warning Unfair Afternic commission

[Igor Gabrielan]

I was contacted by an Afternic broker to buy a domain for his client. I wasn't even registered on the website afternic.com. Naturally, this domain was not in their listings or marketplace. The domain was sold for $25,000. Afternic wants to keep a 30% commission from me. Their rules are that the buyer pays the broker $99 + 20% of the sale price.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1953750227581546632

 

[fka1080405]

Hi Igor,

I worked on this with management today. Can you please do me a favor and create another afternic.com account with a different username than IgorGabrielan?

Your previous username was IgorGabrielan it's not letting me add wix.ai to your new Afternic account because it's reading a previously deleted Afternic account with this same username.

Please let me know your username for the new afternic.com account you create, and I'll get wix.ai added into the account so we can get the transfer and sale completed.


Thank you,
Mauli

There is still missing context. Can you provide all of the communication, from the beginning? GoDaddy's Domain Broker Service is not connected to Afternic, this email does not explain why Afternic was mentioned. When was Afternic first mentioned? Afternic should not have been part of this conversation so we need to track down why it was mentioned, and whether it was GoDaddy at fault for telling you to use Afternic.

You can read about the seller side journey on the GoDaddy Domain Broker Service help page "Domain Broker Service: a seller's roadmap" which clearly shows no involvement of Afternic.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

In brokerage deals, the buyer pays. 99 dollars and 20% on the results of the transaction. No minimization by disabling Boost and switching nameservers is necessary.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

First email:

Hi Igor,

How is your spring going? I have one that I think is worth sending over to you to start negotiations.

Please see the offer made from a lead/buyer:

Domain: wix.ai

Offer Gross, USD: $20,000


Can you please let m know:

Your Asking BIN Price Gross USD:

Your Floor Price:


The Atom Appraisal price is $270,000. Would you please let me know your price?

I'd really love to sell your domains.


Thanks,
Mauli

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Мe: $25,000

 

[Future Sensors]

The Atom Appraisal price is

Lol.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Hi Igor,

Thank you for your message. I'd like to confirm that if we can get the buyer to $25,000 USD Gross (25k), you will accept this offer of $25,000 on wix.ai?

Thanks,

Mauli

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Me: Yes, I will confirm selling wix.ai for $25,000 Gross

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Hi Igor,

I hope your week is going well. The buyer is paying for wix.ai shortly. Then, you will receive an email from Afternic support to start the transfer. If you need me to assist at any point, please let me know. I'm here to help.

Thanks,
Mauli

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Me: OK

 

[fka1080405]

First email:

Hi Igor,

How is your spring going? I have one that I think is worth sending over to you to start negotiations.

Please see the offer made from a lead/buyer:

Domain: wix.ai

Offer Gross, USD: $20,000


Can you please let m know:

Your Asking BIN Price Gross USD:

Your Floor Price:


The Atom Appraisal price is $270,000. Would you please let me know your price?

I'd really love to sell your domains.


Thanks,
Mauli

Okay, this explains it. That message is from Afternic acting on your behalf, based on a pre-existing relationship, that is not a message from GoDaddy's Domain Broker Service which acts on behalf of buyers. You pay commission to Afternic in this situation because the buyer hasn't paid anything to GoDaddy.

When did you delete your Afternic account? Was the domain listed in your Afternic account before you deleted it?

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Once again, yes, I used the word 'gross', I just copied it without understanding, but in this case gross = net = $25,000.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

When did you delete your Afternic account? Was the domain listed in your Afternic account before you deleted it?

I don't remember exactly, I deleted the account probably a year ago. I don't remember what domains were there.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Okay, this explains it. That message is from Afternic acting on your behalf, based on a pre-existing relationship, that is not a message from GoDaddy's Domain Broker Service which acts on behalf of buyers. You pay commission to Afternic in this situation because the buyer hasn't paid anything to GoDaddy.

But this, according to the LinkedIn account, is GoDaddy's employee. GoDaddy's brokers had not taken a commission from me before.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

It looks like GoDaddy broker lured me to Afternic's website to get a reason to get 30% from me in addition to 20% from the buyer.

A fraudulent scheme is emerging:

the buyer pays GoDaddy broker a $99 to conduct this transaction, the broker, instead of conducting the transaction on GoDaddy's website, lures seller to Afternic website, gets 20% from the buyer and 30% from the seller.

 

[fka1080405]

But this, according to the LinkedIn account, is GoDaddy's employee. GoDaddy's brokers had not taken a commission from me before.

I don't remember exactly, I deleted the account probably a year ago. I don't remember what domains were there.

GoDaddy own Afternic. GoDaddy employees work on both GoDaddy's Broker Service and Afternic. The difference in fees depends on who the broker represents. In this case, the broker represented you, so you pay the fee.

My best guess as to what happened:

1. You had an Afternic account
2. You listed the domain wix.ai for sale
3. Your Afternic account was deactivated / deleted / disabled
4. Your Afternic listings remained active for some reason (?)
5. The buyer found wix.ai via your Afternic listing
6. The buyer submitted an offer which went to an Afternic broker (who represents you)
7. The broker reached out to you using the information on file
8. After agreeing a deal with the buyer, they discovered you had deleted your Afternic account, so they asked you to make a new one

Unfortunately, I don't see a clear path to arguing that you should not be due to pay the fee to Afternic. The sale came via Afternic and was handled by Afternic. The buyer hasn't paid any fee or commission. The broker is getting paid out of the commission you're paying, without your payment, the broker will not get paid.

You could try and appeal to the broker with a message like this...

"Hi Mauli,

When I received your initial email, I thought you were contacting me on behalf of the GoDaddy Broker Service which represents buyers. I deleted my Afternic account last year so I was unaware that I still had a relationship with Afternic.

As a result of this sale going through Afternic, I have been charged a 30% commission. I thought that because you were the GoDaddy Broker Service, the buyer was paying the commission. I am very confused by this and I would not have agreed to the sale if I had known you were contacting me on behalf of Afternic instead of the GoDaddy Broker Service.

Can you please waive the commission being charged by Afternic? I feel misled that this deal was via Afternic, when I deleted my Afternic account a year ago.

Thank you."

I think this is very unlikely to work, but you can try!

It looks like GoDaddy broker lured me to Afternic's website to get a reason to get 30% from me in addition to 20% from the buyer.

A fraudulent scheme is emerging:

the buyer pays GoDaddy broker a $99 to conduct this transaction, the broker, instead of conducting the transaction on GoDaddy's website, lures seller to Afternic website, gets 20% from the buyer and 30% from the seller.

The broker has no incentive to push a sale through Afternic instead of the GoDaddy Broker Service. The broker contacted you from the very beginning on behalf of Afternic based on your pre-existing relationship with Afternic, they did not switch from the GoDaddy Broker Service to Afternic at any point.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

5. The buyer found wix.ai via your Afternic listing

I probably had domains car.ai store.ai space.ai on my closed Afternic account.
Can find them on the Afternic website?

I get a lot of requests, but no one has ever approached me like they found a domain on a closed Afterniс account.

Is it possible to hire a broker GoDaddy+Afternic without paying him $99 and promising to pay 20% of the final price?

 

[xwat]

I had a godaddy broker contact me for a client last year. They wanted my domain name and one of the first things the broker said to me was that I would not pay any brokerage fees. I we did the negotiation thing and finally agreed to $40K. I got all of the money. While I have domains with Godaddy this domain was elsewhere.

I think I am going to delist all of my domains from Afternic and list on SEDO.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

Me:

Is it possible to hire a broker GoDaddy+Afternic without paying him $99 and promising to pay 20% of the final price?

Grok 4 Heavy:

Standard Fees for GoDaddy/Afternic Domain Broker Service​

GoDaddy (which owns Afternic) charges a non-refundable upfront fee of $99.99 per domain for their Domain Broker Service, plus a 20% commission on the final sale price if the domain is successfully acquired. This applies to both buying and selling scenarios where a broker negotiates on your behalf. Afternic's brokerage is integrated with GoDaddy's, so the same fees apply.

Is It Possible to Avoid These Fees?​

No, official sources do not mention any ways to waive, avoid, or negotiate around the $99.99 fee or 20% commission for using their broker service. The upfront fee is always required to initiate the process, and the commission is standard upon success.

 

[Igor Gabrielan]

So whoever hired a broker to buy the domain inevitably had to pay $99 + 20%. Why are they trying to charge me an extra 30%?

 

[xwat]

Me:

Is it possible to hire a broker GoDaddy+Afternic without paying him $99 and promising to pay 20% of the final price?

I am still confused about what you are trying to say. Did you hire a broker and were contacted by your broker or did you not have anything to do with godaddy or afternic and were contacted by them out of the blue?

This should all be worked out before you agree to anything. If you have not transferred the domain do not do it if you are unhappy with the fees and accept no money.