccTLD orientated.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

According to my traffic stats on Dan - I don't see any significant difference VS Bodis stats...
So looks like very local war...

 

[hollywood]

I would agree with Dan on this one.

Sadly because I signed up for both Dan and Epik this year.

I was going to start over at Epik *just today* but then I read that threatening email from Epik.

I am inconsequential...so for 2 huge red flags about Epik to come up today for me is a sign from God. Despite their front man telling me he is with God.

Although we have never met, thank you Reza.

Very sad indeed, I was getting excited about getti
ng a dozen .co and trying Epik!

 

[oldtimer]

The way that I look at this is that the more channels and platforms there are for domain sales the better it is for domainers and ultimately the better it is for the domain Industry as a whole, so it is against everyone's interest to allow any of these choices to be undermined. Both Epik and Dan have played an important part in bringing new innovations and ideas to the domain Industry and it will be a shame to see the bad blood that has developed between these and other companies to distract everyone from the main goal which is to have more domain sales across all platforms.

Those who are adding fuel to this fight are doing the domaining community a disservice, we need all sales platforms to be thriving and doing more sales and that can only be achieved if everyone is engaged in Fair Competition.

IMO

 

[simran.net]

It is too bad for both good companies.

You both will not only loose your customers. But also the trust you both had build these years.

This fight makes customers like me to get panic.
Many will simply move to other places as they don't have time to listen your street fight and judge.

You both have to settle quickly for your good.

Your biggest enemy is your EGO.
Quote by .... (Just me )

 

[NickB]

This thread is turning into the usual farce of pro registrar and anti registrar comments...

Dan and Epik have both fu**Ed up.. ...

"Privileged groups work for greater power consolidation through favoritism."

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

At least corona will be the same in another six months...
I don't expect any aftermarket growth... Nowadays regfee domains are primary choice for most endusers.

 

[Lox]

On the subject of fair competition and fair trade,

Who is making all these fake bids at some of the sales platforms (and also auctions) and why is it that some platforms are having more than their fair share of these fake bids.

This is the biggest thing that has plagued the domain Industry, whether these fake bids are by random (which I doubt it) or are being done purposely as a part of a conspiracy to undermine the competition (or in the case of auctions to drive up the prices) it needs to be looked at more closely.

IMO

There is a considerable number of "networks" / "clusters" that play some kind of agency or broker role - in essence: front runners buoyed up by some of well known individuals ... is a real tragedy that is impacting dn aftermarket. Pressure-Vacuum Makers or Resetting aftermarket price interrupters ... yet another story. No further comments. Good luck!

Regards

 

[oldtimer]

There is a considerable number of "networks" / "clusters" that play some kind of agency or broker role - in essence: front runners buoyed up by some of well known individuals ... is a real tragedy that is impacting dn aftermarket. Pressure-Vacuum Makers or Resetting aftermarket price interrupters ... yet another story. No further comments. Good luck!

Regards

Anticompetitive and unfair trade practices that are designed to target the consumers or the competition in negative ways have gotten many companies large and small in trouble in the past.

Once the domain Industry becomes the focus of attention same as some of the tech companies that we hear about on the news then no matter how well these Individuals and Companies try to cloak their wrong activities they will get exposed after the many layers of protection that they have created around themselves are taken away and their true identities and intentions are revealed for everyone to see.

Those who want to continue with these anticompetitive and unfair practices are sooner or later going to get the whole domain Industry in trouble and ultimately will cause the Industry to be regulated even further and be restricted in so many new ways.

The Domainers and Companies that are involved in the domain Industry have a good thing going for them and perhaps are even enjoying a boon even as many other Industries are shrinking,

So ask yourselves,

Why let a few Individuals and Companies who don't want to play by the rules ruin a good thing for everyone else.

The idea is to have more sales across all platforms and everyone will benefit if the domain Industry collectively works towards this goal.

Positive and Constructive Competition = Everyone Wins!

Anticompetitive and Unfair Practices = Everyone loses!



IMO

 

[Bob Hawkes]

While being their own registrar would be advantageous in a number of ways, and a natural step that DAN have publicly talked about for some time, one consequence as I understand it is that due to the registry restriction regarding .in domain names, if they are a registrar for those names they can not also handle aftermarket sales. I guess the obvious solution would be to be a registrar, but not for that TLD. With .in becoming more and more important as an extension, I have never understood the reasoning for this rule. It places Sedo and DAN (currently) able to handle them, but Afternic and the registrar marketplaces not, as I understand it.

More generally, if DAN were a registrar with competitive prices they would gain a lot of market share quickly I think, just because of the ease of handling transfers.

I think the existing registrar marketplaces, will all continue to do well too though.

As noted above, making the economics of being a registrar work usually stands partly on funds made from the more lucrative aspects like selling web hosting and other services.

Bob