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GoDaddy

GoDaddy is a privately owned, Internet-based company that provides a variety of services including domain name registration, web hosting and e-business software sales. The company, which is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, was founded by Bob Parsons. Parsons previously owned a financial services software company, which he sold in the mid-1990s upon retirement. He came out of retirement in 1997 to form Jomax Technologies, the predecessor to GoDaddy.

Since it’s inception, GoDaddy has risen to become the largest domain registrar in the world, with tens of million of domains registered to its clients. The company ranks as the world’s largest ICANN-accredited registrar; it’s approximately four times larger than its nearest competition. Recent corporate acquisitions include Outright, Locu, Afternic, and Media Temple.

GoDaddy has redefined Internet hosting services, and it has been the recipient of numerous industry awards and accolades. Among these awards are the 2001 Arizona BBB award for Business Ethics and the 2011 SC Magazine award for Best Security Team. In 2011, it ranked number four in the Phoenix Business Magazine list of “Best Places to Work in the Valley” and it made the 2012 Forbes list of “Best 100 Companies to Work For.”

Known for its sometimes controversial commercials and interesting spokespersons, GoDaddy also sponsors a number of charitable causes in support of domestic violence and child abuse awareness, and sports events, including NASCAR and the Super Bowl. In 2013, the company shifted its advertising strategy to focus more on small to medium sized business owners (SMB). Reflecting this change, its commercials and advertising materials shifted from “sexy” to smart.

Self-Brokerage Available to 100k GoDaddy Customers


I am sure one of the most popular requests of GoDaddy is the ability to manage inbound purchase inquiries and offers for domain names listed for sale via Afternic. This is no surprise considering this was a major selling point of two companies GoDaddy acquired – Dan.com and Uniregistry.

Afternic just announced self-brokerage capabilities have been enabled for approximately 100,000 people who are members of GoDaddy’s Discount Domain Club’s top tier. I can see this has been enabled in my account, and I am going to test the platform to see how it works for a buyer and seller to get a feel for how it works, how it looks, and the timing of inquiries and responses.

Notably, the sale commission for a successful transaction is the same percentage as it would be if a GoDaddy/Afternic broker were negotiating on behalf of the owner. The advantage (or disadvantage depending on your perspective) is the domain registrant can respond and negotiate in their own style and at their own pace.

Don’t “Call domain broker”

When a user searches for a domain name at GoDaddy, and it is not listed for sale via its network, the Domain Broker Service offering is shown. To utilize DBS, a customer pays north of $100 and an additional 20% fee if a deal is reached.

If a customer pays to utilize a GoDaddy DBS broker, the broker will connect directly with the prospect to understand the budget and discuss the acquisition. It is during this initial conversation, I believe, the broker understands if the buyer intended to make an offer or if the DBS purchase was in error, believing the domain name could be bought for that amount. Assuming the buyer genuinely wants to use the DBS, the buyer and broker discuss budget and offer before connecting with the domain registrant.

While these discussions do not include the domain registrant, GoDaddy customers do have a dashboard where they can see their domain names that are subject to a DBS lead. DBS.GoDaddy.com will take GoDaddy customers to a dashboard with their DBS purchase inquiries as well as purchase inquiries that were made for their registered domain names.

3 Hour Afternic Masterclass Session on February 21 and 26

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Afternic will be hosting a free three hour “Masterclass” for members of its Domain Discount Club on February 21 and again on February 26. The live program will be led by GoDaddy’s Joe Styler and other members of the Afternic team.

Afternic published a blog post offering details about this event. In addition, GoDaddy’s James Iles discussed the Masterclass with Joe Styler in a video interview to give people an understanding of what they can expect from the program:

Videos: GoDaddy 2025 Super Bowl Commercial

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GoDaddy issued a press release this morning revealing its 2025 Super Bowl commercials. As expected, the focus of these two commercials is on GoDaddy Airo, the company’s artificial intelligence toolset designed to help customers with everything from domain name registration to website and logo design. I suspect we will see a heavy dose of AI in this year’s Super Bowl commercials.

Notably for domain investors, GoDaddy ends the commercials by displaying its GoDaddy.com domain name.

You can watch the 30 second television spot here:

You can watch the 60 second television commercial here:

Requesting my ACH Fee Report from GoDaddy

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One of the nice things about having an Account Manager at GoDaddy is that he can help pull reports for me that would take longer for me to pull. At the beginning of the year, I ask my Account Manager to send me a report of all renewals I paid the previous year so I can accurately track this cost on my expense report. One report that isn’t available for me to download on my own is the $.90 ACH fee report.

GoDaddy has a policy of charging customers $.90 for every outgoing ACH payment it sends. Regardless of whether a sale is for $150,000 or a monthly LTO payment is for just $80, GoDaddy charges $.90 per ACH it sends customers. If a customer has multiple payouts going out on the same day, as in the case of LTO deals, GoDaddy will typically batch the payments together and charge only one $.90 fee. I am not certain if GoDaddy will batch 2 LTO deals and a BIN deal in the same payment if they are due on the same day, but it’s possible that happens, too.

As far as I can see, GoDaddy doesn’t even report this fee to customers. You can look at the image above and see the payout amount on top and the amount deposited into my bank account – it differs by $.90.

GoDaddy: “A product’s been removed from your GoDaddy account”

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Over the past few days, I received quite a few emails from GoDaddy with the subject “A product’s been removed from your GoDaddy account.” Jamie Zoch mentioned this on X, and I am sure there are many other GoDaddy customers who received the same email.

This email is typically one I receive after letting a domain name expire or when I have sold a domain name and its transferred away from GoDaddy. I typically receive these emails a short time after the domain name is deleted or transferred.

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