Friday, November 6, 2009

Godaddy Lowers Commissions and Removes Caps on Premium Domain Listings


Domain name registrar Godaddy made three major changes to their Premium Listings service last week. First, the percentage that Godaddy charges for these listings has been reduced to a flat fee of 30% across the board and secondly, the cap on domain name prices sold on the Premium Listings has been lifted. Lastly, Godaddy has also lifted the previous ban it had placed on selling adult, gambling and potentially infringing domains.

Previously Godaddy gave users a choice in commissions with the minimum commission of 32% . In theory a seller selecting a higher commission would give the domain more “exposure”. The Premium Listings also capped the domains that could be sold at $5000 and lower.

Godaddy’s Premium Listings is a simple way for domain owners who have names registered at Godaddy to put their domains in front of the people who are searching for those names. Names listed with Godaddy’s Premium Listings show up when a user searches for an “exact match” domain name from the home page, in the Premium Domains tab on search results, when a domain search is “spun” and in whois results for the specific domain.

Domain Name Wire pointed out that “every time someone searches for a domain you own, they could get a message that the domain is available for purchase. They can then add it to their cart, checkout, and get the domain instantly.”

Premium Listings is currently reserved only for domains registered with Godaddy but DNN suspects that any success with this program could lead to an expansion which would make it available to domain owners at other registrars. Godaddy has a partnership with Fabulous already which includes Fabulous domains within these “exact match” listings. Buydomains listings also are currently appearing within these same “exact match” searches.

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