Selling Domain Names For Profit
A fun way to make money online is buying and selling domain names. Most people think all the good domain names are taken, so “domaining” isn’t such a hot topic as it used to be. But the truth is, selling names is becoming even more profitable than ever and can only get better. The supply of good names is getting low, and the demand is increasing as new businesses and products crop up every day. It used to be that only the very big companies bought names, but now more people are willing to pay to get what they want.
The short one word names are thought to be the best and most are taken. (Sex.com sold for a record $12 million!) But there are still some uncommon words that haven’t been used, and it’s fun finding them or making them up. Google and Yahoo were not common household words until they hit the internet. Just get out a dictionary and plug a few words into the field to see what’s available. Two and three words strung together can have more meaning than just one word. They can be catchy and easier to remember than some one word names.
Always buy dot.com names because dot.org, dot.net, and the other dots are not as valuable as dot.com. To sell your names you might want a broker, so Google “domain name broker” (but you don’t really need one because if someone wants to buy your name, you will be contacted). Sedo.com, websitebroker.com, dotster.com and www.registernames.com are all good brokers but you have to find the best deal. Type the name you want into the field and it will say if it’s “available” or “make an offer”. If it’s available, buy it! If it says “make an offer, you can just move on to your next name, or if you think the name is valuable and you want to gamble on it, then become a buyer and make that offer and plan to resell.
Think of new ventures, globally or just within your state or community. One of my friends just sold a domain name for $1,600 in less than 6 months! When he heard that a new mall was being built in his city, he ran to his computer and bought the name. Within a few months, a broker told him someone wanted to buy the name. It’s hard to believe the mall owners didn’t register their name on the web before building the mall, but it happens all the time.
Domain names are a good investment and they don’t cost much (less than $15 each!). But as with any investment, the more you have, the better the chances of making money. Get in on it now, while there’s still some left. One of these days, everyone will have to “make an offer” to get a good webname and you could hit it big by selling yours.
Comments
I definitely agree. Another good idea is registering domains for upcoming movies and video games, since pretty much all of them put up websites before they launch.
They just discussed this on NPR this morning. I wish I had bought pizza.com a long time ago!
Great info! Domain name resellers are making big bucks! I watched many on ebay for months and they ended up selling for thousands.
The key is finding good domains or expired domains with good rank and backlinks.
I agree…I have sold several domains in the last few years. No huge profits, but I have made 10-15 times my investment. I think I am going to see if motherinlawscashblog.com is available.
Hey Robert, Put an ex in front of that and you can have her. lol
Now that was funny. Why didn’t I think of that – Go JJ
There are two ways to earn from domain names, one is to generate lots of advertising revenue but some names are special only to you and not to everyone, so you get virtually no traffic at all.
The other way is like the shopping mall story when some broker come knocking on your door.
My experience with such a venture is that either you have the knack or you don’t. The intial cost may not be much but when you amass a big portfolio and it is time to renew them, the cost can eat into your cashflow.
Jeff
http://jeflin.net
It’s a gamble but that’s with anything. Money doesnt’ come easy. I better leave the motherinlaw joke alone. LMAO Too funny.
tyler cruz earned a 23k commission facilitating the sale of a domain in feb 2007 which sold for 6 figs.
http://www.tylercruz.com/grasping-opportunities-making-money-out-of-nothing
Hi Stak.Never thought about movies I figured that would be one of the first things that the production or whoever would think of, but I also think this new “green” this and that might be good to try!?
Waterrose>thanks so much for stopping by, love your site
Work at Home Mom Blog> I’ve seen some on ebay go for big $$ too!
Hi Jeff> I’m trying not to amass a big portfolio but it can be habit forming,
Hi Dale>It is a gamble but maybe just try one name…who knows??
Thanks all for your comments….I need help, and I figure you guys are the ones to ask!! Can anyone tell me why I don’t have “Presentation on my Admin.Panel in Word Press? All I have is…Write, Manage, Design, Comments, aLinks. Then I have Settings, Plugins, Users over on the right in smaller print. Every time I go for “help”, it shows an Admin. panel that does not look like mine! Can anyone help me out on this???? Thanks **JJ**
Hi Anthony> You snuck up on me, didn’t see you there. I would say that was a hefty commission do you know what the domain name was that sold for 6 figures? Just interested.
i believe presentation is used in previous version of WP that are older than v2.5. wat are you trying to do?
there’s some speculation that the domain was bookmark.com. not sure wat the site content used to be, but its actually a porn site now.
Hey Anthony, Thanks I think you are right about the WP ,can I email you on this with some questions? *jj*