The next Dan...

[Mkt Sales Leads]

Now the dust has settled on the GoDaddy acquisition of Dan, some might be wondering who is the next possible contender to disrupt the industry. What what it's worth, I believe the likely competitor will come from either Namecheap or Dynadot (the latter since their UI/UX is similarly friendly like Dan's).

If you think either company has a chance, what would it take (e.g. in terms of finances and vision/strategic direction) for either to seriously rival GoDaddy?

Secondly, do you think the competitor will be a total newcomer?

 

[DaaZ]

I checked DaaZ, and, on a spot view, liked it. All except the VAT thing and VAT invoices (my) to DaaZ buyers. I am not in EU or UK and have nothing to do with the EU/UK VAT.

As you are outside of UK, you no need to worry about the VAT part. We only charge success fee to you , no VAT applicable for you.

Can DaaZ simplify the things by 1) "purchasing" the domain from me - no VAT involved and 2) selling the domain to enduser with or without VAT, depending on buyers location, adding VAT if required, and issuing any and all invoices from DaaZ / with your VAT id which is what the buyers need, at least EU-based buyers/ so my non-EU company would not be included at all into the docs the buyers may require? It is how afternic works for example, so should be possible imo

DaaZ is not going to purchase from sellers and then sell to the buyers , our team has decided not to support that model. This is not going to change anytime in the future too. We are very clear on that.

We want a transparent marketplace, where sellers directly sell to the buyers.. DaaZ charges a small success fee to the sellers , this small success fee helps DaaZ to meet its operational costs. Seller issues invoice to the buyer, DaaZ issue the invoice to the seller for success fee.

In terms of allowing sellers to list domain names including VAT and excluding VAT , at the moment all list prices includes VAT by default, this is to offer a unique checkout experience to the buyers.
It's an inspiration we took from Amazon / other popular ecommerce marketplaces.
e.g: Retail buyers love to know the price they are paying for it , potential buyer has noticed the price of a domain name is 1000 usd from landing page or search page .. and at the time of checkout another 20% for VAT collection may frustrate the retail buyers who are not VAT registered.

Very likely will come-up with an innovative solution for a seller to express the net take home amount for their domain name , DaaZ handles the display part effectively on landing pages without compromising the buying experience. It may take some time, but certainly we will address this concern. We will keep you posted.

 

[tonyk2000]

It's an inspiration we took from Amazon

In Amazon case, buyers from EU _will_ see different price on checkout depending on their shipping address, as it is the EU requirement. If you buy something on amazon.FR from FRance - you have to pay french VAT rate. If you buy the same thing on amazon.FR but you are from Ireland - then you have to pay irish VAT rate (different). So the invoices would be different. In both cases, the seller, being VAT-registered company "Amazon", will collect the VAT and issue appropriate VAT invoice to full satisfaction of their buyers.

So, actually, there is no inspiration (the final amount to pay may be different).

The problem in DaaZ case is that my company, not being EU-based, is simply unable to issue VAT invoices to full satisfaction of the EU-based buyers. I may also guess that if DaaZ seller is a natural person, he may well prefer to have his personal details being private in all times (which includes the buyers billing). The last but not the least, it is unclear what EU taxmen will say if their residents (DaaZ buyers) will not pay VAT at all (I cannot charge VAT being non-EU company, DaaZ wouldn't charge VAT because it is your selection to pass the VAT thing to the seller).

In any case, your selection is your selection and I respect it in full.