Afternic takes 30% vs. Spaceship’s 5%
At first glance, that sounds brutal
But let’s break it down
Sell a domain for $1,000:
- Spaceship pays $950 (95%)
- Afternic pays $700 (70%)
So Afternic “only” needs to sell ~36% more often to break even
Concrete example:
STR on Spaceship = 1% (pretty common for many portfolios)
To match that on Afternic, you’d need an STR of ~1.35%
Now imagine you own 1,000 domains:
- At 1% STR → ~10 sales/year on Spaceship = $9,500 net
- At 1.35% STR → ~13–14 sales/year on Afternic = $9,500 net
That’s just 3–4 extra sales to make up for the higher commission
The real consequence?
To sustain those extra sales, your portfolio usually needs to be larger (or stronger)
That means more renewals, more cash flow tied up, and more rebuys to keep inventory high enough
So while Afternic’s 30% looks scary, the break-even point is surprisingly “close” - but it does force you into a slightly bigger/more active portfolio strategy
I’m not advocating for one platform over the other
Personally, I’ve chosen Spaceship - mainly because of the clean UI/UX and the fact that my portfolio is relatively small (around 300 names)
What about you? Which platform do you prefer, and why?
