What's up with all the lack of aftermarket UPDATES/INNOVATION in our Industry?

[tomcarl]

I give credit where is due: Undeveloped and Efty.

These are the only two sales platforms that are actually Trying! When I say trying, I mean they actually listen to feedback and bring something to the table that isn't dull and dated.

Everyone else? Sedo, Afternic, GoDaddy? Update something! It's been years.

At the end of the day, for a domain buyer, it's all about Trust. The big names have the Trust but lack everything else.

Afternic hasn't been updated in maybe a decade or more, you can't even view more than 50 domains at a time...Sedo's landing pages look like you stepped back into the year 1995, and aren't even optimized for mobile in the year 2019!

And GoDaddy? of all places, when are you going to actually offer investors real landing/sales pages to sell their domains with? And I don't mean the generic, tiny text link when using their default nameservers, I'm talking...a *real* landing/sales page? take a look at DomainMarket or HugeDomains and take note.

"If a buyer wants your domain and it's worth a lot, then hey, we're more trusted than anyone else to facilitate the sale, everything else? it is what it is."

 

[capybara]

You could use your own landing pages and you’d get exactly the same results as far visibility / exposure to buyers without paying 9% to UNDeveloped.

While I agree with you that Undeveloped as marketplace is unlikely to bring significant exposure, what alternative do we have to the Undeveloped landers? From about 5k downwards, using Escrow.com concierge is not much cheaper or may even get more expensive than Undeveloped's 9% with all the wire fees etc. And if we take into account that Undeveloped is much more user friendly for the buyers – they can specify the installment duration etc., the choice becomes even more in favor of the latter.

Most domainers don't have the developers skill to use Escrow.com's API (which is great!) on their own landers to achieve the same degree of user-friendliness for starting the transaction. And there is also live chat and other advantages.

There is one alternative I've learnt about recently, Epik's zero percent escrow, their landers as well offer buyers the option to choose installment plan etc., but I have yet to try this. And as a small fry domainer, I am very much in love with the discounted first year registrations, so even if I choose to move my long-term inventory to Epik, I'll still prefer to use Undeveloped for my first-year domains.

 

[xynames]

This thread is not about UNDeveloped - it is about comparing the various marketplaces. UNDeveloped happens to be one of the marketplaces, so we discuss it.

As far as using UNDeveloped, I'd love to use them - but their marketplace where all my domains are listed is so dead that nothing sells there. So I've given them the opportunity to sell my domains, but apparently no buyers are roaming their marketplace compared to the other marketplaces, where I have sold and continue to sell a good number of domains.

I actually had mentioned in passing in the past about how UNDeveloped doesn't allow the seller to have buyer pay escrow fees. If they wish to be innovative, that option must be implemented. I mean, who cares about all this ease with which buyer is able make a payment if (1) the only reason buyer arrived at your domain has to do with the name, and nothing to do with UNDeveloped, and (2) you, the seller, unilaterally get stuck with paying the 9%. You, the seller are Paying for all this innovation with no option to shift even a little bit of the burden to the buyer!

It's really stark when you think about - paying ZERO to escrow.com because you may have buyer pay all fees, versus paying 9% to UNDeveloped, that is a 12% swing. That's huge.

If UNDeveloped implements this option, to allow buyer to pay some or all of the fees, I'd like to get my royalty check in the mail. Straight from Amsterdam. Or I'll fly over and visit the Netherlands again and pick it up in person from Reza.

 

[lennco]

Okay so your theory is pass along the 9% that UNDeveloped charges by raising the price on your domain to absorb this fee. That still doesn't change the fact that UNDeveloped charges 9% for nothing more than a landing page and escrow.

But, let's indulge the argument.

When a buyer buys something such as a domain or a refrigerator or pair of shoes he looks at the price foremost. The price that is in front of his face, that he sees. Tax shipping add on costs are an afterthought and not primary considerations, especially if these are only a few percent of the total price.

But, to follow up with your proposal that you add on to the domain price to pass along the UNDevelop fees to buyer, if you add on 10% to your domain price to justify and compensate for that 9% that goes out the window to UNDeveloped your domain just looks 10% more expensive to your buyer. And 10% is not an afterthought, it is a real world increase in the price of your domain. It is a two digit percentage increase in price. It could ruin the deal if you are bent on always getting it out of the buyer.

What I mean by adding 10% to recoup the UNDeveloped 9% is...let's say your domain is 1000. You want a net 1000. If it sells at UNDeveloped, you must pay $90. in fees. In order to recoup this $90. you must raise the price of your domain to $1099. (and then you net 1000.09) which is basically 10% higher. And you're forcing this 10% higher price to the forefront, right in the buyer's face from the getgo.

And if buyer evaluated your domain to be worth only a certain amount or his budget is only a certain amount, that 10% tack on you’re adding on there to make up for UNDevelop’s exorbitant fee might end up being a deal breaker.

On the other hand...going the escrow.com route...if after all is said and done (or better yet...saying this sooner rather than later) you explain to buyer that you need “net whatever” to close the deal it really becomes an after thought to buyer that he must pay 3% to escrow.com which after all is only 3% not the 10% extra you are trying to get him to absorb.

My average sales ticket on domains is $2000. I also somewhat regularly sell domains for five figures. For me to pass along this 9% at UNDeveloped, I'd need to sell every $2000 domain of mine for about $2200. That's not an insignificant price increase. I've had buyers walk over a counter offer just 150 higher than their last offer. And for a $20000. domain, I'd have to raise the price to almost $22000., again, a potential show stopper, just to compensate for this UNDeveloped 9% fee.

But, for each of these sales, emphasizing that I need "net $2000." or "net $20000." and buyer then having to shell out a mere 3% to escrow.com doesn't jeopardize the transaction.

---

In a way it comes back to what I mentioned about how UNDeveloped is for newbies. It doesn't take much skill at negotiation to convince a buyer to pay 3% escrow fees, but it does take some interaction. If you don't want to talk to buyers about transaction costs, don't want to spend a tiny bit of initial time to create your own landing page, then go ahead and pay 9% to UNDeveloped.

But rather than paying 9%, I'd rather just pay 20% to Afternic and have them make sure the sale happens, and at a higher price, in that they get on the horn and talk to buyers, not just a few emails. Or get on the horn or via email myself, and pay zero.

It doesn't matter if its Undeveloped, Sedo, Godaddy, Escrow.com or anyone else. There is going to be fees and yes you should always adjust your price to Try and recoup the fees if you can.

If you want $1000 then set it for $1095 and so on. Remember even your normal price of $1000 can still scare a buyer away regardless of fees so dont be afraid to ask for more to recoup fees.

Always figure your bottom line price for that domain then add enough for fees (if Buy Now) and add even more for negotiations (if its a Make Offer)

If you start at your bottom line price and you have to pay fees out of that then that is your own fault.

Always try your best to pass the fees along if you can.

 

[equity78]

Sedo actually has pretty good for-sale page, which can be reached at URL like

https://sedo.com/search/details/?domain=mydomain.com

When I try domains I am interested in, I often see other other sellers using URL forwarding to such page. The issue here is that it is quite unjust to the sellers, as Sedo commission for these page is on the level of marketplace sales (15%), while it should be 10% as people essentially "bring their own buyers". Sedo's parking pages, which "should" be used to have 10% rate are so ugly and horrible that people opt out of using them, as more and more sellers understand they nothing but hurt sales.

@Sedo , could we have the ability to use these pages when parking, with 10% rate?

Exactly, that should be 10% as well.

 

[slader23]

I think Dan.com at this moment in time is the clear winner in terms of updates and innovation, the kicker is they managed to integrate blockchain technology into their marketplace....and it works...amazingly well. Sales close in just a few hours, you can see what names are popular by views(like brandable marketplaces), you can see top sellers, you can even see which names just sold.

Seriously though, I sold a name and was paid out in less than 24 hours, the domain transfer was taken care of by a bot and they pay out in Fiat/Paypal/BTC and ETH and if I ever needed the help of a human I literally just had to @ them in my transaction center, which was literally just a pop up conversation between me and the Dan bot.


What they've done is set a new standard and everyone else has to step up or be left behind.

 

[ResoluteDomains]

I give credit where is due: Undeveloped and Efty.

These are the only two sales platforms that are actually Trying! When I say trying, I mean they actually listen to feedback and bring something to the table that isn't dull and dated.

Everyone else? Sedo, Afternic, GoDaddy? Update something! It's been years.

At the end of the day, for a domain buyer, it's all about Trust. The big names have the Trust but lack everything else.

Afternic hasn't been updated in maybe a decade or more, you can't even view more than 50 domains at a time...Sedo's landing pages look like you stepped back into the year 1995, and aren't even optimized for mobile in the year 2019!

And GoDaddy? of all places, when are you going to actually offer investors real landing/sales pages to sell their domains with? And I don't mean the generic, tiny text link when using their default nameservers, I'm talking...a *real* landing/sales page? take a look at DomainMarket or HugeDomains and take note.

"If a buyer wants your domain and it's worth a lot, then hey, we're more trusted than anyone else to facilitate the sale, everything else? it is what it is."

Bodis has been adding much anticipated features now too.

Been waiting for Sedo to offer visit analytics like all the others do.... still waiting. Wont add names there unless I can see where the traffic is coming from.

 

[Kassey Lee]

Let us know what else you'd like to see at Sedo, and where do you think we should improve.

Thanks for the willingness to listen. Is there any registrar partner of SedoMLS which allows you to list domains for sale on SedoMLS right from within the registrar's website instead of the current approach of creating a TXT record and waiting for verification of ownership?

 

[Windoms]

In Mid-June we’ll announce it directly here together with the launch of the best domain sales and monetization infrastructure ever built.

Innovation in 4 days.

 

[Sedo]

If the bolded part is true, then this is great news! When exactly did this happen? Sometime earlier this year I sold a few domains through SedoMLS, but the min comm was still there so I took quite a big damage from it, didn't receive much in the end.

As for MLS expansion, may we know is this for Premium MLS or Basic MLS?

This has been active since May 6th. Both mentioned registrars are SedoMLS Premium partners.

 

[Kassey Lee]

These SedoMLS partner registrars offer what you're asking for:

That's excellent innovation. Any plan to expand to other registrars such as Namesilo?

 

[tonyk2000]

It is true that especially in 2018 we lacked in innovations.

Does Sedo realize that the marketplace may die and soon, without the following being fixed ASAP -

1. Adblocking visitors of parked domains do receive empty page without any forsale signs. About 40%-50% of potential buyers (1 visitor = 1 potential buyer) are currently lost if the domain is parked at Sedo. Simply because 40%-50% of surfers are using some sort of adblock.

2. Pure forsale landers for domains without noticeable parking income is a must thing.

As for parked domains (I have some which are not for sale, simply because of traffic) - the sedo removed a lot of good parking landers and did not replace them with anything. Why is this?

The last but not the least. Thank you for adding ownership verification, as it is finally impossible to add domains randomly. But, for god's sake, please apply the same rules to all, including bulk api customers like hugedomains. Why I have to add the same domain 1-2 times each months? I added the domain which I own. HugeDomains does not know what they own, and they are still able to add my domain to their Sedo account because they think it is theirs. Sedo instantly approves it, without any verification. I then re-add it again, with proper DNS txt record. Sedo instantly approves it, because txt record is correct. Etc, etc.

 

[xynames]

BTW the upload date to UNDeveloped was November 2017, not September 2017.

Yes all of these allow non-exclusive listings: Afternic DomainAgents Sedo DynaDot Flippa Uniregistry UNDeveloped. So as I mentioned above, there is no downside to listing in all of them.

Based on my data their effectiveness as marketplaces would be more or less in this order, with Afternic at top and UNDeveloped at bottom:

Afternic
DomainAgents / Sedo (Lately Sedo is doing better, before DomainAgents was doing better)
DynaDot (available only if your domains are registered there, as all of mine are)
Flippa
Uniregistry
UNDeveloped

You asked about BIN prices - I am careful to set a BIN on a given domain at one marketplace only at a time, to avoid the issue of the domain selling simultaneously at more than one place. Generally, I place this BIN at Afternic, because it has the highest traffic and highest sales throughput.

I went ahead and created a new thread on this research in the domain marketplace review section
https://www.namepros.com/threads/my...uniregistry-undeveloped-marketplaces.1141640/

 

[DomainRecap]

The last but not the least. Thank you for adding ownership verification, as it is finally impossible to add domains randomly. But, for god's sake, please apply the same rules to all, including bulk api customers like hugedomains. Why I have to add the same domain 1-2 times each months? I added the domain which I own. HugeDomains does not know what they own, and they are still able to add my domain to their Sedo account because they think it is theirs. Sedo instantly approves it, without any verification. I then re-add it again, with proper DNS txt record. Sedo instantly approves it, because txt record is correct. Etc, etc.

This is my big problem with Sedo, as they have a pile of "preferred customers" who can bypass all rules and regulations, and effectively steal your Sedo listings without any verification, then you need to re-add them over and over.

An even bigger problem for me, is after listing a domain at Sedo, I set up a landing page and the TXT references are no longer visible in that DNS format, and I need to make a server change in order to re-verify.

 

[tomcarl]

Should be available to see in your GD dashboard, but it's in beta so I don't know if it's available to everyone yet.

 

[xynames]

escrow.com is around 3%. Plus at least with escrow.com you have the option to make buyer pay these. No such option at UNDeveloped, correct? With my own sales, of which there have been many, one time buyer and I split the escrow.com fees, rest of time buyer has paid the fees, always, always.

UNDeveloped is basically for newbies who don't know better. I mean think about it, why would I pay 9% to a co. that provides nothing but a landing page and an escrow service, when I may pay ZERO percent to escrow.com and have my buyer pay the 3% escrow. That is a 12% swing against me for choosing UNDeveloped.

I did discuss the Epik free escrow here at length, there are a series of buyer unfriendly hurdles to overcome, but if you may get past these, yes, it is free:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/if...-wasting-time-and-money.1119508/#post-7076570

 

[TCK]

@tomcarl, thanks for starting this thread.

Have you tried Domain Market Pro (DMP)?

It is the culmination of over 15 years of building exclusive domain marketplaces and portfolio sites. I believe that DMP has some of the most innovative features for domain investors/sellers not available elsewhere.

For starters, it allows domainers to build professional domain marketplaces right out-of-the-box and to monetize their domains in ways that would otherwise be out of reach for the majority.

You can offer domains for sale at make an offer, or BIN or lease or monthly payment schedule.

Customization tools allow you to create a unique domain sales brand, with unique sales messaging. This includes the capability to highly customize sales pages.

If you prefer, you can use an assortment of domain landing pages.

The platform also allows you to manage multiple marketplaces from a single interface with one login. So, for example, you can manage your main marketplace and also niche industry marketplaces.

There is a built-in CMS feature that allows you to create unlimited pages, blog and/or news posts.

Whether you have developed assets that you want to promote or want to make revenue from PPC ads, the advertising functionality will allow you to do both.

Preset theme designs will get you started right away or you can use them as the foundation for your own custom brand.

You can also sell others' domains using the Seller Panel option.

Plus there are many other features, such as DNS forwarding, free SSL, domain stats, SEO, Social Media, CSV updating, etc.

Please feel free to reach out to me here and check out more info on our sites:

https://blog.domainmarketpro.com/

https://domainmarketpro.com/

We will soon be launching our umbrella company, DomLogix, that will wholly focus on domain seller solutions, of which DMP is the flagship service.

 

[xynames]

Why can't you adjust the listing price to your desired payout value like I do?

Okay so your theory is pass along the 9% that UNDeveloped charges by raising the price on your domain to absorb this fee. That still doesn't change the fact that UNDeveloped charges 9% for nothing more than a landing page and escrow.

But, let's indulge the argument.

When a buyer buys something such as a domain or a refrigerator or pair of shoes he looks at the price foremost. The price that is in front of his face, that he sees. Tax shipping add on costs are an afterthought and not primary considerations, especially if these are only a few percent of the total price.

But, to follow up with your proposal that you add on to the domain price to pass along the UNDevelop fees to buyer, if you add on 10% to your domain price to justify and compensate for that 9% that goes out the window to UNDeveloped your domain just looks 10% more expensive to your buyer. And 10% is not an afterthought, it is a real world increase in the price of your domain. It is a two digit percentage increase in price. It could ruin the deal if you are bent on always getting it out of the buyer.

What I mean by adding 10% to recoup the UNDeveloped 9% is...let's say your domain is 1000. You want a net 1000. If it sells at UNDeveloped, you must pay $90. in fees. In order to recoup this $90. you must raise the price of your domain to $1099. (and then you net 1000.09) which is basically 10% higher. And you're forcing this 10% higher price to the forefront, right in the buyer's face from the getgo.

And if buyer evaluated your domain to be worth only a certain amount or his budget is only a certain amount, that 10% tack on you’re adding on there to make up for UNDevelop’s exorbitant fee might end up being a deal breaker.

On the other hand...going the escrow.com route...if after all is said and done (or better yet...saying this sooner rather than later) you explain to buyer that you need “net whatever” to close the deal it really becomes an after thought to buyer that he must pay 3% to escrow.com which after all is only 3% not the 10% extra you are trying to get him to absorb.

My average sales ticket on domains is $2000. I also somewhat regularly sell domains for five figures. For me to pass along this 9% at UNDeveloped, I'd need to sell every $2000 domain of mine for about $2200. That's not an insignificant price increase. I've had buyers walk over a counter offer just 150 higher than their last offer. And for a $20000. domain, I'd have to raise the price to almost $22000., again, a potential show stopper, just to compensate for this UNDeveloped 9% fee.

But, for each of these sales, emphasizing that I need "net $2000." or "net $20000." and buyer then having to shell out a mere 3% to escrow.com doesn't jeopardize the transaction.

---

In a way it comes back to what I mentioned about how UNDeveloped is for newbies. It doesn't take much skill at negotiation to convince a buyer to pay 3% escrow fees, but it does take some interaction. If you don't want to talk to buyers about transaction costs, don't want to spend a tiny bit of initial time to create your own landing page, then go ahead and pay 9% to UNDeveloped.

But rather than paying 9%, I'd rather just pay 20% to Afternic and have them make sure the sale happens, and at a generally higher price, in that they get on the horn and talk to buyers, not just a few emails. Or get on the horn or via email myself, and pay zero.

 

[Sedo]

@Sedo I have some domains parked with you with ads clicked by visitors, how do I find out what keywords are clicked? Been looking high and low but I still couldn't find it. Not sure if I overlooked it, or is there no way to find out?

Thanks for your question.

I am sorry but parking stats showing exactly which keywords are clicked on are not recorded in your Sedo account. Only the click itself is registered.

If you have any further questions then feel free to email us on [email protected] and we will be happy to help.

All the best,
Chris

 

[Sedo]

It's a shame @Sedo dns goes to a confusing parking page, instead of a formal lander.
Because sedo's platform is quite formal and professional.
What a waste.

Hi,

Thanks for your comment.

If you do not wish to have a parking page displayed on the domain, you are able to set Sedos offer page as a landing page. If you are interested in doing this or want more information then please email us [email protected].

All the best.
Chris

 

[Nikhil Jain]

Hi,

Thanks for your comment.

If you do not wish to have a parking page displayed on the domain, you are able to set Sedos offer page as a landing page. If you are interested in doing this or want more information then please email us [email protected].

All the best.
Chris

Thanks. Is there a simpler way to do this to my profile rather than having to forward each domain to respective offer page?

 

[droned]

Deleted.

 

[Kassey Lee]

I think hexonet offer something similar. It's worth checking it out since they offer said feature for both Sedo's MLS and Afternic's Fast Transfer

Thanks Hypersot. This feature should be implemented by every domain registrar unless you have your own MLS listing service.

 

[Manaen]

SquadHelp, Undeveloped, Efty, Bodis, Dofo, DomComp, Whoxy (...)
These are all game changers.
But yeah, that Afternic design and layout really does get on my nerves, it's so hideous, I can't wrap my head around on how they get so much sales.

 

[eternaldomains]

Bodis has been adding much anticipated features now too.

Been waiting for Sedo to offer visit analytics like all the others do.... still waiting. Wont add names there unless I can see where the traffic is coming from.

Hope you don't mind an off topic question, may I know which site allows detailed analytics? I tried UD's but I thought each ID from Google Analytics is only for 1 domain, and UD only allows input for 1 ID?

 

[eternaldomains]

• We have waived the minimum commissions, so sellers can earn more revenue than before.
• We are constantly a/b testing our search and overall website. Just recently we tried out a new homepage with a different search bar placement, to find out if this results in more search queries for your domains.
• In our search, we removed the link to the offer details page and show a layer with the domain specifics instead. This is good for sellers, because the buyers won't be moving away from the search page like they did when clicking through to the the domain details page. That means users a more likely to see more of your domains that they could be interested in. In the end, your domains get longer and more exposure.
• We expanded our SedoMLS network and have new partners like Alibaba, or Xinnet, which is the second largest registrar in China, so your domains get more exposure.
• New users are now automatically standard certified, so they don't have another hurdle before they can start bidding on your domains.
• We launched expiringdomains.sedo.com. That might not sound too enticing for you as a seller right now, but on that site you can see that we display metrics that we don't show on our regular search page. We will evaluate what works best there and adapt more metrics to the Sedo search eventually.

If the bolded part is true, then this is great news! When exactly did this happen? Sometime earlier this year I sold a few domains through SedoMLS, but the min comm was still there so I took quite a big damage from it, didn't receive much in the end.

As for MLS expansion, may we know is this for Premium MLS or Basic MLS?