question Am I missing out by not listing on BrandBucket, BrandPa, Squadhelp?

[WhoaDomain.com]

I've heard of these websites before. Never thought of listing with them. Am I missing out on sales?

Aren't these sites just for brandables? not EMD's.

Mostly made up names in .com's.

Are people making serious money on these websites versus say your Godaddy or Sedo or Namejet?

I'll even include Flippa to the list.

even so. At this point though are they overly saturated to have these sites be of any real benefit?

 

[Steve Andersen]

I started building a BB portfolio by accident about a year ago. I bought a lot of names from a person on NamePros and one of them was a BB listed name so I had to open and account so that the listing could be moved to me. I felt upon looking at the site that is quite compelling for an end user to look for a name for a company in a way that they could picture graphically. It is a lot more appealing to the eyes than a list of names on a sheet.

So I started taking names and submitting them for approval. As well as buying previous expired BB listings or buying some from others they were trying to liquidate before considering renewing or dropping

Lesson learned - Quality names matter and over time I will part ways with some of the lower quality names I purchased from the expired lists that were previously BB approved. So that being said my overall STR on the platform is probably lower than most. And in the last few months I have been adding many new higher quality names. So I am sure my STR will definitely improver over time.

But I will share with you my stats from the platform so far. As of today I have been a BB seller for 44 weeks and 5 days. I have had 5 sales on the platform.

1) Name was a two word name purchased on BB Slack channel from another domainer I bought a lot of names and cost worked out to $14.06 per name. Sold this domain for $10075, my take after BB fees $7555
2) Name was purchased on Godaddy Expired Auctions. 1 word with bot appended to the end of it. Name cost $284.47 on GD. Sold for $4155 my take after BB fees $2935.
3) Name was purchased Godaddy closeout for $12.47 with renewal fee 1 word name with extra R at end. Sold on BB for $3230 my take after BB fees $2260.
4) Name was purchased from another BB member on their slack channel who was making decision to renew or drop. Made up name. Paid $12. Sold for $1795 my take after fee's $1055. This was an older name and older names prior to mid 2019 had a logo fee in addition to commission. The fee follows the domain from owner to owner if it stays on the platform. The original lister could set fee of $100-$500 bucks. Seems crazy to elect more that $100 but many original listers did. (Funny not really any quality difference in a $100 fee one or $500 fee one.) But this one had $200 logo fee on top of the 30% commission. Hence the low payout.

5) Name purchased for $10 on DropCatch. Single word domain with appended with sy at end. Sold on BB for $1195 My take after BB fees $735. This one had a logo fee of $100 hence the higher than 30% commission.

So all in all I have 5 sales and collected $14,540 in pocket after fee's from BB. During this time my portfolio size increased rapidly at first. But mainly from buying less that desirable names that i will eventually liquidate off if they go unsold after 1 renewal. But Brandbucket shows my sales rate at .82% STR with any average portfolio size of 608 names. How does this compare to other sellers. 92% of sellers have a higher STR than this according to my dashboard. However, my revenue shows that only 18% of sellers have earned more revenue. Don't let this make you think that people don't make a lot. A small group of people have very large portfolios they have built of years.

So the take away for me is as I parse out the less than desirable names and increase my domain count at same time, my STR will increase. I don't see BrandBucket as the end all of places to sell names but they definitely are doing it well with Brandables. Could I have sold these items on DAN, EPIK, AFTERNIC and more. I bet I could have, may or may not have been just as fast. I will never know. But I think people that think all good names will be found by landers are wrong, many times people looking for a name will visit sites like SquadHelp, BrandBucket, Afternic, Sedo, Uniregistry and others. For some its mind numbing looking at endless pages of names, many with make offer and they head ache of back and forth negotiating for the end user. BrandBucket, BrandPa, SquadHelp and other make this process visually appealing to those looking for a name. For some this is the deal maker. And most of these platforms will work with end user on Logo redesign to meet their requirements if the logo is not quite right for them.

SquadHelp on the other hand I am still on the fence. I only have 61 premium names on the market place. Getting names approved is some what of a ridiculous process. While it may not be so, It feels like there is no rhyme or reason to how they approve things. As one example they will approve almost any 4L even non pronounceable ones and no mater what you request for price upon submission if they approve it it will almost always come back lower than your request. As a seller Squadhelp feels like they look at coins for reviews as a viable revenue stream for profit they have every way to Sunday to have you pay coins for something. While, BrandBucket uses the review cost to offset cost to do unbiased reviews, and pay for logo creation labor.

I have 0 sales on the platform thus far, but I will try to get to 100 names on there and give it year. Before throwing the towel in on the experience. They do have some interesting new things coming with the new white label program that may or may not be a game changer in the industry only time will tell.

SquadHelp provides pretty good stats on your portfolio and as a platform if you are silver member tier or above.

Help on SH seems to be more rigid, not that people are not nice. But they give you boiler plate responses and if that doesn't solve issue its always we get back to you which may take awhile. BB on the other hand seems to be there for the seller if need be including the owner who is actively engaged in what is going on in the company.

SH has forums. They seem hit or miss and used by very few people on a regular basis. BB uses slack for its forum for sellers with many actively engaged sellers bartering with one another on names and having discussions with each other on name submissions, rejections and many other topics.

SH has policy where you can assign the name over to them and you will get a diminish return I think first year they will pay you 25% of the sale, which goes down to 20% by year 3 and on. But they own name if you elect this option and you just collect residual payouts if it ever sells but they pay all renewals. Not for me, but if you were going to let it drop. Would definitely be worth pushing to them.

As previously stated if you use a coin to have name reviewed on SH and it is published as a premium you are allowed to sell it on afternic also. However you will owe SH the difference of SH approved commission rate less Afternic rate. But in all cases a minimum of 5% I wish BB would allow this also. But both BB and SH syndicate listing with your approval on SEDO. and SH also syndicates them onto Flippa.

BB now has a published liquidate price on every name on the platform in you Dash Panel. If you decide to let a name drop at renewal time you could instead give it to BB for the liquidate amount and they would give you a small sum of money and take your name. They don't offer a residual payout on this method so in this area the SH method wins out.

BB has a small amount of sellers with a large percentage of the published names. But not as easy to see as SH. SquadHelp shows the top few sellers, If you click on each one to see portfolio you will see that the top 15 people have over 25% of names on platform.

So now I am looking at BrandPa, and considering putting 100 names on their platform to gauge how that platform pays off. I really don't know much about them other than you can get an instant appraisal for a name and it will tell if name is not a good fit for market place but ultimately you set price and submit name for listing and pay $8.00 for logo and listing creation. So you are making a financial commitment to list with them. But, really not much more that SH. If SH approves only 10% names submitted by there documentation then you are technically paying $10 for 1 submission. (ie. 10 coins to review 10 names to get one approved.) My dashboard shows 13.89% approval rating. While I am closer to 30% on BB. So in the grand scheme of things $8.00 really is not much more costly than paying for reviews on other platforms. But do people really sell names any were close to the STR quoted on the platforms to potential name sellers. BrandPa suggests they have an overall platform STR of 6.6% If this is true that is awesome!!! But I would like to see some some BrandPa sellers show some stats. I accept name quality also affects STR. So please if your a BrandPa seller and are willing to share stats on the platform I would like to hear / see them.

The argument about commissions these platforms charge vs go it alone or other methods. Yes all 3 require exclusivity to listing on their platform with exception in certain circumstances SH will let you list on Afternic after again to pay commission differnece. But these platforms to have the costs to make logos for every name posted many just like all market places will never sell or take years to get to sell. So they offset their costs to provide escrow services, accept credit card fraud, create logos, and maintain servers to provide the market place to sell names specifically ones that are Brandable. As previously stated if one of these can get me to 3-4% sell through rate then I really don't care about the higher commission. But if they only average 1% and I get there on other platforms with lower commissions then obviously the added commission would not be worth it. For me time will tell, but I see these types of name as a numbers game. You build a portfolio of size with a decent STR and then reap the rewards for years to come.

But like I am sure you have done in the past, you went to Sedo, Afternic or another market to list a name you acquired and couldn't because previous owner had it listed and never pulled the listing down up on sell of name. Now you have to go through hoops to prove to marketplace that you have domain in your registrar account. These brandable market places sell domains primarily at BIN prices. So if people have paid for names only to find out market could not provide domain to them would be bad for business and would cost repeat customer from returning. Having domains point to name servers, is an easy way for them to constant verify domain is system and available for transfer. They also have deleting time thresholds of x amount of days to allow them to reap any benefits from sells where they have in discussion or have served landing pages to others in the past.

I do think it would be fair for all these market places to allow listing in other markets as SH does with Aternic provided I provide the commission difference, because at end of day if name sells both platform and seller make money. So the more eyes on the name the better odds are of selling it.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I have some of the same feelings you express in your OP @WhoaDomain.com . Personally, as of now, I have never submitted a domain to any of the brandable places or even set up accounts at them. I did go through the numbers for BB, and even though their commissions are higher than the general marketplace options, the analysis suggested that people overall do well compared to the domain industry as a whole. I see that SH have recently released some numbers, and may try to do something similar for them.

To me, whether the commission is high, or even if they require exclusivity, are not the main questions, but rather is a domain name more likely to sell there with a higher price. If so, it makes sense. I do plan to try a few at the brandable places, just have not done so yet.

I think that what the brandable places bring is people actively looking for a brand name, ready to close a sale, and expecting to pay a reasonable price. They also build trust compared to listing on a personal website, in most cases.

What names should go there, by my way of thinking, is of course ones they would accept. but also names that in general someone would not guess. If you have a name that it is likely a lot of people might guess and check availability, it probably makes sense to stick with the regular marketplaces and a good lander, in my opinion.

I think that the brandable places should be considered as one option, from many, ways to potentially get names seen. Whether exclusivity is worth the price of that exposure depends on the name. I had not realized that SH allowed simultaneous listing on Afternic for a one-time fee until @Samer mentioned it above. Is the fee significant?

Just my thoughts. Have a good day everyone. Someday I hope to join those of you who are successful at the brandable marketplaces!

Bob

 

[karmaco]

I have sold alot of names at Brandpa in the last 3 years. I prefer there lower commission, no coins/internal fake currency to submit names and are not control freaks like SH. I get to pick the price I want to list for on my own names.

There are not made up names only on brandable markets mostly 2 words and keyword based one words. Entirely made up seems to be lesser than before.

You can sell a good domain anywhere obviously but if you want a logo and not to deal with the customer Or fake offers the brandable sites can be helpful. No guarantees just like anywhere else.

On names I know are very solid I don’t feel the need to go the brandable site route and have been handling those on my own.

 

[Recons.Com]

Squadhelp recent added; "time to sell"

BrandPa and BrandBucket;
No wholesale market.
Rigid exclusivity (No listing afternic like SH)
No disclosure sales... If ever
De-list from BB after 30 days from notification!

BrandPa
Doesnt curate; potential issue,
Some people may report better sales
100% acceptance rate; just pay fee.
Charge more for new clients

Samer, you are a great guy!

But still forming the drastic opinions on services you are not using or barely using is not quite right.

I have 350 names with BB, over 100 with SH, about 200 with BP.

SH performance is the worst among the three.

@WhoaDomain.com being on brandable marketplaces is just another basket for your eggs. Diversifies your portfolio. Normally, they outperform Afternic, DAN etc. in sell through ratio, but the trade-off is that they take higher commission, require forwarding and have other restrictions.

 

[RozasMD]

FWIW, I'll throw some ratio-comparison about my experience with these marketplaces.

BB - 200+ portfolio
BP - 150+ portfolio
SH - Recently started to build my portfolio there - About 30 names right now, not enough names & time to reach any conclussion yet
'Regular' marketplaces (GD, Afternic, Sedo Dan, Epik etc) - 150+ portfolio


Here's my experience:

Better sell-through ratio on BP than the rest. But I also feel the quality of the portfolio is slightly better too. Also higher average in-pocket money per sale.

BB and 'regular' marketplace ratios are quite similar. Similar overall sell-through ratio, similar in-pocket per sale (money after commission). But I have the feeling I started my BB portfolio by buying some low quality names just because they were 'BB-approved' - big mistake. I started to optimize my portfolio a couple of years ago and ratios have improved a little.

Everything looks much slower in 2020 though in all and every marketplace.

Hope that helps.

 

[Recons.Com]

Namerific; but they have a perpetual clause.

If approved, You must stay list them for life

Not sure if exclusive? must stay for life. You have to fight tooth, nail to remove off Namerific

Squadhelp; stay 7 days after request to de-list

I have one name with Namerific;
They’re not really too popular;
Foddler (.) com

I knew all that going in. Not sure of rest

No one has the right to demand perpetuity. Regardless of their TOS.

 

[Samer]

You're missing out by not listing on Squadhelp.

Bought; SH wholesale market;
equityful (.)com
TrulyWash (.)com
Restively (.)com

CostSlayer
LeanSalad (This cost $15)
FrontSuites
ScanSpark

Have 11 Squadhelp names;
https://www.squadhelp.com/domain-portfolio/Positive/969449

Most of my portfolio was purchased their wholesale market.

Squadhelp allows listing in Afternic (for a one time fee)

Unlike the other two; Squadhelp sales reports
Many NPers success SH! (Yellow)

 

[pb]

I tried listing a few names at SH but I find their conditions atrocious. Maybe something has changed since, but back then it was required to point the domain to their nameservers and not list the name anywhere else, while they were taking a 30% cut. All the while I couldn't submit a domain to their contests without it being listed exclusively at SH. I like the idea in principle, but the execution is bad, many things are just shouting Greed (like: when you submit someone else's name and it's chosen, you get the contest award and the domain owner gets a sale; but when you submit your own name, you get the sale minus 30% commission but you don't get the contest award, why the hell not?).

Brandbucket I never tried, I had a few domains listed on Brandpa for ~2 years with zero results so I removed them eventually.

 

[kite26]

SH haven't sold anything on there site yet got 6 listed
just got my first Published domain on BB for 4.5k here goes nothing :P

Brandables need quality and quantity to work. Six names are not enough I think.

 

[pb]

....but buyers would find yer name if they want it anyway.....on gd or others..and especially thru yer lander....

even if yer not listed on those brand markets

its thru their lander they find u anyway.... so what is the point of using them....just have a lander and pay way less fee too........

I would have zero problem listing all my names at SH for 30% commission if I could also list them elsewhere and use whatever lander I like. I think it would be beneficial to both sides. If they're confident my names will sell through SH, why do they require a lander? SH wants to eat a cake and have a cake at the same time. And the recent move where they list SH-listed names on other marketplaces just makes it uglier.

 

[BrandCollectors.com]

those buyer request threads 'bp sq bb published' just marketing tacticks and social engineering techniques...

 

[noneisnone]

@pb now it all makes sense Thank you
https://www.namepros.com/threads/prevent-businesses-from-paying-for-positive-comments-on-np.1194799/

 

[Haroon Basha]

I have been listing my names at Sedo, Afternic, Epik, Dan, Brandbucket, Brandpa and SquadHelp. Really I do not want to criticize any marketplace above, as I have sold scores of names there except @SquadHelp and @Epik.com , where I am trying their performance since one month only. If your name is good, the buyer will find you out anyway.
Here I must admit the fact that SH is running fantastic ad campaigns these days for all Premium names, that will give your names a big exposure.

 

[Bohdan]

I had about 40 with BB, after 2 years of zero sales - delisted all names and pointed them to DAN.
I have 43 names with SH. About 1.5 year - zero sales. By the way, Wirecard Bank, that issued my Payoneer card filed for insolvency and Financial Conduct Authority freezing all prepaid card activity. Since I can only withdraw funds to Payoneer, I'm thinking about leaving them too.
I had about 5 names with BP, after a year or so - delisted them all.
All my sales mostly through DAN. Though it depends on your prices and types of domains, that you are trying to sell on those marketplaces.

 

[Samer]

I have some of the same feelings you express in your OP @WhoaDomain.com . Personally, as of now, I have never submitted a domain to any of the brandable places or even set up accounts at them. I did go through the numbers for BB, and even though their commissions are higher than the general marketplace options, the analysis suggested that people overall do well compared to the domain industry as a whole. I see that SH have recently released some numbers, and may try to do something similar for them.

To me, whether the commission is high, or even if they require exclusivity, are not the main questions, but rather is a domain name more likely to sell there with a higher price. If so, it makes sense. I do plan to try a few at the brandable places, just have not done so yet.

I think that what the brandable places bring is people actively looking for a brand name, ready to close a sale, and expecting to pay a reasonable price. They also build trust compared to listing on a personal website, in most cases.

What names should go there, by my way of thinking, is of course ones they would accept. but also names that in general someone would not guess. If you have a name that it is likely a lot of people might guess and check availability, it probably makes sense to stick with the regular marketplaces and a good lander, in my opinion.

I think that the brandable places should be considered as one option, from many, ways to potentially get names seen. Whether exclusivity is worth the price of that exposure depends on the name. I had not realized that SH allowed simultaneous listing on Afternic for a one-time fee until @Samer mentioned it above. Is the fee significant?

Just my thoughts. Have a good day everyone. Someday I hope to join those of you who are successful at the brandable marketplaces!

Bob

If the name submitted, with "1 SH Coin" ($1 at submission) then free to list afternic after.
If domain nnot approved via coin; is one-time fee; 2 coins ($2)
1 SH coin costs $1.

Here are five domains selected;

Squadhelp describes Afternic-cost;

VERY IMPORTANT:
Before Submit to SH
Go to "Seller Preferences" - Choose "Submit with coin"
"Submit with coin" IS NOT the option SH selected start
Reduces commission 32.5% to 30%, faster approval time, afternic included! (free lo list after)
Cannot recommend enough; Even if just "trying out" PLEASE submit all with SH coins

PLEASE DO THIS FIRST. FOUND the HARD WAY;
Makes world's difference.

Samer

 

[Samer]

I've heard of these websites before. Never thought of listing with them. Am I missing out on sales?

I'll even include Flippa to the list.

Stay away from Flippa.

Have not regretted it since

 

[griff]

places like SH have their place for certain types of brandables, many of which would otherwise never be discovered without their marketplace/contests etc. it's a tradeoff that sometimes makes sense. I do dislike though that when you win a contest with your own name you don't get the contest money, my fault for not reading but didn't even know it was a thing until it happened to me.

 

[Samer]

those buyer request threads 'bp sq bb published' just marketing tacticks and social engineering techniques...

Dude SH is so hard approval. 10% i believe!
BrandBucket is selective approvals too.
“BB SH pubished” has value just for published

please elaborate

I dont think “BP published” matters
They publish all the names; “Just pay fee”
always chuckle to myself when see “BP publis”

Samer

 

[Recons.Com]

I have some of the same feelings you express in your OP @WhoaDomain.com . Personally, as of now, I have never submitted a domain to any of the brandable places or even set up accounts at them. I did go through the numbers for BB, and even though their commissions are higher than the general marketplace options, the analysis suggested that people overall do well compared to the domain industry as a whole. I see that SH have recently released some numbers, and may try to do something similar for them.

To me, whether the commission is high, or even if they require exclusivity, are not the main questions, but rather is a domain name more likely to sell there with a higher price. If so, it makes sense. I do plan to try a few at the brandable places, just have not done so yet.

I think that what the brandable places bring is people actively looking for a brand name, ready to close a sale, and expecting to pay a reasonable price. They also build trust compared to listing on a personal website, in most cases.

What names should go there, by my way of thinking, is of course ones they would accept. but also names that in general someone would not guess. If you have a name that it is likely a lot of people might guess and check availability, it probably makes sense to stick with the regular marketplaces and a good lander, in my opinion.

I think that the brandable places should be considered as one option, from many, ways to potentially get names seen. Whether exclusivity is worth the price of that exposure depends on the name. I had not realized that SH allowed simultaneous listing on Afternic for a one-time fee until @Samer mentioned it above. Is the fee significant?

Just my thoughts. Have a good day everyone. Someday I hope to join those of you who are successful at the brandable marketplaces!

Bob

You have fantastic analytical skills and ability to write down the thoughts in a bite-sized easy to digest way.

So even more surprising that you don't act on your thoughts ))

You are absolutely correct. The value-add from those services comes from selling at higher rate. I wouldn't say at higher price, because the sweet-spot of domain pricing is well established and some not knowing the value of what they hold and selling at low to mid $xxx doesn't mean much for that. But selling at higher rate is the expected standard for those places. Given that they take roughly 1/3 of your revenue, they should also be selling at least at 50% higher rate than your own landers and 20% higher than Afternic and its landers (or about 40% Dan's landers).

I said "at least", because actually needs to be even higher because of all the hassle of listing, submitting, describing it etc. and, often, paying fees.

So, I'd say if the marketplace is at around 1.5% sell-through, you are indifferent to selling yourself. Yes, they sell more, but they also take more and cost more, plus no flexibility. For me, 2% is the threshold where I see that the marketplace is really adding value via the logos, trust, connections, ads etc.

The best performer by far was Brandroot before they engaged in stupid redesign and lost their SEO advantages and eventually got sold out to BB...

SH showed unbelievable numbers for short while fueled by contests, seo, ads etc., but grew too fast and did some mistakes that resulted in STR going down 4-5 times already and on further decline. Furthermore, I have personally never witnessed those numbers on my personal experience with them, so not sure what was needed for some to benefit from those. Definitely, coming later and passively listing did not show any super-numbers. In fact, I had around 100 names approved, listed half first, but did not get to the other half because of the time it was taking to descibe. And guess what, 5 (!!!) of the unlisted batch sold via Afternic and direct, while just 1 of the listed batch sold by SH... I did list the remaining unlisted ones too now once they stopped requiring descriptions, but I am still at 1 sale with them ))

Still, I am patient and I also have studied stats and decision making in great detail and at top level, so I am ok to give it time.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

You have fantastic analytical skills and ability to write down the thoughts in a bite-sized easy to digest way.

So even more surprising that you don't act on your thoughts ))

I prefer to think of it that I just move really slowly to act on my own analysis/thoughts.
I fully plan to try out the brandable places, just have not actually done so yet.

In my early domain investing I did not have many names suitable, and still don't have a ton, but I definitely see a place for the domainable markets and do plan to use them.

And I do agree with your point, that I see was a little unclear in my initial post, that both the sell-through rate and the net proceeds are important in deciding if a venue is important.

Bob

 

[Atone]

Hi from my experience so far
BrandBucket. 31 names listed 1 year 12 weeks listed no sales.
BrandPa 30 names listed . Under 6 months . No sales that's OK given the time.
SquadHelp 6 so called premiums, 3 basic pluses no sales but short time frame .
Dan 2 failed sales OK that's life but 1 sale on a misspell Freestufff.com.
Hope this helps Cheers.

 

[Samer]

Squadhelp recent added; "time to sell"

BrandPa and BrandBucket;
No wholesale market.
Rigid exclusivity (No listing afternic like SH)
No disclosure sales... If ever
De-list from BB after 30 days from notification!

BrandPa
Doesnt curate; potential issue,
Some people may report better sales
100% acceptance rate; just pay fee.
Charge more for new clients

 

[BrandCollectors.com]

I've heard of these websites before. Never thought of listing with them. Am I missing out on sales?

Aren't these sites just for brandables? not EMD's.

Mostly made up names in .com's.

Are people making serious money on these websites versus say your Godaddy or Sedo or Namejet?

I'll even include Flippa to the list.

even so. At this point though are they overly saturated to have these sites be of any real benefit?

I have no sedo bb sq bp accounts as well.
I don't think that selling on bb sq bp really works they are just makes money on domainers for listing fee submissions, logos etc..

sold a few on flippa.
sold on Epik
sold on dan (but no sales for the last 1-2 months starting thinking something wrong with dan)
Afternic. a few sales for the last month even domain parked on dan ppl go with godaddy or afternic Dan not working as a sales platform. if no sales on the next month I will move to another nameservers to Epik or Afternic

 

[kite26]

SH, BP, BB, are good choices for brandables. I am not currently involved too much with these names, but the sites above are ok. @Samer is right by the way I agree 100%.