Godaddy - TDNAM.com Aftermarket Review

Company Overview

The Domain Name Aftermarket, from here on referred to as TDNAM.com, was created by The Godaddy Group, Inc.. Godaddy.com is the number one domain name registrar in terms of volume in the world. They are also three times larger than their closest competitor, NetworkSolutions.com. This makes TDNAM.com a prominent presence in the domain aftermarket industry. According to the domain name sales data website Namebio.com, some of the top sales at the TDNAM.com.com auction platform are:

• PI.org - $40,000
• ElectronicFiling.com - $22,188
• AllTheMusic.com - $20,000
• Hum.net - $18,000

However, this information may be inaccurate as TDNAM.com, reportedly, fails to regularly report their recent sales.

Domain Aftermarket Services

It appears as if most of the domain names for sale on TDNAM.com came from a mixture of members selling their own domains and from GoDaddy, who are selling their customers' expired domains. TDNAM.com offers the following sale types:

Buy Now:

Allows the visitor to instantly purchase the domain name at the listed price.

Offer/Counter-Offer:

Allows the visitor to bid on the domain name and the seller will have the option to accept or decline the bid. If declined, the seller can come back with a counter offer to the buyer. This process continues until the buyer and seller have agreed upon a price.

Seven-Day Auction:

The auction will end after seven days and if the reserve has been met, the highest bidder at this time will win the auction.

TDNAM.com allows users to communicate with the buyer/seller of a domain name through a messaging system from within the account. Unfortunately, messages can only be sent between parties after the auction has ended. TDNAM.com also allows users to add a description of the domain name and designate a category for the domain name. This functionality is a helpful way to relay important information about the domain name to the potential buyer such as how much traffic the domain name gets, how old the domain name is and etc. For users who do not know the value of a domain name they plan on buying or selling, TDNAM.com offers appraisal services too. However, use caution when using their domain appraisal service. From the research we conducted on our Domain Appraisal Companies Reviewed article, they were inaccurate in test cases. We tested a well popular domain name, pharmacy.com, which is valued at $175k but TDNAM.com appraised it at $67k.

Aftermarket Costs

TDNAM.com charges an annual membership fee of $4.99 to be able to buy or sell domain names. There are no fees related to buying domain names, other than the cost of the domain name. However, users are charged 5% of the sales price of any domain under $500 that is sold through their auction platform. If a domain name sells for over $500 users will be charged 7% of the sales price which includes all escrow fees. They offer the following listing upgrades as well:

• Home page featured listings cost $19.99 per domain
• Category featured listings cost $9.99 per domain
• Adding a reserve price costs an additional $4.99 per domain

Buying and Selling Process

If a domain name sells for less than $500, TDNAM.COM allows users to pay via credit card, wire transfer, PayPal, and GoDaddy gift cards.

TDNAM.com employs a method called Transaction Assurance to assure that proper domain transfers have taken place before releasing funds to the seller. TDNAM.com will hold payment for a 30-day period to allow time for the seller to make the domain name transfer. The transaction may be closed if either party fails to contact TDNAM.com after 30 days from the end of sale date. The funds previously held will be released to the seller.

Essentially, the buyer and seller are responsible for the transfer/change of account of the domain name. TDNAM.com does not get involved with the domain transfer process. Their refusal to be a mediator often leads to frustration. In many user complaints, buyers vent about situations where sellers did not transfer the domain, and since TDNAM.com did not get notified within the 30 day window, the buyers lost their money and never received their domain name. This can be a common situation, especially with domainers who have huge portfolios and cannot manage domain transfers manually.

If the domain name sells for over $500, the sale is processed through Escrow.com. This allows domains to be paid via credit card, PayPal, money order, check, ACH, and wire transfer.

However, there are required dollar amounts for certain payment types. There are also fees associated with certain payment types. Escrow.com is the industry standard and is often regarded as the safest method when it comes to payment and transfer of domain name sales. The main difference between TDNAM.com's Transaction Assurance and Escrow.com is that Escrow.com checks the users' information and makes sure that it matches up with the buyers' profile. They verify with both parties that the transfer has taken place and only after this has been completed will Escrow release the funds to the seller.

Aftermarket Usability

TDNAM.com's interface is confusing at first glance. It does take some time to get familiar with important functionalities such as sorting/searching. For domain browsing, the Advanced Search button located in the upper-right corner is most useful. There are other options located under the Buy drop-down menu that comes in handy as well such as Expiring Soon, Popular Domain Names, Value Priced Names and Closeouts.

The Advanced Search functionality makes it easy to narrow down results. Since there are so many domain names listed on their site using the Advanced Search functionality is vital to find relevant domains. Search fields allow visitors to search by TLD, price, traffic, category, number of characters and auction type. Best of all, this is the only domain aftermarket we have have found that allows visitors to search by the domain's monthly traffic. Domainers often find this very handy. Keep in mind that the traffic stats shown are not accurate and should be followed up by research. Overall, TDNAM.com is easy to get familiar with and offers easy searching functionality.

Conclusion

TDNAM.com is a good auction platform to utilize when searching for domain names to either buy or sell. The best feature of this site is the expiring domains section. There is always a chance to find diamonds in the rough that GoDaddy customers happen to let expire. All it takes is a bit of time and energy to do the research.

According to Compete.com, their traffic in terms of unique visitors per month has been hovering from around 30k to 65k for the past year but they do get a decent amount of eyeballs sifting through their inventory of names.

Most aftermarkets do not charge money upfront in order to buy or bid on domain names whereas TDNAM.com charges an annual $4.99 fee in order to buy, bid or sell domain names.

The selling of a domain name can be troublesome if the sale amount is under $500 since TDNAM.com does not get involved with the transfer process at all. Furthermore, it takes 30 days to receive payment once a domain name has been sold on TDNAM.com. Compared to other aftermarket sites, the selling of domain names through TDNAM.com is much more of a hassle. Buying domain names can be a swift and easy process if the domain purchased happens to be an expired auction. However, if the domain being purchased was listed by another user, the buying process can be just as difficult as the sales process outlined above.