Short answer: on a single $10,000 sale, seller commission ranges from $750 (Afternic Basic with qualifying nameservers, or Atom above $75,000) to $3,000 (Afternic Boost with non-qualifying nameservers). The rate is rarely a negotiating point — it is set by where you list, which nameservers point at the domain, and how the buyer arrives. Three settings can move more money than the asking price.
Everything below was checked against each marketplace's own public seller pricing pages on 27 September 2026. Rates change without notice — confirm the live schedule in your seller dashboard before you price a name.
Commission at a glance
| Marketplace | Seller commission | Minimum fee | How the rate is decided | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternic (GoDaddy) | 15% – 30% | $15 per sale | Boost on/off × nameserver choice | Maximum registrar distribution |
| Sedo | 10% – 20% | None on most TLDs | How the buyer found you | International buyers, auctions |
| Atom | 7.5% – 30% | $100 minimum sale | Listing tier + sale price band | Curated premium names, startup buyers |
| Spaceship SellerHub | 5% – 10% | Not published | Sale type; commission is splittable | Low commission, negotiated deals |
| Dan.com | Retired 27 June 2025 — the platform now redirects to Afternic. Its lease-to-own and custom-checkout features were folded into Afternic, where they still carry the Afternic rate. | |||
What each rate actually costs on a $10,000 sale
| Scenario | Rate | Commission | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afternic Boost, non-qualifying nameservers (default) | 30% | $3,000 | $7,000 |
| Afternic Basic, non-qualifying nameservers | 25% | $2,500 | $7,500 |
| Afternic Boost, GoDaddy Aftermarket nameservers | 20% | $2,000 | $8,000 |
| SedoMLS network sale | 20% | $2,000 | $8,000 |
| Sedo marketplace sale (Make Offer or auction) | 15% | $1,500 | $8,500 |
| Atom Plus listing | 15% | $1,500 | $8,500 |
| Afternic Basic, GoDaddy Aftermarket nameservers | 15% | $1,500 | $8,500 |
| Spaceship SellerHub, standard sale | 10% | $1,000 | $9,000 |
| Sedo, fixed price on a domain parked with Sedo | 10% | $1,000 | $9,000 |
| Atom Standard listing | 7.5% | $750 | $9,250 |
The spread is $2,250 on the same name at the same price. That is the whole argument for reading the fee schedule before you list, not after you sell.
Afternic: the rate depends on two settings you control
Afternic is GoDaddy's marketplace and the default venue most buyers meet first, because listings surface inside the registrar network rather than only on a standalone site. Its pricing structure has an effective date of 13 January 2026 and is the most variable of the four.
- Boost is on by default. It adds 5 percentage points and is applied automatically to every account, so the headline rate is 30% until you change it.
- Nameservers decide the base rate. Pointing a domain at GoDaddy Aftermarket nameservers drops the rate by 10 points. That single DNS change is worth $1,000 on a $10,000 sale.
- Afternic Basic removes the Boost component. Opting out in account settings gives 15% with qualifying nameservers and 25% without, at the cost of reduced distribution.
- A $15 minimum commission applies to standard sales, which is why very low Buy Now prices can net almost nothing.
- Custom Checkout Link — for deals you negotiate yourself — runs at 5%, and lease-to-own applies the same percentage collected over up to 14 monthly payments.
Sedo: the rate depends on how the buyer arrived
Sedo is the largest marketplace outside the GoDaddy ecosystem, which matters if you would rather not keep an entire portfolio inside one company. Listing is free and the commission is decided by the route the buyer took, not by negotiation.
- 10% — a fixed-price sale where the domain is parked with Sedo or uses the Sedo sales page.
- 15% — a marketplace sale through Make Offer, auction, or a Buy Now listing that is not parked with Sedo.
- 20% — a sale that arrives through the SedoMLS partner network.
- Minimums: no minimum fee for Category I extensions such as .com, .net, .org, .io, .ai, .co and .uk, with a minimum sale price of 20 USD/EUR. Category II country-code extensions carry a 200 USD/EUR minimum fee and a 220 USD/EUR minimum sale price. An external transfer carries a 60 USD/EUR minimum on Category I.
- Direct Auctions carry a one-time start fee of about $59. Escrow and transfer services are included at no extra charge.
Atom: the lowest standard rate, the highest premium rate
Atom (formerly SquadHelp) prices by listing tier rather than by nameserver, which makes it the most predictable of the four — and the widest spread.
- Standard listings: 7.5%. No approval, no exclusivity, and the lowest headline commission in this comparison.
- Plus listings: 15%. Adds retargeting and better placement.
- Premium listings: 30% below $4,999, 25% from $4,999–$49,999, 20% from $50,000–$74,999, 15% above $75,000. Curated, approval-gated, and marketed at Atom's expense.
- AtomPay: 4.5%, scaling down to 1.35% at high sale prices.
- Minimum retail transaction: $100. Premium submission costs one AI credit.
Spaceship SellerHub: cheapest standard rate, newest venue
Spaceship is owned by Namecheap and entered the aftermarket with an aggressive flat rate. In February 2026 the standard seller commission rose from 5% to 10%, while checkout links and existing lease-to-own payments stayed at 5%. Buyers and sellers can negotiate how the commission is split, which no other venue in this list offers out of the box.
Escrow and how long the money takes
Every venue here is escrow-first: the buyer's funds are held by the platform (or its escrow partner) until the name is transferred, so neither side is exposed to a direct wire. The differences are in timing, not in safety.
| Venue | Escrow model | Typical time to payout |
|---|---|---|
| Afternic | Transaction Assurance holds funds; expedited payout available for most non-network sales | Commonly 7–14 days after transfer completes |
| Sedo | Escrow and transfer service included free in the commission | Varies by transfer type; push transfers settle fastest |
| Atom | Platform escrow; payouts by PayPal, Payoneer or bank transfer | After the buyer confirms the transfer |
| Spaceship | Platform escrow; commission can be split with the buyer | After transfer completes |
Transfer method matters more than the venue's marketing. A registrar push between accounts at the same registrar can finish in hours; a cross-registrar transfer normally takes five to seven days and can be closer to two weeks once platform review and payment clearance are included. Price the timeline into any deal where you need the money by a date.
How to choose a venue
- Start from the buyer, not the fee. A listing where buyers already look is worth more than a 5-point commission saving on a name nobody sees.
- Fix the settings that move the rate. If you list on Afternic, decide deliberately between Boost and Basic, and point nameservers at GoDaddy Aftermarket if you want the lower band. This is free money and most sellers never touch it.
- Match the tier to the price. Atom's 7.5% Standard rate beats every other venue — until the name is premium enough that you want Atom's marketing, at which point the tiered rate applies.
- List in more than one place, with eyes open. Most venues allow non-exclusive standard listings, but premium tiers often carry exclusivity clauses. Read the terms before you accept priority placement.
- Use the 5% checkout link for deals you find yourself. If you sourced the buyer, paying 30% for distribution you did not use is the most expensive habit in this market.
Where DN Detector fits
DN Detector is a curated catalog, not a payment processor. Every listing here completes through one of the marketplace partners above — Afternic, Sedo, Atom, Spaceship or Unstoppable — so the buyer gets that venue's escrow protection and you never send or receive a direct wire. The commission you pay is the venue's published rate, unchanged by us.
If you are deciding where to list a portfolio, start with what comparable names are priced at, then check the venues' current schedules directly. The two pages worth reading next are premium vs generic domains and how to choose a domain for a startup.
Sources
Commission figures were checked on 27 September 2026 against each venue's public pricing or commission documentation: Afternic pricing and fees, Sedo price list, Atom commission structure, and Spaceship SellerHub updates. Payout timing is reported seller experience rather than a contractual guarantee and is marked accordingly. Platform fees, Boost defaults and tier thresholds change without notice — treat this page as a starting point and confirm the live schedule with the marketplace before pricing a name.