What does Afternic do for their 20% commission?

[xynames]

I listed on Afternic (AN) marketplace just a few weeks ago. Process very easy, just gave them my email address and they found all my domains. Some were disallowed though it seems, because they are apparently adult. One was loveminute How is that overtly adult, or even adult at all? They were supposed to notify me of any disallowed domains but have not - a small number of my 1500 domains are simply not there.

The same day I listed on AN, I received an inquiry to post a buy it now (BIN) price for a domain. I did, and ten minutes later the buyer bought it for $3500. (Guess I should have asked for more!).

Since then I have received multiple requests to set BIN prices on other domains. After I do this, what does AN do? Do they enter into discussions with the buyer? What are they doing to earn their 20%?

Obviously in the case of the ten minute later buyer, they didn't do much, but what about the buyers who don't buy right away?


With uniregistry, just to test, I made an inquiry on one of my own domains. All that happened is that I started getting boilerplate emails regularly asking me if I was still interested. Perhaps a little more interesting than what I describe as boilerplate, but not really much to them. I did not respond to the emails - perhaps I should, to see how the process goes, and how hard these guys try to sell my domains. Uniregistry commission is 15%, although they have told me that if I bring over my portfolio to them for registration they will lower that rate.


So at AN though, what do they do once a price inquiry is made? Maybe I should test out the process myself with a "buyer" to answer my own question.

 

[SpareDomains]

Most of my sales over 14 years have been direct through my own landing pages with no commissions being paid and then routed direct to an escrow service as most leads come in from the sales page so no sense handing those leads away at a cost. I have never been much of a domain parker even years ago when it paid better as a good sale can trump many years of parking earnings.

I have tested so many sales pages and domain market scripts over those 14 years and I'm currently happy with the simple page I'm using as week after week I receive names, emails, phone numbers, ip addresses so the database of end users continues to grow which builds your future instead of an aftermarkets future. Made sense back in the day when parking paid better but today doing your own thing is the winner if your in this for the long haul. Even though I'm seeing the best results ever on my current sales page yes I'm just about to test another one as the A/B split testing never ends.

If I had to pick 1 aftermarket to use and could only pick 1 to use it would definitely be Afternic as it's all about reach and they have the network. Do I think they could use some upgrades you bet but even though frustrating at times the best network is there.

So I use my own sales pages and the majority of sales happen direct but Afternic shows me more leads/sales than any other aftermarket as they have the reach and my domains don't even point to them they point to my own sales pages.

 

[NamesMax]

Afternic is worth the cost for the exposure they get your name. Much greater exposure, imho, than any other service including Sedo.

Play with your prices in differnt marketplaces. When I set a BIN price, I will usually discount it a little on my landing page to encourage the sale to happen there (commission free)

I recently sold a name that I had listed at 3 different prices. 1 price on my landing page, a higher price on Sedo, and an even higher price on Afternic.

Guess where it sold......Afternic because of the added exposure the name got on their extended network. If nothing else, that is how they earn their money.

 

[xynames]

Just sold another domain at Afternic for full asking of $20K.

 

[Tank]

They get your domains out there to be seen..

 

[Joe Styler]

I sit next to half the team who field the domain inquiries and try to close them. They try and get everyone to pay the asking price. What you don't hear are the hundreds of low ball offers they field each day and try and explain the value to the buyer to get them to your initial asking price.
We like the floor price because it saves us time. We find that the faster you can close a deal after the initial inquiry the more likely you are to get the sale. If we have a floor we can negotiate without having to tell the buyer to wait for us to contact the seller and wait for the email back with the minimum amount you are willing to take. That can take hours or days depending on the seller, their time zone, if they are on vacation etc, and we find that additional delays result in lost sales. Long way of saying we do not automatically close the deal on your floor price we try and get the asking price and only if we can't get them any higher we close the deal at the floor.

 

[Lox]

Domain Name Wire article + discussion; Brokerage pitch from Afternic

 

[tomcarl]

Have to give credit where credit is due, Afternic may take 20% but unlike any other marketplace, their sales staff will get on those phones, call your leads, leave voice mails, emails, do follow-ups, etc.

 

[Hemanttilotia]

They let the world see your domain in the first place. Believe it or not, that's a big service.
And Afternic is still the best place to sell your domains.

 

[xynames]

As I think about it the reasons I am willing to pay 20% to Afternic are two fold:

(1) Their domain marketplace is swarming with buyers. Buyers may see my domain that might not otherwise through merely my own domain landers.

(2) Afternic brokers get on the phone with potential buyers. I am not willing or able to communicate on the phone with each inquirer.

 

[hookbox]

I would think some of the 20% goes to whichever partner exposed the name to the buyer. The 100 partners are definitely not showing your name for free and not getting some type of cut for a sale when it occurs.

 

[xynames]

I just had a fast sell transfer of one of my domains at AN. I received a price inquiry on it two weeks ago, and I put in a 3500 buy it now (BIN), with a 3000 floor. It sold today for the full 3500. I actually had to look back at my notes to make sure I had indeed set it at 3500/3000.

So, here is an instance of where AN got me the full BIN not just the floor.

 

[xynames]

I have the same domains listed at AN as at Uniregistry (UR), and have sold lots and lots of inquiries at AN, not a single inquiry or sale at UR this year yet.

I do believe that the main way UR even sells anything is if you use their landing pages (I do not) and only then if someone just happens to land on that domain URL. I have my own landing pages and I sell quite a bit directly from my own landing pages / website, so I don't need UR, but AN has proven to be a valuable partner lately.

 

[Joe Styler]

We raised it to $50k https://domaininvesting.com/50000-now-max-afternic-fast-transfer/

 

[xynames]

I am fine with giving Afternic the 20%, or anyone else who makes the sale.

In my opinion those who don't wish to pay commission to these outfits like Afternic, or to say, another domainer who brings in the sale, are being penny wise, pound foolish.

 

[xynames]

I followed through with the uniregistry inquiry and in the emails their broker sends is a link that opens up a sort of chat box, where you may chat with the broker.

Money laundering sounds pretty far fetched, if you're just paying yourself where would that get you? I could see though that it might seem like a form of shill bidding, but then it's just an inquiry, and it's not an auction.

Actually, now I remember exactly - with Uniregistry (UR), their marketing director was trying hard to get me to list all of my domains in the UR marketplace using their nameservers (I have not done this yet - I have my domains parked with PPC links elsewhere - however, my domains are LISTED with UR, just not parked there), and specifically had me send the inquiry from a UR link after searching for my domain at UR because she wanted to show me how it worked. And then on another domain of mine, she had me even make the offer to buy, after which UR was hounding me to no end to get me to pay (well, not hounding, but - repeated emails). I eventually asked this marketing director how to get the UR payment requests to stop and she said don't worry, they will eventually, which they did.

 

[Tank]

Yes, "testing" is not the word they will ofthink of if they catch onto you inquiring on your own domains.. best to just accept that they get your name out there to sell for their commissions. As much as the 20% hurts I just tell myself I might have sit on the name for another yr if it didn't sell on their marketplace.

 

[Tank]

Money laundering may sound far fetched but creating a "hype" is possible with certain names to get more for others in the same category or even the same name later?

 

[offthehandle]

I followed through with the uniregistry inquiry and in the emails their broker sends is a link that opens up a sort of chat box, where you may chat with the broker.

Money laundering sounds pretty far fetched, if you're just paying yourself where would that get you? I could see though that it might seem like a form of shill bidding, but then it's just an inquiry, and it's not an auction.

Actually, now I remember exactly - with Uniregistry (UR), their marketing director was trying hard to get me to list all of my domains in the UR marketplace using their nameservers (I have not done this yet - I have my domains parked with PPC links elsewhere - however, my domains are LISTED with UR, just not parked there), and specifically had me send the inquiry from a UR link after searching for my domain at UR because she wanted to show me how it worked. And then on another domain of mine, she had me even make the offer to buy, after which UR was hounding me to no end to get me to pay (well, not hounding, but - repeated emails). I eventually asked this marketing director how to get the UR payment requests to stop and she said don't worry, they will eventually, which they did.

Domain Name Wire article + discussion; Brokerage pitch from Afternic

Read all the negative comments on that domain name wire posts loxline gave you about whateveregistry. They have all sorts of conflicts of interest like competing with their customers, selling snakeoil like the XYZ bitcoin thing, etc.

Read from the horses mouth on domaining tips too, if you want to know who you are dealing with.

http://domainingtips.com/the-post-i-never-wanted-to-write-new-gtld-conclusions.html

Quoted:

1. Frank Schilling Says:
   June 3rd, 2015 at 10:57 am
   I agree with your findings. I’d even agree that this space is NOT for most domainers to participate in. It’s for hungrier newcomers who don’t have the same choices and options in the legacy space. It is “challenging” to go out and buy new GTLD names then turn around and try flipping them in the same day/week/month/year
   
   The key is having the strength to buy some names and hold to be able to make the sales pitch to buyers “chin high” .. The history of .com taught us that adoption is slow (glacier like) and then suddenly while nobody is looking demand ramps, the good names are gone by then and you’re stuck filtering drops, only in this new era drops are going to change and be combed over more closely by registries hungry for profits and marketing revenue.
   
   These names will be proven to have bigger fans than their .com equivalent over time. I said the same thing about .com before this and it turned out to be true. Half of all new generic GTLDs are in General availability today.. the best are yet to come.
   
   All of them together will inexorably change the market for .com over the next 5 years. The good names in new gold’s will be gone in 5 years, but between here and there, everything you are seeing is true."
   
   1. frank.schilling Says:
      June 3rd, 2015 at 1:01 pm
      I clearly hope to do well, but the truth is, it’s unlikely any registry will make a killing while registrants do poorly. If you’re right and we (the registries) are going to be successful, then what’s more likely to happen is newcomers, (those who don’t have pre-conceived notions from the past, or lofty expectations), will take registrations and evangelize the names they register to buyers of the future. Not today but in the next few years ahead. We do that every day here. As more strings come out a new market will emerge and that market will change the market we know today.
      
      @Alton, which company?.. Last time I checked Uniregistry (one of my companies) spent tens of millions in new g’s. I am still buying the names on the side of the road as they come out. .lol is next (i’ll take 20k).. .mom (30k) .game, (maybe 30k). Those names belong to the registry and are for the benefit of the namespaces in promoting and pushing them forward, but judging by my ICANN bill this month, I paid for them. At the same time Name Administration Inc. (another of my companies) will spend a few million bucks this year at namejet replenishing our sold .com inventory.
      
      When Uniregistry customers compete fairly, head to head with Name Administration that’s just business.
      
      The fact that I own some of each company is moot.
      "

 

[GoFish]

Interesting that Afternic reaches out to the potential buyer at least 4 times within the first 48 hours. I would have thought that signals desperation, but I guess they know best.

 

[xynames]

I expanded on this thought here:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/do...-exposure-if-you-do-not-use-their-ns.1025728/

 

[alcy]

well.. you need to set bins.. to get into premium networks... I think you said you have it all makeoffer only yes?

still nice quick sales there.. and quick interest.. must be good domains!

I know brokers will make calls for you.. do emails.. and also importnat: they'll check their database for past sales with the potential nbuyer... often they developed relationships.. with repeat buyers.. that can help close deal a lot!!!

and often they can revisit with buyers.. ask if they changed mind.. I had one sale happen good few weeks aftr initial price request...

I guess broker just kept at it!

however, not sure I follow why for each price request they ask you to officially set bin and floor on your afternic listing. instgead of just giving it to them by email.. which makes it official anyway.. cause if I do it on afernic listing.. anyone can buy it then.. and it can mess up broker negotiations.. plus I heard that when broker closes deal they never ask buyer to go click bin on official listing anyway.. but raather send them a special checkout link.. cause broker receives that way a share of that 20% fee.

maybe @Joe Styler can explain more? ty.

 

[jideofor]

I just had a fast sell transfer of one of my domains at AN. I received a price inquiry on it two weeks ago, and I put in a 3500 buy it now (BIN), with a 3000 floor. It sold today for the full 3500. I actually had to look back at my notes to make sure I had indeed set it at 3500/3000.

So, here is an instance of where AN got me the full BIN not just the floor.

wow congrats. What was the nature of the domain name? Two words? Product, services?

 

[Templr]

Majority of the domains that are sold on Afternic actually come from sales on one of their many partner sites.

 

[ultradog]

No, do not test the Afternic system by posing as a buyer. This could get your account closed for fraud (or the appearance of it) or suspicion of money laundering. Marketplaces make efforts to ensure that buyer and seller are not on the same computer, or using the same IP, because both of those things can hint at possible money laundering.

I guess commissions are for the big audience you get from this marketplace, their escrow service, etc.