Alter.com Marketplace

[Deven Patel]

Hi all,

I wanted to introduce a new premium domain marketplace we just launched called Alter. I would love to hear your thoughts! As the world’s largest community of domainers, your feedback would be invaluable.

Let me introduce myself. Although I’m new to NamePros, I’ve been around the block. I’ve been buying and selling domains for my own startup ideas for over 20 years. As a serial entrepreneur, I founded a number of startups across various industries like marketing, web hosting, social networking, blogging, and SaaS. This experience has helped me understand how indispensable a brand name is to a business.

Most new entrepreneurs don’t think twice about their company name. Our goal is to change that! A brand name literally has the power to make or break their business. This is more true today than ever before now that there are countless alternatives to every product or service imaginable. Sure, every business may have their own world-changing differentiator but from the outside they all look the same at which point the main differentiator ends up becoming their brand name. In a world full of distractions, we no longer have the attention span to thoroughly research what we buy so we rely on our emotions. This is why large businesses like Apple and Amazon spend billions on their “brand” alone because they understand that customer perception is everything.

Anyway, I noticed that most marketplaces that exist today are focused more on the seller rather than the buyer. Our goal is to reverse the equation and prioritize buyers because I think they are the key to success in any industry. The domain industry is no exception. Without buyers, there’s no money. This is why we’ve made it our mission to help entrepreneurs succeed!

And what’s with the 30-35% commission rate most of these marketplaces are charging? Unless they’re doing more work than a human broker, I don’t think anything over the industry average of 15-20% is warranted. We’re changing that. Alter has one of the lowest rates in the industry, an all-inclusive 10% commission fee when a name sells. There are no other fees or restrictions.

What do you think? Are we on the right track or barking up the wrong tree?

Deven

This was a promoted post.​

 

[capybara]

Two weeks ago I had a sale on Alter, first received a payment email and in a few hours transfer request, the domain was pushed to Alter account promptly and then that was it. Asked in a few days and Alter told me they are unable to contact the buyer. Likely the emails went to spam so there is very little chance it gets better, who knows how long is it gonna be before the buyer wakes up and decides to do something about their purchase... It was not a big sale, less than 2K, and we all know the stories of much more expensive domains which go to the expired auctions the next year after having been purchased, its not unusual when buyers forget about their freshly acquired domains and is likely what happened to my sale as well.

In the buy it now window it is stated "All payments will be final and non-refundable once the domain is in escrow.". I think it means Alter has it covered within their ToS legally, and since its like that, does it make sense not to pay the seller? The domain is in Alter possession so whenever the buyer is back to claim it Alter has been enabled to complete the transfer...

Today I have finally received the payment from Alter for this sale, yay! Time interval between Alter's "Transaction Completed" and Paypal's "You've got money" emails was less than 1.5 hours.

 

[william]

My experience with Alter so far:

My Alter STR after about one year is a whopping 0%. The portfolio size was about 250 names.

Offers received - 1 ($500, which I accepted but buyer never paid).
Sales - 0.

Another thing to consider is that most of the names that were present during this time were approved by Alter, when approvals were needed, and included logos as well. I also took the time to go through each one and optimize them.

My portfolio pricing was pretty balanced from $999 - $xx,xxx.

I also found a lot of the data unreliable, like unexplained traffic spikes same day of the week.

Do I continue listing names there or pull the plug?

 

[Reyginus]

My experience with Alter so far:

My Alter STR after about one year is a whopping 0%. The portfolio size was about 250 names.

Offers received - 1 ($500, which I accepted but buyer never paid).
Sales - 0.

Another thing to consider is that most of the names that were present during this time were approved by Alter, when approvals were needed, and included logos as well. I also took the time to go through each one and optimize them.

My portfolio pricing was pretty balanced from $999 - $xx,xxx.

I also found a lot of the data unreliable, like unexplained traffic spikes same day of the week.

Do I continue listing names there or pull the plug?

Give it one more year and see what's up.

 

[william]

Give it one more year and see what's up.

One more year means another $2,125 in renewal fees (if $8.50 per name). That would make it $4,250 for two years. Which could be costly if the "sales trend" continues.

Is it worth it?

 

[silentg]

One more year means another $2,125 in renewal fees (if $8.50 per name). That would make it $4,250 for two years. Which could be costly if the "sales trend" continues.

Is it worth it?

Do all your domains have bin?

 

[william]

Do all your domains have bin?

Yes

 

[silentg]

Did you have distribution turned on?

 

[william]

Did you have distribution turned on?

Yes, syndication is on.

 

[cabotower]

when a name is listed as bin at alter and it gets snydicated over to sedo, does sedo then list it on its own MLS?

 

[johnn]

Anyone here sold name(s) from Alter listing?

 

[keywordrichdomains]

I can't recall even the smallest change on Alter since I started using it. It is likely Alter simply does not have software developers on its team, so it goes on in the same state as it was designed.

What is the need for changes if your system is functioning well as expected by them? Large companies like Sedo and Afternic also didn't do much about its interface after its launch!

 

[keywordrichdomains]

I can't recall even the smallest change on Alter since I started using it. It is likely Alter simply does not have software developers on its team, so it goes on in the same state as it was designed.

What is the need for changes if your system is functioning well as expected by them? Large companies like Sedo and Afternic also didn't do much about its interface after its launch!

 

[Charybdis]

Sad news! Alter is shutting down! ((

Where will you list your Alter domains now? Maybe Dan?

I had 320 domains on Alter, I really liked the professional logos and the low commission.

 

[DomainBanana]

Very disappointed to see Alter shutting down.

I appreciate Alter's integrity, transparency, and efforts to continuously improve.

Hoping @Deven Patel will reconsider.

 

[Dane]

Wow.

 

[Future Sensors]

@Deven Patel, my sincere thanks for your boundless energy and involvement with the users. You have created something very beautiful, and it's sad that it has to disappear. I wish you and your employees every success with new activities.

 

[cabotower]

lots of places to list. i'm just worried about my installments.

 

[capybara]

This is sad. Alter looked so promising. Best of luck Deven Patel with your future endeavours. Hope for a comeback someday.

 

[Charybdis]

Hoping @Deven Patel will reconsider.

Good point, why not transform Alter to something like Efty?

I understand that it was unprofitable to run this marketplace for 10% commission, I think the marketing was too expensive.

However they could eliminate the marketing budget, reduce the commission a bit and create a service like Efty, the backend system is already done.

 

[Samxui]

Sad news. Good luck in your future projects.

 

[keywordrichdomains]

Very sad news, but at times some things are not preventable in our life! I hope you have some good ideas to turn the existing platform into a profitable one. Thank you so much for the transparent and innovative support you have given so far! Good luck on your future endeavours!

 

[November]

Sad news! Alter is shutting down! ((

Where will you list your Alter domains now? Maybe Dan?

I had 320 domains on Alter, I really liked the professional logos and the low commission.

Give us more info, are the going to delete all domains?

 

[karmaco]

Give us more info, are the going to delete all domains?

The email says April 2nd.

 

[silentg]

Hi there,

First and foremost, I would like to thank each and every one of you for using Alter to sell your domain names. We couldn't have come this far without your invaluable support.

Over the last couple years we've been on a mission to transform the domain industry. However, despite all our attempts we weren't able to find a sustainable business model. So it is with a heavy heart I write to you today to say farewell.

On April 2nd, all third-party domain listings will be removed from our marketplace. Seller accounts will remain active for the foreseeable future so those with a positive balance or pending installments can continue to cash out.

Lastly, we realize this decision wouldn't be fair to sellers who spent money to have professional logos designed on our platform. So we have refunded all relevant payments back to your account balance which can be cashed out at any time.

We truly wish you all the best in your future endeavors. It’s unfortunate that this wasn’t the outcome we wanted but we’re thankful to everyone that came with us on the journey.

Sincerely,
Deven Patel
Founder & CEO

@Deven Patel Thank You for the service so far. Good luck in your future projects.

 

[sellian]

Sad news!! I really liked Alter.

I wish you the best Deven, you have been an outstanding CEO!

I'm sure you'll do well in whatever endeavor you pursue.