advice Strange Afternic situation - had 0 sales in a month (7K names)

[twiki]

Now this is quite weird and I have seen nothing like it.

I'm getting offers and sales each other day at Dan where I park my domains. So things are good there.

But on the other hand, I had zero sales in the last 30 days at Afternic with arond 7K names listed. Nothing appears wrong technically, they also show up on GD, what on earth is going on? (scratching head)

My next step is to move to offer only at Afternic cause this is what I use at Dan and see what happens.

But anyway, 7 k names, out of which 4.5 K are coms and the rest a mix of .co, net and org. I know their pricing is alright, this is also reason why I get a lot of offers at Dan (got 5 today and accepted 3).

Any tips appreciated!

 

[twiki]

This is no joke NP community must be aware about this algorithm change!
This means heavy drop in sales for everyone

Don't panic.

It's not for everyone. When someone goes down, others go up.

This algo change is a supposition for now. It has to be proven first, I must emphasize.

Note, If you had sales since the beginning of October, I think you are not affected by this thing, whatever it is.

Furthermore, the kind of ordering you mentioned is not uncommon, I saw that even 6 -12 months ago. But my listings are buried like 500 places deep.

On a final note, a business is aiming to make money, so if the new changes (whatever they are) bring more money to Afternic, they're entitled to keep those changes and whoever affected has to adapt. It's nothing personal, it's just business.

 

[Ostrados]

All the results I get are .co.uk. I guess if an American types it in your name should show up first?

It seems that is the case, I searched from USA (using proxy) and it showed VeryHighly(.com) in the top.

I am not in UK but for some reason Godaddy always set my page to UK!
But even if I am in UK GD must show .com immeditately after .co.uk not after .tech, .club, .online..etc

 

[twiki]

All the results I get are .co.uk. I guess if an American types it in your name should show up first?

It makes sense due to what people generally buy in each country (handregs and local tlds), they’re only going by what their data tells them

I see the same, many .co.uk are top. Which country are you browsing from?

 

[Ostrados]

Don't panic.

It's not for everyone. When someone goes down, others go up.

This algo change is a supposition for now. It has to be proven first, I must emphasize.

Note, If you had sales since the beginning of October, I think you are not affected by this thing, whatever it is.

Furthermore, the kind of ordering you mentioned is not uncommon, I saw that even 6 -12 months ago. But my listings are buried like 500 places deep.

On a final note, a business is aiming to make money, so if the new changes (whatever they are) bring more money to Afternic, they're entitled to keep those changes and whoever affected has to adapt. It's nothing personal, it's just business.

I don't think they impose a penalty on anyone (similar to SEO penalty) I think it is just pure algorithm. I suggest that you contact Godaddy and ask about this.

 

[griff]

I see the same, many .co.uk are top. Which country are you browsing from?

I’m from the UK so it makes sense to see .co.uk plus a couple of .com’s. I guess the reason that the EM .com doesn’t show at all is that the majority will register a cheaper handreg even over an exact premium more times than not?

As a side, I’m sure many more sales come from entering the full name + extension, rather than seeing the similar names, so it can’t just be this issue I guess

 

[twiki]

I’m from the UK so it makes sense to see .co.uk plus a couple of .com’s. I guess the reason that the EM .com doesn’t show at all is that the majority will register a cheaper handreg even over an exact premium more times than not?

As a side, I’m sure many more sales come from entering the full name + extension, rather than seeing the similar names, so it can’t just be this issue I guess

I'm in Europe and i get similar results for some reason.

Anyway, been thinking. Why would GD/ Afternic put their .coms at the top? This is the most obvious choice. But I think their actual choice might be different, and perhaps counter-intuitive.

So, I suspect they'd rather put the lower value ones to get these sold at first - so they have more chances to sell more. Like my corner fruit shop who keeps the perfect apples hidden so they sell the meh ones first. The .com has a much higher likelihood of sale, so they can keep that for later as it might get sold anyway. No worries if low in the listing, who really wants it will get it regardless.

 

[twiki]

I just realized why my listings are at the bottom of the barrel, and it's not what you think.

Quite a "duh..." moment.

The reason is time left, which is the default sorting at GD.

When you list your domains, they show up in GD platform based on time left, with the quicker expiring ones at the top. The new ones are set at 45 days, and these are at the bottom and make their way up as the time goes. So you get good days and bad days depending on where you currently are. I assume once that expires you are re-set for another 45 days cycle.

Unfortunately, lately I kept tweaking my prices and uploading the list... with the sole result of getting my domains back at the bottom of the barrel each time.

My advice to you is, don't touch your prices. Set them, fire and forget. Each time you edit you reset your 45-day counter and get to the bottom again.

This is good insight for myself at least. Hope it helps others as well!

 

[D Haynes]

Don't forget that any names you have registered with Epik won't be available for the Afternic fast transfer anymore so that might have had an effect.

 

[UncleBrand]

may i suggest that you redirect all your domains to sedo using their NS1. Sedo parking and NS2...
then you have to go to your dashboard and edit the "LAYOUT" ,
the LAYOUT i like is the "Sales Lander v4 Statistics" (provide stats on visits on each domain, so you can adjust the price)

as you have 7k domains, you should be getting a few sales each month

SEDO improved a lot these last year,
increasing their conversion when you use their BIN landing page
+ SEDO is localized, this mean a chinese can buy one of your domain without understanding english.
and this goes for the major world languages which they cover

DAN is a pain in the neck, and it will take you a full week to edit your setting for 7K domains
they have done a poor job when it come to import/export tools to manage a large portfolio

 

[twiki]

may i suggest that you redirect all your domains to sedo using their NS1. Sedo parking and NS2...
then you have to go to your dashboard and edit the "LAYOUT" ,
the LAYOUT i like is the "Sales Lander v4 Statistics" (provide stats on visits on each domain, so you can adjust the price)

as you have 7k domains, you should be getting a few sales each month

SEDO improved a lot these last year,
increasing their conversion when you use their BIN landing page
+ SEDO is localized, this mean a chinese can buy one of your domain without understanding english.
and this goes for the major world languages which they cover

DAN is a pain in the neck, and it will take you a full week to edit your setting for 7K domains
they have done a poor job when it come to import/export tools to manage a large portfolio

I really don't understand this. It takes me a fraction of a second to upload my updated list at Dan. Don't see where the pain in the neck is.

Furthermore, my buyers are 95% US-based so I care little about localization. Everyone else is generally a non-payer in my case (including China, Israel etc). Germans are alright but they understand English.

Third, Sedo has only sold ONE domain for me valued 80EUR. Waste of time.

I appreciate your comment though.

 

[twiki]

Don't forget that any names you have registered with Epik won't be available for the Afternic fast transfer anymore so that might have had an effect.

Thank you. I have mostly .co's there. We'll see.

Offtopic note: I still don't understand why Epik is picking a fight with everyone else around... this does not bode well for them in the long term.

 

[UncleBrand]

Don't panic.

It's not for everyone. When someone goes down, others go up.

This algo change is a supposition for now. It has to be proven first, I must emphasize.

Note, If you had sales since the beginning of October, I think you are not affected by this thing, whatever it is.

Furthermore, the kind of ordering you mentioned is not uncommon, I saw that even 6 -12 months ago. But my listings are buried like 500 places deep.

On a final note, a business is aiming to make money, so if the new changes (whatever they are) bring more money to Afternic, they're entitled to keep those changes and whoever affected has to adapt. It's nothing personal, it's just business.

I really don't understand this. It takes me a fraction of a second to upload my updated list at Dan. Don't see where the pain in the neck is.

Furthermore, my buyers are 95% US-based so I care little about localization. Everyone else is generally a non-payer in my case (including China, Israel etc). Germans are alright but they understand English.

Third, Sedo has only sold ONE domain for me valued 80EUR. Waste of time.

I appreciate your comment though.

DAN is a terrible marketplace
i have a record of failed transaction at DAN
this mean a lot of time wasted with guys who a re just browsing with no strong intent to buy

my best sales come from SEDO/Afternic at Bin, with a few negotiated sales that close in 80% of the request

it's a business where converion is a major factor,
so if you can increase your annual sales by 20-50% will you switch to another markektplace

DAN drive almost zero traffic to your domains, you get type-in traffic which is not the case of AFTERNIC/SEDO

this last 2 years my sales at AFTERNIC came from domain who have a SEDO lander, so it's not type-in traffic

 

[JB Lions]

Oh this is very bad.. I have just tried searching on Godaddy and I confirm what you have noticed!

I searched for keyword VeryHighly and instead of showing the the exact match .com (my domain) on top Godaddy is showing domains in the following order:

1. veryhighly.co.uk
2. veryhigh.co.uk
3. veryhighly.club
4. trulyhighly.co.uk
5. veryhighly.tech
6. very-highly.com
7. veryhighly.live
8. veryhighly.com <-- Finally!

Really Godaddy?! instead of showing closest variations in .com GD put .tech .live & .club first! they even put the hyphenated .com version before my domain!

I don't understand why they are doing this, it seems they are more interested in selling domains for $0.9 than taking a 20% commission on 4 figure sales.

In the U.S. when I search GoDaddy for veryhighly, I see the .com with the Buy It Now at top.

Premium Domain
veryhighly.com
Call (480) 366-3343 for buying assistance
+$17.99/yr $4,799.00

 

[Skyvisum]

@johnn

Have faith also . Its been good on afternic..

 

[Windoms]

In the U.S. when I search GoDaddy for veryhighly, I see the .com with the Buy It Now at top.

Premium Domain
veryhighly.com
Call (480) 366-3343 for buying assistance
+$17.99/yr $4,799.00

Its the same in all countries.
If you type any domain and add .com at the end, it will show up first.

 

[JB Lions]

Its the same in all countries.
If you type any domain and add .com at the end, it will show up first.

I typed it in without the .com.

veryhighly or very highly

 

[Windoms]

I typed it in without the .com.

veryhighly or very highly

Same for me, but they are saying that when you are in germany and you type
"Domainforsale" in search bar, it will show "domainforsale.de" first instead of "domainforsale.com".

I think its different for OP because he's in EU.
Whatever domain I type shows .com for sale first, followed by some very sharp handreg alternatives, all .com, in the first section "alternative suggestions".
Like
Very-highly
Trulyhighly
Etc..
All .com.

Then followed the a second section "all other extensions".
.org
.net
.tech

The first section "alternative suggestions" is scaringly good, whatever you type.

Cant blame them for helping their customers, I find that to be a great algorythm.

@twiki either
1/ unlucky
2/ domains are not good
3/ something else

 

[Windoms]

I think its different for OP because he's in EU.
Whatever domain I type shows .com for sale first

Whatever domain I type, without adding .com.
Just to be clear.
Like searching for "apple".
Shows apple.com first, as not for sale.

 

[twiki]

Same for me, but they are saying that when you are in germany and you type
"Domainforsale" in search bar, it will show "domainforsale.de" first instead of "domainforsale.com".

I think its different for OP because he's in EU.
Whatever domain I type shows .com for sale first, followed by some very sharp handreg alternatives, all .com, in the first section "alternative suggestions".
Like
Very-highly
Trulyhighly
Etc..
All .com.

Then followed the a second section "all other extensions".
.org
.net
.tech

The first section "alternative suggestions" is scaringly good, whatever you type.

Cant blame them for helping their customers, I find that to be a great algorythm.

@twiki either
1/ unlucky
2/ domains are not good
3/ something else

3) Something else. Too frequent edits.

I kept tweaking prices and trying discounts, different min offer etc since October. The result hasn't been good cause each time you edit a domain, it pushes the domain at the bottom of the list in GD as it resets the 45 days time span every time you do that. So it has been at the bottom most of the time.

Domains are good, cause they kept selling at Afternic the whole year. And they sell quite well at Dan. So it's neither domain or the lack of luck.

 

[urlurl]

i typed in veryhighly (in canada) and it didn't even show!

 

[urlurl]

after other extensions and alternatives - these premium names were somewhere in the middle of the list:

veryquite.com

Estimated Value

Call 1-866-938-1119 for buying assistance

+$17.99/yr $377.00

Add to Cart

Premium

reallyvery.com

Estimated Value

Call 1-866-938-1119 for buying assistance

+$17.99/yr $377.00

Add to Cart

Premium

verysafe.co

Estimated Value

Call 1-866-938-1119 for buying assistance

+$34.99/yr $495.00

Add to Cart

Premium

verynatural.net

Estimated Value

Call 1-866-938-1119 for buying assistance

+$19.99/yr $456.00

Add to Cart

Premium

highlyspeculative.com

Estimated Value

Call 1-866-938-1119 for buying assistance

+$17.99/yr $300.00

Add to Cart

Premium

highlymotivational.com

Estimated Value

Call 1-866-938-1119 for buying assistance

+$17.99/yr $69.00

Add to Cart

Premium

highlyfun.com

Estimated Value

Call 1-866-938-1119 for buying assistance

+$17.99/yr $295.00

Add to Cart

Premium

highlymarketable.com

Estimated Value

Call 1-866-938-1119 for buying assistance

+$17.99/yr $199.00

Add to Cart

Premium

highlyindustrial.com

Estimated Value

Call 1-866-938-1119 for buying assistance

+$17.99/yr $300.00

Add to Cart

Premium

highlysensitive.co

Estimated Value

Call 1-866-938-1119 for buying assistance

+$34.99/yr $495.00

Add to Cart

 

[Future Sensors]

Although I'm visiting Godaddy from the Netherlands, I always prefer the US version of the Godaddy website, and all prices in USD. So years ago I set my default currency to USD in the account settings, and changed to "United States" + "USD" in the footer. It worked for years.

Nevertheless, Godaddy is increasingly geopushing me to the local NL<dot>godaddy<dot>com version of their site, with language Dutch, and prices set in EUR (and very unfavorable exchange rate). Some menu options that appear in the US version disappear at all, and I need them for domain management.

What I'm trying to say in the context of this conversation, is that it's getting more difficult every day to change back to the US version for me and other international visitors. As a consequence, I'm seeing other domain suggestions than in the past on the geosites as well.

 

[Windoms]

i typed in veryhighly (in canada) and it didn't even show!

Change country to US (bottom of the page).
When I set country to Canada it shows veryhighly.ca first.
Followed by .com. Do you see .com 2nd on the list?

Im thinking maybe you guys like to search for other extensions so it remembers it and offers you those instead of .coms. Could that be the case?

 

[Ostrados]

I just realized why my listings are at the bottom of the barrel, and it's not what you think.

Quite a "duh..." moment.

The reason is time left, which is the default sorting at GD.

When you list your domains, they show up in GD platform based on time left, with the quicker expiring ones at the top. The new ones are set at 45 days, and these are at the bottom and make their way up as the time goes. So you get good days and bad days depending on where you currently are. I assume once that expires you are re-set for another 45 days cycle.

Unfortunately, lately I kept tweaking my prices and uploading the list... with the sole result of getting my domains back at the bottom of the barrel each time.

My advice to you is, don't touch your prices. Set them, fire and forget. Each time you edit you reset your 45-day counter and get to the bottom again.

This is good insight for myself at least. Hope it helps others as well!

To confirm I suggest to watch your domains that have 1 to 2 days left in GD auctions and see how their positions get affected after the 45 cycle reset.

If that is confirmed then it means your domains will be pushed to bottom every 45 days, and your domains will have good exposure for only 5 days in every 45 days period. what are the chances that searches for your exact keywords will occur in these 5 days? The chances are low which means very low STR through Godaddy exposure.

Maybe that is the reason for low STR when using Afternic without landers (0.5% to 1% for me), which is odd because GD platform has huge exposure.

 

[twiki]

To confirm I suggest to watch your domains that have 1 to 2 days left in GD auctions and see how their positions get affected after the 45 cycle reset.

If that is confirmed then it means your domains will be pushed to bottom every 45 days, and your domains will have good exposure for only 5 days in every 45 days period. what are the chances that searches for your exact keywords will occur in these 5 days? The chances are low which means very low STR through Godaddy exposure.

Maybe that is the reason for low STR when using Afternic without landers (0.5% to 1% for me), which is odd because GD platform has huge exposure.

I'm pretty sure this is it because of the wild variation cycle in sales. You get no sales for 2-3 weeks then all of the sudden they start pouring.

They have huge exposure, but even larger inventory. This is the reason for the low STR. For each buyer/domain needed, there might be 5000 domains competing for the same sale.

I suspect this has only increased lately due to the pandemic. And combined with the higher threshold at buys and drop catch, it becomes an entry barrier too high for all newcomers today.

I came late to the party (just a few years ago), but I guess right now there are no seats left, even at the small corner table.