17/04/2024
Buy And Sell Domains
A domain name is a website name (i.e. entrepreneurhandbook.co.uk). Since the early days of the internet, clever domain buyers have bought up common term top-level domains (.com, .net, org are a few examples) and made a fortune by reselling them at a later point (i.e. cars.com). It’s important to note you can also specialise in popular country-level domains where there is demand (.co.uk, .US, .IO are all popular).
Many new top-level domain names have been released in recent years (.inc, .dev and .is are a few), meaning there is now a new opportunity to purchase popular common term domains and sell them for a profit.
There is no setup cost with this business; you just require access to a computer and plenty of time to research, find and purchase domains. To get started, you’ll need to set up multiple accounts at domain name registrars and auction sites (Namecheap, SEDO, Godaddy…), these platforms allow you to find domains and purchase them. From there it’s about searching for new domains that have yet to purchased or domain names that are about to expire, and you believe it can be sold at a profit (you’d be surprised how many domains are lost due to people forgetting to renew a domain). You can also use auctions to buy domains at a reasonable price and then sell on if you believe a profit can be made. Next, it’s time to find buyers for your domains. For instance; if you bought the domain name creative.com, you could create a list of potential buyers in the digital creative industry and reach out them to sell the domain directly or notify them of auction dates/details.
Be aware that even if available buying up a domain name that is a trademark company name, product or service, might mean you can be forced to sell that domain at low or no cost to the trademark owner if they desire (depending on the legal jurisdiction).
Variations of trademark terms/names can also be forced sold in this way/are sometimes illegal to purchase. These domains are generally bought with the idea being that these domains will capture traffic from popular domain name misspellings in most cases or misrepresent a different company as the same brand. Spotting a big domain and snapping it up for a small price can be the route to big money – good luck domain hunting!
