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Domain Sales Platform Commission Breakdown

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Spaceship recently upped the commission rate it charges for sales on its SellerHub platform. Spaceship started out by charging 5% to close a deal on the platform, and the commission rate was just increased to 10%. This wasn’t unexpected, but I think the company could have done a better job rolling it out while explaining why the change was necessary.

Doron Vermaat is the CEO and Founder of Efty, a domain name sales platform that recently started allowing buyers and sellers to transact via its Efty Pay offering. Efty Pay charges a 5% fee for transactions. Sellers can still opt to close deals using third party escrow and sales platforms without having to pay a commission to Efty beyond the monthly platform fee for landing pages.

Crypto.com was Acquired for $12 Million

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The $70 million buyer of AI.com was Kris Marszalek, Founder of Crypto.com. Following the news of the record-breaking domain name acquisition and its Super Bowl commercial, Marszalek has been spending time discussing the AI.com acquisition and his plans for AI.com.

James Booth reposted a video interview that was conducted by TBPN. In it, Marszalek was asked what he spent to acquire the Crypto.com domain name. Marszalek disclosed that Crypto.com cost $12 million to acquire. It was, reportedly about 1/3 of the company’s capital. Marszalek noted the acquisition also made in the middle of the 2018 cryptocurrency “bear market.”

Spaceship Now Charging 5% Commission to Buyer & Seller (Updated)

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When Spaceship launched its Sellerhub with domain name landing pages, the platform was charging sellers a modest 5% sale commission for successful deals. I can’t find it specifically, but I recall former CEO Richard Kirkendall implied that this low commission rate may not last forever.

Yesterday on X, Thorsten noticed a change in the way commission was presented to prospective buyers.

GoDaddy DBS Brokers Do Not Work for You

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If you receive a domain name purchase inquiry or offer from the DomainBrokers@godaddy.com email or an individual broker, you should understand the broker is working on behalf of a buyer. These emails are from the GoDaddy Domain Broker Service (DBS) team. The broker’s goal is to get the best price for a client who paid to make an anonymous purchase inquiry.

GoDaddy DBS brokers do not represent domain name sellers. In fact, if a domain name is listed for sale via GoDaddy (Afternic), any inquiries and offers will be made by a different team. Those brokers work on behalf of the domain name sellers who listed the domain name. DBS brokers work to acquire domain names that aren’t listed for sale via GoDaddy.

Lotus.ai Sold for $400,000 via Brandforce

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Last week, a company called Lotus Health made news when it revealed a $35 million round of funding. The company was founded in 2024 and has raised $41 million in total funding. The company now operates on the Lotus.ai domain name.

Following news of this round of funding, I was told the company acquired the Lotus.ai domain name for $400,000. The domain name had been owned by Brandforce, and the deal was brokered by Brandforce Co-Founder Louis Pickthall. Louis told me the deal was negotiated directly between his company and Lotus Health.

OG.com Prediction Market Launched by Crypto.com

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The biggest news last week was that $70 million acquisition of AI.com, a historic deal brokered by Larry Fischer. The buyer of AI.com was the Founder of Crypto.com, Kris Marszalek. AI.com will feature in a Super Bowl commercial this evening.

This wasn’t the only domain name-related news from Crypto.com last week. The company also announced the launch of a brand called OG, a prediction market platform that operates on its brand matching OG.com domain name. News about the launch of OG was published on the Crypto.com website on February 3.