advice This has troubled me a lot for years but its hugely negative impact really bothers me now!!

[namemarket]

I have been working with a serious buyer since last October and we have exchanged dozens of emails for the last 6-months. During that time he slowly come up on the offer. A few days ago he sent me a message saying it was his best and final offer for the dot-org name he was going to use for a new startup nonprofit organization.

He asked if the price was okay with me and needed to know if okay right away. It took me until the next day to decide and it seemed certain we had a deal. However, he had already purchased an alternate name the night before via Godaddy or Afternic!

I asked why and the reply was he believed I would not accept his price and he noticed a very similar name for sale via GD/Afternic so he grabbed it right away rather than wait to hear from me the next day.

He explained how he typed in my name in GD to double-check price and on the same GD page below my name he noticed the plural version of my name for sale. Not only was the plural for sale it was also 6k less vs my singular name i.e. 2k vs 8k. He also indicated a reason he got it was by seeing it under my name on GD and not because he was looking for it.

When I told him the plural was far less known and significantly less used so maybe he should have both names (example.org and examples.org) he said it was good enough for him (but admitted my name was a lot better) saying he can use the 6k lower cost as working capital for the new nonprofit.

That type of scenario I am sure has happened to a lot of NP members but it's unlikely you would know about it. It really SUCKS big time when you think about it and how GD, DAN and others do not truly care if the visitor buys your name or an alternate name.

To help avoid that I recommend you use your own landing pages, or as an option find a place where no other domains show except your own name(s).

P.S. From messaging the best known member of NP there's a place named squadhelp (who I am not familiar with and never used) where it can be setup so someone else's similar names will not be there. Its a powerful plus, IMO. However the fact so many buyers automatically check at GD makes the situation hard to work around if not impossible to resolve.

 

[Mike Goodman]

For example I may pay GD as much as $500/year for it but only pay others $25/year based on traffic.

Now you're hallucinating.

Quite honestly, given what you've said in this thread, you would probably be better off by recognising domaining, or any other business or trade you wish to participate in, is never going to revolve around you. You will have to adapt to it or find a job where others take on the responsibility for decision making on your behalf.

Dreaming, whether you keep your dreams to yourself or tell the world about them, does not come with the "making a living" package.

 

[namemarket]

Why will GD do that when they make more advertising ngtlds on search results?

Those are just somewhat random numbers I was using of course they may have to charge more for it based on other revenue losses.

 

[johnn]

This is the problem for many people, myself included in the past, being greedy.
If you make a good profit then sell it. waiting for little more just scare the end users.
Remember cash is king. I would rather keep cash for a new purchase than nickel and dine on a name that has a buyer.
But you never know. You may get a higher offer in the near future. Just make sure you are not greedy again!!!

 

[namemarket]

Now you're hallucinating.

about what?

 

[namemarket]

Now you're hallucinating. Quite honestly, given what you've said in this thread, you would probably be better off by recognising domaining, or any other business or trade you wish to participate in, is never going to revolve around you. You will have to adapt to it or find a job where others take on the responsibility for decision making on your behalf. Dreaming, whether you keep your dreams to yourself or tell the world about them, does not come with the "making a living" package.

Thanks for the feedback but It appears you are missing the point. You are being treated unfairly and non-loyal if paying GD or anyone else 1000s of $ in renewal fees a year, giving them maybe tens of 1,000s of $ in commissions over the years, and maybe hosting your website and buying other products and ssl certs etc at high cost.

Then they inform your buyer looking for your exact name and tld about a similar non-EMD domain which is also lower priced and listed for sale listed by someone who has given GD little if any revenue and is not even a GD client but has his one and only domain on a little known member of the Reseller Network. Do you really think that is okay?

IMO, the least they can do is offer you an option to pay an appropriate fee for EMD exclusivity.

 

[Mike Goodman]

No, I am not missing the point, you are. GoDaddy is not your bosom buddy. It is a corporation and a conglomerate. Its purpose is to bring in revenues. In so doing it is entirely impersonal. It plays a numbers game and does so very skilfully. It is not going to mess around making special deals with small players. To be considered anything other than small you have to be dealing with them in the millions. Get used to it.

One final point: they don't know and don't care what your buyer was looking at. If you have been dealing directly how the hell could they know?

 

[DuDD]

• It's a shame it took so long for the name
  
  
• I agree with your "I recommend you use your own landing pages"

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks for the discussion of an important topic, everyone.

So sorry to hear of the loss of your pending sale, @namemarket, especially after such a long negotiation. Hopefully either that buyer, or another, will come back for your name at some point, recognizing the value of the singular.

On the general topic, I don't think there is any way to prevent buyers from finding out about other names. While we can be naturally upset if an agent for a company we use tells them, even that, could be argued that the agent has a duty to both the prospective buyer and the sellers, perhaps.

The practical question here is whether it is better to have your own landers on your own site so that someone that wants that name and comes to your site is not enticed by competitive names, or confused into inaction by too many choices. One can achieve that via your own site from scratch, services like Efty and others, white label site through SquadHelp, or similar individual marketplaces at a few of the registrars. While you don't lost leads directly to other names, at same time you do not potentially gain by the reverse process.

At places like Afternic, Sedo and DAN, the problem is that while the lander shows just your name, the link is right there to go to a site with many millions of names. Nevertheless, as noted, you may gain if they have many people searching who did not start with your name.

The brandable places are a little different, as they have a clientele who are browsing actively for names, and you just need to make sure your name is the best in a category, and it is competitively priced, perhaps (price does not matter to all buyers though).

The landers at places like Epik don't show a link to all listings at the registrar, while some other registrar landers do.

I would think it is good to have as many ways as possible to find our names, and therefore listed at multiple places.

I am personally leaning toward thinking there is value in having the lander where the competition is not front and center, though.

Anyway, lots to think about, and thanks everyone for the points made.

Bob

 

[akos]

It really SUCKS big time when you think about it and how GD, DAN and others do not truly care if the visitor buys your name or an alternate name.

Think of it the other way round:

How many times have you possibly sold a name due to it showing up as an alternative to something the end-user was searching?

I know how painful a lost sale can be, but hey this goes around and next time someone else's similar situation could benefit you as your name is the alternative which the buyer ends up purchasing.

 

[biggie]

Think of it the other way round:

How many times have you possibly sold a name due to it showing up as an alternative to something the end-user was searching?

Hi

great point to present!
as some often only see one side of the coin.

if you park your names with ppc, then you might get some $, while waiting for offers....
and won't have to worry about other alternative names showing up....unless you add them as "related searches"

don't be so quick to throw a rock, at something you can't break.
just use other options.

imo....

 

[DomainVP]

Always use your own landers.

Hire a VA, or someone on Fiverr, and have them create a landing page for you.

Most hosting with unlimited domains can be obtained for $5-$7 monthly.

Add your domains to the host, change your nameservers, upload the page to the folder.

Done... now you don't have to rely on another persons landing page taking your mindshare.

You can upload your lists to every marketplance and not use their landers.

You can do it!

 

[bmugford]

I get what the OP is saying, but at the same time there are free market aspects at play.

My issue would be if GoDaddy used these leads to promote their own domains over those of others. That would be a definite conflict of interest.

Brad

 

[Lox]

I get what the OP is saying, but at the same time there are free market aspects at play.

My issue would be if GoDaddy used these leads to promote their own domains over those of others. That would be a definite conflict of interest.

Brad

Maybe ... from the GD DBS chat

 

[oldtimer]

In all honesty the problem here seems to be letting the negotiations to drag on for close to six months.

Now if someone has a six or seven figure domain name then long negotiations would be somewhat expected,

But for the average run of the mill of a four figure domain name it really is better to take the best offer that one can get that falls within 70% to 80% of the asking price rather than trying to extract the most amount of money out of the domain especially if no one else has shown any serious interest in the domain at hand.

Now only if I could make myself to listen to my own advice.

Disclaimer: I am not an active seller, but I have come to pick up a few tips here and there by reading the forum that has made me come to these conclusions.


IMO

 

[namemarket]

In all honesty the problem here seems to be letting the negotiations to drag on for close to six months.....IMO

Yes and I agree and cannot believe it dragged on slowly for 6 mos especially when since day-1 we were not excessively too far apart. Even with the insane 1/2 year delay If not for my last 1-day delay it in-fact would have sold for my price. My bad

 

[Joe drake]

No, I am not missing the point, you are. GoDaddy is not your bosom buddy. It is a corporation and a conglomerate. Its purpose is to bring in revenues. In so doing it is entirely impersonal. It plays a numbers game and does so very skilfully. It is not going to mess around making special deals with small players. To be considered anything other than small you have to be dealing with them in the millions. Get used to it.

One final point: they don't know and don't care what your buyer was looking at. If you have been dealing directly how the hell could they know?

Hey mike FYI godaddy pulls some serious illegal crap I once had a client pay the buy service 69 bucks to bid 3500 on a domain that would net 3500 on they paid the fees after accepted the offer righ5 away the broker told me a day later that I’m sure he’s gonna go through with the buy because I just gave him a bunch of free bees , I told him why would he buy my name when your giving him name for zilch meaning handregges that dropped and close outs anyway the deal never went through and that s bag at godaddy cost me 3500 bucks ,so when the joe skylers of the world say that everything is on the up and up at godaddy I’d say bring up the recorded conversation I have the date that p o s Screwed me