From Smarter Tools to Faster Transactions: 2025 at Afternic

2025 was a year of continuous product releases at Afternic.

We shipped a long list of improvements across transaction assurance, self-brokerage, on-screen tools, and back-end infrastructure, all with one goal: to help domain sellers sell more, with less friction.

As we start 2026, we’re reflecting on the most impactful releases of 2025 and celebrating the progress we’ve made in empowering domain investors to sell smarter, faster, and more efficiently.

Self-Serve Tools: Putting Control in Your Hands

We’ve rolled out several powerful self-serve tools in 2025, designed to reduce your reliance on support and get your domains to market faster.

Pending Review Self-Serve System (January)

You can now resubmit domains that enter Pending Review directly from the UI. Simply click refresh to resubmit listings, either individually or in bulk. Automated integrity checks ensure your domains meet listing standards. Learn more.

Fast Transfer Resubmission (March)

Following our “Magical Staircase” approach of iterative improvements, we expanded the resubmission tool to include Fast Transfer activation – processing both Pending Review domains and Fast Transfer opt-ins simultaneously. Learn more.

Transaction Assurance: Rebuilt From the Ground Up

One of the most notable releases this year was the complete overhaul of our domain delivery system – Transaction Assurance (TA).

Launched in March, this powerful transaction engine combines best practices from Afternic, Dan.com, and Uniregistry to deliver a seamless closing experience for sellers. The result – most Afternic sellers get paid within 1 day.

Through simplified workflows, automation, and advanced detection, we introduced faster transactions and a redesigned user interface. Key features include:

• Automated Domain Transfers: Enter your auth code and our system takes it from there, reducing transfer times significantly.
• TLD Detection: Automated detection means different extensions take the appropriate closing path automatically.
• 60-Day Lock Detection: Our system automatically detects registration locks and adapts accordingly, reaching out to buyers to set up domain pushes when needed.
• Dedicated Messaging: Contact our TA team directly from your transaction dashboard, with all communications tracked in your transaction timeline.

This isn’t just a one-time upgrade – Transaction Assurance is an ongoing initiative. We’re continuously refining the process and expanding automation to ensure the best possible experience for our users.

Learn more. 

Self-Brokerage: Taking Control of Your Negotiations

In March, we launched Self-Brokerage, a major upgrade for sellers who want to negotiate directly with buyers.

Available to Discount Domain Club Domain Pro members, it puts you in full control with a dedicated UI for direct buyer interactions.

It brings together the best of Afternic, Uniregistry, and Dan.com, making it easy to track and negotiate Custom Lander leads. Since launch, we’ve taken your feedback and rolled out several major upgrades:

• Lease to Own for Self-Brokerage (June): Offer payments over time between $495 and $100,000 directly in your negotiations.
• Enhanced Email Communications (July): Seller notifications now include more information upfront, plus GoDaddy-branded emails for buyers throughout the transaction.
• Smarter Lead Insights (July): Learn more about your buyer through buyer insights from your lander’s post-inquiry survey.
• Seen Message Status (July): Know when buyers have read your messages, just like your favorite messaging apps, so you can decide when to follow up.
• Simplified Buyer Login (July): Buyers now sign in using a one-time code, resulting in a 45%+ improvement in Self-Brokerage lead submissions.
• Enhanced Brokerage Handoff (August): When transferring a Self-Brokered lead to our expert brokers, communication now continues directly with buyers within GoDaddy’s Negotiation panel rather than via email.

Learn more. 

Data-Driven Insights: GoDaddy Search Insights

In August, we launched GoDaddy Search Insights for Discount Domain Club Domain Pro members.

This exclusive feature provides filtered search data from GoDaddy – the world’s largest registrar – right on your Afternic portfolio page.

You’ll see genuine, human-driven, exact-match search data for your domains across 30, 90, and 365-day timeframes, including both unique and total searches. This actionable visibility into real buyer demand helps you:

• Identify domains gaining search interest
• Monitor domain trends over time
• Make informed renewal decisions
• Adjust pricing based on market signals

Learn more.

Lease to Own (LTO) Expansion: More Flexibility, More Sales

LTO continued to be popular with sellers with LTO transactions showing a 35% higher Average Sale Price compared to Buy it Now deals.

In August, we expanded LTO to Custom Checkout Links.

Now, sellers can generate Custom Checkout Links for externally negotiated deals and offer LTO terms for domains priced between $495 and $100,000.

Buyers can check out using any of GoDaddy’s globally available payment methods, making it simple to unlock deals that require payment flexibility.

AI-Powered Features: Smarter Tools for Domain Investors

AI and experimentation have been major themes throughout 2025. Experiments are key to learning and growing as a platform, and bringing AI into Afternic to help our domain sellers wherever possible is going to be hugely rewarding.

Pricing AI (April)

Pricing AI combines GoValue with real-time signals like current offers, leads, and comparable listings to help guide your pricing decisions. Accessible through each domain’s details page, this tool provides enhanced valuation estimates based on multiple data points.

AI-Driven Compliance Review (August)

We introduced AI-powered compliance review that uses contextual understanding rather than simple keyword matching.

This context-aware analysis evaluates domain intent, terminology, and potential brand references, significantly reducing unnecessary manual reviews and getting compliant domains to market faster.

Bulk Management Upgrades

Managing large portfolios became easier throughout 2025 with several bulk management enhancements, including:

Upgraded Bulk Search (April)

Now supporting up to 10,000 domains at once. After performing a bulk search, you can apply filters and use bulk actions to update domains efficiently. New “Select All” functionality allows you to update pricing and landers for your entire list via the footer toolbar.

Backend Infrastructure Improvements

Throughout the year, we overhauled our internal “pipes” to streamline our listings architecture, making bulk uploads faster and more efficient.

The new system only processes specific information you include in your spreadsheet, significantly reducing time and effort required for portfolio management.

Portfolio Management Enhancements

We continued to add powerful portfolio management features in the second half of 2025, giving sellers greater visibility and control.

GoDaddy NS Column (September)

There’s now an easy way to check your domains are pointed to GoDaddy Aftermarket nameservers! With the new GoDaddy NS column, you can confirm your names are pointed to GoDaddy landers for maximum impact and lower commissions.

Self-Serve Nameserver Refresh (December)

Single and bulk refresh buttons now available directly in the UI to refresh the GoDaddy Nameserver column data. Get real-time confirmation that your nameserver changes have taken effect.

Registrar Column (December)

A new registrar column shows where your domains are registered at a glance, making it easier to manage your portfolio across multiple registrars.

Reducing Friction: Streamlining the Buyer Journey

While many updates across Afternic are visible to sellers, we invested heavily behind the scenes throughout 2025 to improve the buyer and seller experience.

In November, we completed a long-planned upgrade that eliminates friction in the purchase flow.

Moving from GoDaddy Auctions

For over a decade, Afternic’s Standard Transfer purchase path and Make Offer flow ran through GoDaddy Auctions. We’ve now moved away from this system with two key updates:

• Make Offer Improvements: Buyers making offers on unpriced domains are no longer redirected to GoDaddy Auctions. Instead, they submit offers in a simple, in-page modal directly in GoDaddy search, reducing friction and keeping buyers in their flow.
• Updated Standard Transfer Path: Standard Transfer sales now flow through an updated GoDaddy cart with important improvements:
  • Clear renewal transparency with pricing displayed as a separate line item
  • Faster relisting for new owners without support intervention
  • Consistent checkout experience across Fast Transfer and Standard Transfer domains

Expanded Global Distribution

This upgrade also unlocked broader reach. Your Standard Transfer inventory now surfaces across GoDaddy’s reseller network, including 123-Reg and Wild West Domains, with more brands coming soon, helping you reach new international audiences.

Pro tip: Priced domains are 3–4x more likely to sell. Setting a Buy It Now price remains the best way to increase your sell-through rate.

Learn more.

Looking Ahead

2025 was a strong year of progress at Afternic, but we’re not stopping there. Our commitment to continuous improvement means we’ll keep listening to your feedback, refining our features, and building new tools to help you succeed.

Our goal is to empower every Afternic seller – whether you’re managing one domain or thousands – with flexible tools, actionable insights, and a world-class sales experience.

As always, your feedback drives our roadmap. Have suggestions or ideas for what you’d like to see next? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at domaincommunity@godaddy.com or tag us on X @Afternic.

Here’s to an amazing 2025 – and to even more success in 2026. Happy selling!