advice Now that DAN updated it's commission, what's the best approach?

[WillW]

Haven't been on here in a while, but once I got this email from DAN and Afternic, like many others here I came straight here.

I have a majority of my domain names listed with DAN and Afternic because of the exposure they receive and the fact that more than 75% of my names are registered with GoDaddy (mainly from GD auction). I already thought the commission rates were high on Afternic prior to this email, but now I don't even know what to think.

15% for basically all sales now, including those $10k or higher.
25% for sales, not pointed to their servers or their partners servers.

I used Efty for a few years and liked them but got rid of it when DAN first started getting big (Didn't feel the need to pay a fee).
I have a few domain names on SEDO because they're eligible for MLS but only a few are.

So...do I

Switch everything to Sedo? (10% landing page commission)
Go back with Efty (and pay a monthly fee)
Start my own website and use Escrow or Payoneer.
Something in between.
Still use Afternic.

I feel like the exposure is what makes Afternic such a valuable marketplace, but 15% & 25% increase?
What am I supposed to do with the domain names that aren't eligible for fast transfer on Afternic
..are they going to include more registrars now in the DLS?

What are you guys going to do...any new plans in making now?

 

[Fancy.domains]

I am thinking of removing all my domains from these platforms, and just use my own landers. Just as I thought. GoDaddy purchasing Dan was entirely BAD, for us domainers.

How domainers still can rate GD as the best reseller etc, is for me just mind boggling.

 

[eurorealtor]

I have removed all my domains from Dan and Afternic for good.

 

[nononsense123]

Shifted about 100 domains now. Will shift all 500 by Feb 1. Vote with your actions, folks!
Domainers were already paying very high fees for landers especially.. where it's the domain itself doing all the work.
If Daaz could work on its aesthetics it seems promising

 

[soidav]

Personally I don't really care care what the commissions are.
It's sales I am after.

This doesn't makes any sense.

 

[NickB]

I spent last night moving all my domains to Sedo landers with BIN pricing......will review over the next 6 - 12 months

 

[WillW]

It does feel like that now. Dan used to be a safe haven for a lot of domaineers and nobody seemed to be happy about GD buying them out when they did but by doing so, they did trap us in an ecosystem surrounded by GD's business model. We're just players trying to avoid the endless battles

Dan used to be a good place for me to make some money...now it's just a man's name

 

[Joe drake]

Haven't been on here in a while, but once I got this email from DAN and Afternic, like many others here I came straight here.

I have a majority of my domain names listed with DAN and Afternic because of the exposure they receive and the fact that more than 75% of my names are registered with GoDaddy (mainly from GD auction). I already thought the commission rates were high on Afternic prior to this email, but now I don't even know what to think.

15% for basically all sales now, including those $10k or higher.
25% for sales, not pointed to their servers or their partners servers.

I used Efty for a few years and liked them but got rid of it when DAN first started getting big (Didn't feel the need to pay a fee).
I have a few domain names on SEDO because they're eligible for MLS but only a few are.

So...do I

Switch everything to Sedo? (10% landing page commission)
Go back with Efty (and pay a monthly fee)
Start my own website and use Escrow or Payoneer.
Something in between.
Still use Afternic.

I feel like the exposure is what makes Afternic such a valuable marketplace, but 15% & 25% increase?
What am I supposed to do with the domain names that aren't eligible for fast transfer on Afternic
..are they going to include more registrars now in the DLS?

What are you guys going to do...any new plans in making now?

I would have to say that godaddy feels that the money they earn is mostly due to end users punching in the domain name first,so when it lands and they buy the domain [they really did squat.
They now feel without the lander they really earned their money and its gonna cost ya.So let them have their way with godaddy reggy ,the rest should be with the companies they are regged to ,so if the domain is regged at porkbun for example make it land at porkbun buy it now page for super low commission and list it at afternic too but at a higher price so 1000 at the landing page should be about 15-20 % higher at afternic.In the event we sell at a super premium price ,let godaddy know sorry I no longer own that domain,and wait for the fish to come to the lander when godanny cant deliver thats the first thing they will do .NEXT"""""""

 

[woolwit]

Might as well call them AfterDan.

I guess we could call it the AfterDan migration.
My domains sent 2741 visitors to the AfterDan network last month. I think that if enough of us move away from there to somewhere else, like Sav, we could have a significant impact on the platform we move to.

 

[kor]

move away from there to somewhere else, like Sav

SAV is a shittie company. Stay away from them.

 

[woolwit]

I just removed 400+ name listings at Godaddy/Afternic. They're still at Dan. So the way I see it, if I opt in to the Afternic Distribution Network there at Dan, I'm in the same place I would have been. OTOH I will use Feb. 1 as a deadline to get my own landers together. There's a spreadsheet > Wordpress workflow I've been looking into. Then forward names to my own individual landing pages... get back into negotiating with buyers, and close deals at Escrow or even Dan.

 

[chandldj]

I've been using Daaz.com for a while. They have great service and really low commissions. Have made many sales on there.

 

[Dane]

What I am wondering now that Dan, Afternic and Uniregistry are all the same.
I can basically keep Dan and delete my Afternic and Uniregistry Account.

I deleted every name from my Afternic account yesterday.

 

[Younginn]

@WillW Wait, WHAT? SAV only charges 4%?? I been sleeping on this. Tysm for the info!! I need to take a look at their landers

Did you get to read what the SH said to the buyer? I know they have the option to negotiate for you if you're comfortable with that. The only problem I had with SH is that they price the name way lower than expected and their logo designers are hit or miss. Yeah their premium listing's commissions are very, very high... that's why I wanted to go the standard listing route.

I haven't sold any name through them yet. Sorry to hear about what happened to you there. Do you mind if I PM you about your experience with them? No pressure tho!

 

[Bob Hawkes]

So I decided to answer my own question by trying it out on a name not registered at Sav.'

If so, by simply using ns1.sav.com, ns2.sav.com do they appear with the same lander as Sav listed names?

Yes, it is easy to do and works perfectly. I just from the Marketplaces tab in my Sav account added the name with price (I used one I had registered at Namecheap), changed the dns settings at NC to point to Sav, waited for propagation, and now when I enter my name it shows up with a Sav lander. It shows my price for the name, and the cost of a one year registration/transfer, since I think when a name sells it must first move to Sav.

So if someone is looking for a 4% commission with decent landers, this is one option.

I read some bad reviews about SAV on the official thread. What's your experience with them?

So a broad question but let me speak from personal experience. I use many (10+) registrars, with my highest numbers of domain names at the registrars that placed #1, 2 in the recent NamePros poll. Each registrar has certain advantages, and I tend to do certain TLDs at certain registrars.

I have used Sav for a couple of years. I have registered, transferred in, transferred out, bought names BIN there, acquired names in auction there, sold names at BIN there (just liquidations really though) and sold names in auction there. My experience has been overall positive. I did have a few bumps on transfer in a couple of times, where for some reason a few names were delayed showing up in my account, but this was always resolved within a few days. Definitely some aspects of their interface I would personally change. For example, there is no easy way to disable names you no longer want FT enabled. I hope they soon will activate using funds to purchase services, rather than needing to take payout. But they have a lot going for them - great pricing, I think nice landers, low commissions, ability to BIN or auction names, integration with both major networks. They have grown strongly, now knocking on the door of the top 10 registrars in terms of number of names under management.

But really the key question is how easy it is to buy a name there, and what is the lander like, and of course the commission. From my perspective, they pass that test. It is true they are not a well known name like GoDaddy, Google, Namecheap or Alibaba, or the major hosting companies. That is the main negative from hosting your landers yourself, or using anything other than one of the huge companies. Definitely there is a factor there, but hard to estimate how much.

I follow the official thread, have even complained about the odd thing, but I am not sure that people's complaints about auction acquisitions (how they charge during bids for those who are new, sales not closing cause seller refused to move, etc.) as I see it does not directly impact selling and buying a name as a BIN.

Anyway, short answer, based on acquiring and selling at Sav, is I have no problem recommending them to a friend wanting to register or buy BIN a name there, so I have no problem selling names there.

If you asked me the same question about the other registrars I use, my answer would be the same. I have names listed at Dynadot, Namecheap, NameSilo, etc. as well. The big places, Afternic, Dan, Sedo have certain advantages that you have to weigh against any negatives around commission. The key question is always your net probable sales performance, not what the commission is.

-Bob

 

[enterscope]

I would use Sedo landers and price on afternic and Dan 5%-15% higher to cover the added commission. You'll still get the exposure and if someone types in the domain url they will land on Sedo with lower price.

That's what I'm thinking.

 

[WillW]

Is there any reason to have domains listed at Afternic now?
I had names at Afternic priced substantially higher than at Dan
But now, If you're already pointing to DAN, and you then opt in to the Afternic Distribution Network, are you basically everywhere you were but with one less (two if you count your GDDY dashboard) interface to deal with?
Thanks!

I was doing the same thing but it sounds like there's no point now to list names at both Dan and Afternic. After Feb 1st, if the commission and structure is the exact same, why bother. Might as well call them AfterDan.

IMO the only difference now is the interface on Dan is much better than Afternic and the payments on Dan is/was faster than Afternic. I guess if the payments on Dan slow down then for me there really is no point to have two profiles.

 

[eurorealtor]

Wow...Just now?

What are you gonna do...Use your site & other marketplaces?

Hi, I have pointed DNS of all my domains to my sales landing pages. Why should I give them free traffic and pay them 15% commission as well. Yes I'll keep my names at my own website. If anyone really wants my domain(s) they'll find way how to reach me.

I have moved all my domains from GD to Dynadot few years ago.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Anyone know if Sedo MLS reach is similar to Afternic? Or is it much less. I sell about 20% less names via Sedo than Afternic.

This is certainly not a complete answer to your question, but if you go to the second table in this article:
https://www.namepros.com/blog/a-deeper-look-at-domain-name-fast-transfer-sales-networks.1288722/

I did the largest registrars by registration number (see column in millions) so supposedly a measure of reach. I tried some domains including one only at Afternic and one only at Sedo. There are some complications (like Google are part of both, but don't list high-value names), but if you look at last two columns you can get an idea of what reach each has. Many registrars are in both systems. With Sedo, you are mainly missing out on GoDaddy (a big miss), Reg.RU, and Porkbun. You do get Ionos 1&1 though (and Epik). Several big registrars, like NameBright and PDR don't get you listed from either fast transfer network. So the way I interpret it is the reach is not very different, except Sedo not on GoDaddy, and that is a big chunk of market.

There is an important additional consideration, though, and that is that while Afternic FT is essentially the legacy extensions and .co, Sedo covers far more TLDs. So if you invest in new extensions and some country codes in Sedo MLS there is a strong case to use Sedo for at least those domain names to get registration path coverage.

-Bob

 

[WillW]

Personally I don't really care care what the commissions are.
It's sales I am after.

Yeah I get it. I mean I'm still going to sell domain names either way but a 15% & 25% increase?

The 15% is whatever, almost expected but the 25% is just ridiculous.

 

[devma]

I think you can use your own server your own website, then forward potential buyers to Escrow or Dan Via imported Lead option.
Building a payment system is a good option, but it's not like using a platform or Escrow, for several reasons:
1- the trust (a lot of buyers won't trust the site not like Dan or Goddady a well known brand)
2- you can't offer a plenty of payment methods (Not like Dan or Sedo Or Afternic).

So, build a website and forward traffic will be the best option in my opinion, or use Sedo.

 

[WillW]

I have used Sav to sell domain names I have registered at Sav, but not yet domain names registered elsewhere.

I read some bad reviews about SAV on the official thread. What's your experience with them?

 

[Younginn]

Make my own lander and hope Dan doesn't discontinue the 5% commission fee for bringing in your own lead..

BUT seeing how they're running their business now, not sure how safe my buyers will be from overzealous GoDaddy salemans from contacting them again for another sale (not owned by me)

 

[Younginn]

yeah... GD is like an Elden Ring Boss...a force to be reckoned with but one that you eventually learn to deal with...or leave it any go to another one.

It does feel like that now. Dan used to be a safe haven for a lot of domaineers and nobody seemed to be happy about GD buying them out when they did but by doing so, they did trap us in an ecosystem surrounded by GD's business model. We're just players trying to avoid the endless battles

Btw I looked at your domain collection and it's a nice portfolio you got there!!

 

[ontiscal]

I work with sale&parking. So Sedo is the best option (and the only one) for me.
I will not add anymore domains on DAN.
A good strategy is to use registrant with embedded marketplace like Dynadot/Namesilo/SAV where fee are low. There is also Namecheap but sale listing expires too soon so it's boring

 

[woolwit]

This!

Real question is how much of impact would be needed for them to change course.

The network effects of having so many domains pointing to their platform. How to recreate that with a network of connected independent domain platforms? We know, because of what we see in the drop that there are a gazillion names out there that don't generate any traffic. It's because we bring our insights into what makes a name valuable that there is traffic to our domains > their platform.
Huge and Buy list their names in the network. I would imagine they get a deep discount. If enough of us 'syndicated' our portfolios under a central search engine, I wonder if we could do the same. Anyway, lots to think about.