Distributed listing systems avoid duplicate sales.
One of the fears people have of listing domains at buy now prices is that they’ll accidentally sell it after they no longer own it.
I don’t know about you, but when I sell a domain on one marketplace I don’t immediately go remove it from other marketplaces. This presents the real possibility that, should I have listed it with a buy now price on two marketplaces, it could sell twice. That would put me in a bind.
To prevent this I usually list a domain with a buy now price at only one venue.
But you don’t have to do this with Afternic’s and Sedo’s systems. Because they are integrated with your registrar they automatically pull your inventory if there’s a change in owners.
For example, let’s say I list the same domain on both platforms. It sells on one. The other venue will automatically remove it from its listings when the domain transfers out of my registrar account.
Simonetta Batteiger, the Product Manager for SedoMLS, explains how this works for Sedo:
The SedoMLS system asks our participating registrars to notify us if a domain listed in the SedoMLS network is sold elsewhere. However, even if that notification does not come through, you would not be able to proceed with a SedoMLS Premium sale for that domain listing. Our system has a safeguard built in which ensures that we only allow for the sale of inventory that is still available with the current registrar.
Batteiger tells me that Sedo is working to extend some of this “safety net” to regular Sedo listings as well.
Bob Mountain, VP of Business Development for NameMedia (which runs Afternic), says it has a similar system:
Afternic DLS was designed specifically to handle that scenario. Our Instant Transfer system will remove domains from Afternic DLS Premium Promotion if they are sold elsewhere. Our integration with member registrars automatically detects changes in member domain ownership, enabling us to avoid duplicate sales for the same domain.
Sam Nunez says
This “safety net” always existed for MLS Premium since we are doing instant transfer,
We are now doing that ownership check each time a buyer visits your for-sale page on Sedo marketplace (if you domain is with a partner registrar).
Andrew Allemann says
Sam, I believe the safety net has been on both Sedo and Afternic for MLS domains. Before now though there wasn’t overlap of a major registrar partner.