Lease to Own Integration Launches Internationally at GoDaddy

In July 2023, Afternic marked a milestone with the launch of Lease to Own, one of the most significant product updates in its long history.

Lease to Own allows sellers to generate recurring revenue from their domain portfolio while domain name buyers pay for a domain name over time. This differs from the traditional sales model that requires full payment upfront for aftermarket domains.

One of the most popular aspects of Lease to Own at Afternic is our integration with GoDaddy. This integration provides additional exposure to Lease to Own listings by displaying them where buyers search for domains at the world’s largest domain name registrar, GoDaddy.

We’re excited to share the latest Lease to Own update: international availability of Lease to Own at GoDaddy, with an integrated GoDaddy checkout process.

Lease to Own Goes International

While Lease to Own was previously only visible for GoDaddy visitors in the US, we have now opened Lease to Own internationally, supporting Lease to Own purchases through GoDaddy from around the world in multiple currencies.

Above, you can see an example of this international Lease to Own adoption on GoDaddy’s Spanish website.

The international release of Afternic’s Lease to Own integration at GoDaddy opens up new opportunities for buyers and sellers alike. Sellers can benefit from international exposure for Lease to Own options while buyers can checkout in their preferred language and choose from a variety of payment methods. This means more buyers can pay with their preferred method and currency.

GoDaddy Checkout

In the first phase of Lease to Own, customers buying a Lease to Own domain name through GoDaddy in the US were presented with an on-screen slider that let them select their term length and monthly price. The buyer was then redirected to Dan.com, a GoDaddy brand, to complete the transaction.

Dan.com has played a vital role in bringing Lease to Own capabilities to the market at Afternic and GoDaddy and has helped us move into the second phase of Lease to Own.

Since 2023, Lease to Own options have been prominently shown for eligible domain names at GoDaddy. Alongside the familiar purchase button is a Lease to Own link that, once clicked, allows buyers to customize their payments with a slider to adjust the number of payments.

We’re excited to share that Lease to Own now integrates directly into GoDaddy’s cart with multiple ways for any buyer from around the world to pay for their Lease to Own domain name. The checkout and payment process will be localized, too, allowing buyers to checkout in their preferred currency.

We believe that the trusted name of GoDaddy, along with the integrated experience that the buyer receives, will be hugely beneficial for both buyers and sellers as we continue to support more Lease to Own sales.

Have You Enabled Lease to Own?

If you’re interested in enabling Lease to Own for your Afternic portfolio following the announcement of this next phase of GoDaddy’s integration, here are some steps you may take today.

1. Enable Lease to Own for your existing domains
   1. Check and update Buy it Now prices: Lease to Own will work based on your current Buy it Now prices between $495 and $100,000, so ensure that you have accurate Buy it Now prices listed for your domain names within your Afternic portfolio.
   2. Switch on “Lease to Own” for your existing domains: On your Afternic portfolio page, you’ll notice a new “Lease to Own” column. Enable Lease to Own for individual domains by clicking the “Off” link and following the instructions. Bulk updates can be done by selecting multiple domain names and clicking on the “Pricing” toolbar in the footer. Up to 500 domain names can be enabled at a time. If you are enabling 10,000 or more domains for Lease to Own, partnerseller @ afternic.com will be able to help you with that.
2. Enable Lease to Own for future domains
   There’s a new tab in your Afternic account settings. There, you can enable Lease to Own by default for all domain names that you add to Afternic in the future if those domains carry a Buy it Now price between $495 and $100,000. The maximum allowed lease term will be automatically applied based on the Buy it Now price.