Afternic Archives - Page 19 of 33

Afternic Resolves Outage

Elliot Silver

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September 10, 2017

For the last couple of weeks, I had difficulty accessing the Afternic website. I posted a note on Twitter asking if others had the same issue, and I was relieved to learn that a few others were also unable to access the website because it seemed like an isolated issue. When I checked Afternic’s status on Down For Everyone Or Just Me, I saw that the site was operating. I was also able to access Afternic when I was on my iPhone.

Afternic and GoDaddy engineers were made aware of the issue, and the outage was resolved late last week. I asked what caused the outage, and Bob Mountain, Chief Revenue Officer at Afternic shared the following information with me:

“In late August, we were made aware that a small subset of customers were unable to access Afternic.com. These customers were unable to access the website, but were still able to completely manage their accounts through our customer services team. We have investigated the issue and determined it was a firewall setting. We have fixed the issue. If someone is still experiencing issues, we recommend they contact us at service@afternic.com.”

During the outage, I relied on Afternic’s support team to add and remove domain names as well as update pricing. Since most of Afternic’s sales are done via GoDaddy (at least in my experience), I presume the outage did not impact sales. In fact, I

“Invest in your Success:” Afternic Introduces New Landing Page

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June 5, 2017

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I noticed a new Afternic “domain for sale” landing page I thought I would share with readers. As you can see below, the landing page does not have any pay per click advertising (PPC) on it, and the lander makes it very clear that the domain name is for sale. You can visit Stallions.com to have a look at the landing page in action.

On the top of the landing page, you can see the call to action with a phone number to call an Afternic sales associate. Afternic likes to encourage people to call rather than submit their contact information via form. Their sales team is likely very strong on the phone, and getting someone to call is a good way for the company to sell its domain names.

If a visitor clicks on the “Inquire Today!”

Share Your Thoughts About GoDaddy Auctions Valuations

Elliot Silver

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May 12, 2017

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Yesterday morning, I wrote an article discussing that an updated valuation tool was being released by GoDaddy in conjunction with expiring domain name inventory coming up for auction at GoDaddy Auctions. The refined domain appraisal tool takes the Afternic sales database into account and predicts the retail value based on its proprietary algorithm.

I think it will be helpful for domain owners to find “hidden” inventory by performing searches based on valuation, and I also believe this will become a revenue driver for GoDaddy.

One thing you will notice is that when you hover over a valuation, GoDaddy displays the following disclaimer to ensure that people understand what the valuation is and what its limitations are:

GoDaddy Reintroduces Valuation Appraisal Tool

Elliot Silver

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May 11, 2017

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GoDaddy Auctions is set to reintroduce an updated valuation appraisal tool for its expiring domain name inventory. If you visit GoDaddy Auctions later on this evening, you will be able to see the “Valuation” column will be populated with a valuation range. Previously, the Valuation column was essentially useless because it was based on a parked earnings algorithm that didn’t take the intrinsic value of the domain name into account. In fact, I described GoDaddy valuations as “laughable” in an article I wrote last year.

According to GoDaddy Vice President Paul Nicks, the new and updated valuation tool’s algorithm uses the (presumably) massive database of Afternic sales to determine the retail price range of the domain names for sale in GoDaddy’s expiring domain name auctions. Essentially, the valuation tool is predicting what the domain names would sell for at retail prices if they were listed for sale on Afternic.

The Valuation column will offer a valuation price range rather than a single number. Domain names that the tool appraises at less than $1,000 will be listed as under $1,000 rather than a more specific range. Additionally, domain names the tool appraises at $25,000 or more are in the $25,000+ category rather than having a more specific price range.

One added benefit of the tool for domain investors

Clean Up Your Marketplace Portfolios!

Elliot Silver

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April 28, 2017

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This morning, I received a transfer email from GoDaddy for a domain name I didn’t sell or transfer. I won this domain name at a NameJet auction in February. Although I am passively offering it for sale via my Embrace.com landing page, I am monetizing it via PPC and do not have it listed for sale on any of the domain name sale marketplaces.

After receiving the email, I did a bit of research to confirm that I still own the domain name. Essentially, I wanted to make sure I hadn’t resold it or that something else funky wasn’t going on with the domain name. Using DomainTools, I saw that there was a “for sale” notice with a BIN price. Clicking on the link to me to an Afternic page, although Afternic indicated that the domain name was not for sale. I checked Sedo, and the domain name was listed there with the same BIN price as was indicated on the DomainTools page.

When I saw this, my hunch was that the domain name sold via Afternic. Because it wasn’t my sale listing and not approved within my account as an Afternic listing, GoDaddy couldn’t do a “fast transfer” from my eNom account and needed to request a transfer manually. I emailed Afternic’s Alan Shiflett, and he confirmed my hunch and told me the domain name was sold via Afternic. Unfortunately for

Alan Shiflett Was the Real Winner of the Contest

Afternic

Elliot Silver

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November 22, 2016

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alan-shiflett Nearly three years ago, I hosted a hand registration domain name contest on my blog. Each of the seven participants shared a list of ten domain names they hand registered as part of the contest, and readers selected who they believed registered the best domain names without knowing who registered what list of domain names. The simple rules for the contest were set out in this blog post, and voting for the contest winner was done in this subsequent blog post.

There were 260 votes cast for the winner, and it was my (blind) list that received the most votes. Although my list won the popular vote, the real winner in this contest was Alan Shiflett, who is Partner Sales Manager at Afternic. In speaking with Alan today, he let me know he has sold three of the ten domain names he hand registered!

Alan was kind enough to share the three sales and their sale prices: