Is a Domain Marketplace ever truly free and should it be?
There are a number of different types of Domain Marketplaces
- FREE
- PAID
- COMMISSION
- SUBSCRIPTION
The big question is which one is right for you?
One would argue a high commission marketplace is ideal because of the distribution network and others say the URL is what brings the traffic to the lander.
Personally I don't think it's as straight forward, I think all domainers should have an INDEX page where they list all their domains regardless of what marketplace they land on. Currently there is no such service because only some marketplaces offer store fronts and even then you can only list the domains that are on that market place.
So where does that leave domainers?
How do you list all domains, or even list single domains with links to multiple marketplaces?
IE SampleDomain1.com
Index
SampleDomain1.com
- Afternic Link
- NamePros Link
- Atom Link
- Spaceship Link
- Domain Easy Link
- SAW link
- etc
Index of all domains
- Domain1
- Domain2
- Domain 3
- Domain 4
Then there is the question of should a marketplace be free or how can it be!
In Canada we have a FREE E-Transfer service and it's an easy way for Canadians to pay without fee and virtually every Canadian domainer uses it as a secure form of payment for domains.
Not all countries are as lucky so we depend on Escrow or other forms of payment or even marketplaces to take care of payment for us.
Currently I am only aware of 2 marketplaces who offer landers that are completely free and they are NamePros and DomainEasy. Obviously there are costs to the exchange of money so one would argue unless the end user uses Bank transfer as a payment option there would be a cost incurred.
So the argument of a 5% import in sale charge comes into play and I think it's quite a reasonable charge and why Spaceship is growing in leaps and bounds. Having a business myself I can tell you it costs me around 3.5% just to offer credit card payment so an inclusive 5% is very reasonable.
Will Spaceship stay at 5%?
Will NamePros & Domain Easy move to the 5% target?
Will other marketplaces like SAW.com using 9% move to a 5% motto?
It's tough to say but I don't think any service will lose a lot of clients by adding a 5% charge. If they offer other services and features even a 10% is charge is not unreasonable but above that it becomes a question of who should have rights to the profits!!!
Consider that commission heavy marketplaces do not allow you to enter you acquisition cost. So a domain with a cost of $5,000 and a selling price of $10,000 can cost you $2,500 is commission with your take home of an additional $2,500 which means the marketplace is making profit on your acquisition cost.
So many options to consider when making your decision on what marketplace to use but regardless of which one of the fabulous services you decide to use remember that an index of your domains for sale should also fit into your plans.
DN.ca offers a free INDEX page at MarketPage.ca and comes with a free address
dn.ca/market/user
See an example Market Page at: dn.ca/market/mapledots
You can keep and edit this MarketPage forever and delete any members comments to clean up your page at any time.
