I was in my Atom.com dashboard this evening, when I saw a note to customers in the message center. According to the note, “Sedo has decided to end its partnership with Atom.” Atom customers who have premium listings on the platform also automatically have their domain names appear for sale on Sedo. This will no longer be the case.
I am not really sure why Sedo would choose to end this relationship with Atom. It would seem to be a good chance to expand its inventory of domain names for sale, particularly in growing verticals like .AI where Atom seems to be making some inroads.
Atom.com customers should read the announcement to understand the impact of today’s news and their obligations to Atom if they have premium listings on the platform.
Perhaps there’s more to the story that will make it make sense to me. Notably, yesterday, Domain Name Wire reported that Sedo’s parent is looking to sell Sedo and its associated business unit. That remains to be seen.
Here’s a copy of Atom’s announcement. You’ll want to visit the Atom message center to confirm and click links to the TOS and policies:
“We wanted to share a quick update about our distribution partnerships.
Over the past several months, we’ve been aggressively expanding direct integrations with registrars and other partners to provide more exposure for your domains.
Following this expansion, Sedo has decided to end its partnership with Atom. While we’ve valued the collaboration over the years, this change does not meaningfully impact your exposure. Your domains remain fully discoverable through Atom’s growing network of direct registrar and marketplace integrations. In fact, we will now be accelerating these direct partnerships to provide even greater visibility for your domains.
A quick reminder about listing types:
Premium listings on Atom are exclusive to our platform and therefore cannot be added to Sedo. You may still list them on Afternic and certain other qualifying ICANN-accredited registrars. View Terms
Plus and Standard listings remain fully non-exclusive — you can continue listing those names on any other marketplace.
Our mission remains the same: to make buying and selling domains faster, more transparent, and more creator-friendly. Building a direct, open distribution network is a key part of that vision.
We are in the process of finalizing several additional partnerships and will be making announcements in the near future.Thank you for being part of the Atom community and for continuing to support our work as we build the most open and efficient ecosystem for domain sellers and buyers.”
Interesting. The way I read it is perhaps Sedo was frustrated that Atom was creating direct partnerships with companies already in the SedoMLS marketplace.
With DAN-clones brewing at the same time that Sedo is on the chopping board, suitors might be a making a play for the MLS itself. A pre-condition may be that ongoing listing partnerships (not registrar network) are discontinued for renegotiation/re-evaluation, perhaps especially if the partnerships are considered competitors by the new prospective management. Speculation of course.