My Thoughts on GoDaddy Acquiring Dan.com

22

I list nearly all of my domain names for sale on both Dan.com and GoDaddy (via Afternic). The domain names mostly resolve to Dan.com landing pages but are also listed via GoDaddy’s expansive sales network. These are the only two platforms I currently use to sell domain names, beyond my own landing pages.

In a blog post published on Medium this morning, Dan.com announced it is going to be acquired by GoDaddy:

Why I Merged Accounts at GoDaddy

3

I’ve always had several accounts at GoDaddy dating to when I operated two separate companies. When I shut down one company, I was left with two accounts at GoDaddy. One account held a handful of my higher value domain names and the other had all of my other domain names.

With 2 factor authentication enabled on my accounts in addition to the DTVS added level of security, I did not really have much reason or motivation to merge these two accounts. The domain names all renewed with the credit card on file for each account, and I only actively used one of the accounts for buying domain names. The only issue I had was when I wanted to check on something related to a domain name in one account and logged in to the wrong account.

From $500 Offer to $435,000 Sale via GoDaddy DBS

17

know. your. worth.” That is wise advice from a domain name registrant who was able to turn a $500 offer via GoDaddy’s Domain Broker Service into a $435,000 domain name sale. The story of how the seller was able to do this, including emails from GoDaddy, was shared in an excellent Twitter thread domain investors will want to read:

GoDaddy Signs Contract to Operate .TV Extension

0

Following its $218 million acquisition of the Neustar registry business, GoDaddy has been making a push into the registry operations business. GoDaddy Registry works with brands to manage their .brand extension, and the company also works with countries on their ccTLD registry operations, including the registries for .US, .CO, and .IN.

Last night, GoDaddy announced its signed a contract with the government of Tuvalu to manage the .TV ccTLD extension. The .TV registry had previously been operated by Verisign until the contract expired in 2021:

GoDaddy Testing Financing Option on BIN Landers

15

Over the weekend, I reported that GoDaddy would “soon” offer a financing option for aftermarket domain name purchases, per a comment from Paul Nicks. The company is now testing a buy now pay later (BNPL) option via Klarna on aftermarket domain names. This allows a buyer to purchase a domain name and pay for it over a period of time.

You can have a look at this screenshot from TowelSpa.com, which utilizes the GoDaddy BIN landing page, to see how the implementation appears:

Financing Coming “Soon” to GoDaddy Aftermarket

7

According to a tweet posted by Alex Verdea this afternoon, GoDaddy is now allowing customers to use Klarna to purchase GoDaddy products and services. Klarna is buy now pay later (BNPL) financing service that has become very popular and more mainstream over the past couple of years.

You can see a screenshot of the BNPL offering in Alex’s tweet:

Alex asked Paul Nicks, President of the Domains division at GoDaddy, if this option will be expanded to the aftermarket. Paul replied, and said it would happen “soon:”

There are various types of financing and payment plan options available to aftermarket domain name buyers right now. If (or when) GoDaddy begins allowing customers to finance their purchase over time, it will likely be significant for customers who utilize the GoDaddy / Afternic network to sell domain names.

I am sure GoDaddy will share more details with customers when aftermarket domain name buyers can purchase domain names via Klarna BNPL or other financing options.