Lease to Own Has a 35% Higher Average Sales Price

In 2023, Afternic launched Lease to Own, a new way for buyers to pay for domain names over time. 

Since then, sellers have been opting into Lease to Own to benefit from the recurring payments that come from Lease to Own sales. 

Earlier this year, we analyzed Lease to Own sales from a pool of over one million domain names that were opted in to Lease to Own, with an interesting finding: the average sales price increases with Lease to Own. 

What Does the Data Show? 

“Lease to Own has a 35% higher average sales price, compared with Buy it Now domains*” 

The domains that we analyzed had Buy it Now prices between $495 and $49,999, with multi-year Lease to Own terms available.  

Our data shows that Lease to Own has a 35% higher average sales price, compared with Buy it Now domains. This is based on GoDaddy data between January and June, 2024.  

The 35% figure includes the service fee; a maintenance fee that buyers pay for Lease to Own deals of 13 months or more. 

What does this suggest for domain sellers?  

1. Increased revenue potential: A 35% increase in average sales price can significantly increase revenue per domain name over time. 
2. Steady cash flow: Payments over time bring the domain seller some income reliability through steady cash flow. 
3. Broadened buyer pool: Higher priced domain names can become more accessible through Lease to Own, widening the potential buyer pool. Coupled with automatic exposure through GoDaddy, and the buyer pool broadens again. 

Where Do Lease to Own Options Show Up? 

If you’re a domain seller who has enabled Lease to Own through Afternic, there are multiple ways to show buyers that your domain is available to pay over time.  

GoDaddy Search: The world’s largest registrar displays a Lease to Own option for enabled domain names! Buyers visiting GoDaddy to search for your domain, wherever they are in the world, can choose a Lease to Own plan and pay in their local currency, while you’re paid out in US dollars.  

Custom Lander: Team your GoDaddy search exposure with our Custom Lander! Choose to display a Lease to Own option to buyers on this GoDaddy-branded lander with international language options for your domain’s visitors. 

How Do You Enable Lease to Own? 

If you’re interested in enabling Lease to Own for your Afternic portfolio 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. Enable “Lease to Own” for your domains: On your Afternic portfolio page, find the new “Lease to Own” column. Click “Off” for individual domains and follow the instructions. For bulk updates, select multiple domains and click on “Pricing” in the footer. You can enable up to 500 domains at once. For 10,000+ domains, contact partnerseller@afternic.com for assistance. 
2. Enable Lease to Own for future domains
   1. 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. 

*Based on GoDaddy data between January and June, 2024.