EpicName

Creative brandable domains for startups or rebranding.

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

Super rare domain: https://t.co/3JKv2BT8hj

Is available for offers:
https://t.co/gtOqfUeqDx

#domains #finance #taxaudit

[NameBio @NameBio]

ABM just dropped one of the most valuable pieces of knowledge that has ever been shared in the domain industry, and most people are going to miss it because it was a reply to a reply.

In August of last year I did a pretty lengthy post breaking down the realities of the aftermarket, trying to help people understand what percentage of sales come directly from "for sale" landing pages, what percentage come from distribution networks, and of the network sales which come from each major distribution partner.

The reason I did that was to show the math on what happens if you list at Afternic and use their landers, versus using other landers with discounted commissions. What I essentially proved was that even if the alt lander has a 0% commission, you still end up worse off due to Afternic's commission penalty for not using their landers.

I'll link to that post in the replies if you want to do a deep dive and really understand the full picture. But in short, around 60-65% of domain sales come from Afternic DLS and Sedo MLS (the distribution networks), and the remaining 35-40% come from the "for sale" landers directly. This is confirmed by multiple large portfolio holders.

There were still two important questions that I was unable to answer though:

The first is what would happen if you fully delisted from Afternic, so they couldn't sell your domains at the 25-30% punitive rate while using alt landers. The theory a lot of people shared was that the network buyers, not being able to find you on the network, would still find you by typing in the domain.

I wasn't buying it. Sure, it'll happen sometimes, but I was almost certain it would be an extreme minority, and the move would be a major net negative.

My theory was that a vast majority of network buyers were either shown your domain as an alternative to what they were actually searching, or when brainstorming a bunch of different domains. And they wouldn't have found it without the network, because they weren't typing domains into their browser's address bar to check availability. They were using a registrar.

But I couldn't prove it because I've never fully delisted from Afternic and Sedo to find out, and I didn't know anyone who has and then talked about it. Until now.

Thanks to ABM we now have that missing piece of the puzzle; he said sales dropped 50% by delisting. That means if his sales breakdown was 40% landers 60% network, only 17% of network buyers would buy directly if it wasn't on the network. Or if his breakdown was 35% landers and 65% network, only 23% would buy directly if it wasn't on the network.

Let that sink in. Between 77% and 83% of network buyers will NOT buy your domain directly from your discount-commission landers if you are not on the distribution networks. If you scroll up on ABM's reply below, you'll see it was a reply to a comment I made predicting this "50% drop" outcome pretty much on the nose.

The second looming question is what would happen if you raised your prices on Afternic and Sedo to offset the higher commissions and then used your own landers with low or no commissions offering the domain at a lower price. A lot of people think this is "free money" for network sales by baking in the commission.

But I know that it will, for the most part, hurt your sell-through rate quite a bit. I can't quantify it, but I suspect it would almost definitely more than offset the commission penalties you were hoping to recoup. It just seems logical, if you hurt your STR on 65% of your sales to get a slightly better commission on 35% of your sales, you're probably going to lose.

Except in the situation where most of your domains are priced below $2k; at that level you can raise prices without affecting the demand curve.

I selfishly hope ABM will test this next by relisting at Afternic and Sedo, but at higher prices than shown on his NamePros Landers; enough that he would net the same wherever it sells.

That would answer the last remaining question surrounding the economics of the domain aftermarket: is it even possible to offset a commission by raising prices?

My money is on "no". But once we know that, we'd be able to fully model out all possible outcomes and make perfectly informed decisions to maximize revenue based on all the various marketplace commission structures and "for sale" lander options.

Regardless, I hope ABM stops this delisting experiment for both his and Jamie's sake. It's already been running long enough to learn everything there is to learn from it.

It's painfully obvious that a 50% drop in sales to save 15-20% on commission isn't a winning move. Let's say he was doing $1 million in sales a year and netting $800k after commission. Now he would have about $500k in sales, netting maybe $480k after transaction costs. That means he probably spent around $320k to learn this lesson.

We all owe ABM an enormous debt of gratitude for generously sharing what he learned with everyone.

[Castello Brothers @Castello_Bros]

@GoDaddy cannot get any crazier than this.
The top line of the image below is GoDaddy's AI "Suggested Pricing" for our https://t.co/IYrSoLhZkF. IMO, it's accurate.
However, below it is their GoValue appraisal, which is what the PUBLIC sees. This is self-sabotage of the highest order.
Shout out to @DomainOrca for spotlighting it.
@afternic

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@namecheapceo123 @BrandAimCom I am with this option. Give sellers the option to absorb that extra 5%.

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@bogdan_vovchuk Rumors say boost was on and consequently the seller got hit with 3,500,000 extra 5% fee on top of the 15%

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@cultra Was the boost turned on?

[SuperNames @supernames]

Decided this year I would be a little more active and share some sales and acquisitions from time to time.

First sale of the year:

Domain: Aivi (.) com
Hold time: 8 years
Venue: @afternic (no boost)
Sale: $98,500 (BIN)

Wishing all a prosperous and healthy New Year 🙏

#domains #domainsales

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@Aladey It is still early to tell but the Ai rush will eventually cool down.

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@DomainGang Super inflated wholesale prices!

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@TonyNames Looks solid though 😅

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@MichaelCyger @godaddyauctions Winning Wealth is a powerful name.

"Fresh" + "Adventage" is a weird combo and not very memorable.

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@AbdulBasitcom @DomainNews24 Lol he should rename his wensite to "UDRP Market" 😂

[Darpan @darpanmunjal]

Just analyzed root words that drove the most sales in 2025 on https://t.co/qnMkhaY8PJ.

Beyond volume alone, average selling price is a useful signal of where buyer appetite is strongest.

AI, pay, and fund show the most pricing power.

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@Aladey What was that "cancelled" 136,000 offer? 🧐

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@Aladey Domains with BIN landers will always have zero inquiries. Better advice is to drop domains that have 0 views and 0 search.

[Michael Cyger @MichaelCyger]

Most domain investors obsess over STR like it’s the ultimate badge of honor.

Truth: High STR can be pure ego if you’re underpricing everything.

The metric pros actually respect?

Revenue Per Domain (RPD).

Mine is $172 this year.

Why RPD > STR (and why it’s safe to share): 🧵

[Hiren M. Patel @Qualitynames]

🙏Grateful to God, Dadaji, Family, and Friends 🙏

✨ Giving Back to the Community with the Full Journey of HealthStrategy .com — From a $3K Acquisition to a $100K Sale in 18 Months

Earlier this week, I promised the domain investment community that I would share the complete background story behind one of my six-figure sales — not just a highlight or price tag, but the full journey, the key turning points, the negotiation psychology, and lessons learned from start to finish.

True to that promise, here’s a step-by-step breakdown of my sale of HealthStrategy .com, a domain I acquired for ~$3,000, and sold for $100,000 within 18 months.

This is more than just a sale recap — it’s an open-book look into how I approach domain investing, how I price and position premium assets, how I handle negotiations, and how I stay grounded through it all. I hope this deep dive adds value to the community — whether you're new to domain investing or a seasoned player seeking long-term consistency.

Let’s begin... 👇

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@DomainJames Give it for free to surprise him 😎

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@LegacySiu Toni Kroos

[Tony @TonyNames]

Maintain a list of check boxes
Green Check boxes for reasons to buy:
TLDs taken, Word combination, root word strength, brand word strength, user depth, user breadth, potential buyers, SLD TLD synergy, Industry Synergy and so on etc

Red Boxes for reasons to not buy:
Mostly how absurd the name is, as most names are.

And when you start out buying names, it should check as many green boxes as possible and as few red boxes are possible

It is a limited pool of names and competitive but it is what it is

As you gain more expertise, you slowly adjust the number of red and green checks to balance scale and growth

[EpicName @EpicNameCom]

@Namecheap @brandables There is a bot in your auctions that bids exactly at 59 sec before end to extend the auction for 5 min. Then it repeats at 59 s and so on

If its real user using API then for his interest he should bid once with 1 big proxy not extend the auction slowly and attract other bidders!