GoDaddy announced it would allow sellers to give buyers the opportunity to choose a lease to own option for domain names listed for sale on its Afternic platform. The company gave sellers a lead time to implement the LTO option before offering it to customers searching to buy domain names.
Yesterday afternoon, the Afternic X / Twitter account shared that the LTO option is being rolled out to select buyers on GoDaddy’s website. I asked Paul Nicks, President of Domains at GoDaddy, if he can share how the LTO offer is presented to prospective buyers who search for a domain name.
Paul shared a couple of screenshots and noted that GoDaddy is still experimenting with how the Lease to Own option will be presented. Here’s a look at two graphics showing how customers can see this option:
here's one view, lots of experimentation around presentation yet to come of course pic.twitter.com/Em5a7hqSh8
— Paul Nicks (@PaulENicks) July 24, 2023
Hopefully the LTO option leads to more deals for domain investors. It will be interesting to see if customers choose this option over purchasing the domain name in one installment, and it will be interesting to see how many continue with their LTO purchases to completion.
I invite you to share your results as this is implemented more widely.
I definitely think LTO is going to be an important big help in getting more sizable sales done, and will be a common offering going forward. Just think we should all be aware of the possible risks to sellers and our properties.
On smaller sales (I wouldn’t even offer the LTO option on sub $5k domains personally in most cases) tho there are still concerns there too. But the language protecting sellers with larger sales and better domains it’s going to be crucial.
I’ve tried to create discussions about this in a number of domain Clubhouse rooms and I’ve been surprised by the lack of concern by many people. I guess it’s going to take encountering a negative issue before they will realize the importance.
Thanks for the post Elliot,
Ira
From our brokerage we have 1:4 lease:sale ration. About 50% of leases are dropping out within two years. Always wise to offer such an option to a buyer to optimise their earlier stage cashflow.