When GoDaddy acquired Uniregistry and its Uni Market, I had high hopes. The promise for an improved, combined market with “millions of eyeballs” was shared exactly one year ago, in February 2020.
Fast forward a year later, and from a personal standpoint the combined Uni Market / Afternic has not produced much.
I still use and support the Uni Market and its expert brokers. When it comes down to the interaction of the two markets there’s a lot that doesn’t seem to be working smoothly “under the hood”.
For starters, when a domain is listed as having a BIN and no minimum asking price at the Uni Market, it’s forcibly listed with a $10,000 dollar minimum at Afternic. This creates a price gap that can be several thousand dollars and in my expert knowledge it can often discourage buyers from making an offer below that threshold.
Second, prospective buyers for domains that do have a minimum asking price and a BIN at the Uni Market, are circumventing these values by using the GoDaddy WHOIS query system, placing offers below that asking price.
I can only find a similar issue with the Uni Market when someone hits the BIN, then calls in and attempts to negotiate a better price.
Both of these practices are abusing the system and it’s something that I’ve experienced often lately.
There’s a third issue that I will share more about in a few weeks. Overall, I am disappointed by the way the two marketplaces interact, as there has been no way to opt out of Afternic as a listing platform for users of the Uni Market.
GD brokers are horrible. They send a bid on behalf of a client then do not respond back. Horrible communication. They collect $120 for sending a email to us. They’re so lazy imo. This is just my opinion based upon inquiries that I have got.
Also, The only way to remove those listed prices on afternic and Godaddy that they have listed for sale is to go under uniregisty and change all of your prices from over that website. I guess when you agree to those TOS over at uni and GD your basically giving them to right to list anywhere they want but the underline prices listed on GD is coming from UNI prices that people have listed. Now imagine if some names you own that are over there and you have a default price Ouch.
There have been a few positive milestones in my 15 years of investing. Events that notably increased revenue and grew my business.
One was when Andrew and Jeff Reberry opened up DropCatch to members of the public.
Another was when Frank Schilling opened up DomainNameSales and Uniregistry to outside investors.
And then last year, it was the Godaddy acquisition of Uni that turned out to have a highly positive effect.
February is not over and I have already sold 19 domains this year across Godaddy’s Uniregistry Afternic DLS. Prices ranged from $300 to $20,000. Noticably better sales than a year or two ago.
I have about 2,700 Uni names (all set to be handled by the brokerage) and about 300 Godaddy names on the DLS.
The more than 70 million eyeballs on the network are indeed delivering excellent results.
I have been a member of Afternic since 2005 and have never previously heard of a “$10,000 dollar minimum” if you have no min price at Uni.
Uni listings have a default of $2,000 for min offers which takes all of two seconds to change. Why would anybody remove or not have a minimum asking price?
I am incredulous that a Uni Market user would even want to opt out of Afternic when my experience of the accelerated results from their massive traffic is so good.
Dave – I’m glad to hear the system works for you.
My article is an analysis of how the Uni Market and Afternic/GoDaddy perform for me “in tandem.” As I don’t use Afternic by choice, this duality for those of us without an Afternic account doesn’t always deliver.
Also, I don’t sell domains for less than mid four figures and the Uni Market has performed well for me since 2012 (Domain Name Sales.)
Feeling “incredulous” about something that doesn’t work for someone else shows lack of understanding their testimonial, so let me explain this in detail for your benefit.
The way Uni Market listings are copied over to Afternic – again, without an Afternic account – when there is no floor price (and a BIN price is set) Afternic tags a $10,000 dollar minimum price to its listing. That is not a good thing. It creates an artificial floor price that might or might not reflect the domain seller’s desired price. Being forced to set a minimum price is an abuse of the system’s functionality.
Personally, I choose to keep most of my domains with a BIN, or a “make an offer” setting to leverage the intake of leads and decide on the next move. I don’t sell domains cheap and hold domain assets long term.