Domain investors can leverage GoDaddy’s brand, but it comes at a steep price.
Domain name investors can now use GoDaddy-branded “buy now” landing pages in addition to “request a price” landers.
This begs a big question: does having the GoDaddy brand on a landing page measurably increase sales?
Domainers pay a big price for using GoDaddy’s landers. The company charges a 20% commission up to $5,000 and 15% up to $25,000, at which point the commission on the amount over $25,000 drops to 10%.
This is high for the industry. Dan.com, Sav, Dynadot and Porkbun all offer landers with commissions below 10%.
While having the GoDaddy logo surely adds some brand recognization and comfort to buyers, is it worth the extra amount?
It will be difficult for domain investors to figure out what sort of lift the GoDaddy brand provides. You have to have a lot of domains to figure that out.
For its part, GoDaddy still recommends using its lead form lander for domains priced over $1,000.
Richard B Morris says
Bottomline….it’s HUGE! I use to own a medical billing business AcSel.org that sold turn key systems including hardware/software to large medical groups. We developed the software to run on most hardware platforms, but IBM was the hardware of choice even though it cost 50% more. Company is still in business 43 years later so we must have done something right.☺
Andrew Allemann says
That’s very different. Here, we’re talking about buying the same exact product at two different stores. Maybe an example is there’s only one hot new Xbox available, and it’s at a store you’ve never heard of rather than on Amazon. Do you still buy it?
Richard B Morris says
Andrew…in addition to having been in the medical billing business I was also in the medical debt collection business, CreditControl.net where we charged a commission of 33 and 1/3 percent of dollars we recovered. Invariably competitors would enter the field and charge 20-25% commission, but the real proof is not the percent charged, but rather what is called the “net back” aka “net return” to the customer. Over the last 90 days I’ve accumulated 3,000 .online domains, and based on your article I believe i’ll list half of them at GD and the other half with Epik to see what sort of return I get. Hopefully I can get around to it in the next week to 10 days, and I’ll be glad to share the results with you.
joesaba2014 says
Godaddy will always remain the same, they do not care that other brands make it cheaper.
Squarely says
The biggest thing GD do is advertisement and they really do marketing….esp on Radios, and in sports events……heard of Danica Patrick ???GoDaddy’s darling gal !!!
Do others do that?
Also GD has the financial means and the powerhouse to do all sorts of Marketing.
Greg says
GD brand? lol. For me GD stands for “Run away”. Wouldn’t work with them even if they paid me.
J says
That’s great but not at all the question. The question is, “are end users more likely to buy a domain name when they see GoDaddy’s logo?” and the answer is “yes”.
GoDaddy has the brand recognition (and associated trust factor) that others (porkbun?) do not.
Matt says
Agree with what you say – but have to add that porkbun.com is the registrar I recommend to everyone (colleagues at work and folks I sell domains too).
There are so few companies I go out of my way for but the PB experience and pricing is excellent.
Andrew Allemann says
I’ve been suggesting Porkbun more and more to people looking to register a domain or two. It has a really intuitive interface. The prices are fair, and if someone registers just a couple of domains at GoDaddy they’re going to pay more. I recommend different registrars depending on what people are looking for.
Mark Thorpe says
GoDaddy and Afternic’s domain sale commissions are very high.
They haven’t bothered to lower their commission fees over the years, so I doubt they will any time soon.
Mark Thorpe says
“The company charges a 20% commission up to $5,000 and 15% up to $25,000, at which point the commission on the amount over $25,000 drops to 10%.”
$1000 fee + 15% up to $25000
$4000 fee + 10% for over $25000
Andrew Allemann says
Right. The commission applies to the range you’re in. So the $1,000 fee is 20% of the $5,000, and the $4,000 fee is 20% of the first $5,000 and 15% of the next $20,000.
Jeff Schneider says
Hello Andrew,
We feel they have a non- sence about Strategic Online Marketing. JAS 427/2021
Gratefully and respectfully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) Metal Tiger, Former (Rockefeller I.B.E.C. Strategic Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed C.B.O.C. Commodity Hedge Strategist) Domain Master, (UseBiz.com)
Derpy Derp says
Jeff,
Are you related to John the long-tailed-domain-promoter? You fellows are very similar in how you comment. Twins, perhaps?
Gratefully,
Derpy Derp (Asylum Group) Paper Elephant
El says
Andrew, thanks for the article. Could you refer please where GD has recommended PUR for domains over $1k? Did they provide any data with that?
Andrew Allemann says
The company made the suggestion in an mass email promo sent via Afternic yesterday:
“You may find Buy-Now landing pages most successful for domain listings up to $1,000 USD. For more valuable listings, continuing with our Lead landing pages may produce the best results.”
Of course, it says “may” but they wouldn’t suggest this if they didn’t have some data behind it.
Michael says
It will be very interesting to see how it affects sales. The lander looks good, and it forwards to godaddy.com, so that should create trust. I wonder if many US buyers still do not wish to purchase at DAN because it is based abroad?
joesaba2014 says
@Michael Many US domain investors are on Dan.com with a large part of their portfolio domains.
Michael says
Yes, but I was thinking about endusers based in the U.S. who do not know anything about or industry, but probably know GoDaddy. I have had sales at DAN to U.S. buyers, but I am looking forward to see if using GoDaddy landers will increase the number of sales.
joesaba2014 says
Godaddy is known all over the world, it is the brand that is in all Social Media, its name and logo, it is incredible how many times you find me on YouTube especially every day.
Godaddy has millions of daily visits from domain buyers, its aftermarket is super powerful and this laders to be successful in selling domains.
The most important thing is that they invest for the better to make it easier to buy and sell domains, with the new current technologies.
Take care and health.