DomainRecap said:
Some buyers just want to buy at GoDaddy and don't either trust or want to set up an account at Dan/Sedo, so I think giving these guys the choice directly on the lander could not only increase offers and sales, but also give your domain listing a slight bump in terms of trustworthiness.
Like it or not, GoDaddy is the gold standard.
I think there's some trust factor involved, but we mostly overcome those by offering Escrow.com to close any deals. As you say, if they really want a domain, they'll buy it from whoever as long as its not completely sketchy.
I also think there's something to be said for the traffic they bring. People who know _what_ domain they're looking for are going to find us by visiting the domain. But its those that may be browsing for options, that's where it helps. A recent example is that an inquiry came in on a domain and my price was out of the guy's budget. He instinctively knew that he wanted a one-word domain, but he was more focused on getting a one-word domain in his budget rather than the one word he liked best. When you've got open-minded buyers, that's when the traffic of GoDaddy pays off for guys who are willing to sell at lower prices. It doesn't really help me too much, not that I've noticed, because I'm usually the high price they're turning down.
And here's another example I encountered today which was for pure convenience. A friend wanted to buy a domain for his business, its owned by HugeDomains. He's never bought a domain before, so he also needs a registrar. I was just going to tell him to transfer the domain to GoDaddy - its a known and safe (if not annoying) quantity. But then I noticed that if you search for the domain on GoDaddy, they're selling it at the same price too. So simply for the convenience to my friend who knows nothing about domains, I told him to just buy it through GoDaddy so that they'll deal with the transfer and he won't have to create accounts at two places and deal with the transfer himself (or myself).
So I agree, GoDaddy, purely based on having the largest customer base and name recognition, is going to have an advantage, like it or not. The only way I counter that is by not listing there. So when I make a sale through GoDaddy its only because their brokers reached out to me - and thus all commissions are paid on the buyer side.
So is their commission justified by increased sales volume at the expense of margin? I guess it depends on how big your supply is, and how easy it is to replenish it. For quality one-words, maybe not since there's not an infinite supply and their wholesale costs are only going up. For lessor domains you're willing to sell cheaper because they're easier to replace, then maybe the commission is more justifiable?
