What Nameshift does

Nameshift is a privately held, bootstrapped online marketplace for buying, selling, and trading domain names, headquartered in Rijswijk, Netherlands (legal entity: Nameshift BV, KvK 95363017). The company was founded by three domain-industry veterans — Jop Peters (Co-founder & CTO), Niek van Alphen (Co-founder & Domain Expert), and Niels Garretsen (Co-founder & Domain Expert) — and operates with a small (1-10) employee team. The platform serves two primary user groups: domain sellers (individual investors, portfolio owners, and businesses liquidating unused domain assets) and domain buyers (entrepreneurs, businesses, and investors acquiring domains for projects, brands, or investment), supported by a secondary affiliate partner channel for promoters.

The core product is a self-serve marketplace that lists over 1.3 million domains globally (with locale-specific database sizes ranging from 200K+ to 850K+), complemented by an integrated suite of transactional and financial services: secure escrow (buyer payment held until successful domain transfer, with full refund on failure), largely automated domain transfer workflows, multi-currency settlement in USD/GBP/EUR/SEK, VAT-compliant invoicing, Stripe-powered payouts (rolling 7-day schedule, reducible to 3 days), and KYC via Sumsub. Surrounding the core marketplace are value-added modules: Domain Auctions (15% commission, no reserve, 3-minute anti-snipe extension), Lease Before Own (installment purchases over 2-60 months with tiered 5%-30% markups), Domain Rental (recurring monthly rent from $28 minimum, 5% admin fee), and an Affiliate Program (20% revenue share on referred sales and new sellers). The platform is localized into 11 languages and accepts payments via PayPal, SEPA, Visa, Mastercard, iDEAL, MisterCash, Sofort, and bank transfer alongside Stripe.

Nameshift's revenue model is entirely transaction-based: commissions on standard sales (10% with Nameshift nameservers, 13% without, 5% for bring-your-own-buyer), 15% on auctions, tiered markups on leases, and a 5% admin fee on rentals — buyers transact free. Distribution is self-serve via the web platform globally, with marketing concentrated on organic search, social (LinkedIn, Facebook), email newsletter, an affiliate program, and industry events (e.g., Domain Summit London 2025, AWA Bangkok Dec 2025; Domain Days Dubai and Affiliate World Asia 2026 planned). Geographic restrictions apply to North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Syria, and Crimea for regulatory reasons. No external institutional funding, M&A, patents, or material leadership changes are disclosed in the source material.

Name

Nameshift

Legal name

Nameshift BV

Website

https://nameshift.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Nameshift is a Netherlands-based online marketplace for buying, selling, auctioning, leasing, and renting domain names, offering escrow-protected transactions and multi-currency settlement to individual domain investors, portfolio sellers, and SMB buyers across 11 localized versions of its platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Rijswijk

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Commission on Domain Sales: Platform charges commission on domain sales completed through the marketplace. Standard commission is 10% when sellers use Nameshift nameservers, 13% when using external nameservers. Sellers with their own buyer pay 5% commission for escrow service only.
2. Auction Commission: 15% commission on final sale price for domains sold through auction.
3. Lease Before Own Markup: Markup fees charged on lease contracts: 5% for 2-12 months, 10% for 13-24 months, 20% for 25-36 months, 30% for 37-60 months. Split between domain owner and marketplace.
4. Domain Renting Administrative Fee: 5% administrative fee charged to renters for domain rental agreements.
5. Affiliate Referral Revenue: Earn 20% of platform commission when affiliates refer new sellers or promote domain sales through their unique links.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Nameshift is an online marketplace where sellers list domain names and buyers purchase, bid on, lease, or rent them through the platform. All transactions are protected by an escrow service that holds buyer funds until the automated domain transfer completes, with full refunds offered if the transfer fails. The marketplace supports multi-currency pricing and VAT-compliant invoicing, and is offered in 11 localized languages.

Product overview

Nameshift is a domain marketplace platform that operates as a unified ecosystem with a core marketplace at its center, supplemented by multiple interconnected services. The core Domain Marketplace enables buyers and sellers to transact domain names securely using escrow protection and automated transfer tools. Surrounding this core are value-added modules: Domain Auctions for competitive sales, Lease Before Own for installment-based purchases (2–60 months), Domain Rental for recurring monthly income without ownership transfer, and an Affiliate Program for commission-based promotion. The platform also integrates Stripe for payment processing, supports multiple currencies (USD, GBP, EUR, SEK) and languages, and provides free landing pages for sellers. All transactions are facilitated through the platform's escrow and transfer infrastructure, tying the ecosystem together.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Domain Marketplace The online marketplace where domain sellers list domains and buyers search, offer, and purchase them with escrow-protected transactions, automated domain transfers, multi-currency support, and VAT-compliant invoicing.
• Domain Auctions Auction-style sale mechanism for domains where sellers set no reserve price and pay 15% commission on the final sale price; auctions extend by 3 minutes on bids placed in the closing window.
• Lease Before Own Installment payment plan letting buyers acquire a domain via monthly payments over 2 to 60 months while using it during the lease; sellers receive the full amount through recurring payments, with markup tiers from 5% to 30% depending on term.
• Domain Rental Monthly rental service that lets domain owners earn recurring income by renting out domains (minimum $28/month) while retaining ownership, with a 5% administrative fee to the renter and renewal coverage up to 20 EUR/year by Nameshift.
• Affiliate Program Partner program paying affiliates up to 20% of Nameshift's commission on referred domain sales and recurring commissions from new subscriber referrals.
• Escrow Service Standalone escrow service that holds buyer funds until the domain is transferred and releases them to the seller, including a bring-your-own-buyer option at 5% commission and full refunds on failed transfers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Full refund if domain transfer fails after payment
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

Feature13 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment processing partner handling all financial transactions. Enables fast seller payouts via rolling 7-day payment schedule (reducible to 3 days). Stripe processes buyer payments and seller disbursements for the marketplace.
• SIDN (.nl Registry)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDutch domain registry for .nl domains. Nameshift team attends SIDN-organized events for networking in the domain industry.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Dan.com: Dan.com is a modern, design-forward domain marketplace known for installment-based lease-to-own purchases and clean UX. It pioneered several features (Lease to Own, free landers) that Nameshift has replicated, and was acquired by GoDaddy in 2022.
• Undeveloped: Undeveloped is a domain marketplace owned by Toronto-based Rebel.com, offering escrow, buy-now, and make-offer flows similar to Nameshift. Both target SMBs and individual domain investors with self-serve onboarding.
• Squadhelp: Squadhelp is a naming and domain marketplace that combines crowdsourced naming contests with premium domain listings. It overlaps with Nameshift on the domain marketplace side while extending into agency/creative services.
• BrandBucket: BrandBucket is a curated marketplace for brandable domain names, combining naming expertise with domain brokerage. It overlaps with Nameshift in the brandable/premium segment but adds agency-style naming services.
• Dynadot: Dynadot is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar with an integrated aftermarket/marketplace for buying and selling domains. It is comparable to Nameshift as a registrar-plus-marketplace serving domain investors with self-serve tools.
• Atom.com: Atom is a premium domain marketplace operated by HugeDomains, focused on buy-now inventory of brandable and high-value domains. It overlaps with Nameshift's premium inventory segment and lease-to-own offering.
• Sedo: Sedo is the world's largest domain marketplace, offering buying, selling, parking, and brokerage of domain names with escrow and transfer services. It is the most direct competitor to Nameshift, serving the same buyer/seller audience with overlapping commission-based monetization.
• Afternic: Afternic is GoDaddy's premium domain marketplace, distributing listings across the world's largest registrar network. It directly competes with Nameshift on inventory reach and buyer acquisition, particularly via registrar default landing pages.

Broad incumbents

• Namecheap: Namecheap is a major ICANN-accredited registrar with a marketplace component and strong brand among SMBs and developers. It overlaps with Nameshift on buyer-side demand and offers a broader stack of hosting and email services.
• GoDaddy: GoDaddy is the world's largest domain registrar and owner of Afternic and Dan.com, giving it unmatched distribution of domain listings. It competes with Nameshift across the full domain lifecycle — registration, parking, marketplace, and aftermarket.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Nameshiftcom
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nameshift

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Nameshift