Namepros member Hookbox posed an interesting idea, GoDaddy offering payment plans for prospective buyers, not just big ticket domains, but names priced at say $2,500 for example.
He wrote:
If Godaddy were to implement a payment plan on domains I believe our sales would go through the roof. Not everyone has a few thousand dollars to spend on a good domain name but they do have a couple hundred bucks to spend monthly. What holds back most domain buyers is upfront cost. They may feel the domain is worth what we are asking but may not have the upfront money to buy it but easily can and will spend a couple hundred on a payment plan.
Let’s be realistic, most live their life on payments and don’t even care what the total amount of something costs but only care how much it costs monthly. Not only will a payment plan help to increase the likelihood of a sale but it will help increase the amount of a sale. A buyer may not spend $1,500 upfront but would easily spend $2,500 or more if the cost is spread out over a twelve month or more timeframe.
I personally believe this would blow the roof off of domain sales. @Joe Styler why has this not been done yet and is there any plan for it in the future? We are about to begin the year 2017 and every aspect of our life can be payed monthly. Hell, you can even buy a new smartphone for 5 bucks a month. Times are changing and payment plans are the future of all commerce. Why not domain sales? It’s time!
Joe Styler did reply
It is done on high value names. So 50K up I believe is our threshold. It is not something we advertise. You would have to contact us and it is done through escrow.com. We test many things and do not think that there is enough demand for the lower value names. We see many go through as impulse buys which might not complete on the flip side of the coin. If you are interested in leasing a domain with an option to buy or something similar there are other places you can go to do that. I believe escrow.com has an option anyone can use but they also may have a minimum amount they will take payments on.
I think all sellers should consider offering payment plans. We (BrandClub.com) offer payment plans on all our listings (via Escrow.com); it works really well. Customers engage easier … Sergio Garcia
I have my eye on a name but it is over 2k and a payment plan would have been great, also the seller may not want this? Although if the buyer defaults the seller could relist the name and keep the funds I guess
Bad idea for low value domains.
Bad idea for unqualified buyers.
I like the idea.
It could be an opt in type system. If the seller would like a payment plan option on one of his names all he has to do is opt into it. For example if you sell a name for a Buy Now of $2,500 one time cost then Godaddy would get their 20% commission but if the buyer decides to do the payment plan option Godaddy would get a total of 30% commission to hold the payments for one year. The extra 10% commission to be paid by the buyer.
I think to keep it simple it would be best to have a maximum of a one year option for payments. No matter what the cost of the name your only option is one year.
Not sure why @Konstantinos thinks its a bad idea for low quality names. Why do people answer something without an explanation?
Who cares if they are unqualified because the name is held in a secure untransferable account at Godaddy and If they don’t complete the sale you get the name back. There can also be a some sort of down payment if you would like that the buyer would pay. Let’s say on a $3,000 sale the buyer would have to pay maybe $500 -$1000 down that the seller would receive at the beginning of the sale. This could also be an opt in by the seller or he can defer to have all payments to made monthly.
This would be a win win for all involved and would be very simple for Godaddy to create. Not sure why there would be any backlash from anyone.
It would absolutely generate more sales. Nice idea Hookbox. 🙂
I think it’s a good idea. Many buyers walk away because they want to pay over several months but unfortunately, Escrow.com Domain Holding is not very practical for domains in the $x,xxx range.
Unfortunately, GoDaddy never listen and they always work according to their plans only.
They have bugs in the Afternic system that have been there before the acquisition but nothing is fixed. Even though, a company as big as GoDaddy can build a new platform for Afternic easily in a short period of time.
They stopped their email support (which doesn’t make any sense). If you contacted their support and you have an account rep, they will refuse to help you and ask you to contact your account rep.
You can’t pay using different payment methods for their auctions like NameJet.
Things keep getting worse in their Dashboard faster than it gets better (worse DNS Management for example). I have domains that GoDaddy can’t update their whois for two weeks now but their “system can’t handle the volume” of whois updates after ICANN new policy.
I’ve been a loyal GoDaddy customer for almost ten years now and I spend thousands monthly for renewals and domain auctions but it keeps getting worse. The most thing I like about GoDaddy is their Premium Listings.
So, I don’t expect that GoDaddy will even consider the idea of domain payment plans and if they said they will, it may take a few years until they discuss it internally.
I think it’s a great idea. I think they should have this option for the lower value names as well. Like $2000+ sometimes guys want a name and they just can’t afford to pay everything up front. A leasing program would be another great idea also.