It has come to our attention that several creatives are submitting their Basic or Basic Plus listing names to a large number of contests (in some cases the same name has been submitted to over 100 contests) with a goal to achieve high ratings. Currently, the Basic Plus listings are automatically included in the Premium Domain Marketplace if they receive 2 or more high ratings. However, the original intent of this criteria was that these high ratings would be achieved after a reasonable number of submissions. In order to maintain a curated focus of our Marketplace, and to discourage the above mentioned submission practice, we are changing the criteria for when Basic plus listings will be displayed in Marketplace.
Our platform will now use an internal algorithm to assess which basic plus listings are eligible to be visible in Premium Domain marketplace. If the name has not achieved high ratings after a reasonable number of submissions, it will not be automatically visible in Premium Domain marketplace - however, it can always be submitted for a manual review and approval. If our algorithm approves the automatic visibility, you will see a “Searchable in Marketplace” indicator next to the listing.
This change does not affect the basic plus listings which are already visible in Marketplace.
Broken record about to speak here:
The answer to this problem is to deal directly with the creatives who are doing this, not to create a rule for everyone.
What is a “reasonable number of submissions” so we know. Because it matters that we know how many. We paid money for them, based on the previous rule, and need to know.
Also, considering that domainers are coming here with names that have never been entered into contests and getting those in the premium marketplace, this stings even more. We have to work for our approvals with ratings - they don’t.
Sorry to sound so edgy, @Grant, but seriously, I am very frustrated with all the rules because of outliers. Get rid of them, not everyone else.
To clarify, while this situation with regard to Marketplace visibility for Basic Plus listings came to our attention because of some misuse of the previous rules, the goal of this update is to align the rules with our overall stance across the platform: We want to make sure there are no incentives in the platform that encourage people to excessively submit their entries (even in contests that might not be relevant).
We of course want all great names to be visible in our Premium domain marketplace. Therefore, if you are not able to receive high ratings after a reasonable number of contest submissions, you always have the option to submit your names for a manual review and approval for premium listings. Unfortunately, we cannot disclose the exact algorithm about how it will automatically calculate the eligibility of names to avoid any gaming of the system.
It is important to note that the new rules apply to all members (new or existing). If you already have names that are visible in the premium domain marketplace because they met the previous criteria, these names will continue to benefit from the previous rules and will continue to be visible.
It’s a pity, Grant, that lot of us are now deprived of seeing all our domains on the SH marketplace. I waited a few months to get a second like for one of my domains, but it is still not visible. And it will not be visible after the introduction of the new algorithm. I submitted another domain to the contest no more than 20 times and received 2 likes. This is 10%, that is, a good indicator, but the new calculation algorithm also did not allow my domain to be seen at SH domain market. We now don’t know the criteria for how many times our entries can be submitted! We, loyal to SH creatives, invest personal funds in the purchase of domains and want them to work for us and for the benefit of the SH. In this I agree with the Commulinks. I earnestly ask you to return the previous visibility calculation algorithm in the domain market, which was intuitive and pleased us all.
@Edukar if it is the same name you inquired about yesterday with the support team, it was submitted to 41 contests (including 7 withdrawn submissions). While there is no doubt that after a high number of submissions, a name can eventually accumulate 2 likes, this can also lead to contest abandonment. The intent of this change is two fold:
Minimize any incentives for excessive submission of same name across multiple contests - we have seen that this kind of action can lead to contest abandonment which is not fair to other creatives who are submitting original names that fit the contest brief .
Over saturation of Marketplace: Our marketplace is highly curated and we must ensure that the curated aspect of the marketplace is not diluted by automatically allowing unvetted names to become visible. This can actually hurt the sales of other curated names.
If your name is not automatically selected by our algorithm, you always have the option to submit it for a manual review.If it is a good fit, we will absolutely approve it.
I understood You. But to file 41 times in 6 months, that is, 1 time in 4-5 days, is not a crime. The problem was voiced by my colleague: domainers come from outside with their portfolio, and all their domains are brought to the market, but we need to wait. Sometimes very long. Of course, I will try very hard to satisfy the conditions of the new algorithm, only for this I need to know them. I have another domain, which I submitted only 20 times and received a well-deserved 2 likes. Why is it not worthy to be visible on the market? It worries me that we do not know clear criteria.I am worried about the fate of domains that will not pass the new algorithm and will not be considered manually. This means I need to place them in other markets. That is what I would not want. I thought the SH welcomed everyone who wants to place all their domains here.Thanks for answering.
I agree with @Edukar. I do know, however that not all names brought here by outside domainers are accepted in the marketplace. But, it is still true that the names have not been tested in contests like ours. I have a name that got the “Eligible to be visible message”…while it was pending in a contest. I hit upgrade and the CH downgraded the name, thus leaving me stuck with a Basic Plus name that is not visible. I sent the team a screenshot of the love from that contest and asked to make it visible based on the evidence that it received the ratings necessary. And short of that, to just put it back to Basic so I could continue to work on making it visible (it is much harder to get the ratings on a BP name). That was at least a month ago…it is still BP with no visibility.
I would ask SH to reconsider this change but at the least, tell us how many times we are “allowed” to enter a Basic name to contests before we are blocked and unable to try. Yes, we do have the option of trying to upgrade them manually without the ratings but I have had some turned down so my only option is to try to get them sold by entering them in contests. If the name has already been rejected for the marketplace, the chances of approval are lower, too.
This change happens as we have already invested money in buying these domains in order to protect them and to work to find the right customers for them.
And more for SH to consider.
I had a Basic name that got new high ratings and was eligible for the marketplace. However, I did not hit the button because it was pending in a contest. I had to wait for the CH for a long while. Ultimately, they chose my name, for which I received the lowest contest award. That was my choice, and I was happy for the CH who was thrilled to get that name. But, on my part…I gave up a potential sale for an owned domain that would have netted me a whole lot more than even the highest contest prize. Again, my choice… but SH needs to understand that we are holding this responsibility and waiting.
How is entering a basic domain different than entering non-reg domains many times into different contests? It’s not different… and people are not stopped from doing that. Only those of us who protect our IP by buying domains are limited.
I believe there is some confusion. There are no restrictions on entering your Basic or Basic Plus names to a contests. The changes above refer to the automatic visibility of names in premium domains marketplace.
Our acceptance criteria in premium domain marketplace applies consistently to all members of the platform (new or existing). We currently receive over 1000 submissions for consideration in our premium marketplace every day, and our acceptance rate is about 8%.
Thank you, yes, I misunderstood that part. But still - what is the criteria then for a name to be eligible for visibility? It means we have to “pace ourselves”… and we need to know what the criteria is so we can adjust if you are going to keep this policy - which I still believe you should not.
As stated previously, we do not plan to release the exact logic behind the algorithm.
Basic Plus listings should be judiciously submitted into appropriate contests based on the name’s alignment to a particular contest brief with the intention of winning the contest and selling the domain.
The original intent of the feature we are discussing was for our platform to catch high-performing Basic Plus names and move them into the Marketplace to provide additional exposure and increase the likelihood of sale.
Using this feature systematically to move Basic Plus names into the Premium Marketplace is the activity that we are looking to prevent with the algorithm update.
It is only a few high-performing Basic Plus names that will end up displaying in the marketplace through positive engagement from Contest Holders.
We will continue to review this feature, and may decide to eliminate the automatic visibility altogether if we find that entries that would otherwise not be approved are still becoming visible in the premium domain marketplace.
Why? If they perform, then why? Put aside the other things you’ve said about too many submissions because that happens with unregistered names all the time. Hundreds and hundreds of submissions by single creatives in fact.
It now feels like a legitimate conversation about how adverse this action is to we who invest in these names has become a new threat. (To eliminate)
Tell us, how many BP and Basic names have sold that SH rejected for premium? For me, I know they are 44% of my sales, including one in a contest. So those sales numbers matter.
Very disappointing and extremely frustrating to constantly get slapped with changes like this midstream. Contestants are already limited by their scores for entries.
There’s nothing we can do about having purchased names in the past. We lose.
Dear Squadhelp! After the introduction of the restriction on the number of Basic Plus Listing domains in the contests, it became very difficult for creatives to work with a large portfolio of domains. 5 requests per month do not solve the problem if the creative has several hundred domains. Most domains are not visible on the market and now in contests. This is a problem for us. I urge you to reconsider the coefficient of visibility of the Basic Plus Listing domains on the market and make it transparent. Let it be enough to get not 2 likes, but three or more, but we will have a real chance to bring our domains to the market and make them indexable. Otherwise they are dead weight in the SH domain warehouse. Hope for understanding.