Comparing Instant Transfer, Reg Path Domain Sales Services
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
New sales channels are opening up for domainers thanks to efforts by Afternic, GoDaddy, and Sedo.
Over the past week Afternic turned up two new partners in its Afternic DLS Premium program and Sedo extended the beta of its SedoMLS program to large domain holders.
Each new partner that gets integrated into these systems means more domain sales. Afternic has found that, with each new registrar partner it adds, sales go up — it’s not just the same number of sales being spread across more partners.
The key to this sales channel working is two fold: getting into the registration path when a person is searching for a domain name and having instant transfer capabilities. That means that Mr. Small Biz can search for a domain name, find your domain for sale, add it to his cart, purchase it, and get the domain name instantly in his account.
Here’s a comparison of the three major services available today:
Registrars providing instant transfer for each service is important on two fronts: they provide a sales outlet for your domains and you need to have your domains at an instant transfer registrar in order to participate. Your domains don’t need to be at the same registrar as where the domain is sold; it just has to be at one of the registrars in that channel’s network.
Both Afternic and SedoMLS are quickly expanding their reach, and I expect more partners for each service in 2011.
Tags: afternic premium listing, godaddy premium listing, sedomls
Very helpful overview Andrew.
Wow – had no idea that Sedo has no instant transfer partners and Afternic has 4 of the top 10. Afternic has jumped way out in front.
Also, there are pro’s and con’s with each one.
For example –
Afternic
pro – skilled sales people in selling domains.
con – a skilled sales person will be offering
alternatives and data that could work against
the smaller domainer. As much as they deny it,
it is logical the sales person would push
the company portfolio.
Godady
pro – more known by the general public than
the other sales companies.
con – very cumbersome company to work with.
Plus, the highest commission fee and it takes
the longest to be paid.
Sedo
pro – large inventory and skilled sales people
(like Dave Evanson) for higher priced domains. Plus, Sedo does not have any corporate
domain inventory they need to move.
con – transfer process moves as fast as molasses.
These are only top 10 partners. Both sedo and afternic have smaller partners as well.
@meyer
Sedo has hundreds of thousands of names of their own inventory, called DomCollect.
Meyer,
I’d argue that any possible Afternic sales channel conflict is resolved thanks to Afternic DLS Premium. The sales person gets the same commission, and now if you set a floor, buy now price, and use an instant transfer registrar, the sales person has just as much incentive to sell your domain as one of Afternic’s.
Thanks Andrew for putting it nicely in a nutshell.
@Andrew: Maybe you could include Fabulous DDN in your list?
Frank, I’ve pretty much written DDN off. According to their web site you can use it with Fabulous (same company) and Moniker, but I’ve never seen this promoted by Moniker.
@Andrew: Interesting, didn’t know that. I just searched for one domain listed on DDN on Godaddy and it is displayed there as well as a premium domain though.
Frank, is it one of Fabulous’ own domains or one of yours? I was under the impression that their deal with GoDaddy registration path was only for their own domains.
@Andrew: You’re right it was one from their portfolio, mine aren’t listed. Sucks.
Sedo started with a more international focus. This is an exciting new channel. It will help with speeding up transfers as well.
How is this instant transfer capability compatible with ICANN transfer policies?
@VAG: ICANN has a inter-registrar transfer policy, I am not aware of a domain ownership transfer policy from ICANN, which is basically what happens here. The domain does not change registrars.
Hmmm…domains actually do change amongst registrars. If I buy an Afternic domain that’s at Register through NetSol, it will be in my NetSol account.
@Andrew: I didn’t realize that. Than the ICANN agreement would require for the user to agree to the standard FOA in a way or form – so this should be part of the registrar contract then when you enable the feature in your account.
than = then
You have to agree to new terms and conditions, so I suspect that’s part of it.