A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how Dan.com is holding up payouts on LTO deals. The payout change was vaguely alluded to in bullet point 9 on a product update posted the day the Afternic LTO was announced. No reason for the change was announced, and it is not at all clear what the actual payout policy is now.
Prior to the change, Dan.com would send a payout to the seller the business day after a buyer made an installment payment. After the change, some payouts have been delayed, and there does not appear to be consistency on payout timing. Worse yet, neither Dan nor GoDaddy have offered any explanation about why delaying payouts is necessary.
In my opinion, changing the payout timing for active LTO deals is unacceptable. Dan.com should return to issuing payouts to sellers the day after receiving the monthly installment payouts from buyers on deals that were created prior to the payout change. This is what sellers expected when they listed domain names for sale on Dan.com – and when the domain names were sold prior to the product update announcement last month.
Yesterday morning, I was notified that Dan.com received installment payment #7 from a buyer who is acquiring one of my company’s domain names on a 24 month lease to own deal. I was notified that the payout will not be sent to me for nearly 2 weeks, on August 21. As you can see from the chat screenshot below, past payments were issued one business day after the payment was made by the buyer.
On another LTO deal I have ongoing at Dan.com, the buyer’s payment was made this past Monday, and I received the payout on Tuesday. I find it peculiar that one LTO deal is going to take nearly two weeks to pay and another deal was paid out within one day. On a third LTO deal I have at Dan, an installment payment was made on August 1, and the payout is scheduled for August 14.
Not only are sellers now subject to payment delays, but there does not seem to be consistency with payout scheduling either.
I am fortunate to not have to rely on the cashflow from LTO deals to fund my business. If these deals were substantially higher, I may have planned to use the money to fund other deals or for business operations. Inconsistent payouts are not fair to sellers.
Changing the payout policy when sellers are already locked into deals is not acceptable. It is not fair for customers who listed their names with the LTO option under the expectation of prompt payouts. If there needs to be a payout policy change, it should be on new deals, so sellers have an understanding of the payout policy and can decide whether or not they still want to utilize the LTO option.
What is the scoop about .CA domains?.
I told ya..this is pure stealing.
How would you feel if the payment is 5millon$$$ ?you are losing that float interest $$.
This is not stealing.
Not being paid at all would be stealing.
If Dan was holding a $5m payment, the interest would be of little interest to me.
Elliot,
I dont see any explanation as to witholding this payment when it has been received .Buyer is using the name already .This is an abuse by Godaddy as they usually do ,while buyer is already using the name and the investor/seller is being put on hold for their hard earned payment .They take their commission and still hold your payment and come up with their usual press release.
A lot ofm people reinvest their profit and Godaddy should put an end to this.
If that the case for you, then they can pay you after 5 yrs …as you said, it is not stealing, it is just paying you at their convenience time.
lmao
I have seven LTO transactions currently going, so I’m concerned as well. This is what “Ben” (a senior transfer and payout specialist) said in response to my complaint:
“Please note that this change is part of the recent updates to our platform outlined in the email sent on the 13th of July and in our blog post.
The change involves sending LTO payouts on specific dates, 1 month apart, in order to create a more consistent payout schedule.
This means that the payouts for this transaction will be sent on the 7th of every month until it is completed or cancelled.”
I have seven LTO transactions currently going so I’m concerned about this as well. This is what Ben (Senior Transfer and Payout Specialist) wrote after I complained:
“Please note that this change is part of the recent updates to our platform outlined in the email sent on the 13th of July and in our blog post.
The change involves sending LTO payouts on specific dates, 1 month apart, in order to create a more consistent payout schedule.
This means that the payouts for this transaction will be sent on the 7th of every month until it is completed or cancelled.”
Is Ben (Senior Transfer and Payout Specialist) human, or is he an AI bot?
So sad to see GoDaddy (GoD) force underhanded business practices on us. GoD is Great? We must accept the dictates of GoD? We suffer watching Dan became A GoDirty Brand
There is nothing more consistent than GoDaddy’s inconsistency.
I think they’re extremely consistent for one single reason. Their goal is to dominate the Domain Business, period. They’re the Masters of Unfair Business Practice.
As the saying goes..it is not the money
It is bad business practices
Dan.com’s old monthly payment system was no problem, now with Godaddy it’s a conflict of interest.
There should be a lease signed by all three parties, without this there can be no confidence that we receive payments on time.
This problem is rather worse than stated here. One of my LTO contract via Dan.com should collect each month 23rd. Formerly I received two messages:
Installment payment secured
We’ve just secured installment (x/12). Dan Bot Jun 23, (time)
Installment payout sent
Payout sent for installment (x/12) Dan Bot Jun 23, (time + 10 minutes)
I was told their new system (mid-contract, unilateral change!) does not send notifications for successful buyer payments, and “to create a more consistent payout schedule” they would pay on the 7th of the following month. After futile discussion, I was told: “Should the buyer encounter any delays in their payment, our support team will promptly inform you and actively pursue payment for the installment. As long as the buyer pays on schedule, you will consistently receive your —.com installment payment on the 7th of every month.” I was forced to eat irritation. Well, this month the 7th I got no payment, nor the 8th. Today, (9th) they responded to my message: “7 Oct is a Saturday, so your payout will proceed on the next working day, which is today 9 Oct.” Their promised ‘consistency’ should be noted negatively…
Same here.