Hello,

I am about to acquire a .com name. It's registered since 2004 and is owned by a South Korean individual. I've already been sending several mails to the owner but I got no response.
So I decided to consult AfterNIC to get in touch with the domain owner in a "professional manner". They write the following on their website about the so-called "Assisted Offer":


A Buyer Support Rep is assigned to help you, to follow up on your offers, and to answer your questions. When submitting an anonymous offer, your identity remains confidential. Only your Afternic username is disclosed to the owner during negotiations. When you confirm your offer, we send an email to the current owner of the domain name. Receiving an offer through Afternic assures owners that your offer is legitimate. Our secure escrow service included in every sale is also reassuring. We include a link to a simple page where the owner can accept your offer, place a counteroffer or reject your offer without the hassle of entering personal information.

[..]

If you make an offer close to the market value of the name that you want, you are much more likely to acquire the name. If your offer amount is reasonable for the name that you want, your rep will try to contact the owner by email, phone or mail. If your offer is well below market value, your rep will contact you to suggest improving your offer or choosing an alternative name.


Just to emphasize: The name I wanted has 6 chars, Google PageRank 0, is registered since 2004, all other generic variants and some country-specific ones are registered by me since a few months. To my logic and having in mind that "trh.net", registered in 1996 was recently sold for $1700 on NameJet, a realistic value would probably be between $200 and $400.

After a few hours of waiting, I received an appraisal for the name. AfterNICs determined the value at $1300. :eek:
I asked them why and told them that the name has probably no meaning except for the current owner and me. The only justification for the high value was the good-sounding name. So if you want to sell a name for high money, just register some "good sounding name", wait 2 years and then consult AfterNIC to get a cool appraisal.

OK, usually you shouldn't take an appraisal for a few bucks serious. I was already awaiting their approach with the domain owner. The only thing they did was sending automated mails containing "hey, someone wants to buy your domain!!111" to the owner. After 7 days, I got an automated mail: "omg, your offer expired and the domain owner didn't reply! maybe increase your offer?!!".

No sales rep was assigned to me. No sales rep contacted me. No sales rep contacted the domain owner via e-mail, mail or phone.

Pure waste of time. I'll charge back the fees and put them on my revenge list. ;)

How much did you actually pay AfterNIC? And for what did you pay them? To submit an anonymous offer on your behalf? Did you purchase an appraisal, too? Or was that included?

I paid $1 sign-up fee and $69 for the Assisted Offer (http://www.afternic.com/uoffer.php). It includes an appraisal, escrow service and the described get-in-touch-service with the domain owner.
I mainly consulted them to establish a contact with the domain owner via phone or mail.

I also paid to go on afternic, to sell a few domains, no offers yet! Hope I didnt waste my money.

You'll make your fees back on your first sale, james.

I was trying to sell several domain names and came across afternic.com.
I paid for the 19.99 afternicDLS memberhsip. I never received the authorization email. I called and called and only got voicemail. One voicemailbox is a personal mailbox and says nothing about afternic. Just the person's name.
So after about 2 days, I tried to just log in. I couldn't and clicked on the "Forgot Password" link and entered my email address. FINALLY! I got the authorization email. I tried unsuccessfully to login. Clicked the Forgot Password link again and it sent my login and password. Still no luck. I copied it and pasted it directly from the email, made sure I didn't ciopy extra spaces at the beginning or end, made sure caps lock was not on...still nothing.
No one calls back, I can't log in...WTF

Has anyone had similar issues? Is this company legit?

Thanks!

<<signatures to be set up in your profile>>

i have some domains (only the name ) HOw do i know how much they worth?

i have some domains (only the name ) HOw do i know how much they worth?
How could somebody tell if they don't know the names of your domains?

oh man, this is a kind of legal scam i hate - you know it is not fair but can do nothing cos its legal. I am sure they have perfect TOS "..you agreed with when signed up with us".

How could somebody tell if they don't know the names of your domains?

no problem
nuclearexperiment.com
whatthemail.com
i chek in estibot (it was 570$ for the first)is it relaible?

Lukes2ndchance,

My name is Tim Bonehill, customer service manager with Afternic.com. My apologies for the login issues you're facing. I'd be happy to get it squared away for you as soon as possible. Please call or email me directly, my information is below.

We have had a handful of incidences involving logins that our technology department is working diligently to fix.

I'm interested to know what number you were calling. The customer service number posted on the site is 866-351-9586, and the voicemail indicates our hours M - F, 8am - 7pm.

Regards,

Tim Bonehill
Customer Service Manager
tbonehill@namemedia.com
781-839-7984

Sorry to say, but my first hand experience tells me that Afternic is clearly less competitive when compared to say Sedo.

I have sold domains at Afternic.com, but that was way back when it was owned by another party. And while I basically list the same domains at both Sedo and Afternic, I have NOT got 1 single sale at Afternic in the last 6 years, while on the other hand I closed at least 3 4-figure sales at Sedo during the last 3 years or so.

Moreover, their listing interface is not exactly user-friendly. I had tried to unlist domains that I no longer own for months with no success; and it was only after they "revamped" their listing globally (and I refused to confirm ownership) that they were finally taken off.

My year to date sales of 2009 exceed US$10,000, but 0% (or $0, if you prefer) have anything to do with Afternic. Not that I boycott them, it's just that they simply are not helpful at all.

My complimentary Afternic membership will expire shortly or has already expired, but I honestly can't even justify paying to renew it. By the way, Sedo does not charge any membership fee.