The time finally came. Dan.com has been completely shuttered by GoDaddy.
The innovative platform was acquired by GoDaddy in 2022. It was operated independently for a short period of time, and the platform was absorbed by GoDaddy and Afternic. Earlier this year, it was announced that Dan.com would close down over the Summer, and that time has come.
If you visit Dan.com now, you will be forwarded to Afternic with a Dan.com tracking url.
Domain investors with valuable domain name assets need to have a solid business continuity plan. Simply having domain names on auto renew connected to an active credit card with a far out expiration date doesn’t solve the issue of domain name renewals in the short term.
In order for a credit card to continue functioning, monthly payments need to be made. Monthly credit card payments can be set to auto-pay, so domain names continue to be renewed and the credit card is automatically paid each month. However, in order or all of that to work, there needs to be enough cash in the connected bank account to cover the bill each month.
A week or two ago, I received an email about hotel reservations for NamesCon. The email stood out to me because it was sent to my Embrace.com email address rather than an email I used for registration. When I saw the email wasn’t from NamesCon, I marked it as spam and deleted it.
This morning, NamesCon organizers sent out an email to its mailing list warning of something called “room poaching.” I presume it was in response to a third party emailing NamesCon attendees or people who they believe would be attending NamesCon in November in Miami.
Here’s what NamesCon wrote:
When some of my domain names are approved for Premium listing status at Atom.com, I’ve noticed the suggested prices don’t always seem to follow a clear rationale. In some cases, it looks like the suggested prices are influenced by the asking prices I have for the domain names at Afternic, but the exact numbers often feel somewhat arbitrary and contrary to what I’ve generally assumed.
In reviewing my last 13 approved Premium listings, 3 of them came in just above what I would have considered a natural pricing threshold. For example, one domain name was suggested to be priced at $3,099 instead of $2,999, which I would have expected. With a relatively small portfolio, I don’t have enough volume to test this in any meaningful way, but I’ve always assumed that “charm pricing,” prices just under round-number thresholds, was the smarter strategy for listing domain names. Some sellers even prefer -88 endings for their domain names.
I asked Atom CEO Darpan Munjal about the pricing, and he shared some insights about “precise” pricing rather than charm pricing:
Spaceship launched its Seller Hub earlier this year, and the company has been quickly implementing changes based on user feedback. The platform offers sales landing pages, and domain names listed on its platform are integrated within the search stream at Spaceship and sister company, Namecheap.
One of the advantages to listing domain names for sale on the Spaceship Seller Hub is the lower commission as compared to Afternic, Sedo, and other platforms. These two external platforms have had domain name listings syndicated across Namecheap, and Namecheap / Spaceship CEO Richard Kirkendall has been touting the savings of listing directly via the Spaceship Seller Hub:
Atom.com seems to be growing at quite a clip. In fact, according to this year’s Inc. 5000 list, Atom has grown 122% over the last three years. As a result of the company’s growth, Atom is hiring for several open roles, which it announced on X:
We’re growing and looking for great people to join us! 🚀
• Head of Finance
• Manager, Registrar Operations (Remote)
• Director of Operations
• Sales & Negotiation SpecialistBe part of the team shaping the future of naming, domains & branding → https://t.co/dE8HU8OlDR
— Atom.com (@atomHQ) August 22, 2025
It doesn’t look like these jobs require domain industry expertise or experience, but I am sure it would be helpful.
At the moment, there are four open positions on the Atom.com careers page. The company is located in Illinois, and it appears there is some flexibility in terms of location, although only one job opening is listed as remote.
Have a look at these job openings if you’re looking for a domain industry career beyond investing in domain names.
