NameBio shared statistics from its 290 lease-to-own transactions on Afternic.
After a record start to the year, my domain sales dropped sharply in the first half of May. That’s not unusual for a portfolio of this size—some months produce just a handful of sales.
I had no purchases until mid-month, when I closed a five-figure sale on Sedo. It looked like that might be the only sale for the month, until two lease-to-own deals completed within two hours on a Friday, bringing an additional $16,000 in potential revenue.
It’s important to note that amount assumes the buyers continue making all 12 scheduled payments.
Lease-to-own (LTO) agreements are becoming a larger part of many domain investors’ strategies. However, they are not equivalent to outright sales: buyers can default or choose to cancel at any time, which makes LTOs riskier and more variable in outcome.
This weekend, NameBio published data summarizing its 290 LTO deals transacted through Afternic. The headline cancellation rate they reported was 26.9%, but that figure includes active agreements and therefore understates the cancellation risk for completed contracts. When you examine only those LTOs that have reached a final outcome, 59% were completed and 41% were canceled.
The data shows cancellations are heavily skewed toward the earliest payments. Thirty-six percent of cancellations occurred after a single payment, and 81% of buyers who canceled had made six payments or fewer. In contrast, NameBio found that once a buyer reaches the second payment, the likelihood of completing the full contract rises to about 70%.
Most of NameBio’s LTOs fall into the 12–23 month term range, so there’s limited insight into how very short or very long durations affect outcomes. Still, the company observed a tendency for cancellation rates to increase with longer LTO durations—a trend previously reported by other marketplaces.
NameBio also examined monthly payment sizes. They found monthly payment amount didn’t strongly influence cancellations across most of the range, except at the high end: buyers paying $500 or more per month were less likely to cancel their contracts.
These findings underline the trade-offs of lease-to-own arrangements: they can open sales to buyers who might not pay a lump sum, increasing deal volume, but they also carry a meaningful risk of cancellation—especially early in the payment schedule. Sellers considering LTOs should account for deferred revenue, potential cancellations, and the higher likelihood of success once buyers pass the initial payments.
For a deeper look at NameBio’s breakdown of LTO outcomes, see their original post on social channels.