A negotiated sale fell apart when Afternic couldn’t handle a .fi transaction.
A couple of weeks ago, I “sold” a .fi domain through Afternic.
I have about 5 .fi domains, and I was excited to reach an agreement to sell one of them that I hand-registered a couple of years ago.
The transaction came together after the buyer submitted an offer on the domain, which used the Afternic lander. I have “make offer” set to self-brokerage, which means I negotiated directly with the buyer.
After we agreed on a price, the buyer tried to check out. That’s when things went downhill. The messages below are in last-in, first-out order:
As you can see, the buyer tried to make the payment, but it wouldn’t work.
After speaking with Afternic, I learned that whenever someone tries to buy a .fi domain through Afternic, the payment will fail because GoDaddy doesn’t support .fi domains.
Afternic suggested a workaround: lower the price to the negotiated number, and then ask the buyer to purchase the domain through the Afternic DLS partner 101Domain.
I tried to communicate this to the buyer, but the self-brokerage commenting system blocked my message.
An Afternic representative reached out to the buyer several times, to no avail. At this point, the sale is likely lost.
When you sell a domain, it’s crucial to get the payment right away before the buyer changes their mind. Any friction can kill the deal.
This sale would have gone through if Afternic’s cart hadn’t given an error.
Needless to say, I don’t think Afternic should have a situation where the shopping cart breaks every time someone tries to buy a domain that GoDaddy doesn’t support.
There’s value in listing .fi domains on Afternic to gain access to the distribution network. But in the future, I certainly won’t point these domains to the landing pages there. I think I’ll start pointing my .fi domains to Atom or Sedo.
I point all of my .fi landers to Spaceship. I list at Afternic & Sedo.
Good tip. Namecheap/Spaceship don’t support .fi, but they have accounts at most registrars.
Afternic is lagging, first off no bitpay integration, completely missing out on crypto buyer market for it’s sellers, HUGE FAIL! They integrated it for DAN, somehow they forgot when it came to Afternic. Even having other Asia friendly options, look at Dynadot, Spaceship etc.. how many different payment options they have. Afternic is asleep at the wheel, their brokers are slow to respond, and they are not taking community feedback. Checkout issues are costing sales, as they are totally dependent on credit cards. WAKE UP!!!
It’s becoming increasingly clear that many domain investors are growing frustrated with Afternic’s recent performance issues. Reported drops in sales, persistent checkout bugs, and various platform glitches are creating real friction at the exact point where conversions should be smooth and reliable. When a marketplace’s technical issues directly impact a domainer’s ability to close deals, confidence naturally erodes.
For a platform that positions itself as a leader in the industry, stability, transparency, and responsive support are not optional—they’re essential. Afternic Boost is another pain point. If the goal is to empower serious domainers and improve market liquidity, then offering Boost as a free feature for professional sellers seems like a logical step. Rewarding high-quality portfolios with better visibility would help rebuild trust and create a win–win for sellers and the platform.
Afternic has the potential to be a top-tier ecosystem, but right now many domainers feel that the technical issues and added fees are making things harder, not better. A renewed focus on reliability and fair value would go a long way in restoring confidence within the community.
Very well said!