BrandBucket pulls out of Afternic

In an email to customers, BrandBucket announced that it’s “taking a break” from cross-listing domains on Afternic.

As shared by domain investor Bogdan Vovchuk on X:

BrandBucket continues to have distribution relationships that will allow its inventory to reach the majority of registrars. We have also invested heavily the past two years to build a strategic network of partner sites that advocate for premium domain names, and that do not divert customers to cheaper alternatives like unregistered and obscure TLDs. 

We are 100% confident that a break from Afternic will create a better and more streamlined buyer experience, which will result in more sales.

The BrandBucket decision identifies a big issue with GoDaddy/Afternic promoting obscure TLDs—whether available to register or not—topping in searches existing inventory provided by Afternic customers.

Update: We have added a statement from BrandBucket CEO, Margot Bushnaq, about this decision.

“Our decision was driven by Afternic’s insistence that the price shown on a domain’s landing page needs to be the same as the Afternic list price. We were assured that BrandBucket is not being singled out for enforcement of this policy, and that “pricing parity” across all inventory is a priority for them.

Domain discovery is happening on marketplaces, not at registrars. Afternic is benefitting from the discovery tools on sites like BrandBucket, but providing no leads or value in return. Since we are now prevented from having an uplifted price on our Afternic inventory, it does not make economic sense for us to continue to send leads their way.

BrandBucket holds a top-tier collection of curated brandable names with a pricing sweet spot that buyers love. It is an extremely valuable resource for brokers and the sales teams at registrars. Fortunately most registrars will still have access to BrandBucket inventory through our integration with Sedo. We are ready to add value to any distribution channel that is willing to work with us so that both sides consider a sale a win.”

In recent weeks, Afternic has launched a self-brokerage option that requires participation in the paid Discount Domain Club.

Meanwhile, several domain investors are witnessing a drop in domain sales at Afternic, with domain brokers failing to follow up on inquiries. Similar issues were encountered when GoDaddy introduced the Afternic Boost option.

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