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Just Parking at Afternic? Here’s What To Do

GoDaddy recently announced the Uni to Afternic migration in March. I was not super happy about this, but I connected with Afternic to get some assistance with setting up the 25 +/- domain names I parked at Uni that earn PPC revenues. Some of these domain names aren’t really for sale (primarily due to the commission structure), but I preferred to try out GoDaddy’s parking option before seeking another solution.

On April 18, as directed, I set the nameservers to ns1.afternic.com ns2.afternic.com, and the domain names with traffic started showing up under the Parking tab in my Afternic account.

Several days ago, I noticed one name in particular wasn’t showing additional traffic or revenue. This was peculiar, and I thought there was some lag in reporting. I emailed GoDaddy over the weekend to see what is up with the reporting.

Before receiving a response this morning, I figured out what was causing the issue. The PPC parking page had disappeared. In its place was the landing page that said the domain name may be for sale. It’s pretty much the default landing page for when a domain name has Afternic nameservers but isn’t listed for sale in an account.

I followed-up this morning to report what I found, and a representative from Afternic told me what I need to do to resolve. I asked if the person could give an update I could share with others who may be facing the same issue as me, and here’s what I was provided:

Michael Cyger’s Last Day at GoDaddy

In March of 2022, GoDaddy announced that it acquired DNAcademy, the domain investing education platform founded by Michael Cyger. Following the acquisition, Michael joined GoDaddy as its first Director of Education. Since that time, Michael has been helping to integrate DNAcademy within GoDaddy’s ecosystem, and where it has been rebranded as GoDaddy Domain Academy.

Last month, Michael shared that he will be leaving GoDaddy, and today is his last day:

As I recall, Michael was not an early domain investor. Michael launched Domain Sherpa in 2010, where he shared video interviews and discussions with domain investors and developers who operate on great domain names. The platform grew and evolved, and Michael sold it in 2017. All the while, Michael continued to grow his own domain name portfolio.

I am not sure what Michael has planned for himself, but I am sure he will continue to be active in the domain investment community. Michael has always had a positive and uplifting personality, and he is an asset to our community. I know I am looking forward to seeing what he does next.

Gerald Levine Honored with ICA Lifetime Achievement Award

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Intellectual Property Attorney Gerald Levine was honored today with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Internet Commerce Association. Mr. Levine is a noted attorney who is an expert in law related to domain names and intellectual property. Not only does Mr. Levine represent domain registrants and serve as a UDRP Panelist, but he also wrote the preeminent book on the topic – Domain Name Arbitration.

The virtual Award presentation was shared by the ICA and features quite a few domain industry veterans and IP attorney colleagues of Gerry who respect him tremendously. Congratulations to Mr. Levine on the award honoring his contributions.

Giving Squadhelp a Shot

I’ve read quite a bit about Squadhelp and its domain name marketplace. I like what I can see they are doing, and I enjoy reading the insights shared on Twitter by CEO Darpan Munjal. I also trust Hilco Digital’s Andrew Miller, and if his company is backing Squadhelp, I like their chances of continued growth.

In particular, I like that the Squadhelp target audience seems to be people and businesses looking for a brand name rather than people who are simply looking for a domain name. Domain registrars and domain sales platforms compete for customers searching for domain names, and I like that Squadhelp seems to primarily target people who are seeking out a brand identity – and a domain name is a big part of that.

The Appraised Value is “too high to estimate”

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It is apparent that GoDaddy has been in the process of revamping its domain name appraisal tool. This became most obvious when expiry auctions in GoDaddy Auctions were missing their estimated values. Recently, domain investor Bob Hawkes noticed what appeared to be a change in the appraisal tool:

GoDaddy’s Paul Nicks replied that the algorithm hadn’t changed but GoDaddy added more sales data:

One thing that seems to have gone unnoticed is a tweak to what GoDaddy shows on appraisals for high value domain names. Instead of reporting the value as more than $25,000, the tool now says the value is “too high to estimate.” GoDaddy’s Michael Cyger – who is departing soon – shared this on Twitter this morning:

I actually think this is a very good change. Instead of putting that $25,000 number on valuable domain names – which can be very confusing unless the disclaimer is carefully read – it emphasizes the high value of the domain name.

With many prospective buyers trying to use the GoDaddy Appraisal as a means of getting a lower price on a domain name they don’t wish to buy, I have come to look unfavorably on this automated tool. That said, I think this new language is helpful.

Full Agenda Released for NamesCon Global

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The 2023 edition of NamesCon Global is coming up in just over a month from now. The annual domain industry conference is being held at the Omni Hotel Downtown in Austin, Texas from May 31 – June 3.

I received an email from conference organizers this morning announcing the entire conference agenda has been released and published online. For those of you debating whether or not to attend based on the conference content can now see the panels and speakers who are scheduled to participate.

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