Dynadot

Domain.io - The Portfolio Dashboard (Official Thread)

Spaceship Spaceship
Watch

aoxborrow

Twitter: @aoxborrowUpgraded Member
Impact
178
Hello Domain Pros!

For the past year I have been building Domain.io to be the portfolio management tool I always wanted. My portfolio is only around 400 domains but it was such a mess, strewn across so many registrars and marketplaces. I wanted to manage all my pricing in one place, a single source of truth, and I wanted my ALL my verification TXT records to be automatically added with one set of nameservers. Whether you use the nameservers and landers or not, Domain.io is gonna help you reach maximum exposure for your portfolio.

When I first brought my entire portfolio together into Domain.io, I was surprised to see that less than 50% was actually listed on all three of Afternic/Sedo/Dan. I knew I had been lazy about updating listings, but I had no idea how bad it was. Now I am at 92% listed for each market, and November and December have been my best months ever by far. Below is what I did to get there.

ScreenShot 2021-12-28 at 15.40.45.png


1. First I went to every domain registrar where I own names and exported a list of all my names. This ensures my initial working list is 100% clean and up to date with no expired or sold domains. Optional: While I was logged into each registrar I also set the nameservers for all my domains to ns1.domain.io and ns2.domain.io, so I can use the Domain.io landers and Bulk DNS.

2. Once I had gathered all my registrar export files, I just imported them directly into Domain.io, one after another. If you click the big "Add Domains" button there is a "Bulk Importer" option. From there you can import just about any spreadsheet -- I have tested with dozens of registrars and marketplaces. Once all my domains were in Domain.io I carefully went through and set BIN and minimum offer prices.

ScreenShot 2021-09-29 at 21.51.55.png


3. Now with my freshly updated portfolio I was ready to hit the aftermarkets. On the Domain.io Markets page, there are three separate Export buttons, each specifically tailored for Afternic, Sedo, and Dan. I exported a fresh file for each market and promptly wiped all my accounts entirely clean. I highly recommend this, it felt great! There were so many long gone, expired, poorly priced, and sold domains in my accounts, it would have taken weeks to sort them all out. I uploaded the fresh new spreadsheets to each of Afternic, Sedo, and Dan. If you don't want to wipe your account clean, be sure to use the "reconcile" options when uploading your portfolio. Because my domains were using Domain.io nameservers with TXT verification configured, they were all verified quickly. It is of course easy to monitor your listing status from within the Domain.io dashboard.

ScreenShot 2021-12-28 at 15.52.16.png


Domain.io can do a lot more, but this core benefit of getting my portfolio fully syndicated with consistent pricing has been the biggest difference maker so far.

Some other fun features are:

Seriously Awesome Bulk Management Tools
Whether it's 20 or 20,000 domains you are updating, Domain.io can handle it.

ScreenShot 2021-12-28 at 14.28.48.png


Ridiculously Configurable Payment Options
You can configure your BIN and contact buttons exactly how you want them using button rules and custom fields. Our Dan.com integration means 5% commission on BIN checkouts directly from the lander.

FDDEgdjVkAg-ZO1.jpeg

FDDF4mgUUAAurbe.jpeg


HOW ABOUT ALL THE BUTTONS SIR? (not recommended!)
FDDEiyXVgAUW4qQ.jpeg


We're just getting started. Try Domain.io free for 30 days, no credit card required, and let me know what you think!!
 
Last edited:
21
•••
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Just select the names you want to add to a group and click on actions tab on menu and then select group you want it will apply to all selected names

That i didn't tried...

Thanks Steve👍

It will be nice to see option to edit in portfolio page under group column...just like entering prices.
 
0
•••
How do we un-freezez domains that have been stuck in market refresh for several days? If you refresh again still doesn't help.
 
Last edited:
0
•••
2 weeks or so after a sale, can the Market Listings, Issues, and Unlisted ignore names marked as sold. Also ideally it would be great if names that are sold moved to their own group called sold.

Again, it would be great to be able to use groups more efficiently by being able to select multiple groups or unselect multiple groups.

Example I am using Domain.io to manager BrandBucket, SquadHelp, and Dan/Afternic/Sedo names. Lets say I want to update my Sedo prices. I want all names in my Dan/Afternic/Sedo group... But don't want names in BrandBucket, SquadHelp groups because they syndicate to SEDO in their trade account. I could just pick my Dan/Afternic/Sedo group. But I also have a group called Planned Drop another one for Godaddy Auctions ext. As it is now I have to each group separately and update 1 at a time to sedo. Sort of a pain. If I could just select all groups I want in my filter or select all then deselect groups I don't want that would be so much more useful.

After you use the action button can focus be kept on the selection. Example, lets say your flagging stuff for planned drop adding them to the group. But after you move them to this group you want to change all their prices to a liquidation amount say $199 or $100 as is currently you have to select them all over again.

My last request is going to be more difficult. Is there a way to combine little registrars to partner registrar that manages them. Example NameBright uses probably over 100 various registrar accounts but all are managed at NameBright. Godaddy uses several also, Network Solutions uses several. As it is now its not so easy to tell where you domain is managed by the registrar field alone and I find I have to revert back to my spreadsheet to figure it out.
 
0
•••
Thank you for creating this helpful tool.

I'm using the free trial now and I don't know where to get the landing pages views of the parked domains, it only shows the LEADS column.

Also, it would be great if we can get the number of clicks for every button on the landing page for example:

Domain.com (234 Views) :
DAN (12 Clicks) | GoDaddy (19 Clicks) | Sedo (5 Clicks)

I'm using Google Analytics for now but it would be much easier to have these metrics along with the available data to view at the Domains page and export as a CSV file.

Thank you!
 
1
•••
Thank you for creating this helpful tool.

I'm using the free trial now and I don't know where to get the landing pages views of the parked domains, it only shows the LEADS column.

Also, it would be great if we can get the number of clicks for every button on the landing page for example:

Domain.com (234 Views) :
DAN (12 Clicks) | GoDaddy (19 Clicks) | Sedo (5 Clicks)

I'm using Google Analytics for now but it would be much easier to have these metrics along with the available data to view at the Domains page and export as a CSV file.

Thank you!
I agree with the click info would be great! If not possible allowing Microsoft's Clarity key would be great also then you could see how users interact with lander. I think you get landing view info by setting up a Google Analytics tag. And then in you settings put that tag key in the field provided.
 
0
•••
The issue with not being able to add names that are in another user's account is really becoming a problem now.

If you cannot manage your complete portfolio, then the whole purpose is lost.
 
2
•••
Has anyone been in contact with @aoxborrow lately?
 
0
•••
I have been told by @aoxborrow that there is no way to find where a lead came from...

doesn't this create problems...? I mean all are not priced similar and all marketplaces are not charging same commission...

knowing which platform the potential buyer clicked for an inquiry will help us respond accordingly...it for sure affects price...negotiation...and also giving other payment options.

having the customer email and replying to his inquiry through email is good but not knowing where he saw our domain listing is going to leave us in miscommunication.

not to forget our pricing is changed at different partner registrars of afternic and sedo...this is done by registrars to get some additional funds for themselves...and usually sellers are not aware of this change of their listed prices.

have anyone saw any work around for this...

or am i missing something here...and totally wrong ?

I think number of leads and where they are coming from are very important data.

Thanks.

@Embrand @MasterOfMyDomains @Steve Andersen
 
2
•••
The issue with not being able to add names that are in another user's account is really becoming a problem now.

Seriously? I assumed with the amount of integration on the platform, that there was a DNS ID Code you could use to prove ownership. Seems weird to implement it with Dan, GD, Sedo, etc, and not use the same format for authorizing on Domain.io.
 
Last edited:
1
•••
How would domain.io know where lead come from. He is middleman.
He would know email address inquiry came from if it was on contact form.
Not sure exactly what you mean where lead came from.
Short on time, has anyone emailed him.
I am still looking for colour number of top button php.io so can make logo similar colour.

The names unable to add, are they at sedo, dan, afternic too?

Please add dropped area, so people more likely to manage drops
 
1
•••
Also, it would be great if we can get the number of clicks for every button on the landing page for example:

Domain.com (234 Views) :
DAN (12 Clicks) | GoDaddy (19 Clicks) | Sedo (5 Clicks)

I second that.
 
0
•••
Seriously? I assumed with the amount of integration on the platform, that there was a DNS ID Code you could use to prove ownership. Seems weird to implement it with Dan, GD, Sedo, etc, and not use the same format for authorizing on Domain.io.

This would not work. A previous owner that tracks their sold names in the platform may want to keep them in portfolio. This means the database currently is same for all users and uses the domain name as key Id and user as another field so there is no way for a person to track sold names if they have to delete them from your account to add to another domainers account, using Domain.io. This would tell me it’s pointless to enter sales price to track revenue if your name may get deleted because someone else adds it to their portfolio by proving they now own it.

Personally I am not just strictly talking about liquidated names. I have sold multiple names $xxxx only to see new owner list them at a higher price, honestly sometimes I don’t get it. Guy in January, bought a name from me on Dan for $1600 then re-listed same day for $3000. But if he used domain.io too I am sure he would want name in his portfolio, but I would want to track the sell also.

This brings up another point why do sold names count against your domain listing limit. They are sold. No longer listed, which means we should stop seeing alerts, expiring, and unlisted warnings on market places for those names. And like wish should count against our limits.
 
Last edited:
2
•••
If Domain.io allows any Tom, Dick or Harry to store MY domains in their portfolio to ostensibly "track sales" then that's a system I want absolutely no part of. It's pure insanity if you're the actual DOMAIN OWNER - how can you properly use the sales portfolio system when you can't add all the domains you legally own?

And I go to add XYZ.com and can't, then I'm told that another member used to own it 5 years ago and it's still in his portfolio, so I can never list it unless he deletes it on his own. Ummm... I think you missed the point about me owning the domain and not him.

Any other sales marketplace or system I've ever used requires you to drop any domain you sold or no longer own. It's just common sense.

And with no User Authorization Code on domain.io, then anyone could just add any heretofore-unlisted domains they want and "track their sales" forever. That's crazy and it's a recipe for disaster long-term as more domains get held hostage to "track sales".

It also looks a lot like a privacy nightmare, as anyone can set up an account that can easily stalk any user that isn't a Domain.io member.

Guy in January, bought a name from me on Dan for $1600 then re-listed same day for $3000. But if he used domain.io too I am sure he would want name in his portfolio, but I would want to track the sell also.

I hate to tell you this, but the actual legal owner of the domain has far, far, far more rights than the "random guy who used to own it back in the day" and any system that doesn't respect the most basic rights of ownership is not a place I want to support.

Honestly, reading this crap is like being in the Twilight Zone... or North Korea.
 
Last edited:
1
•••
Ya right. The above statement is false
Not gonna go into details otherwise we would have big butt hurt.
True anyone could list and maybe drop listers are using domain.io
One of my 3 recent drops did get picked up so I deleted it.
Give Aaron a chance to come on and he will fix the old listing issue.
Put a bin on your dan landers
 
0
•••
Ya right. The above statement is false
Not gonna go into details otherwise we would have big butt hurt.
True anyone could list and maybe drop listers are using domain.io
One of my 3 recent drops did get picked up so I deleted it.
Give Aaron a chance to come on and he will fix the old listing issue.
Put a bin on your dan landers

Could you please say that in English.

Seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about or who you are referring to. If you say that the "statement is false" then please quote exactly which statement you are referring to.

Most of my comments were in response to this one:

The issue with not being able to add names that are in another user's account is really becoming a problem now.

If you cannot manage your complete portfolio, then the whole purpose is lost.
 
Last edited:
3
•••
If Domain.io allows any Tom, Dick or Harry to store MY domains in their portfolio to ostensibly "track sales" then that's a system I want absolutely no part of. It's pure insanity if you're the actual DOMAIN OWNER - how can you properly use the sales portfolio system when you can't add all the domains you legally own?

And I go to add XYZ.com and can't, then I'm told that another member used to own it 5 years ago and it's still in his portfolio, so I can never list it unless he deletes it on his own. Ummm... I think you missed the point about me owning the domain and not him.

Any other sales marketplace or system I've ever used requires you to drop any domain you sold or no longer own. It's just common sense.

And with no User Authorization Code on domain.io, then anyone could just add any heretofore-unlisted domains they want and "track their sales" forever. That's crazy and it's a recipe for disaster long-term as more domains get held hostage to "track sales".

It also looks a lot like a privacy nightmare, as anyone can set up an account that can easily stalk any user that isn't a Domain.io member.



I hate to tell you this, but the actual legal owner of the domain has far, far, far more rights than the "random guy who used to own it back in the day" and any system that doesn't respect the most basic rights of ownership is not a place I want to support.

Honestly, reading this crap is like being in the Twilight Zone... or North Korea.
I think you're completely missing what I am saying. It would appear the fact we see these "Can't add because they are in another domainers account alerts" is because instead of each customer having a database instance his site is using one master database. He needs to fix it so. As a seller you can still track your sales. While a new domain owner, can still put any domain in their account. Or he needs to create a secondary database if he is using master databases so sold names move to this database that the accounts can still see allowing a new owner to put names in there account without issue.

While I can only speculate why this is the case, because Aaron doesn't seem to be answering emails lately on this product and their is no tutorials for it either.
 
1
•••
Here's the question of the day:

Exactly how are these "subsequent sales and prices" on Dan, GD, Sedo, etc. being tracked by Domain.io and then displayed to the old owners of said domains?

Does Domain.io have full access to these sales venues or do they rely on user IDs and logins?
 
Last edited:
0
•••
How would domain.io know where lead come from. He is middleman.
He would know email address inquiry came from if it was on contact form.
Not sure exactly what you mean where lead came from.
Short on time, has anyone emailed him.
I am still looking for colour number of top button php.io so can make logo similar colour.

The names unable to add, are they at sedo, dan, afternic too?

Please add dropped area, so people more likely to manage drops

Thanks. I thought it differently.

put aside the domain.io platform...in general don't all try to find out number of visits / views on any of their domain to get an idea of traffic / interest on that name.

if using domain.io and not getting any stats of number of views...like they show on Dan / Sedo / Afternic / Epik etc. don't you think it will be difficult to assess its value and adjust pricing (payment options) accordingly.

again i think same answer is applicable...domain.io can't tell you where the leads came from so i assume they cant tell you how many views you got...also views from individual platforms.

my question is doesn't this leave us with less info and is there any other way to get these numbers.

Thanks,
Ravi.
 
0
•••
@DomainRecap said
Any other sales marketplace or system I've ever used requires you to drop any domain you sold or no longer own. It's just common sense.

So false ^
Wrong. Incorrect. I would prove that beyond any reasonable doubt but its not the time and this thread not place.

Honestly, reading this crap is like being in the Twilight Zone... or North Korea.
Concur there. Mr. Recap

I use google analytics, works great.
If you want to know how many times someone clicked your godaddy button. Ask godaddy/afternic


If Domain.io allows any Tom, Dick or Harry to store MY domains in their portfolio to ostensibly "track sales" then that's a system I want absolutely no part of.

Are you being followed? Any proof your being tracked via domain.io?

Messy thread. Messy forum.
Any concerns, i will address them privately via email with Aaron

Keep taking my money domain.io
Worth every American penny, and everyone knows how easy it is to make me happy 😀
 
0
•••
@DomainRecap said
Any other sales marketplace or system I've ever used requires you to drop any domain you sold or no longer own. It's just common sense.

So false ^
Wrong. Incorrect. I would prove that beyond any reasonable doubt but its not the time and this thread not place.

I think you're having difficulty with vocabulary, as every marketplace I use (Dan, Sedo,. GD, Afternic) does REQUIRE you to drop domains you have sold (there is even a popup or reminder on most to "delete your listings on other marketplaces" and places like Sedo will punish you if you leave a BIN on a sold domain and it gets hit) but that is not the same thing as "LOTS OF BRAINLESS HAMMERHEADS DO NOT DELETE THEM".

Clear?

And even then you can get them deleted and added to your account, either through a Authorization Code or sending WHOIS proof to their support team.

And yes Mr Naïve, people track others all the time - I see threads on other forums all the time where users are trying to find out who owns what, tracing Google IDs, trying to find sale prices on certain domains, using Bots to track sales and changes in WHOIS, etc. and it seems like Domain.io may be one of their prime tools in accomplishing this goal.

The problem seems to be that Domain.io started as a portfolio management system, then morphed into a place where you can conduct sales, but no work was done to tailor the old system with what is required of the new.

It's patently insane to have a Marketplace and then tell the legal owners of domains that they can't list it because some guy who owned it 5 years ago is still tracking it. WTF?
 
Last edited:
4
•••
I think you're having difficulty with vocabulary, as every marketplace I use (Dan, Sedo,. GD, Afternic) does REQUIRE you to drop domains you have sold (there is even a popup or reminder on most to "delete your listings on other marketplaces" and places like Sedo will punish you if you leave a BIN on a sold domain and it gets hit) but that is not the same thing as "LOTS OF BRAINLESS HAMMERHEADS DO NOT DELETE THEM".

Clear?

And even then you can get them deleted and added to your account, either through a Authorization Code or sending WHOIS proof to their support team.

And yes Mr Naïve, people track others all the time - I see threads on other forums all the time where users are trying to find out who owns what, tracing Google IDs, trying to find sale prices on certain domains, using Bots to track sales and changes in WHOIS, etc. and it seems like Domain.io may be one of their prime tools in accomplishing this goal.

The problem seems to be that Domain.io started as a portfolio management system, then morphed into a place where you can conduct sales, but no work was done to tailor the old system with what is required of the new.

It's patently insane to have a Marketplace and then tell the legal owners of domains that they can't list it because some guy who owned it 5 years ago is still tracking it. WTF?
In Dan if a domain is sold it is marked as sold that history is still in your account, even if you sell a name elsewhere and mark it as sold Dan removes it from your portfolio and moves it to a list show it as sold only in your account, but leaves it available to be added to another new owners account. Just give Aaron time to fix it.
 
1
•••
In Dan if a domain is sold it is marked as sold that history is still in your account

We're not talking about past history, which is available on any marketplace, but future sales/revenue tracking while it's owned by someone else, thus limiting the actual domain owner from listing the domains he owns, which seems to be what a lot of people are using Domain.io for.

The owner of Domain.io has to decide whether it's purely a portfolio or if he wants to transition to marketplace integration, and then stick to that. There can be no in-between, where it's trying vainly to service both sides, which seems to be what is leading to the problems others are experiencing.

One thing is for certain, if the system is in any way involved in the sales side of things, such as landers or marketplace integration and listing, then if push comes to shove and the database remains the same, the domain owner absolutely must have precedence over "some guy who used to own it 5 years ago".
 
Last edited:
1
•••
Hi everyone, sorry for not keeping up with the thread last week. See responses below:

My last request is going to be more difficult. Is there a way to combine little registrars to partner registrar that manages them. Example NameBright uses probably over 100 various registrar accounts but all are managed at NameBright. Godaddy uses several also, Network Solutions uses several. As it is now its not so easy to tell where you domain is managed by the registrar field alone and I find I have to revert back to my spreadsheet to figure it out.
Domain.io does have the concept of aliasing random registrar entities to a parent registrar name in the backend. I have done that with Snapnames, Park.io, and others that I come across. I'm not familiar with all of them, and it's not always so obvious as "Snapnames23". I don't think I've done any for NameBright, but happy to do so, just let me know which registrar names.

I'm using the free trial now and I don't know where to get the landing pages views of the parked domains, it only shows the LEADS column.

Also, it would be great if we can get the number of clicks for every button on the landing page for example:
I don't have any immediate plans to do click tracking on the outgoing buttons, although it would be interesting data. Maybe after visitor analytics.

I have been told by @aoxborrow that there is no way to find where a lead came from...

doesn't this create problems...? I mean all are not priced similar and all marketplaces are not charging same commission...

knowing which platform the potential buyer clicked for an inquiry will help us respond accordingly...it for sure affects price...negotiation...and also giving other payment options.

having the customer email and replying to his inquiry through email is good but not knowing where he saw our domain listing is going to leave us in miscommunication.

As others have said, there is no way for me to track this. There are no marketplaces that I know of that have a direct link to the domain name. In other words, if you go to Afternic, Sedo, GoDaddy, Dan, BrandBucket, Squadhelp, Alter (RIP), and view a domain listing, none of them will actually have a link that goes to the domain landing page. Why would they link to the domain when they could lose that sale, or the lander just has ads or whatever on it. So that means I can't track referral links because there is no referral data for 99% of visitors to Domain.io landers. If someone saw your domain at a marketplace and then visited the lander, it is because they copied and pasted the name or typed it in.

I am still looking for colour number of top button php.io so can make logo similar colour.

The green primary button is #10b981. You can use a simple eyedropper app if you need to do this often.

This would not work. A previous owner that tracks their sold names in the platform may want to keep them in portfolio. This means the database currently is same for all users and uses the domain name as key Id and user as another field so there is no way for a person to track sold names if they have to delete them from your account to add to another domainers account, using Domain.io. This would tell me it’s pointless to enter sales price to track revenue if your name may get deleted because someone else adds it to their portfolio by proving they now own it.
I think you're completely missing what I am saying. It would appear the fact we see these "Can't add because they are in another domainers account alerts" is because instead of each customer having a database instance his site is using one master database. He needs to fix it so. As a seller you can still track your sales. While a new domain owner, can still put any domain in their account. Or he needs to create a secondary database if he is using master databases so sold names move to this database that the accounts can still see allowing a new owner to put names in there account without issue.

Steve, your assumptions are correct, currently there is one table for domains and I do not currently allow duplicate names, although I plan to change that. The truth is I did not think this was going to be a problem so quickly -- i.e. two domainers who are both using Domain.io that are buying each other's names with any frequency. Currently when that is reported I am manually deleting the domain, so that the new owner can add it. This is quite unfortunate because as you said, the previous owner loses the financial data of the sale price. (It is a soft delete so I could potentially restore it in the future.) But I would never allow any existing data for a domain to be visible by the new owner. I will explain the steps I'm taking for a more automated solution in the next post.

Exactly how are these "subsequent sales and prices" on Dan, GD, Sedo, etc. being tracked by Domain.io and then displayed to the old owners of said domains?

Does Domain.io have full access to these sales venues or do they rely on user IDs and logins?

Currently I only have access to sales completed through the Dan.com integration -- so only those sold directly from my landers. As I said above, I would never display ANY data from a previous owner to a new owner. I will describe my solution to domains changing hands in the next post.

The problem seems to be that Domain.io started as a portfolio management system, then morphed into a place where you can conduct sales, but no work was done to tailor the old system with what is required of the new.

It's patently insane to have a Marketplace and then tell the legal owners of domains that they can't list it because some guy who owned it 5 years ago is still tracking it. WTF?
We're not talking about past history, which is available on any marketplace, but future sales/revenue tracking while it's owned by someone else, thus limiting the actual domain owner from listing the domains he owns, which seems to be what a lot of people are using Domain.io for.

The owner of Domain.io has to decide whether it's purely a portfolio or if he wants to transition to marketplace integration, and then stick to that. There can be no in-between, where it's trying vainly to service both sides, which seems to be what is leading to the problems others are experiencing.

One thing is for certain, if the system is in any way involved in the sales side of things, such as landers or marketplace integration and listing, then if push comes to shove and the database remains the same, the domain owner absolutely must have precedence over "some guy who used to own it 5 years ago".

Domain.io just launched less than 6 months ago, and has always aimed to be a central hub for portfolio management, including landing pages and other sales integrations. You are making a lot of wild assumptions and you really need to chill out.
 
Last edited:
2
•••
Okay, so ownership verification is somewhat tricky. You can refer to Afternic asking you to send (easily faked) registrar screenshots to prove domain ownership for the past decade(s) as evidence of that.

First I'll explain why TXT verification is necessary, but not always convenient. If a domainer is using DAN landers, they'll have their nameservers set to ns1.dan.com, ns2.dan.com. If another domainer buys the domain and also wants to use DAN landers, they most likely won't change the nameservers. In order to prove ownership with a TXT record, the new owner would need to temporarily change nameservers to say their registrars', set the unique ownership TXT record, wait for verification, then change the nameservers back to ns1.dan.com to use the landers. So while useful, it's not something you want to be doing for hundreds of domains with any frequency. This was part of the motivation behind building the bulk TXT record capabilities of Domain.io, so that you can verify ownership on multiple marketplaces automatically when using our nameservers.

To be clear, all domain platforms (including Domain.io!) should offer TXT verification because not everyone will be using their nameservers. You should be able to verify ownership without changing nameservers.

Small aside, even setting the ownership TXT record for DAN will not automatically move the domain into your account if it is already in the DAN system (this requires 3rd nameserver or contacting support). I am not sure why exactly this is, but Sedo does a better job and will correctly and quickly approve the domain in your account with only TXT record verification. And of course Afternic does not have any automated owner verification system, as it seems they prefer to waste everyone's time rather than paying for development.

For handling conflicts where the name is pointed to the platform's nameservers, the best solution is using a unique identifier in the nameservers, because it lets the domainer make one change at the registrar level, and then the landing page platform can handle the rest. I first saw this on Above.com (see attached), not sure if they pioneered it but props to whomever thought of it first. Dan.com started with TXT verification and added the unique 3rd nameserver sometime in the last year or two I believe.

For Domain.io, I will be making a series of changes to address domain ownership. First, I will begin allowing duplicate names but add an ownership flag. Like other platforms, the first person who adds the domain will be considered the owner. If the domain sells and the new owner adds the same domain to the system, their ownership will be "Unconfirmed" until they verify ownership using either TXT record or Domain.io nameservers with a unique ID. Once that happens the ownership flag will automatically be assigned to the new owner (no existing data about the domain is ever moved to the new record, they are completely separate records). The previous owner's instance of the domain will be changed to "Unconfirmed".

In the scenario where the previous owner has already marked the domain SOLD, the new owner adding the domain to the platform will be assigned ownership as if it was any other newly added domain. This won't require any special ownership verification. The previous owner's instance of the domain will be changed to "Unconfirmed", while retaining their accounting data.

(Note: hopefully market integrations can continue to improve so that domains getting marked sold will become more automated.)

In the scenario where the previous owner has not yet marked the domain sold, the new owner will either need to verify ownership using one of the aforementioned methods, or can reach out to support and I will assign the ownership manually. The seller's instance of the domain will change to "Unconfirmed", but it is up to them to mark the domain sold. I will leave it to the seller because this is usually when you want to record the Gross/Net Sale Price and Sales Venue (coming later). The system will notify previously confirmed owners when ownership of a domain has changed, similar to the "Account Maintenance" emails from Sedo.

I want to explain why Domain.io can safely have many records of the same domain across multiple user accounts, even though that won't be common. Domain.io does not currently offer any central marketplace. For the general public, the only way to "view" a domain is the landing page directly hosted on the domain for sale. The landing page is only shown if the domain is pointed to Domain.io nameservers and if the domain is marked "For Sale". Soon there will be the Public Portfolio page, which is a brandable page showing domains from the seller's portfolio. Sellers have total control over whether this is enabled and which domains are shown. Only domains with "Confirmed" ownership will be shown. This means domains must either be pointing to Domain.io nameservers or have completed TXT/nameserver verification to be shown on the seller's public portfolio.

Finally, I will just add that while it's technically true that Domain.io could be used to monitor the prices of some domains of interest, it doesn't give anyone access to any data that isn't already publicly available at Afternic, Sedo, and Dan. Also it should be noted that Domain.io requires a paid subscription after 30 days. If someone is literally paying to check the prices on your domains, they are more likely a potential buyer than anything nefarious.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2020-04-02 19.31.48.png
    Screenshot 2020-04-02 19.31.48.png
    185 KB · Views: 57
Last edited:
3
•••
0
•••
Back