Brokerage pitch from Afternic — A smart

Better lead follow up is worth the commission.

Domainers tend to gripe regarding paying commissions to marketplaces, especially when the lead was generated from a link on their own parking page.

This makes sense. If you, the domainer, generated the lead, why ought to you pay a marketplace a fat commission?

I think there are two ways that marketplaces can “earn” their commission:

1. The marketplace generates the lead. This can either be from someone searching on the marketplace for a domain, or (more likely) from distributing the listings to registrars. This is a high value for domain name sellers.

2. They do a better job handling the lead than you would. In this case, it means a faster response (preferably by phone) than you can provide as well as better follow up.

I received an email marketing pitch from Afternic today that smartly addresses the second value add. It proposes that domainers put a for sale link on their parking pages that leads to Afternic, and Afternic promises:

I know we’ve all used domain sales services that do little more than send the same email you would have sent to the prospect. I think Afternic’s pitch is solid. If the firm consistently contacts leads that often and by phone, it’s worth the commission.

That’s not to mention getting into its registrar distribution network.