Atom / Atom.com - Marketplace (formerly Squadhelp)

[JudgeMind]

Hey Folks,

I've just started using squadhelp.com to list some of my brandable. So far I have 76 domains listed, there is no fee to list. I've had some decent action so far in the way of interested buyers but no sales as of yet. I've only been with them for 1 week now.

A bit of a summary review of SquadHelp:

PROS

• No Listing fee
• No Logo design fee
• Ability to submit your names to end users holding naming contests
• Ability to chat directly or send a message directly to end users.
• Stats of your marketplace domains are shown in the marketplace dashboard.
• Their customer service and support has been great, 24hr a day chat.
• Ability to increase or decrease the list price of your domains or to show a discount. You can decrease or increase the price yourself by $200. If you want to lower more, you can contact support.
• End users can shortlist your domains before they make a decision on which they want to purchase. The number of shortlists is shown in you marketplace dashboard.
• When you submit your names you get to set the price you wish to get. Because their commissions are high I recommend listing at a higher price to offset the commission costs.
• Their landing pages are fairly basic but they work. Because the marketplace is fairly new, I'm sure we will see style improvements in the future.
• One thing I really like is they accept multiple extensions. I have listed .co and .io along with .com
• Each seller gets a direct link to their marketplace portfolio, HERES MY PORTFOLIO. It is handy if your trying to p[promote your portfolio through social media.
• I like that their marketplace doesn't have tens of thousands domain listings like BB. They are fairly strict on the domains they accept to list and so this helps keep the number of domains in the marketplace down and gets your listings more exposure.

CONS

• Their commissions are very high, depending on the domain name they are usually between 30% and 35%. However, there are no listing fees, no logo design fees, so in the end their commission is very similar to brand buckets.
• Their logos are not top quality, in fact I requested to have some of my logos remade.
• I think they have a big backlog of logos to design, the wait time for logo design has been around 1 week, but your names are still listed while the logos are being designed.
• After your names are accepted you need to agree to their commission rate, at this point you also need to apply your own keywords, descriptions etc. I found this was very time consuming.

 

[SuperBrander]

Another p.s. regarding @Commulinks - first of all, she's also a good person. She's indeed very active in the forums but most of the time she criticizes SH and tries to cause them to add features or change something existing. She is often very vocal about it and doesn't let them off easily. I don't think she'll be getting a SH badge anytime soon.

Also, @karmaco- you should keep in mind that some of the people with the most sales have been using the marketplace way before most other sellers have discovered it. Less sellers=more sales. I guess I'm one of them even though I ignored the marketplace when it first started. Took me quite a long time to realize it was worthwhile using. But I still started listing domains quite a while before NamePros discovered it- so I got a bunch of sales I probably wouldn't have gotten now that there are way more domains there. The seller in second place by the way shot up there recently. I don't know who it is. Ultimately, sales are about numbers, relative quality and also luck. I really don't think this system of Reviewers is problematic for me as a seller. Otherwise I wouldn't have quit it.

 

[boker]

Another p.s. regarding @Commulinks - first of all, she's also a good person. She's indeed very active in the forums but most of the time she criticizes SH and tries to cause them to add features or change something existing. She is often very vocal about it and doesn't let them off easily. I don't think she'll be getting a SH badge anytime soon.

Also, @karmaco- you should keep in mind that some of the people with the most sales have been using the marketplace way before most other sellers have discovered it. Less sellers=more sales. I guess I'm one of them even though I ignored the marketplace when it first started. Took me quite a long time to realize it was worthwhile using. But I still started listing domains quite a while before NamePros discovered it- so I got a bunch of sales I probably wouldn't have gotten now that there are way more domains there. The seller in second place by the way shot up there recently. I don't know who it is. Ultimately, sales are about numbers, relative quality and also luck. I really don't think this system of Reviewers is problematic for me as a seller. Otherwise I wouldn't have quit it.

I'm not criticizing the new system, I'm even better with the new system, I think I have around 20% acceptance rate, so I can't complain.

 

[Commulinks]

Apparently you consider we are not entitled to have a negative opinion about any change SH decides to make.

I would say the same about your comments. Is it not OK to say anything positive here, or is this just a place to complain? I have a great experience with SH, and since other domainers here may want to know the other side of the story, too, then why should I not say what I think, too?

I also try to go directly to SH with any issues I have with them. Not here.

And yes, as others have said about me here, I am vocal with SH, too. And guess what? They listen - but they do not and cannot always make decisions for their company to suit everyone. The reason this discussion never ends is because people are not getting what they want. So the conversation ended in the SH platform and moved over here!

SH has more than adequately answered all of these questions that have been asked over and over both here and in the forum-for weeks now. It's actually been a minority of people complaining, too.
They will make changes if they feel it necessary.

Anyway, this has all become an "attack anyone who supports SH forum".......... not only that, but "Make false allegations" about SH AND certain domainers that are being NAMED!

 

[Commulinks]

@gblasting - can you tell me where in your dashboard you were able to get that data? I don't see that in mine so I was wondering how to get it. Thanks.

Never mind, I figured out why I can't see mine. They were resubs.

 

[Commulinks]

Another p.s. regarding @Commulinks - first of all, she's also a good person. She's indeed very active in the forums but most of the time she criticizes SH and tries to cause them to add features or change something existing. She is often very vocal about it and doesn't let them off easily. I don't think she'll be getting a SH badge anytime soon.

Thanks very much @SuperBrander
SH has been very proactive at listening, too.

 

[Commulinks]

I believe cooler heads will prevail on this subject. I invite people to ask themselves:
What if my accusations really are unfounded/false?
What if my suspicions are completely off-base?
What if I just aliened a whole bunch of people who could have been allies?

Accusations don't set policy - Sound decision-making does
Suspicions said many times are not truth - Facts reveal themselves
The few don't necessarily represent the many

If your names are being rejected, try subbing them at BB or Brandpa and see what happens. If you want your names approved on SH, be sure they are brandable and follow the basic naming conventions.

And most of all, follow that old adage that goes:
Don't sh, I mean defecate, where you eat.

Thanks to so many of you who have made positive points.

 

[DomainBanana]

Is it not OK to say anything positive here, or is this just a place to complain?

Communlinks,

Please read this thread carefully. Most of us who are critical of the new review policy have been careful to focus our comments on the policy itself and have said many positive things about Squadhelp and the reviewer team. For example, I recently called Squadhelp the "premiere brandable marketplace". I also recently thanked the reviewer team for improving the quality of domains on the marketplace.

You seem to be ready to take these comments and twist them into something they are not without carefully reading what we're saying.

I also try to go directly to SH with any issues I have with them. Not here.

I tried to share my perspective on Squadhelp and was threatened with "action against my account" for communicating on the forum there. When Squadhelp represses constructive criticism on its forum, these things inevitably come out elsewhere.

SH has more than adequately answered all of these questions that have been asked over and over both here and in the forum-for weeks now.

Many sellers do not feel Squadhelp's responses on these issues have been adequate. That is why our questions have persisted. Grant selectively addressed some criticisms above. He has not addressed my comments.

This has all become an "attack anyone who supports SH forum".......... not only that, but "Make false allegations" about SH AND certain domainers that are being NAMED!

Once again, you are misreading and misinterpreting the comments. Once again, I know and respect many SH reviewers. And I support and value Squadhelp and would like to continue to list with them. If I didn't, it would be much easier to just walk away.

 

[boker]

@boker Sure, Some domains may have more potential than others and some can be received very well. But still... we're talking about domains that were already registered by the owner who submitted them so they're safe from theft. The only possible "harm" is that someone will change a letter or submit a slight variation. But do you really think reviewers look at domains and think- hmmm... what a great idea. Let's change one letter, handreg and submit it? Most of the time as a reviewer you see very low quality stuff. You just try to quickly pick the best name based on what you think fits SH best and get it over with. The occasional gems are usually aftermarket domains. Plus, let's say that a reviewer really needs to be inspired by submissions and thinks something they got to review is brilliant- what's the difference between seeing a random submission and getting inspired to getting inspired while browsing the newly published domains, handregging a similar domain and submitting? What advantage do reviewers get by seeing a mix of submitted domains that are already registered and that mostly won't get accepted? At least if you browse the already published domains, you know that a slighly different version was accepted. I see no advantage here for Reviewers.

As for @JimJammy Again, I can't speak on her behalf. But she's a good person who's been harassed. When you get harassed, you tend to become more defensive and less engaging. @karmaco Nobody else I'm familiar with who's dealing with brandable domains has been doing what she's been doing and to that extent using research, social media & SEO. Her sales speak volumes and if I weren't focusing mostly on higher end domains- I'd be trying to follow her footsteps as much as possible. But let's stick to the matter at hand. The sellers- I'm in the same position as you and my submissions are in the hands of reviewers. Personally, from my perspective, it's working fine up till now and most importantly, reviews are lightning fast. Compare that to BB's review system... and well... I know which one I prefer. But SH is monitoring it and they will change things if they're wrong. I've seen it in the past many times, sometimes even direct changes based on feedback I gave them.

Actually, I like the new system better than the old one. My acceptance rate is higher, the process is smoother and most of the times in 24-48 hours has a logo as well. I like the system, because even for the rejected one's, I can learn something. I mean, I value the opinion of everybody, even without being a domainer, because his opinion could be as good as an average person opinion, who could be an end user. I also have domains, that have received 0 votes, but I will still value them, for some reason or another. Regarding the reviewers, it's normal to have them 'payed' for they efforts, but I think that it will work better a system where they get a % of the sale, than points and coins, because with the actual system, they are pushed to use the coins and points to push their names in front. So, it's hard for somebody to compete with others, when some of them have their names in front all the times. So, for somebody who has over 500 names and is a reviewer as well, he can keep his name in front every time, so it will be hard to compete with that.

 

[Footprint789]

Error

 

[Footprint789]

Here's my two cents' worth as an ex-reviewer who was doing it for about a week:


2. Inspiration- no offense, but if you or me or anyone else handregged a domain lately or submitted an unregistered one for consideration- it's not the best domain out there by a long shot (unless it's a brand new trend that just emerged and you managed to catch a relevant domain early). Domains that people are so scared will be ripped off have been available for anyone to register for awhile and sometimes were never registered before. In 99.9% of the cases these domains aren't registered in any other extension. People who have been domaining for a long time don't need to be inspired by submissions- they can see which names sold and which names were recently added to the marketplace if they're really into getting relevant data and/or inspiration from others. Everybody has access to that data. And being inspired by submissions that haven't even been approved yet doesn't make much sense to me. If they're aftermarket domains- you can't tweak them and get something equivalent. If they're low end domains- it's very likely nobody with exeperience in domaining cares about them. Similar domains get submitted/registered all the time due to the limited amount of meaningful keywords and prefixes/suffixes. Even while submitting, I'm sure most if not everybody can see that many times other people already submitted their idea. People who have been in the industry for awhile can likely find better handregged domains than less experienced domainers and don't need to get inspired by them- so again, don't fall in love with your low end domains and accept them for what they are- lottery tickets that can be easily replaced.

Anyway... this post is waaaay too long so I'll wrap it up!

I would like to present different perspective about some of the points here. While names that are still available to register seems insignificant to you with all due respect please check the sales that have taken place at SH, 90% of the names I have checked are all handregged recently that were once might have been thought of as insignificant by someone too.

And your point about it is not possible to tweak variations of a name idea as they are aftermarket names etc does not hold much water here. Because I feel these are brandables, the whole point of them is to tweak variations of name or actual keyword and make it brandable/good enough for end users. So your argument is great for keyword names or those names which we can find in marketplace like Sedo, Afternic but it does not seem a strong enough point for brandable Marketplace.

And your point telling not to treat hand reg domains as "treasure". Guess what SH sales are dominated by these "treasures". Infact for some of us, handregs are the only thing we can work with as not everyone is privileged enough to go after auction or Premium names most of the times for various reasons. Infact my first sale at SH(and 2 other outside) was a handreg that I thought after lot of effort in brainstorming and coming up with the idea. Surprising thing is it is not even a variation of actual word, was a made up name. I felt it was my best name and I was really happy when it finally got sold. So, it really was my "treasure" literally.

May be you having progressed from beginner to intermediate to expert in domaining, these handregs seems insignificant now but it's pretty clear that it is not the case for others, all including experts are submitting unregistered names which means they are looking for good ideas too.


Finally for some, handregs may seem trash. And they may calculate investment based on how much they acquired the name for, I completely understand your perspective my friend. But for others their creativity, time and ideas might be there investment.

And about some of the other comments by others, people who think they are the sole supporters of SH seem to forget one thing. We all are genuine supporters of SH and everyone made clear it's only about the obvious potential conflict of interest and nothing against SH and that we wish them all the best.

So, not sure why few users are downvoting others view points. NP is a neutral venue and it is encouraged here to talk or discuss about issues. Infact if you go back, you will see grant himself appreciated and thanked a NP member for a great idea/insight they shared a few months ago.
Ideally Expert reviewers can come up with a logical response on it if they disagree with non-experts views. TBH IMO "downvoting" gives an impression that they are actually trying to suppress the issue which actually solidifies all other non-expert sellers views.

Finally, some are actually mistaking that this is about "rejection rates". No, it isn't. With the growth of SH or any platform for that matter, it's only natural they try to control things.

This is all about scope for potential conflict of interest, and the early access of names to experts before they are even approved and most importantly the "visibility".

And everyone will agree that they love the faster review times because of expert review system, I love it personally.

But Just take a step back and imagine if Expert review system = sales for all ?
What will happen a couple of months down the line and even 6 months down the line ?

With all the large accumulated points during this period, they will have a virtual "forever" superboost button at their disposal.

Few months down the line if you search for a keyword of your name in the marketplace, do you really like if your name is some "873" position even though your name is a close match to the keyword ?

There are about 20 reviewers and they all have 100s of names each at the least and guess whose names will occupy in the top positions. With this, the visibility of non-experts sellers names seems pretty much dead.


So,

1. Expert review system = Fast review times = Awesome
2. Expert review system = drastic reduction of visibility for non-experts = Not ok.

So, does it really matter if your name is reviewed fast if it's not visible to end users. Ultimately that's what is important I feel.

I would greatly appreciate if someone who is not an expert reviewer and not have previous experience as expert to educate us how this expert review system is beneficial to non-expert sellers.

I am very open to listen to counter-responses of others as long as they make sense or logical. Personally, if I accidentally make a mistake, I also don't mind apologizing. So, feel free to share your logical responses.

Thanks all.

 

[RozasMD]

I would say the same about your comments. Is it not OK to say anything positive here, or is this just a place to complain? I have a great experience with SH, and since other domainers here may want to know the other side of the story, too, then why should I not say what I think, too?

I also try to go directly to SH with any issues I have with them. Not here.

And yes, as others have said about me here, I am vocal with SH, too. And guess what? They listen - but they do not and cannot always make decisions for their company to suit everyone. The reason this discussion never ends is because people are not getting what they want. So the conversation ended in the SH platform and moved over here!

SH has more than adequately answered all of these questions that have been asked over and over both here and in the forum-for weeks now. It's actually been a minority of people complaining, too.
They will make changes if they feel it necessary.

Anyway, this has all become an "attack anyone who supports SH forum".......... not only that, but "Make false allegations" about SH AND certain domainers that are being NAMED!

No. No, no and no. I've not denied the right of anyone to support whatever they like. It's you who is putting the bad faith accusation on those who are desagreeing with SH decisions. It's you who is judging other user's intentions and motivations. It's you who has gone personal.

And you've gone personal in order to protect SH after each critical or disagreeing post, whatever your reason is to do that.

And no, this has not become "an "attack anyone who supports SH forum".......... not only that, but "Make false allegations" about SH AND certain domainers that are being NAMED!". Absolutely not on any of my posts anyway, so if you want to go that way, quote the correct user, not me.

You're picking bits here and there -the domainers named and the false allegations is a tiny part of the debate and certainly not what most critical users are talking about- and try to make it the whole critical point of view about this changes. That's blatantly false and hypocritical. One could think you're trying to divert the course of the conversation from the original subject: the flaws and potential issues of the new system. Hope that's not the case.

If you're going that way, then I'm done with this. But if you have any point related to the so-caled 'experts system', I'd love to read your ideas on why the potential conflict of interest is not something a small seller should worry about.

 

[RozasMD]

I believe cooler heads will prevail on this subject. I invite people to ask themselves:
What if my accusations really are unfounded/false?
What if my suspicions are completely off-base?
What if I just aliened a whole bunch of people who could have been allies?

Accusations don't set policy - Sound decision-making does
Suspicions said many times are not truth - Facts reveal themselves
The few don't necessarily represent the many

If your names are being rejected, try subbing them at BB or Brandpa and see what happens. If you want your names approved on SH, be sure they are brandable and follow the basic naming conventions.

And most of all, follow that old adage that goes:
Don't sh, I mean defecate, where you eat.

Thanks to so many of you who have made positive points.

So to sum up. Once again: We cannot differ. We cannot disagree. Disagreeing is 'sh.g.ing where we eat'. Lovely. That sounds terribly totalitarian.

And we have to have faith everything will be flawless even if we perceive those flaws in the system are real. We must have faith that privileged SH users position won't harm the rest because... well, because, you know, this is not business and no one would make his/her own interests prevail.

C'mon, please.

 

[SuperBrander]

@Footprint789 Appreciate your detailed and thoughtful response.

Yes, most of the names at SH that sell are handregged. How many sell a year? 1000? 2000? 3000? There are currently around 50K domains at SH. I have nothing against hand registrations. I handreg sometimes and let SH reg for me. But again, almost all handregged domains are easily replaceable and creativity can always help a person come up with more options.

Here's the key point, IMO: Each and every handreg can sell. But with lower end domains, it's much harder to predict which one. That's why I call them lottery tickets. Any lottery ticket can theoretically win, but the absolute majority don't. And the problem with these domain lottery tickets is that if you own a bunch and they don't win within the first year, you often feel compelled to renew them to give them another chance. That's how profits get reduced and in some cases totally eliminated or even put you in the red. So yeah, let's say 2000 handregged domains sold. What about the other 40K+?

You wrote: "This is all about scope for potential conflict of interest, and the early access of names to experts before they are even approved and most importantly the "visibility". Let me try to address that:

1. Potential conflict of interest- I feel that's addressed by the amount of reviewers, the randomness of the listings, the need to get only 4 out of 20 to be considered, SH's supervision and the ability to submit a request for a review.

2. The early access- Gives Reviewers nothing. You already regged the domain reviewers see so your idea is protected. Reviewers and anybody else can see sold domains and already published domains and get inspiration from those, if they really need it. So even after you get a domain approved, someone can register a variation with 'a' instead of 'o' at the end. Seeing your name together with dozens of others that haven't been approved yet really gives a reviewer no advantage over you.

3. Visibility- here I actually agree with you. Points from reviews shouldn't be used for superboosts and lifestyle images, IMO. Personally, I haven't used points for these type of promotions but I can see where that could give Reviewers an advantage.

 

[DomainBanana]

Potential conflict of interest- I feel that's addressed by the amount of reviewers, the randomness of the listings, the need to get only 4 out of 20 to be considered, SH's supervision and the ability to submit a request for a review.

I recently gave an example that shows conflict of interest can be a legitimate concern with the number of current reviewers:

Most approvals are borderline (approved by one or two votes).

One of my domains recently received 3 / 14 votes.

If there were a conflict of interest here, a single reviewer could have shifted the domain from an auto-accept (4/14 or 29% approval) to an auto-reject (3/14 or 21%).

Allowing a single reviewer to shift the score by 8 percentage points -- when 25% approval is an auto-accept -- gives individual reviewers too much power.

This is why I would prefer to see each domain reviewed by at least 30 "experts".

This is not a significant change and it would go a long way toward minimizing potential conflict of interest.

Re: ability to submit a request for review -- as others have pointed out, we only have the ability to do this 5 times within 30 days.

 

[SuperBrander]

@DomainBanana By all means, SH can have as many reviewers as needed. 3/14 probably means this domain isn't a great fit though. Let's say that if 11/14 people didn't think it was good enough to be accepted, hanging on the statistical probability that one of these 11 was biased is kind of a stretch. We all want all our submissions to get accepted. But I feel like moving from that basic instinct domainers have, especially when they start out, that: every domain we own is great, why didn't it get accepted, if only one person would have voted differently etc. to a more rational approach and not being so emotional about each and every domain and decision that's made about them- is helpful in the long run.

 

[DomainBanana]

@DomainBanana By all means, SH can have as many reviewers as needed. 3/14 probably means this domain isn't a great fit though. Let's say that if 11/14 people didn't think it was good enough to be accepted, hanging on the stastical probability that one of these 11 was biased is kind of a stretch. We all want all our submissions to get accepted. But I feel like moving from that basic instinct domainers have, especially when they start out, that: every domain we own is great, why didn't it get accepted, if only one person would have voted differently etc. to a more rational approach and not being so emotional about each and every domain and decision that's made about them- is helpful in the long run.

As a general rule, you're right. I don't expect all my domains to be accepted and it's not healthy to get emotionally attached to domain rejections and approvals.

But if Squadhelp has decided to use this system, where sellers who are competing for sales on the marketplace are also tapped as reviewers, then extra measures should be taken to ensure that conflict of interest is ruled out. I don't think an expanded reviewer pool is an unreasonable request.

If the reviewer pool is expanded, I and many others will feel better about the integrity of the process.

 

[SuperBrander]

@DomainBanana Like I said, by all means. This issue doesn't worry me personally, but SH should consider it and implement if they decide it will help ease some people's minds. Not sure having more Reviewers won't annoy other people though for some reason or other. Every decision always sits well with some and doesn't sit well with others.

 

[RozasMD]

In the end, no one forces us to submit names to one marketplace or another. Obviously those who feel this can be an issue will probably move to other marketplaces as their prime option and that's all. Nothing we haven't seen before with all the ambassadors-insiders thing at BB a couple of years ago.

I've tried to be constructive on my criticism. I've tried to explain why this looks bad to me as a small seller who was trying to build a portfolio at SH.

Now SH staff is obviously free to take my and other user's opinion into consideration or they can just ignore them. You just can't satisfy everyone all the time and in the end it's their company, it's their decision.

But I think I should be free to give an opinion without:

A. The company feeling attacked.
B. Other users feeling attacked.
C. Other users trying god knows why to divert the conversation.
D. Other users taking it to personal levels.

I can't understand the level of aggresiveness this has raised. It's just someone disagreeing with a company decision, for heaven's sake.

I've decided I'm done here. Posted my point of view. Those who agree, great. Those who don't, great too. SH people take their decision regarding their company. I take mine regarding my domain names. That's all.

But it's terribly sad that a constructive conversation can't be held among domainers. I just can't understand it. And I feel terribly disappointed by some specific cases.

Have a great day everyone. Over and out.

 

[NameWell]

Here's my two cents' worth as an ex-reviewer who was doing it for about a week:

1. Acceptance to one marketplace doesn't mean a domain will be accepted elsewhere, especially when we're talking about unregistered or recently handregged domains. BB is full of low quality domains that likely shouldn't have been accepted. SH is too. Falling in love with low quality domains isn't beneficial and the sooner domainers get over their genius naming abilities, they're able to evaluate domains better and get the right perspective on their own domains and other people's domains.

2. Inspiration- no offense, but if you or me or anyone else handregged a domain lately or submitted an unregistered one for consideration- it's not the best domain out there by a long shot (unless it's a brand new trend that just emerged and you managed to catch a relevant domain early). Domains that people are so scared will be ripped off have been available for anyone to register for awhile and sometimes were never registered before. In 99.9% of the cases these domains aren't registered in any other extension. People who have been domaining for a long time don't need to be inspired by submissions- they can see which names sold and which names were recently added to the marketplace if they're really into getting relevant data and/or inspiration from others. Everybody has access to that data. And being inspired by submissions that haven't even been approved yet doesn't make much sense to me. If they're aftermarket domains- you can't tweak them and get something equivalent. If they're low end domains- it's very likely nobody with exeperience in domaining cares about them. Similar domains get submitted/registered all the time due to the limited amount of meaningful keywords and prefixes/suffixes. Even while submitting, I'm sure most if not everybody can see that many times other people already submitted their idea. People who have been in the industry for awhile can likely find better handregged domains than less experienced domainers and don't need to get inspired by them- so again, don't fall in love with your low end domains and accept them for what they are- lottery tickets that can be easily replaced. Personally I find it hard to believe that a reviewer will get 4 random domains to choose from and then take the time to go check who owns one and then decide not to choose it because he hates the owner. Or not choose it because it somehow competes with one of their own domains. I mean... it's only 1 vote out of 20 anyway in the worst case scenario. And reviewers are being monitored. Don't know. Seems OK to me. No solution can ever be perfect when humans are involved. Mistakes will always be made. But at least now submissions are reviewed super quickly without cost to sellers.

3. I'm not saying that the system is perfect and since people have concerns- the system should be tweaked to address that. That's the good thing about SH. They're attentive to sellers and often make changes based on feedback. People who feel like they're being dealt a lesser hand always speak out, especially when so called "insiders" are involved and are perceivably getting unfair advantages. It's been like that with BB. It's like that with SH. And that's fine. Hell, I also criticized BB and SH for a lot of things and I understand where people are coming from. I'm not a reviewer anymore so I'm in the same boat as the rest of the sellers. My acceptance rate is fine. Even higher than before, if I'm not mistaken. But either way, at least from my own experience, I think the power attributed to reviewers and the value of these benefits is somewhat exaggerated. Reading some of what people say- I could almost feel like an idiot for quitting being a reviewer after a week. The truth is, once the compensation switched from coins to points- it wasn't worth my time. Going over so many low end domains is super boring. $5 per sold name is renewal money for a few domains, at the best case scenario. As for points- I've had a lot of points I got the old fashioned ways and I continue to accumulate them like that so I always have enough. Personally, up till now I think I used points for one boost when the feature first came out and for one lifestyle image when that became available. I got some complimentary images automatically for some of the higher quality domains, as other sellers with domains that are priced high get.

Anyway... this post is waaaay too long so I'll wrap it up!

I came here to write a long post, but then I found this post by @SuperBrander and realized I no longer have to write one :D He said all I wanted to say and phrased it way better than I would have. I agree with everything.

Some people just need to get over their ego Those who submit premium names (a well-known dictionary word .com, sonorous pronounceable four-letter .com, 5letter .com that is a cleverly misspelled dictionary word etc.) have no problem getting their names approved. Only those who submit handregs have. And should have! With small exceptions of sudden outbursts (like it happened with CBD or cryptocurrency) and for a very limited time only. All mediocre handreg brandables are VERY subjective and each curated marketplace can and should have their own criteria for acceptance. And sellers should understand that.

 

[DomainBanana]

I came here to write a long post, but then I found this post by @SuperBrander and realized I no longer have to write one :D He said all I wanted to say and phrased it way better than I would have. I agree with everything.

Some people just need to get over their ego Those who submit premium names (a well-known dictionary word .com, sonorous pronounceable four-letter .com, 5letter .com that is a cleverly misspelled dictionary word etc.) have no problem getting their names approved. Only those who submit handregs have. And should have! With small exceptions of sudden outbursts (like it happened with CBD or cryptocurrency) and for a very limited time only.

Oh, okay, I guess I will go load up on well-known dictionary words and sonorous pronounceable 4Ls then.

Problem solved. Thanks, Namewell

 

[boker]

I came here to write a long post, but then I found this post by @SuperBrander and realized I no longer have to write one :D He said all I wanted to say and phrased it way better than I would have. I agree with everything.

Some people just need to get over their ego Those who submit premium names (a well-known dictionary word .com, sonorous pronounceable four-letter .com, 5letter .com that is a cleverly misspelled dictionary word etc.) have no problem getting their names approved. Only those who submit handregs have. And should have! With small exceptions of sudden outbursts (like it happened with CBD or cryptocurrency) and for a very limited time only.

You or me, one of us for sure is confused. The main debate is about the new system of reviews and the advantage reviewers get. I'm doing only handregs and I have close to 20% acceptance, so this is not an issue. Also, who owns a premium name, like a one word .com or even an LLLL.com, I don't think that they will want it listed for under $2499 and as far as I know the reviewers don't deal with over $2499 prices, it's going back through the old system. So your well prepared post it's about something that is not highly debated here at the moment. By the way, can you share how many well known one word dictionary domains or LLLL.com's do you have listed and sold at SH?

 

[Ntmt]

I think @SuperBrander mentioned that experts are rewarded with Points but for lifestyle image or visibility boost you need Coins. So seems Experts cannot use rewards to promote their names. Am I missing something?

 

[DomainBanana]

I think @SuperBrander mentioned that experts are rewarded with Points but for lifestyle image or visibility boost you need Coins. So seems Experts cannot use rewards to promote their names. Am I missing something?

500 points = 1 standard boost
2,000 points = 1 super boost

100 reviews per day equals approximately 2,000 points per day or 730,000 points per year.

200 reviews per day equals approximately 4,000 points per day or 1,460,000 points per year

1,460,000 points = 730 super boosts or 2,920 standard boosts

Reviewers are not limited to 200 reviews per day.

 

[SuperBrander]

Yeah, everybody. Stop handregging and buy expensive domains! But seriously... handregging can be great, when you manage it well. It can provide great ROI at low risk. Also, easier to drop, if you manage to get over the mental obstacle of letting a name you like go. My advice, for what it's worth is: don't let the hand registrations that sell blind you from the overwhelming majority that don't and never will. Comps with hand registrations are usually harder because all the obvious combinations are almost always taken. So you play around, stray away, try a synonym, add letters, find other words. It can sound good. But is it better than the other word you could have used? Is RoseAndFig.com better than FigAndOak.com, OakAndHoney.com, RoseAndPetal.com etc.? Is Zapion.com better than Zapizo.com, Zapial.com, Zapiro etc.? (totally random domains by the way. Don't have a clue what's registered and what isn't).

Ultimately- to make a decent or more profit with handregged domains you need enough decent names with potential to sell & the right price for the right buyer at the right time seeing one of your domains and deciding that's the one. Most domains that are/were available to handreg aren't worth stressing out over or getting paranoid about. There are exceptions to the rule and sometimes you can find available domains that have great comps or a higher than average probability of selling for other reasons. Most of the time though, even if it sounds great to you and could be great as a business name- it doesn't mean it's a slam dunk. It likely isn't and there are many alternatives. Sometimes it's worth trying for a year and then dropping. Sometimes it's better to let SH register it to eliminate the risk. Just experiment based on your budget and find out what works best for you. OK, I'm at a word overload so I'll call it a day. But I'll just add that I hope everybody can try not to attack each other. I think most of us can agree that SH is generally awesome and that everybody can like or dislike certain things and suggest changes or oppose them. Constructive discussions without accusations or provocations are probably best.

 

[NameWell]

You or me, one of us for sure is confused. The main debate is about the new system of reviews and the advantage reviewers get. I'm doing only handregs and I have close to 20% acceptance, so this is not an issue. Also, who owns a premium name, like a one word .com or even an LLLL.com, I don't think that they will want it listed for under $2499 and as far as I know the reviewers don't deal with over $2499 prices, it's going back through the old system. So your well prepared post it's about something that is not highly debated here at the moment. By the way, can you share how many well known one word dictionary domains or LLLL.com's do you have listed and sold at SH?

There were so many posts from people complaining that their personal acceptance rate dropped or that they were not able to get particular (usually mediocre) names approved or that ALL reviewers are villains and will do whatever it takes to harm other sellers that I have serious doubts about what the main debate is really about

If you feel that the current reviewer reward system is not adequate (and you may actually have a point here), then okay, make a constructive proposal and suggest a better system i.e. fewer points for approved domain names and more cash for sold ones or whatever. SH is known for taking into consideration constructive feedback and quite often improving their policies accordingly. There's no need to make drama with all that whining, throwing around false accusations and creating conspiracy theories (please don't take this personally, I meant that in general).