Afternic vs. Sedo and why I think Afternic is better

[crazyd]

I have used both Afternic and Sedo for a few years and I thought I would
compare my experiences for both of them so you can get an idea of
which one might be better if you have not used either.

Afternic is more of a streamlined process with each step in the transaction
clearly labled for the buyer and seller. The Afternic transfer agent is
less involved in the transaction than the Sedo transfer agent is, yet
Afternic still provides more customer satisfaction in my opinion. With
Afternic, buyer and seller can easily communicate with each other, whereas
this is not possible with Sedo. This wouldn't be so bad because the Sedo
agent is more involved in the transfer process so direct communication is
not really needed, but the problem is that there is a range of agent performance
quality you get with Sedo, depending on the agent you happen to get for a
particular transaction. It is a different agent each time. I have had Sedo agents
not respond to my questions for a long period of time, other agents express arrogance to
me, and other problems. Sedo agents also seem to be new to domains in
general, and I can sense that many of them just don't have experience
with domains, period.

Afternic pays the seller automatically once per day at a fixed time,
whereas Sedo will send you payment whenever the transaction is completed,
which seems to take some time unless you remind them to issue the
payment order which I always find myself doing. I am talking mostly
disbursement by Paypal here. It's just faster with Afternic.

The only advantage to using Sedo that I can see is that it's easier to bulk-edit
your prices in one operation, whereas with Afternic you have to do it 100 domain
batches at a time. I think that Sedo has more penetration into the international
market than Afternic does, but this probably doesn't matter so much. For me
I prefer quality and speed of service and QUICK payment.

The commission structures of both companies are the same, and both offer
the promotion services for your domains where customers can find your
domains on other venues such as Godaddy. You'll pay a higher commission
for sales where buyers find you this way, however.

All and all I prefer Afternic and have had a better experience there.
I still use Sedo but I am turned off by the BS I get there. If you have to
pick one or the other, I suggest picking Afternic.

 

[vivid]

Hi crazyd,

As to me, I didn't have any particular issues with Sedo, probably because I'm not selling that many names. As to communication during transaction, they really control the process the way quite clear to both parties, so the direct communication during that phase could usually make little sense. At the same time, there's the exception when selling websites with them - as they do not provide support for data transfer, they just provide the buyer and the seller with emails of each other for further direct communication regarding website transfer.

If to speak about Sedo communication aspect cons, what seems a bit inconvenient to me is the review of custom comments during negotiation making things go slower.

 

[crazyd]

Hi crazyd,

As to me, I didn't have any particular issues with Sedo, probably because I'm not selling that many names. As to communication during transaction, they really control the process the way quite clear to both parties, so the direct communication during that phase could usually make little sense. At the same time, there's the exception when selling websites with them - as they do not provide support for data transfer, they just provide the buyer and the seller with emails of each other for further direct communication regarding website transfer.

If to speak about Sedo communication aspect cons, what seems a bit inconvenient to me is the review of custom comments during negotiation making things go slower.

Yes I'm fine with not communicating with the buyer, that system probably works just as well as the Afternic system where
you do/can communicate with them. But then the performance of the agent becomes more important and critical because
the buyer and seller are less involved in the process, and with Sedo you get inconsistencies in agent performance. With the Afternic
system it is almost like the agent is a robot, and this actually makes things run smoothly and consistently. I don't think Sedo is
horrible or anything, however I do think they need to shore up some concerns about agent consistency, responsiveness,
attitude, professionalism, and sometimes simple English writing/usage skills.

 

[Biggie]

i've used both, listing the same names simultaneously.

sedo delivered more offers, within the shortest time span

sedo produced more sales

sedo's customer service has always responded promptly, if there was a "need" to call.

payments were sent shortly after push and payment from buyer.

the few sales i did get from afternic, the transactions went smoothly with no problems either.

with both services there will always be glitches, whether it be systematic or a buyer payment issue.

but i think "volume" of sales, decides which is better for each respective seller, when both cs depts are pretty even.

imo...

 

[randomo]

Regarding customer service: I've had a series of Afternic customer reps who seem friendly and helpful but then disappear. Turnover seems unusually high there.

After the most recent one apparently left the company, I sent an inquiry (about a problem with my account) through their "Contact Us" form - more than a week ago - and haven't heard back. Very frustrating!

(BTW, I've made many more sales at Sedo, but I've gotten higher average prices at Afternic.)

 

[crazyd]

As the OP of this thread, I have to mention now that I see that just TODAY Afternic.com has redesigned their website to look more modern. I don't like it at all!! One of the things I like about Afternic was the ease of use of the website even though it was a bit outdated in terms of website programming and style. It is interesting that I chose today to make my post because had I seen this new design first, I would not have made this thread. Maybe it will just take me some time to "Like" the new design but my first impression is that it looks great but I hate it. Ugggh!!!!!!!!

 

[randomo]

Huh! Afternic's new site design looks (to my semi-trained eye) very similar to Protrada's.

I like how you can set which stats appear in your portfolio view. However, at the moment I can only add new groups of stats, I can't remove any. (This is apparently a bug, as it says "Order and remove columns from here.") It's good that you can sort the domain list according to some of those stats, but you can't sort on all of them, including some that I want to sort on.

They waste far too much screen real estate on design features; when I'm viewing my portfolio at a reasonable screen resolution, I can only see 6-8 domains without scrolling down, and the horizontal scroll bar is not visible. I hope they're planning to work out kinks like that. But I'm glad they've worked to improve on the old bad interface.

 

[crazyd]

Huh! Afternic's new site design looks (to my semi-trained eye) very similar to Protrada's.

I like how you can set which stats appear in your portfolio view. However, at the moment I can only add new groups of stats, I can't remove any. (This is apparently a bug, as it says "Order and remove columns from here.") It's good that you can sort the domain list according to some of those stats, but you can't sort on all of them, including some that I want to sort on.

They waste far too much screen real estate on design features; when I'm viewing my portfolio at a reasonable screen resolution, I can only see 6-8 domains without scrolling down, and the horizontal scroll bar is not visible. I hope they're planning to work out kinks like that. But I'm glad they've worked to improve on the old bad interface.

I am a dinosaur I suppose, and I like simpler interfaces. I don't want snazzy features or looks. I would agree that probably most people would prefer the new interface.

 

[crazyd]

I have a friend who is getting more sales already with the new Afternic website! I guess it goes to show that buyers care mostly about the store they are shopping in and not so much the domain. The same reason why people would shop at Macy's and not Walmart. I guess I am a Walmart kind of guy. Anyways, GO afternic! Go Sedo too! But I hope Sedo can get a little more streamlined and consistent in their service. Good luck to everybody with your domain sales.

 

[crazyd]

I've done a 180 and I am now disappointed with Afternic's service and their new website. I have had failed payments and problems with customer service responding. Reluctantly, I now
have decided that Sedo is better. Oh well, I never said I would not ever change my mind!

 

[JuniperPark]

I've done a 180 and I am now disappointed with Afternic's service and their new website. I have had failed payments and problems with customer service responding. Reluctantly, I now
have decided that Sedo is better. Oh well, I never said I would not ever change my mind!

Ah, so I'm not the only one?

They've been unable to pay me money owed for almost 4 weeks because "ACH is not working".
Their new system can't load escrow messages - it gives me an internal programming error.
Their new system STILL does not seem to process bulk uploads... or at least can't report it, just leaves me in the dark.
Now they tell me that the new system will require that I re-enter all of my banking info for EVERY transaction, which is very unsafe when I am traveling and using public computers and public wifi!

I've asked them repeatedly to go back to their old software until the new software is TESTED and DEBUGGED. It's insulting and unprofessional to require that customers use a system that simply does not work.

 

[crazyd]

Lots of arrogance in this biz. I like to say "Vote With Your Money".

 

[jstewart]

I have a friend who is getting more sales already with the new Afternic website! I guess it goes to show that buyers care mostly about the store they are shopping in and not so much the domain. The same reason why people would shop at Macy's and not Walmart. I guess I am a Walmart kind of guy. Anyways, GO afternic! Go Sedo too! But I hope Sedo can get a little more streamlined and consistent in their service. Good luck to everybody with your domain sales.

I agree the layout matters ALOT in the sale process, except for the most sophisticated of purchasers. For xxx and low xxxx purchases though you need a nice smooth, good looking sales process and why I prefer InternetTraffic.Com.

I saw Adam posted yesterday for Domain Holdings, they are my second choice for nice design. In the past they used to have these wonderful looking e-commerce type drop pages, unfortunately they got rid of them.

Personally, I care very least about the PPC revenue [although important] and most about the how the domain visually shows its potential. Internet Traffic has an exceptionally great sales process.

 

[JuniperPark]

I agree the layout matters ALOT in the sale process, except for the most sophisticated of purchasers. For xxx and low xxxx purchases though you need a nice smooth, good looking sales process and why I prefer InternetTraffic.Com.

I saw Adam posted yesterday for Domain Holdings, they are my second choice for nice design. In the past they used to have these wonderful looking e-commerce type drop pages, unfortunately they got rid of them.

Personally, I care very least about the PPC revenue [although important] and most about the how the domain visually shows its potential. Internet Traffic has an exceptionally great sales process.

I've never heard of InternetTraffic.Com. Isn't that a domain owned by Frank Shilling, the guy who is trying to kill the domain sales market by flooding it with thousands of TLDs??

 

[crazyd]

I take everything good I said back about Sedo. Just tired of the BS there. Bad communication by the agents, extended waits for payment, arrogance, etc. Blech!

 

[Embrand]

Just to bump the thread a bit. Has anyone had recent experience with Afternic? I am getting tired of Sedo (slow transfers and not responding to support inquiries), so am going to give Afternic a try after not having used them for several years.

Historically, Sedo has worked much better for me. But I think Afternic's parking pages and website design now look much more attractive to potential buyers than Sedo's.

Also, it seems that from next year, GoDaddy (being Afternic's owner) will only list Afternic names for sale - not Sedo names.

 

[JuniperPark]

I'm still selling through both, but Afternic has defaulted on payment for their parking program (for over 8 months) and I'm looking into legal action against them.

 

[Embrand]

I'm still selling through both, but Afternic has defaulted on payment for their parking program (for over 8 months) and I'm looking into legal action against them.

Wow, that doesn't sound good! Thanks for the input.

I guess nowhere is perfect. Then there is DomainNameSales, but I don't think my portfolio qualifies for that.