In an attempt to help sellers reduce costs, BrandBucket has released a new program that will allow sellers to submit unregistered domain names and see if they will be approved. You will pay a $1 appraisal fee with this program.
Introducing the BrandBucket Seller Growth Program
In our continuing efforts to improve seller experience, we are thrilled to announce the new BrandBucket Seller Growth Program. This opt-in program is aimed at reducing costs for sellers by eliminating the need to register domains prior to submitting them to our marketplace. As a seller, you can obtain an “appraisal” on submissions which will help you decide whether to purchase a domain. By not having to pay registration fees on names that are not accepted, your overall costs will decrease.
Here are the key features:
- Submit unregistered names. You register only the names that are accepted.
- $1 appraisal fee per submitted domain.
- $9 listing fee per accepted domains.
- $50 in initial credits if you sign up by January 12th.
To see exactly how much the Growth Program can save you, check out this cost calculator that will show the cost savings based on your current investing strategy on BrandBucket.
To get started with the Growth Program, email info@brandbucket.com and we will be happy to change your account and add 50 free credits if you sign up by January 12th. Once you have made the switch, we would love hear your feedback to see how the program is working for you.
For more information, download this Growth Program document that discusses the program in more detail. As always, if you have any additional questions, feel free to email myself or info@brandbucket.com.
BrandBucket’s comparison table is misleading.
In their example, you spend $400 on 400 appraisals but only register the 100 domains that BB approves. And they’re comparing the cost of owning these 100 domains to the cost of owning 400 domains, which is ridiculous!
You’re led to assume that BrandBucket has saved you from wasting money on the extra 300. In some cases, perhaps all 300 were duds. But it’s simply untrue that whatever BrandBucket rejects is unsellable.
If your goal is to build up a portfolio of 400 domains to sell – whether at BrandBucket or elsewhere – you will end up spending an extra $400 on these appraisals.
The real question is whether spending extra on BB appraisals will save you money. If your goal is to register 400 domains, how much will it cost to get those 400? Let’s think about that.
Suppose you pay for 400 appraisals, and BB accepts only 100 (25%). And suppose you go ahead and register all 400 domains anyway. That gets you 400 domains. But you’re ignoring the appraisals you’re paying for!
Suppose you take BrandBucket’s assessment as the gospel truth. So if they don’t accept the domain, then you don’t register it. In that case, to build up a portfolio of 400 domains, then (based on a 25% acceptance rate) you’d need to pay for 1600 appraisals.
If you think BrandBucket’s judgment is always irrelevant, then you’ll spend $400 extra on appraisals you ignore.
If you think BrandBucket’s judgment is always infallible, then you’ll leave 1200 domains unregistered to get your 400 and spend an extra $1600 in the process.
Could be worth it. But you’d better face up to that extra cost. And ask yourself what percentage of the domains BB rejects COULD sell anyway.
For those that don’t understand completely what a good brandable is then this system can work to their advantage if their goal is to create a BrandBucket portfolio.
New way
300 appraisals @ $1 = $300
100 accepted = $900 in reg fees
+$900 in BrandBucket fees
Total cost $2,100
Old way
300 registered domains @ $9 = $2,700
100 accepted @ $10 = $1,000 in BrandBucket fees
Total cost $3,700
You can do it the old way and spend almost double the amount of money compared to the new system.
If your main goal is to solely build a BrandBucket portfolio then this new system makes total sense especially if you’re not experienced with brandables.
@todd,
Comparing the cost of 100 domains to the cost of 400 domains is an apples-to-oranges comparison.
Of course, the cost of registering 400 domains is going to be higher than the cost of registering 100. Dare I say, “Duh!”? But you get 4 times as many domains for that price.
BrandBucket’s example asks people to pretend that owning 100 domains, all listed at BB, is identical to owning 100 BB domains + 300 additional domains.
The real cost comparison would be based on 400 domains owned versus 400 domains owned. Using these numbers, somebody who only wants BB-listed domains and pays to appraise everything, would add $1600 to his expenses. Arguably, by not registering 1200 other domains that didn’t appraise well, he saves money. But the only calculation that matters here is whether the cost savings from avoiding those 1200 domains is worth $1600.
Damn! If people want to send me $1000 plus a list of 1000 domain ideas, I’ll happily point to the best 1/4th. Easiest way to make money that I can imagine, provided domainers are willing to pay me $1000 to be told “It sucks” 750 times.
Like I said, this system works for someone that knows nothing about brandables and wants to exclusively have a BrandBucket portfolio. For the average domainer that is clueless to brandables this system makes total sense. A domainer that is good in the brandable niche can pick 3 out of 4 good domains easily, but a newbie can barely get 1 out of 4.
This system is designed for them because it saves reg costs on names that probably suck, but they don’t know they suck until someone like BB tells them they suck. If you’re good at it then regging 400 domains makes total sense, but if you suck at it then it makes absolutely no sense. $1 for a “it sucks” vote or $9 for a “it sucks” vote. Much more cost effective for a newbie to pay the dollar.
I’m not a fan of BB so my comments are not to convince anyone to join them.
I have to agree with you here Todd.
We all know I’m not a fan of BB, but IMO this is a step in the right direction to equal the playing field.
I once wrote, “MK has forgotten what it’s like to have to buy 5 domains with hopes to sell on BB and have only 1 accepted.” Meaning, some made up brandables need a marketplace to gain traffic, and when registering at a 20% acceptance rate, it costs some $40 just to get 1 domain on BB. The rejections, usually similar to bb published domains, would wind up accepted at a competing marketplace, so that too could have hurt bb sales.
However, there are a few issues that should be addressed:
(1) GoDaddy Auctions – BrandBucket staff often bids on these domains. Usually, you don’t place a bid early on, not to alert other buyers. If you submit a GD expiring auction domain for appraisal, and it gets regged by another BB seller, should you still have to pay the appraisal? I say seller, because either the appraisal was already paid for, and the domain landed for sale on bb regardless. Also, the 72 hour turnaround time hinders the competitive nature of GoDaddy CloseOuts. As good domains usually don’t last for three days in CloseOut status.
(2) As deleting .coms are released five days prior to drop, this is enough time to request an appraisal prior to drop catching a domain. However, these domains face higher competition, and isn’t guarenteed to be obtained. Perhaps, based on the suggested value, one may feel confident in bidding X amount given the appraised value, and possible reseller value attached to a higher suggested value. Perhaps, they could address this through marginal intent. ie For every 10 domains published, the seller receives 10 free appraisals. A more precise algorithm could be created, as long as it demonstrates the understanding of missed (intended) purchases.
(3) Since this program is designed for growth, I don’t understand why they don’t provide an explanation for rejections. This can be done through keyword explanation, or linguistic abnormalities.
Brandbucket is loosing it’s lustre, as that shiny new sales tool, people have hundreds of domains not moving, renewals that keep on churning, and taking out 30%, the $$$ are not adding up.
They are trying to reinvent their wheel, and it is almost a good attempt.
Someone is going to submit their list, they are going to get the approved back, when the go to register these names, some are taken, they are going to cry cry cry, and accusations will be made, and there goes the run around.
If you don’t know what’s good, or whats not you shouldn’t be in this business.
I’m not a BrandBucket’s seller and not planning to be anytime soon because of their exclusive rule but I think this program will be a bad idea and soon you will see people posting about how their unregistered domain got registered after they submitted it to BrandBucket. I’m not saying BrandBucket will use their sellers submissions but when a submission will get registered, BrandBucket will be the first suspect.
Brandbucket found a new way to rip off hopeful sellers!
Buyer checks 500 domains. Pays BB $450 to tell buyer they don’t like them 90% of them, and then another $450 to list the remaining 50, which are still just shit hand reg names, and end up sitting at the bottom of the other 50K names while they only sell Krell’s names at the top. BB Makes $900, seller wastes $900 (+ another $500 after his first year of renewals, still holding out hope) + all the opportunity cost of what he could have bought with that $1500.
A sucker born everyday!
SO, the program has been in the trial phase for the last month, for those who were a part of the BB Slack Channel. And although some see the benefit of it, many of us do not. Some have even tried it, but were not impressed, so they gave it up.
Honestly, I personally do not think this program is of great use to those who reg from the drop lists, especially right now with new regs being as low as $2. I mean, why in the world would anyone pay BB $1 to appraise a name, when one can just pay $2 to reg the name? Even if the domain is rejected, one would still have a year to sell the reject. If I paid BB $1 and it’s rejected, I have nothing. I just wasted $1. (Btw, at this point many of us have made more money selling BB rejects than we’ve actually made on BB. GD Premium is the best. LOL)
However, i think BB’s intention was to help BB sellers who bid at auction and who exclusively list at BB. Their thought process was this: If you see a domain you like at auction (maybe the auction ends in the next 5-6 days), go ahead and submit the domain to BB now. Within 72 hrs, you get a ‘yes’ from BB, you pursue the domain. If you get a ‘no’ from BB, you go about your merry way. You’ve only paid $1 to get the domain appraised, vs the $XX or $XXX you would have paid for the reject.
BrandBucket makes the bulk of it’s money from the poor sellers who are dreaming of making it in the domaining business. It is beyond obscene They charge a Listing Fees (even before they sell anything) a listing fee that equals the price of the registration/ownership of the domain. Then they ask for exclusive which means in the rare chance that they sell a domain, that sale could’ve happened organically from direct traffic to the seller’s property that BB now controls. Then when that rare chance happens, BB insanely takes a large chunk of the sale price (30%)… BB can not lose! There is nothing in this model/platform that is of a real benefit to the sellers when you crunch the over all numbers. Sellers are actually PAYING to have BB abuse them. INSANE!!!!!
Here is what the market needs badly. A new similar platform where the platform either charges a 1 time listing fee (until sale) with no success fee. Or they charge a success fee and no listing fees where they can choose to select only the finest domains submitted. The way BB works now, it is milking the sellers and succeeding by abusing them not by helping them.
@ Candace
Where and how one can register a .com for 2 bucks? Hope that’s not 1&1 you are talking about.
Thanks.