On July 13th, Afternic announced it would begin allowing sellers to implement a Lease to Own (LTO) offer for domain names. This meant buyers shopping for domain names on GoDaddy or GoDaddy’s network would be able to purchase a domain name using monthly installments. This was an expected update following GoDaddy’s acquisition of Dan.com, a platform that pioneered the automated domain name LTO sales.
In conjunction with the Afternic news shared on the 13th, Dan.com also shared some platform and product updates. Update #9 is one I completely overlooked but could have some negative consequences to some sellers who rely on monthly LTO payments to fund business activities. This update covers payments, and apparently, payout timing.
This change is going to impact when sellers will be paid.
This morning, I received notification that a $500+ payment was received by Dan.com on a Lease to Own deal that began one month ago. I was encouraged to see a second payment made by the buyer since this is sometimes a fall-off point. Today is July 28th. In the payout notification in my Dan.com dashboard, it says the payment will be sent to me on August 7th. Prior to this change, the payout would have been “released within 1 business day.”
I find this change unacceptable. There is no good reason, in my opinion, for why Dan.com / GoDaddy should keep funds that I am owed for an extra week. GoDaddy and Afternic have been working on faster payouts on sales made via Afternic. To me, it does not make sense that Dan.com is going to hold funds longer on LTO payouts.
Fortunately not being paid $500+ for an extra week is not going to impact my business. However, I bet there are many people whose businesses would be impacted by the holding of funds.
It is called stealing….
Time for a class action lawsuits.
No, it is not stealing. I am not at all concerned about my payout not being sent or stolen. I don’t like the policy change that is delaying my payout. They have the buyer’s payment, and they should send it to me promptly.
Sadly it’s the basis of the entire banking system where minutes, hours, days accumulate interest earned on holdings thus fueling that entire industry. A week of gross dollars being held of let’s say $1MM is a significant contribution to the bottom line. Not cool but also not surprising.
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GoDaddy’s treasury department is incentivized to earn interest returns on the “float” or holding of cash. This delay enables them to earn more money for shareholders.
What do you think it going to happen to the economy if the banks holds ALL the transactions for 7 days before releasing to the owners??
Transactions like payroll checks, credit card payments,etc etc etc
And they use the money as float to get more money
There is no truth to the rumor that Rob Monster has been hired as a consultant to GoDaddy.
Joking aside, I trust GoDaddy, but they shouldn’t change the payout policy for LTO deals already in force.
Totally unacceptable. GD is showing their shady business practice. If they are going to hold the funds then buyer should not keep using the name until i receive my payment. They don’t care about sellers.
i am taking all of my domains off dan.com and going to start a small website and place them there with escrow.com buy now buttons.
I am not making any changes, but it’s frustrating that this payout policy is being changed for LTO deals already in force.
Godaddy has everything to win and can do whatever he pleases, he has enough money in the box every day to not delay any payment.
I just got hit with this and had overlooked this change as well. My payout that was due today won’t be paid until the 21st.
GoDaddy (GoD) cares nothing for us. Fast payments? GoD decided NO. GoD trashed Dan.com’s at-cost domain registrar plans. GoD took away hope. We can only pray for salvation.