Thanks to a reader who noticed that Sedo.com is raising their commission rate 50%, from 10%-15% effective TOMORROW.
Changes to Sedo’s domain brokerage service prices on January 4, 2011
“””Sedo is committed to helping individuals and businesses find their ideal domain name with the services they need to do so. ‘””
“”In reflection of investments in our tools and services and an increased demand for highly personnel-intensive brokerage, we will increase the commission on successful domain sales enabled by our sales team from 10% to 15%. This change goes into effect on January 4, 2011.”””
I checked my Sedo.com account and I have the same notice posted on the front page after you check in but only in one particular place in the site.
So basically Sedo is increasing their commission rate by 50% on sales where a broker is involved effective tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
I’m assuming from the notice posted on the site, that pure online transaction and auctions will continue to be at a 10% commission.
As customer who sold several hundreds of thousands of dollars in domains through Sedo in 2010 using there “sales team” (who in My Case consisted of Jeff Gabriel), I would have expected to receive an email to notify me of a price increase of this magnitude at least a couple of weeks in advance.
But I didn’t get any such notice
NOTHING
Are you kidding me?
I’m assuming if I didn’t get notice of this 50% price increase, than none of Sedo.com’s clients got a notice from Sedo on this price increase.
A notice on 1 page of a site, is not the way for customers to learn of a 50% price increase.
Moreover, other than a notice on the page I spoke of, other parts of Sedo’s site such as “Sell Domains” or Price List, still are showing a 10% commission for brokered transactions, with only hours now to go until a 50% price hike.
Happy New Year
Time for seller price increases on Sedo-listed domains.
I love Sedo but they should be ashamed. Not for the raise but for the way it was enacted. They need a competitor.
Shane
I agree with you
Not a good move but done in typical Sedo fashion. Their site relaunch was in similar fashion imho
Very brazen move. Seems to me like this company is in need of a good PR executive, who has significant experience in customer relations and press releases. Top-notch PR/CS exec’s are worth their weight in gold.
– TBC
wow – SEDO craps the bed – Customer Service & more importantly Customer Management wise…
Sad to this type of move, necessary as it might be handled so poorly.
Aren’t online, client initiated sales broker assisted as well? I remember there was a person assigned to my case.
He was terrible btw, took a week to respond to emails sometimes and the whole thing dragged on unbearably
(I have since a theory a sizeable chunk of SEDO earnings comes from interest on withholding payments in transfers—they must have many millions in transfer at any given time).
I guess we’ll find out soon every sale counts as brokerage… 😀
RICK SCHWARTZ MOVING HIS DOMAINS OUT?
BRAND NEW POSTING:::
Rick ask that REAL long term Domainers band together and fight corporate
disrespect and injustice of Domainers AND …
Might MOVE 5000 Domains AWAY from MONIKER for good!
who he no longer feels are a competent trustworthy entity ….
://www.ricksblog.com/my_weblog/2010/12/the-privacy-issuewho-has-access-to-that-info-what-they-can-do-with-it.html#comment-6a00d83451f3f569e20148c748dd65970c
[newly posted on bottom of old postings]
I’m out.
How dare they, not a scrap of notice and even less respect for customers.
Where to from here?
Does anyone have an idea where we can go? Rick are you starting your own Domain Sales Shop – I’ll sign up. Make it value for money and you’ll have a cult following.
JTW.
I think GoDaddy could be a much better competitor if they would just lower their ridiculous 30% fee.
Can you believe it used to be 60% though GoDaddy?
The way domain owners are treated by Google, Yahoo, Bing, parking companies, domain brokers, and domain registrars is out of hand.
If our assets were not worth so much we’d be screwed……. thank goodness we have options, although more are sorely needed.
Nothing on their FB site either, http://fb.me/sedo
More interesting stories on Sedo can be read here: http://sedo.of-cour.se/
The notice itself is quite unclear:
“An increased demand for highly personnel-intensive brokerage, we will increase the commission on successful domain sales enabled by our sales team from 10% to 15%”
To me it mean if you use a live broker you pay 15%.
But the language could use some work as of course could the method of delivery and timing of the notice
The thing is sending them a lead to close vs them going out and finding a buyer is a huge difference in terms of effort – their fees should reflect that. 15% is too high.
They charge any potential buyer $60-70 to get brokers to make offers and on top of that they want 15%.
Sedo+Moniker= “Too Big To Fail”
PJB
The rate increase is one issue, the lack of notice to its customers with the fee set to rise in hours in ridiculous.
One day notice on this?
How about SEDO takes that extra fee and does a better job verifying buyers, because I am sick of wasting timing agreeing to sales that the buyer never actually paying.
You can add this to a long line of mistakes by SEDO IMO. The layout change was terrible. Now people can barely even find the auctions when they used to be on the homepage.
I have noticed it seems like auction views are way down on average with the new layout. I understand raising the minimum commission, but $50 is ridiculous.
On top of all that the SEDO search tool sucks.
There are so many competing venues out there, I don’t really understand this move.
Brad
Brad
Just to be clear I don’t know how long the notice has been on the site, It might have been for a week or just put up today.
Sedo needs competition. Period! Give them an inch and they will take a mile.
Why even list names at Sedo or Afternic for that matter? They have millions of their own names for sale and what do you think their sales team is going to push? My names? Sales that they’d have to pay me for? Or, sales they dont have to pay me for – their own domain names. There is no way to win against giants like that.
I miss the days when those two were much smaller and there was no CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Thats precisely what it is…
I heard of this one guy who would list his domains on Sedo and would not respond to offers. No counter-offers, nothing. Then, any truly serious buyers would contact him through whois and then they’d close the deal using escrow.com…
– TBC
@Brad: How would you feel if there was such a domain auction “black list”, where there is a list the names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of these so-called “buyers” who never show up to honor the contract they entered into?
I, for one, am all for it. The price to get their personal and or business information removed – pay for that domain name that they purchased. Simple. I’ve got a CEO of some German company who just stopped responding on an offer to purchase a domain through a known and popular auction house — and it would be very nice to see his name up in lights as a deadbeat.
Not only will it begin to deter these deadbeats but it will also assist other domainers in not accepting offers from people on that list.
I am fairly certain it was posted today, it makes sense the 1st day of work for the year…
(no email notice received by anyone I know)
I’m glad folks are beginning to wake up.
Obviously, the Sedo brokers are the major reasons domains are not selling based on market demands and prices. They pick and choose domains based on the characters/domainer-sellouts, and let good domains languish in their data base. Sedo partnered with Register.com’s Great Domains to pick and choose winers and losers outside the market place; they re-did their parking engine so as to not pay the domainer PPC, and the statistics went from bad to horrible. This Sedo company needs to be investigated. The manner it sells domains is suspicious, including the weird prices.
Domainers+Sedo=Fail
Moniker+Sedo=Low ball Losers!!
They should be more professional in dealing with their clients.
Advance and proper notice is a must to protect clients’ interest
and patronage.
Afternic is still the Best!
This doesnt surprise me at all. One more step further from stop using sedo.
I like this blog. Particularly the references you make from time to time, as to your own numbers, income, fees, etc.
You make me feel like I have a little penis, but I appreciate the blog nevertheless.
Lots of good things to say about the “pro” Sedo service.
But if we are talking “Sedo arrogance”, the thing I have always hated with a passion is the way Sedo run ads (their footer) for THIER business on all of MY domains, but they do not pay me for running ads for THIER business on all of MY domains.
Why am I doing that, ie running ads for free on all my domains???
As of today, they still charge 10% on usual sales.
inflation… 🙂
How about deflation?
This is good news. Thanks!
All I can tell is They need a competitor.
If anyone is interested in trying out a new marketplace – please head on over to our website. It is still in Beta, but has had quite a few positive reviews in other domain publications (DNW/DotSauce etc).
We’re no way near being a fully completed site but we do have the basics in place. The ability to create a domain portfolio – auto display domain stats – customised sales pages – negotiate sales – escrow and much more. We’re still working on the auction platform and other features.
We’d love to see some of you giving it a try and hear what you think. Whether you use our site extensively or not, at least you can use another platform for promoting your domain names.
Our Sales Commission: 0% – 10% max.
http://www.desva.com
I think you mean Devsa.com .
Sedo upper management has always thought the domainer needs them more than they need the domainer. 10% is too high for what they do. They send out a few emails, tell prospective buyers about previous sale prices and close the sale 100% electronically. I think real estate agents are over paid at 3% and they do a hell of a lot more work.
These types of post being out comments from everyone that has ever had an issue with the company that is subject to the post, so let me try to reel this back in.
To market a highly valuable domain properly includes marketing, advertising and in many cases a ton of work.
More than just the time it takes which can be considerable, some sales people have contacts that the rest of us can only dream of.
The 15% charge puts them in line with Moniker live auctions, and some Afternic brokerage sales (although the fees can be a low as 10%).
Again my problem has to do mostly with the failure to notify their customers properly and well in advance and the site still containing inconsistent pricing through it.
“10% is too high for what they do…real estate agents are over paid at 3% and they do a hell of a lot more work”
====
1. Domainers (High.Rollers) have made it clear they make a lot of money while they sleep.
2. Domainers are very vocal and flaunt how little they do and how much money they make.
3. Domainers have made it clear they plan to game the new Top Level Domain Registry industry, which is clearly simply a License.to.Print.Money.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Eco.System (incumbents, vendors, insiders, etc.) will prey upon the above.
Why would that be a surprise ?
I stick with my comment. Notice or no notice.
I am looking for a good marketplace to sell my super premium domain, so threads like this are very helpful.
Being a total novice, I am somewhat confused about what Sedo might be doing for 15% that a real estate broker isn’t’ doing. Real estate brokers are charging 5% or less and this fee is being shared between the two brokers and two agents.
The lack of notice shows contempt for their ‘suppliers’. A middleman (which is what they are) needs buyers and sellers, and the more market share they get, the more effort they need to put in re customer care to keep everyone happy.
Resting on your laurels, ruins your laurels.
@Dr Richard: Afternic? Are you on dope?
Go ahead and list your names there. I had 1500 names listed with them and made 3 sales in 3 years. Woopie! My 1500 names against their 2.x MILLION names.
Aside from the fact that you have little to no chance of selling a domain name via Afternic because their sales people are always going to direct a buyer to their own inventory first (do not even think about disagreeing because that does happen), consider their online system. It sucks.
Not only that but Afternic has agreements with other huge portfolio owners to sell their domains too. This further pushes the 1500 domains down the list. Imagine if you have 500? 100? TEN domains to sell? Sorry, you’re just not going to sell domains there unless you’re part of the good old boy’s club.
Their online software has sucked from the moment that BuyDomains purchased the Afternic company being operated from Florida. Afternic used to be great, dont get me wrong, but since late 2006 they’ve sucked the rust off of trailer hitches.
And that is being generous with compliments. They need more than competition, they need all of us to pull our names OUT of there system. THAT is a revolution in the domain name world worth seeing.
“you have little to no chance of selling a domain”
====
Domainers world-wide give people the IMPRESSion that they buy domains for $10 and flip them for $100,000 easier than flipping burgers.
Domainers impress people !!! even if the Rolex is fake.
Domainers have the Island beach house(s), the 600 HP Mercedes, the 100 inch Big Screen TVs and babes lined up as far as the eye can see.
Domainers are now gathering their $185,000 pocket change and plan to head to San Francisco in March to score a Top Level Domain and flip it for $1,850,000 in 30 minutes.
~~~~~~~
All of the above attracts governments, noobs, developers, Eco.System.Clerics, etc. ~ Even Wall.St
“To market a highly valuable domain properly includes marketing, advertising and in many cases a ton of work.”
I wonder how much credit is due to Sedo brokers, in terms of what they actually accomplish. If I’m not mistaken, the entire method is pretty damn formulaic. Client sets a baseline, they negotiate somewhere above that and in most cases, the buyer usually comes to them. That’s not selling. That’s shooting fish. Money is unquestionably left on the table, somewhere in this process.
If I’m selling a seven figure domain, there’s lots of network building, phone calls made, marketing materials printed, plane tickets bought and sit-down meetings arranged.
This may be a catalyst for other players in the domain brokerage industry to up the ante too, go figure! 🙁
Big Lie
I must be small time since I don’t have an island beach house, I don’t have a 100″ big screen (I do have 6 year old 50″ plasma that I love) and my wife of 24 years, Judi certainly won’t let me have any babes, much less as “far as the eye can see”.
Anon
I think it depends on the domain and the buyer.
Some brokers who have been doing this for a long time have access to the right person at fortune 1,000 companies that might take you 6 months to find and you would still be coming to them as a stranger with no track record.
I find that for such buyers having a agent who has an inside track and record with them is invaluable.
“If I’m selling a seven figure domain, there’s lots of network building, phone calls made, marketing materials printed, plane tickets bought and sit-down meetings arranged.”
But if you know the buyer and have met before and have a relationship you don’t have to go met by tickets and sit down a call will suffice.
“I wonder how much credit is due to Sedo brokers, in terms of what they actually accomplish. If I’m not mistaken, the entire method is pretty damn formulaic. Client sets a baseline, they negotiate somewhere above that and in most cases, the buyer usually comes to them. That’s not selling. That’s shooting fish. Money is unquestionably left on the table, somewhere in this process.”
This is what I have observed which is why I am confused as to why they are charging 15%.
“If I’m selling a seven figure domain, there’s lots of network building, phone calls made, marketing materials printed, plane tickets bought and sit-down meetings arranged.”
This is the kind of broker I am looking for.
That’s funny MHB great line, “much less as far as the eye can see”
“I’m assuming from the notice posted on the site, that pure online transaction and auctions will continue to be at a 10% commission.”
“The notice itself is quite unclear:”
It is unclear and wide open to interpretation, has anyone from Sedo actually confirmed that pure online transaction will still be 10% ?
I thought all transactions on sedo involved a Live broker on their end, is’nt that what they are, Brokers?
“and an increased demand for highly personnel-intensive brokerage, we will increase the commission on successful domain sales enabled by our sales team from 10% to 15%.”
At what price/effort/time point does commission go from 10% to 15% ???
10k, 50k – 5 hrs, 20 hrs ???
I see TDS.TV is unregistered. TDS – “Top Domain Sales”…
– TBC
“I must be small time since I don’t have an island beach house”
====
@MHB
With all due respect, YOU are a REAL Person.
The “Domain Industry” is now being built on a Dollywood Model
3D Virtual Worlds allow [Larry Leisure Suit] to show people around his Empire
A Registry can ~~fabricate~~ players to attract noobs to their License.to.Print.Money.Machine
There is even an “industry Lingo” that has developed: Sunset, Land.Rush, Roll.Out, Defensive.Registration
As long as the suckers put their credit cards in the slots the Eco.System will process them.
“But if you know the buyer and have met before and have a relationship you don’t have to go met by tickets and sit down a call will suffice.”
Sure, if you know the buyer it’s a lot easier, but selling to the same, incestuous circle of people- even if some repeat buyers might be categorized as ‘end users’- probably isn’t the right method and leaves far too many stones unturned.
To note the oft-cited Candy.com sale- the group who paid 3mm for that wasn’t Hershey, wasn’t Mars, wasn’t some gigantic candy company… It was a small to midsized organization who probably went all in on that name.
Successful brokering is about turning stones, inciting interest amongst people who have deep pockets and creating an ‘event’ around your name, even if it’s a private, tightly-kept one.
The best sales in this industry go unreported.
Besides Sedo (which is most probably overcharging for what it is doing) and Afternic (which has conflicts of interest), what are the alternatives?
Rich
Alternative to what, live brokers or automated systems sales?
@MHB
I would say both. I would say that what I am looking for is work and value commensurate with the effort. What I would like to avoid is a situation where I am paying a commission while the broker is actually actively working for the buyer ( a situation that often arises even in the real estate market).
“paying a commission while the broker is actually actively working for the buyer”
===
Isn’t the situation in some cases ?
“paying a commission while the broker is actually actively working for the BROKER”??
People report they take their domain portfolio to brokers ( no specific company ) and their first experience is to be told ALL their domains are worthless.
(Sort of like grandma’s 1 caret Diamond is now worthless?… until polished)
@TheBigLieSociety
Unfortunately this has been my experiences so far. Without even looking at any facts, a price is placed on the domain (which is completely out of line with other domains that have been sold or on sale), most often substantially on the downside. It is rather disconcerting to observe a lack of due diligence on the part of the broker.
To add to my discomfort, brokers request both complete control and exclusivity over the process. My question is, what is going on behind the curtains that I (the owner/seller) should not be observing and taking a part in. I have worked with mergers and acquisitions, and the seller is not only an active participant in the process but also completely directs the process, for obvious reasons.
The percentage is fine if that is what they want to do. I think doing that on such short notice is not cool.
The funny thing is that what do they mean when they say “where a broker is involved”. What does that entail? Does that mean if they send you an email the broker is involved.
donny1
“To add to my discomfort, brokers request both complete control and exclusivity over the process.”
Exclusivity, obviously. It’s what preserves the integrity of the process. Don’t believe me, I’d propose this…. I’ll give you a name of mine to go and sell. Invest your time, money and effort to kick down walls and make the sale happen, then watch how fast I’m able to completely cut you out of the picture once all your hard work is done. Before you even realize what’s happened, I’m cashing the check and you’re holding the bag.
As far as control over the process, yes, that’s a no-brainer too.
In a broker, you’re hiring a representative who knows more about this than you do, which is precisely why you’re hiring them in the first place. It’s no different than if you found a Picasso in the attic. You could fire up the internet, get a baseline education on how the art market works and the whole thing would appear temptingly ‘easy’ to try your hand at, without an expert adviser who’s ridden that rodeo before.
Clients who want to hire advisers only to micromanage the process themselves are complete nightmares and counterproductive as hell. This is probably why you’re having a hard time getting rid of Links.com… That, and your expectations have most likely been unduly inflated by the hugely favorable opinions of ‘domainers’ who are apt to significantly overvalue a name like that, relative to it’s actual marketability.
@Anon
I understand your thinking. It is completely from a broker’s point of view who is trying to maximize profits while minimizing effort. It is completely contrary to what happens in any other seller/broker relationship in any other industry. In fact, Sotheby charges the buyer since for all intents and purposes, the broker is usually working for the buyer. The seller has to be involved in order to ensure the integrity of the process.
As far as Links.com is concerned, I am in no rush and will sell the domain in the way that I see fit.
@Rich what is your price for Links.com and what are you looking for in a broker ?
If you are interested in chatting, I’d be happy to talk to you about it and see if I can help in any way.
@Adam
No price has been set at this time. I am in the middle of my due diligence process to better understand the industry and different vehicles available to sell a domain such as the one that I own. I am also, simultaneously, investigating other opportunities other than selling the domain.
In order to avoid hijacking this discussion, I would be happy to discuss the services and processes of any broker who works for sellers. What I am looking for is a thorough understanding of the process and how the seller benefits from the process. I can be contacted via the contact form on my website at Links.com. Thanks.
Rich- “Adam” above is Adam Strong and would be worth talking to.
Also, consider Andrew Rosener- http://www.mediaoptions.com/
@Rich
“Besides Sedo (which is most probably overcharging for what it is doing) and Afternic (which has conflicts of interest), what are the alternatives”
—–
Sedo has their own portfolio that has hundreds of thousands of names called DomCollect. Personally, I am okay with a company owning their own domain names, but prefer a company to be transparent about it.
What other Industry that yo know of has such a Wide freaking bleeping Margins? and commision fees?
without offering you any kind of legal protection/insurance/warranty over contractual agreements…
inc: parking 50 % 50 in most cases?
“without offering you any kind of legal protection/insurance/warranty over contractual agreements…”
====
If the U.S. Government provides a written Appraisal for the “Value” of your .COM domain(s), would that help protect you ?
How cool would that be ? You could tell everyone your domains are worth N billion dollars. They would appear as assets on your Balance Sheet.
@DSeller
I did not know that Sedo maintains its own inventory. This is as much of a conflict of interest as it would be if a real estate broker that I hired owns a home on the same block or condo complex. I totally agree that there should be much more transparency. Unfortunately, there are no ethical or legal rules governing domain markets which opens the industry up to complaints and justifiable concerns by both buyers and sellers. What is really going on? – is a question that needs to be asked.
TheBigLieSociety permalink
“without offering you any kind of legal protection/insurance/warranty over contractual agreements…”
====
If the U.S. Government provides a written Appraisal for the “Value” of your .COM domain(s), would that help protect you ?
How cool would that be ? You could tell everyone your domains are worth N billion dollars. They would appear as assets on your Balance Sheet.
*********
I am talking about the subject of the thread… their “Brokerage Service” buying and selling domains.