Three domain sales : Uni Market, GoDaddy, and Escrow.com

It’s been a fun May as far as domain sales go; today I’ll be comparing three popular domain aftermarket platforms, based on my recent experience.

The Uni Market needs no introduction, I’ve used it since 2012 when it was called Domain Name Sales. Now a part of the GoDaddy brand, it’s still where the majority of my domain portfolio is listed.

GoDaddy Web Services is the 800-pound gorilla of the lot, what with being part of the biggest domain registrar in the world. With Uni Market code injected in its core, it’s what happens when domains are looked up at GoDaddy.com: they often convert into sales, particularly if there is a BIN price set.

Last and by no means least, Escrow.com, which I’ve used consistently since 2002. It’s the single most trusted, licensed online escrow service in the world, with billions of dollars in completed transactions. If you want peace of mind, you use Escrow.com.

Having three sales closing at the same time was a first, as they involved all three platforms I mentioned.

First came a sale on the Uni Market that closed using the GoDaddy Web Services method: you look up a domain name at GoDaddy.com, it’s for sale with a BIN price at an affiliate marketplace, and you buy it now for that price. It’s that simple.

The domain was registered in 2017 and its Canadian buyer upgraded from the .ca to .com and while the transaction used the Uni Market checkout process, I had no way of controlling it as GoDaddy takes over. I had to make a couple of calls to confirm things were on track. Commission was 20%.

The second transaction was one of these unicorns that although the buyer is presented with both an offer form and the BIN price, they take the BIN. The transaction ran on full auto on the Uni Market’s checkout process, rendering 10% as a commission to the platform. It was fun selling a domain I hand-registered in 2003, at 1,000x the reg fee.

The final sale took place on the Uni Market with the buyer and I agreeing on the price. I sent this one to Escrow.com and decided to utilize their great Escrow Concierge process.

Because I added that service after the transaction was agreed upon, it added two days to the sale’s completion. The buyer, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur, took home a very nice .com I held onto for 17 years and that’s the way to do it, after you weed and feed your domains annually. My cost: 2.38% because I used the Escrow.com concierge service to speed up the domain’s delivery and payout; otherwise it would have been 0%.

So which platform won this domain sales race?

Surprisingly, the transaction that closed last and was given extra time, paid first. The Escrow.com funds hit my account hours before the second transaction, that of the BIN on the Uni Market, did the same. So two transactions triggered by the Uni Market system, one manual and one automated, paid on the same day.

Oddly, the transaction that took place thanks to GoDaddy’s interaction took the longest to pay even though it closed first!

It took a full week because once the automated part completes at the Uni Market, the rest of the process is manually handled by GoDaddy’s brokerage team. Had this domain been a new registration of under 60 days, I might had faced the same issue as with the sale of AmericanRescuePlan.com.

Conclusion: no platform is perfect and some have their quirks and imperfections requiring manual work by the seller, but it’s clear that the Uni Market back-end is well worthy of its acquisition price by GoDaddy. Rest assured that it will be part of the long awaited Afternic 2.0 later this year. Escrow.com is consistently a great performer, with stellar customer service and very responsive personnel, both on the phone and via email.