Domain Name News: “GoDaddy Lowers Premium Listings Commission to 20%” plus 1 more

GoDaddy Lowers Premium Listings Commission to 20%

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 02:42 PM PDT

DNN has just received word from Godaddy that Premium Listings sales commissions have been reduced to 20% on all new Premium Listings for the month of August. The previous rate was set at an industry-high 30%. Many domain name sellers had noted that the Godaddy commission was excessive but had seen good results using the platform to increase their sales. It’s important to note that this is a promotion on new listings. If you have existing names listed, you may want to delete them now and re-list them to take advantage of the lower commission structure.

All domain names sold through Premium Listings are displayed as for sale, with a “fixed price”, when a user searches for the domain from the Godaddy home page. Godaddy also offers an auction platform with a lower commission of 10%. These names also appear in the results for home page searches. Sellers can list their names at a fixed “buy it now” auction price, but auction listings do require the seller to sign-up and bid, and thus the conversions are likely to be lower than a “fixed price” option that takes the user right to a cart and checkout rather than requiring bidding. A recent report released by Sedo claims that “fixed prices” increased sales by up to 40%.

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Tucows Buys German Registrar EPAG

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 09:14 AM PDT

As announced in a press release published today, Tucows (NYSE AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC) has purchased all the shares of German registrar EPAG for approximately US$2.5 Million (€1.5 Million to purchase the shares and the settlement of a working capital adjustment of €0.25 Million) through an all-cash transaction.

EPAG, based in Bonn, Germany, is an ICANN-accredited registrar with over 400,000 domains under management and is notable for offering over 200 Top Level Domains (TLDs). Tucows plans to continue serving EPAG customers and resellers via existing EPAG tools and will also integrate EPAG's domain services into its own OpenSRS wholesale domain registration service.

"We believe combining the power of OpenSRS' 12,000 active resellers in over 120 countries with EPAG's ability to register such a broad range of TLDs will make OpenSRS unique in the industry," said Tucows President & CEO Elliot Noss. "We expect that the deep expertise in registry integration we gain from EPAG will add invaluable bench-strength to our team as we prepare for ICANN's roll-out of new TLDs."

See the full press release after the jump.

TORONTO, Aug. 2, 2011 – Tucows Inc. (NYSE AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC), a global provider of domain names, email and other Internet services, announced today that it has acquired all the shares of EPAG Domainservices GmbH from QSC AG for approximately US$2.5 Million (€1.5 Million to purchase the shares and the settlement of a working capital adjustment of €0.25 Million) through an all-cash transaction.

"We believe combining the power of OpenSRS' 12,000 active resellers in over 120 countries with EPAG's ability to register such a broad range of TLDs will make OpenSRS unique in the industry," said Tucows President & CEO Elliot Noss. "We expect that the deep expertise in registry integration we gain from EPAG will add invaluable bench-strength to our team as we prepare for ICANN's roll-out of new TLDs."

This acquisition further strengthens OpenSRS' position as a leader in wholesale domain registration and extends its commitment to providing broad TLD coverage to its resellers. Currently OpenSRS manages 11 million domains across 33 TLDs. With this acquisition OpenSRS will now manage over 11.5 million domain names and by the end of the year OpenSRS resellers will have access to over 200 TLDs.

"We congratulate Tucows on their acquisition of EPAG and are confident that this change of ownership helps to accomplish the strategic goals of both QSC AG and EPAG", said Ingo Hattendorf, responsible for the transaction at QSC AG.

The acquisition of EPAG adds hundreds of new German-language resellers to the OpenSRS channel, providing Tucows access to a market to which it had relatively little exposure previously. Dave Woroch, Tucows' EVP Sales noted, "We are happy to welcome EPAG customers to OpenSRS and assure them they will continue to get the same great services and support they have come to expect from the EPAG team. Over time we look forward to providing additional features and services that can help EPAG customers grow their businesses."

About QSC AG

QSC AG, Cologne, is a service provider for voice and data communication, as well as ICT services. Established in 1997, the company has been focusing on small and mid-size business customers. QSC AG is the first provider to operate an Open Access platform in Germany, which unites a wide range of broadband technologies to offer national and international site networking, including Managed Services. QSC AG additionally supplies its customers and distribution partners with a comprehensive product portfolio that can be modularly adapted to every need. QSC AG was the first provider in Germany to build its own Next Generation Network (NGN), and therefore enjoys long years of experience in connection with IP-based telephony solutions, in particular. QSC AG has been listed on the TecDAX index since 2004. The QSC AG group employs a workforce of some 1,300 people.

About Tucows

Tucows is a global Internet services company. OpenSRS manages over eleven million domain names and millions of email boxes through a reseller network of over 11,000 web hosts and ISPs. Hover is the easiest way for individuals and small businesses to manage their domain names and email addresses. YummyNames owns premium domain names that generate revenue through advertising or resale. Butterscotch.com is an online video network building on the foundation of Tucows Downloads.