Atom.com recently announced “one of the biggest updates to search and discovery” on the platform. The platform is making its search results less literal and more intuitive. By way of example, if someone searches for the term “baby,” instead of being solely shown domain names with the baby keyword in them, the platform will show domain names that could make nice brand names for someone starting a baby-related business. The blog post has many more details about the change.
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GoDaddy DBS Broker Tom McCarthy Explains His Role
GoDaddy has two distinct brokerage teams that work exclusively on behalf of buyers or sellers. The Afternic team represents sellers who have listings on the platform. If an offer is made by a buyer for a domain name listed on Afternic, the Afternic broker’s role is to get the most money for the domain name on behalf of the seller. If an offer is made through GoDaddy’s Domain Brokerage Service (DBS), the DBS broker works to get the buyer the lowest price.
Tom McCarthy is a broker on GoDaddy’s DBS team. I understand he is one of the top performing brokers on the team. When I receive inbound offers for domain names I don’t have listed on Afternic, and Tom is representing the buyer, I know the buyer is serious and educated about domain name values.
Tom recently began posting more regularly on X, and he posted a thread identifying the differences between the DBS and Afternic teams, and the role he plays as a buyer’s broker. I think it’s a good read for people to get an idea of what the DBS team does and who they represent.
How Much Overlap on AI Domain Name Creation?
I sold a two word .com domain name for $4,999 via Afternic last night. The domain name consists of a noun and a verb, and I acquired the domain name for less than $200 in 2018.
Because it’s more of a brandable domain name than an actual term, I think there are similar types of domain names out there that have not been registered. In fact, DomainLeads.com shows only two SLDs registered in the domain name I sold – my .com and the .org domain name. Put simply, I believe this could be fertile ground to explore alternative domain names.
To that end, I used AI tools to try and come up with similar types of domain names I could search in bulk. I would then be able to do some additional research to assess whether any of the available terms are worth registering.
Atom Pay Offers $10 Transaction Fee Through 2025
Atom.com introduced one of the better Black Friday deals I’ve seen offered. The platform is allowing customers to transact with its Atom Pay service for just $10 instead of the 4.5% standard transaction fee. Theoretically, this could be a huge savings depending on the size of deals transacted on the platform.
🔥Black Friday just got real
💰 AtomPay is now a flat $10 per transaction through the rest of 2025
📦 $100 flip or a $10M deal, it’s still a $10 AtomPay fee
🔄 Also includes a 1-year .com renewal
Start Selling (and saving) 👉 https://t.co/XE2U9uzbxP pic.twitter.com/zqywde6Nz0
— Atom.com (@atomHQ) November 20, 2025
GoDaddy’s Paul Nicks Retires
Paul Nicks is a longtime GoDaddy employee of 18+ years, has announced his retirement from the company. Paul previously served as President of the company’s Domains division and most recently oversaw the group that worked directly with domain investors. In his roles, Paul oversaw the domain name aftermarket at GoDaddy along with numerous lines of business that impact domain investors.
Paul shared the news on LinkedIn this morning:
Outbound Sales? Look for a Trade Organization
I don’t think successful outbound domain name sales is easy. In fact, it can be pretty demoralizing depending on the response to your outbound efforts. From not receiving a reply to being told off, there’s nothing really glamorous about outbound sales.
If you’re looking to sell an industry defining domain name via outbound, I thought I would share a tip to help find prospective buyers that goes beyond what I typically find with Google, DomainLeads, DomainIQ, and AI searches. Find an industry trade organization and reach out to some of the public facing member companies that would benefit from buying the domain name.