One site will allow you to opt out of registrar markups the other won’t.
Here is a follow up to the story I posted last week about some domain registrars marking up your names (for their profit) when you list at Sedo and Afternic.
Joe Styler reaffirmed what Bob Mountain wrote two years ago. You can contact Afternic and have your names not show at the markup registrars.
We also understand many people are against any kind of commission mark up from any partners which is why we allow anyone to email in and opt out for their account. Bear in mind only the Afternic inventory will be affected and if the reseller accepts other premium domain feeds containing your names they could continue to show up on those sites.
Joe Styler wrote in the comment section here September 18, 2019
Joe also pointed out how there is language in the Afternic membership agreement that does say you can be marked up. I did some research into that too.
The way this was done is interesting. Archive.org is our friend here. Joe pointed out that it was not in the fast transfer TOS but the membership agreement, go check it out now, you will notice the updated date, currently
Membership Agreement – Updated on August 22, 2019
So when Afternic slipped in “You understand that certain reseller distribution partners may, upon approval by the Company and at Company’s sole discretion, add a markup to the sale price of your domain name and that the reseller distribution partner may keep this markup in its entirety, and that you will receive no payment for the portion of the sales price that is marked up.” The membership agreement update, date was not updated. This happened in October of 2018 and you can view that here https://web.archive.org/web/20181011084930/https://www.afternic.com/legal
But when you look at the previous record on Archive.org back in June of 2018 you see no mention of the markup language, for proof you can see that here https://web.archive.org/web/20180623050144/http://www.afternic.com/legal
So the question is, why did the Afternic membership agreement change but the date remained May 12, 2016 for the last update? If someone was pedantic about TOS and checked it daily, they would have no reason to read it again to see the markup language placed in there.
On top of that a company should email you and let you know about the markup and the change in the membership agreement.
Just wanted to make sure everyone was informed and provide proof as to what actually happened.
Now onto Sedo who also has the same practice and they don’t mention the markup as well.
When asked if they would do the same as Afternic and provide an opt out? Here was their reply:
So if you are like many investors who are against the markup your best play is to Buy it now at Afternic, make offer at Sedo, and opt out of markup registrars at Afternic.
Neither company can give a clear answer on why their partners have the right to markup your domain names, but there are things you can do about it to have full autonomy over how your domain names are presented for sale.
Thank you for all the info on this. It’s truly disgraceful people believe they have rights to my property.
>why their partners have the right to markup your domain names
Looking at it from the other side, I’d think it a way to encourage others to offer the Afternic inventory, ie more eyeballs.
I think another component here is the mark up itself. If someone marks domains up 15% that is very different than marking it up say 500%. At 500% potential buyer perception is far more damaged than at 15%.
I disagree with that and the whole premise is flawed, if it was universal then sure. But if Dynadot doesn’t need to markup and several others don’t than a place like Name.com sure and hell doesn’t.
Right, there would be little to no incentive for the partners to be involved without cutting them in. I believe the issue is the marketplace not being willing to forgo their cut, thus forcing buyers to make up the difference. So Sedo/Afternic earns their 15% or 20% as the case may be regardless of whether a domain sells through them directly or through a partner. I believe this is different than most affiliate or channel reseller programs work, because the affiliates/resellers would view that as the company competing with them on price. Apparently it isn’t a factor in the marketplace/registrar- partner dynamic.
Or am I wrong in that the marketplace does issue a cut out of their own commission and the partners are marking price up on top of this to increase their commission?
I thought they split it 50/50.
So yes, some partners are increasing over that. But that is just a guess. Previous to this I did not realize that Afternic was so aware of this state that they allow managing it.
Which begs the question: Is Afternic’s cut increased as well when this happens?
The fact that Epik’s increase MATCHES the Afternic commission makes me wonder ……
Yes Christopher as I understand it, if someone finds my name at Sedo they get 15% if it’s bought at say Name.com then the commission is 20% and Name.com would get half. What Name.com is doing is saying we will add 15% for us, just us.
Place like Sedo and afternic are dinosaurs, websites that look like some kid made them in 1999. DAN and Epik have kicked their butt, better looking landers, better commissions, better everything.
I started using DAN recently and I like it. Unfortunately, it lacks distribution.
Sedo and Afternic also lack distribution through API and easy data access for websites (other than their registrar network) to use their data, which is affecting sales more than you think.
I recently moved 100% of inventory to DAN. Lower commission, clean landing pages, and really if you have solid names you shouldn’t care about distribution. Buyers will come straight to your landing page for the only domain that makes sense for their business.
I asked to be opted out of markup registrars at Afternic.
Sedo, you should have the option to opt out of markup registrars as well.
Thanks for the info!
what’s new? https://www.thedomains.com/2017/07/19/lot-shady-things-coming-light-week/
Markups for third-party syndication don’t bother me.
The lack of transparency, however, makes it impossible to set a sharp price point that will be consistent across all venues. For example, if a price point of $3880 is set by the seller on Afternic or Sedo, and a third party lists the domain with their commission that goes on top of $3880, that domain will cross the $4000 threshold and be left with a ‘4’ in the price on that third-party side, which could make the domain less attractive to buyers in China.
A marked up price can mean a potential buyer walking away. This is dubious, like this industry has always been. Just look how shaddy the way the change of ToS was made
Agreed. I hate the idea of Godaddy farming out its ‘shady’ to Afternic or other storefronts they own. Such a slippery slope, and such a low bar industry-wide. Come on Godaddy, raise the bar!
Raymond,
I’m not sure how old you are, but I’m disappointed that you missed an excellent headline opportunity.
Remember the “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t” commercials from the 90s?
When I saw your headline, I thought “Afternic Does What Sedon’t”
🙂