The other day, I wrote about how difficult and time consuming the process was (with GoDaddy) to change the registrant of an Aussie domain name.
As I said in my article, I have a lot of respect for GoDaddy – and it wasn’t nice to have to call them out on this issue. But I felt it was necessary to give them some constructive criticism for the sake of moving forward.
That respect has been vindicated. I connected with Tara Commerford on LinkedIn (Country Manager Australia & New Zealand at GoDaddy), and sent her a link to my article. She immediately responded very positively by email, and assured me that the matter was now high priority for her and the product team. That’s terrific – and the sort of response I expected from a company that is committed to customer service. I look forward to being able to report further in coming weeks.
Also, the 2L domain transfer went through on Tuesday, so we’re all good.
And Another Thing!
My best selling domain names are 3L acronyms. Every week I get plenty of offers for these via either my Fabulous parking pages; or direct email enquiries generated from the WhoIs.
However, to my big surprise, in the past couple of weeks I have also received two unsolicited offers for these from the GoDaddy Domain Buy Service. When you receive the initial email (see example below), you are asked to click on the link to see the offer. I think they call that “clickbait”! Ha ha! 😉
The initial offers were paltry, and so I declined. I referred them to sales evidence (on Domainer of course!); and within a couple of days I had increased offers on both domains. I then stated my minimum sell price, and this morning I woke up to find I had a confirmed sale for USR.com.au. So well done GoDaddy!
The price is good; it’s also in $USD; and there is no commission or fees for me to pay. Buyer pays all. I’ll report back how long the process takes.
Whilst I’m certainly not complaining, I guess the thing that puzzles me is why would a buyer go through a buying service (rather than click on my Fabulous banner)?
What do you think?
Ned O’Meara – 15th September 2016
A sale is a sale, Neddy.
I do a few sales here and there through GoDaddy with my .com names. Same with Uniregistry.
It pays to have your name on lots of platforms.
“[T]he thing that puzzles me is why would a buyer go through a buying service (rather than click on my Fabulous banner)”
Depends where someone is when they first think about buying. If they type the domain into their browser out of curiosity, then they’re more likely to click on your banner. However, if they’ve gone to a registrar hoping to buy a new domain, then the registrar will tell them, “Sorry, someone already owns that. But we can help you buy it.”
That’s why I think it’s important to list domains with Afternic, the market place now owned by GoDaddy. Afternic domains can be sold through a large number of registrars, not just GoDaddy. And that cross-listing is even wider if the domain has a definite asking price. This way, customers who try to register your domain (not realizing that it’s already owned by someone) can instantly be given an opportunity to buy.
When the domain isn’t cross-listed in this way, then a few customers will go through GoDaddy’s “domain buy” service. But the odds of a sale are far higher if they don’t have to do that, if they simply see the domain they’ve already searched for together with a “buy it now” price. That’s what we’re all used to as shoppers. We look something up, and we immediately get a price tag.
By the way, GoDaddy’s customer service really is the best in the industry. Especially for larger account holders. Nobody else comes close.
Could simply be that the buyer had used godaddy previously and felt comfortable with their methods
“why would a buyer go through a buying service (rather than click on my Fabulous banner)?”
To remain anonymous. Trusted brand to oversee the purchase.