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Communication is the key to EVERYTHING. It is essential from keeping a good relationship with your spouse to completing a domain deal. Right now, there is a huge problem at Afternic and they are not communicating with us. If you don't know what has been going on, Afternic updated their payment system at the beginning of April. It was a surprise to many who learned that they needed to redo their payment information. I believe it wasn't supposed to happen like that, though. Their rollout is causing lots of problems. The main problems are a lack of automated emails and worse, a lack of payout to the domain sellers.
My personal example: I sold a domain in the first week of April. I was supposed to get paid on April 7th. That didn't happen and that is when I learned that I needed to update my payment information (to receive payout). I updated my information, then I had to wait another week to get paid out, which was completed. I was paid on April 14th.
Something surprised me on April 26th. I discovered that one of my domains disappeared from my account at the registrar. After searching to see if had moved it, I finally found that it had sold via Afternic with fast transfer. I never received any correspondence about the sale. The payout date was scheduled for April 21st. April 21st had already passed and no money was received. I sent the following message to their support and waited.
"I just noticed this domain sold. I didn't receive any notice about it. When will I get paid for it? Evidently the website says I should have received payment a week ago. Thanks."
Their support is extremely slow using their submitted form. I usually have to wait 2-4 days before I receive a response. After looking on NamePros, I discovered others were having the same trouble as well. Fast forward to April 28th, I finally received a response from them:
"Thank you for contacting Afternic Support. We see the payment was posted to our accounting department today, so the payment should be released to you on Monday. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.
Lisa
Afternic Support"
It is now Tuesday, May 2nd. I have not received payment, nor have I received any additional communication on this issue. Afternic has been having problems sending payments to its customers for weeks, but it is not communicating with their clients. The lack of payment + the lack of communication is causing lots of anxiety for those who are waiting on payments.
What happens if a business does not receive payment from a customer? Multiple communication attempts, collection agencies, extra charges, etc. But, we have not heard ANYTHING from Afternic...huge problem there. Personally, I don't mind that they are having technical difficulties and cannot pay me due to a new system rollout glitch. Simply LET ME KNOW about the delays. Let me know that you are working to fix it. Don't tell me to wait for a certain day, not pay me, and not communicate with me. That is bad business.
Afternic is owned by GoDaddy. GoDaddy is a publicly traded company. What would happen if GoDaddy stockholders find out that Afternic is unable to pay their bills? I doubt this is due to a lack of funds. Likely, this is a computer glitch. The biggest problem is communication. They are not communicating to this who are owed money and having to wait 2-4 days for a response is not acceptable.
I do want to give a kudos to @Joe Styler from GoDaddy. I think he is attempting to help us out by attempting to keep us informed. But, it shouldn't be 1 person's responsibility in a forum setting to spread the word.
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The above are my thoughts and may not be 100% accurate.
My personal example: I sold a domain in the first week of April. I was supposed to get paid on April 7th. That didn't happen and that is when I learned that I needed to update my payment information (to receive payout). I updated my information, then I had to wait another week to get paid out, which was completed. I was paid on April 14th.
Something surprised me on April 26th. I discovered that one of my domains disappeared from my account at the registrar. After searching to see if had moved it, I finally found that it had sold via Afternic with fast transfer. I never received any correspondence about the sale. The payout date was scheduled for April 21st. April 21st had already passed and no money was received. I sent the following message to their support and waited.
"I just noticed this domain sold. I didn't receive any notice about it. When will I get paid for it? Evidently the website says I should have received payment a week ago. Thanks."
Their support is extremely slow using their submitted form. I usually have to wait 2-4 days before I receive a response. After looking on NamePros, I discovered others were having the same trouble as well. Fast forward to April 28th, I finally received a response from them:
"Thank you for contacting Afternic Support. We see the payment was posted to our accounting department today, so the payment should be released to you on Monday. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.
Lisa
Afternic Support"
It is now Tuesday, May 2nd. I have not received payment, nor have I received any additional communication on this issue. Afternic has been having problems sending payments to its customers for weeks, but it is not communicating with their clients. The lack of payment + the lack of communication is causing lots of anxiety for those who are waiting on payments.
What happens if a business does not receive payment from a customer? Multiple communication attempts, collection agencies, extra charges, etc. But, we have not heard ANYTHING from Afternic...huge problem there. Personally, I don't mind that they are having technical difficulties and cannot pay me due to a new system rollout glitch. Simply LET ME KNOW about the delays. Let me know that you are working to fix it. Don't tell me to wait for a certain day, not pay me, and not communicate with me. That is bad business.
Afternic is owned by GoDaddy. GoDaddy is a publicly traded company. What would happen if GoDaddy stockholders find out that Afternic is unable to pay their bills? I doubt this is due to a lack of funds. Likely, this is a computer glitch. The biggest problem is communication. They are not communicating to this who are owed money and having to wait 2-4 days for a response is not acceptable.
I do want to give a kudos to @Joe Styler from GoDaddy. I think he is attempting to help us out by attempting to keep us informed. But, it shouldn't be 1 person's responsibility in a forum setting to spread the word.
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The above are my thoughts and may not be 100% accurate.
