discuss Sudden drop in inquires and sales in Afternic

[Ostrados]

I have experienced sudden drop in inquires in Afternic, I used to have several inquires per month, but in last 5 months I had 0 inquires!!

In terms of sales the first 4 months of 2025 have been very bad for me compared to previous years.

I know domaining can be random sometimes but the sudden drop of inquires is unusual which made me scratch my head.

What is going on?
Is it just me?

 

[DomainNature]

Same thing, even on Atom, it's because of AI, it will eat everything, even the internet as we know it.

 

[Qezdabo]

it's the economy.

 

[alcy]

imo domaining is dying slow death

for some 4yr now.

it all kinda started with bug drop of gd inquiries few yr back. now afternic etc.

let's face it we are all at mercy of gd afternic sedo for inquiries. they can decide to limit exposures..via boost or other bs fees.... or they can decide to offer zero exposure and not a thing we can do about it.. brokers can decide whatever too..

think about it.. all our salsa are either direct lander inquiry and buyer types name in browser... or some kind of market exposure from gd afternic sedo etx...

thia is 100percent of our sales
minus some weird 1 in million whois inquiry anomaly or another weirdo

 

[synecdoche]

When something similar happens to me, I try a few things to shake it up:

1. Change prices slightly (for example: 1999 to 1988) and "Resubmit Listing" within Afternic. Check the propogation on Godaddy and other Search paths to ensure proper FT connectivity.
2. Shift Landers away from Godaddy (to Atom etc) for a month.
3. Toggle on/off installment settings.
4. Put a small portion of my portfolio in liquidation prices on Afternic (less than $100-$200) to ensure that connections/plumbing is accurate and that buyers are able to checkout

It is not proper science, but after making these changes, things seem to move/click and everything seems back to normal. Only to have this spell/doubt again in 3 months time! Hope this helps.

 

[NameGroove]

it's the economy.

The US economy is possibly in recession. If true, this likely causes domains sales to drop

 

[phaethon]

April used to be my best month every year, but no sales this April!
However, I had two nice sales since the beginning of 2025, but I did not have any sales over the previous years during Q1.
Randomness combined with bad economy and relatively small folio, I guess..

 

[AEProgram]

they are probably doing a better job at weeding out the inquiries from bots. Do you really miss the endless display of stalled status entries?

Domain sales report show people are buying and escrow . com also reported good numbers. I don't have much luck but we can't say people are not spending on domains, they are.

What lander are you using? How many domains?

 

[Ostrados]

What lander are you using? How many domains?

I use Afternic buy now landers..

I have more than 700 domains (down from around 900 after dropping a lot of domains in last 6 months)

 

[AEProgram]

I use Afternic buy now landers..

I have more than 700 domains (down from around 900 after dropping a lot of domains in last 6 months)

if you go back to inquiry landers you will get a few inquiries a week, all bots but if you want something rather than nothing, that will keep you happy.

 

[dirk]

I have experienced sudden drop in inquires in Afternic, I used to have several inquires per month, but in last 5 months I had 0 inquires!!

In terms of sales the first 4 months of 2025 have been very bad for me compared to previous years.

I know domaining can be random sometimes but the sudden drop of inquires is unusual which made me scratch my head.

What is going on?
Is it just me?

I stopped using them cos, let's tell it like it it, they're crap.

no more Dan/GoDaddy/AN for me.

Switched to sedo entirely (+own lander mix I was always/already using) and inquiries and sales increased. Had a particularly good April tbh. Q1 2025 has already surpassed 2024 altogether.

But you know, every portfolio is different. If you're able to explore and test your options and experience yourself what gives you best results, go for it!

I skimmed through the thread and do agree the tanking US economy plays a part. I switched to 90% (roughly) pricing in € , everything else priced in $ I increased my ask.

So yeah... It's getting more expensive real fast. It doesn't impact the outlier sales when buyers have deep pockets but I do experience more hesitation from people acquiring names for their mom and pop businesses.

 

[kesen]

We have 3300 names, and got 80k usd on Af from Jan. to March, but only 1 LTO sale 2988 USD on April 5, then 0 sales this month.

 

[JB Lions]

Sales are always happening but of course overall they’re going to take a hit. People tend to tighten up a bit on spending when they’re unsure of where things are going. Still have the tariff situation hanging over the markets and likely recession. Consumer sentiment continues to drop.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1915780450867458371

https://twitter.com/x/status/1914469511048147421

 

[Ostrados]

I stopped using them cos, let's tell it like it it, they're crap.

no more Dan/GoDaddy/AN for me.

Switched to sedo entirely (+own lander mix I was always/already using) and inquiries and sales increased. Had a particularly good April tbh. Q1 2025 has already surpassed 2024 altogether.

But you know, every portfolio is different. If you're able to explore and test your options and experience yourself what gives you best results, go for it!

I am not sure if I will dare switching to Sedo landers because of the uncertainty if this will help or make things worse.

Afternic worked for me in the past, so there is no reason to stop working now.. I am trying to figure out:
- Is it randomness? (just me)
- it is a global recession ?
- Afternic changed something in their algorithm?

 

[phaethon]

I am not sure if I will dare switching to Sedo landers because of the uncertainty if this will help or make things worse.

Afternic worked for me in the past, so there is no reason to stop working now.. I am trying to figure out:
- Is it randomness? (just me)
- it is a global recession ?
- Afternic changed something in their algorithm?

I had a dry spell from July that I made 6K till January. It's normal I guess for portfolios of 500 names or so.
Sedo has been completely dead for me, never received a single enquiry. I don't use their landers though.
Sales started again when I switched back to 'reasonable' prices.
I also got a sale a week after I opted out of Boost. Random?

 

[zomainhacks]

Sales are better that previous year on my side

 

[Bob Hawkes]

In terms of sales the first 4 months of 2025 have been very bad for me compared to previous years.

My 2025 so far has been the worse in several years, when I had a smaller portfolio. I agree with those who point out that any individual seller, at least those with 1000 or fewer names, there is expected to be ups and downs due to small number variability. But I suspect this is more than that.

Afternic worked for me in the past, so there is no reason to stop working now.. I am trying to figure out:
- Is it randomness? (just me)
- it is a global recession ?
- Afternic changed something in their algorithm?

Partly randomness. I had a great November, one retail in December, than just a few wholesale. I keep waiting for s pickup like I had a couple of weeks in November.

I think it is indeed largely business uncertainty. What business could possibly make sense to start in the current climate of uncertainty, tariffs changing by the day? While a stock market pullback was overdue, this has taken things way beyond that. Tearing up existing trade agreements, would be like us having a LTO and they tell us mid way through that the terms were going to change, or half way through a registration that they were simply stopping the registration. We need to be able to trust agreements and terms that we agreed to.

I still think that sending those at Afternic to search on GoDaddy, and mixing in various hand registrations of questionable relevance, has made the situation for selling harder. Afternic still have a huge advantage in the familiarity with the GoDaddy brand and their network of registrars, etc., and sales continue to come because of those. I think their landers are good, and good they offer LTO. I just hope that some month they will finally realize how negative their search move of a year ago has been.

I don't agree that domaining is dead, but I do think we are in the most challenging time since at least 2008, and probably going back further than that.

It is a time to focus on the best names, to be somewhat ruthless in renewing questionable names.

As a positive, we have never had better resources to close deals, present names, etc. It may be time to think in terms of a post domain marketplace environment, of new ways to get our domain names found, and to have more control over everything.

But mainly, we need to move into a period with less global friction, a more business like and consistent approach to world trade, or the climate for startup names will continue to be negative.

Bob

PS I agree with the suggestion that in stagnant sales it is a good time to try switching things up: move pricing up and down, change landers, try new options.

PPS Sorry for the rant. I am glad some people are still having good success. Congratulations. But I am not surprised that multiple sellers have said the last months have been poor in terms of sales and leads.

 

[Chris CPD]

I have a portfolio of around 3500 domains. Only had a single sale of $3000 a couple of months ago and nothing since. Hope we all see improvement soon!

 

[dirk]

I am not sure if I will dare switching to Sedo landers because of the uncertainty if this will help or make things worse.

Afternic worked for me in the past, so there is no reason to stop working now.. I am trying to figure out:
- Is it randomness? (just me)
- it is a global recession ?
- Afternic changed something in their algorithm?

Well, if it works it works. Don't try to fix something if it ain't broken.

I also used Dan a lot, it was a great sales venue for me. When GoDaddy killed it, all sales there (Dan/AN) dried right up. So yeah, I have zero doubt changes made to their algorithm is affecting sales. Problem with AN, they exist to make THEM money.

It's not a sales venue, it's just another GoDaddy revenue stream. They are YOUR competitor.

Granted, there's also some randomness involved, my experience is just anecdotal so there's probably people who have a different experience.

Then there's the "recession"... Consumer confidentiality plummeted all across the board, specifically in the US. Where I saw an increase in sales (not limited to domaining) to EU clients I saw a decrease of sales to US customers, Q1. Reasons for this might vary...

Then there's crypto which is not doing that great atm. Reasons it is slacking are about the same. When crypto is high, lots of people are sitting on "free" money... Sales will happen. When there's a lot of uncertainty... People just divert their funds or hodl, hoping for better times.

The effect of slacking crypto has a bigger affect on you if your business is more US focussed.

Again, just my experience. Not talking outliers but average sales ranging from high xxx to low xxxx , which are common everyday numbers.

 

[Blueleaf66]

Currently have around 450 domains. Sold 2 names in January, 1 in February, 2 in March & 1 this month (just before the tariff stuff). Overall around $16k in sales - the best year so far. However, inquiries have stopped almost completely since the last sale early this month - and this is unusual for me.