Starting the new year on a positive note: Sedo is still a big player in the domain marketplace, as long as you define certain parameters.
While I made the decision to remove my domains from Sedo last year and move them to Internet Traffic, I must clarify that the issues I had weren’t triggered by the Sedo employees, whom I’ve praised in the past for their efficiency.
The bone I was picking was with the faceless corporation; the decisions that were made regarding how my portfolio would be shared among the infamous SedoMLS across GoDaddy TDNAM and beyond. Since none of these were under my control, nor were any options available to change them, I moved out.
That being said, Sedo works like a German clock: efficient within its rules and not as expensive or accurate as a Swiss one. It’s a combination of value, versus that of luxury.
And that was a rather long introduction, to my latest sale at Sedo, which was initiated at Internet Traffic. So here’s the juice.
After a few rounds of negotiation at Internet Traffic, the buyer accepted my price, then refused to use Escrow.com and proposed PayPal instead, citing past problems with credit card validation through Escrow.com.
Now, I would not trust my own mom with PayPal – as a figure of speech – at least not when transacting on “intangible items” such as domain names. There is zero coverage on those items by PayPal, should the seller or the buyer decide to “screw” each-other.
I refused to use PayPal with some stranger from south-east Asia, and proposed the use of Sedo instead. The buyer accepted, and I added my domain to Sedo with a BIN that reflected a 15% charge on top of the agreed price, and sent him the link. He paid promptly, and then the transaction remained idle through the end of the year.
I’m now happy to announce that the sale has been completed, with Sedo closing the transfer a few minutes ago. I’m very satisfied with the exchange, not to mention that by accident, I made 5% more: Sedo charges only 10% when domains are listed with a BIN. 😀
Many thanks to Josh and Colin at Sedo, happy new year guys.
I agree I had to remove 4000 domains from sedo due to the godaddy low ball offers, I really wish they had fixed this, other than that I really had no issue with sedo.
Any reason why you chose to actually re-list your domain & have the buyer purchase it on the Sedo marketplace (10% Sedo commission) vs. using Sedo’s “external transactions escrow service” (3% Sedo commission)? [discounting the fact you made 5% by accident].
Is the former safer than the latter? Other reason?
Thanks,
Steve
Ron – I fully agree.
Steve – The buyer wanted ‘instant gratification’ and external brokering can take up to two weeks. As the buyer paid the fees, I have no reason not to use that method.
I have done that a few times, there are some paranoid people out there, I must agree escrow has a certain degree of weakness in international sales, where sedo has some better alternatives, as certain branch offices, and language spoken by certain reps. It is helped me in about a dozen or so transactions in the past 2 years…
Ron – It seems that there is no ‘instant’ safe harbor, so it’s good to have alternatives. The buyer, by the way, was willing to pay first via PayPal, thus crossing the ‘trust factor’, but all the same; a PayPal transaction can be reversed up to 60 days later.
Theo,
external brokering does not take up 2 weeks.
All you need to do is email from rep at Sedo and the transaction is setup within minutes. The only thing is that you have to send the email in Sedo working hours.
I have done numerous transactions like this.
I’ve also finalised a number of sales through Sedo that were private enquiries. It has a lot more security than PayPal and is often easier for novice buyers than using Escrow.
I have a large number of my domains listed for sale with Sedo, but not parked with them (the parking pay outs weren’t enough to warrant giving them all my traffic).
The service from Sedo has been consistently excellent on all the transactions I’ve done.
It’s good to hear you giving them credit as well as constructive criticism.
Ron,
You can list your “make offer” domains with a minimum sales price and no Go Daddy bidder will be able to get an offer to you that is less than your minimum sales price.
That way you don’t have to worry about low offers, but you still gather the lead opportunity coming from Go Daddy.
Simonetta – The problem is that a) I don’t want my domains listed on other venues, certainly not GoDaddy b) I would have to set a minimum price and keep up with the Joneses as markets fluctuate, having to go back and alter it.
The right thing to do would have been to keep SedoMLS optional, not force it down the throat of everyone.
Simonetta I don’t need a lead “opportunity” where the buyers think they are in an auction, can’t send a comment to them, Sedo charges me 20% commission etc…
That is no opportunity.