Buying New Domains

[Fish]

Clinton, brandables can be nice. Sales are far between, but a hand reg can fetch a few thousand with a buyer who really wants that name. The drawback is that the buyers usually have alternatives, and there's always the possibility that they may just try to take the name from you using legal means. Some people do well with them though. A common thread I see is when people invest in domains in a field they are especially familiar with. While everyone else is running off to check Google searches and such, they instinctively know what words will and won't work.

[KenW3]

One could also go a bit off beat and specialise in something very few other people are doing. Example: Jonathan Soares's techlusive.com

For creation of nonsensical names, similar to what is on that Techlusive link, Wordoid.com is a useful tool. It will find made-up words that sound natural, and also shows whether the dot com or net TLDs are available for the names found.

[cyanweb]

I recently sold a domain for $4500 USD - and could have probably received 5 times that if I knew who the buyer was! The buyer hid behind a US based 3rd party + Australian off-shore-owned dummy company to qualify for the .com.au domain ownership...

There were a lot of issues with legalities and pitfalls with transferring .com.au domains even using Escrow.com (loopholes to get ripped off etc - but maybe that's another post / story)

So long story short(er), the domain was Australian domain jobsite.com.au. The offer came out of the blue via whois search, so I quickly settled on $4500 as I'm not really a domain merchant etc + the quick sell was worth it at the time!

After the sale it turns out the ultimate end buyer was the owner of jobsite.co.uk - a big player over there... it's obvious they want to move into the Australian market now... or protect their IP. Pretty smart to hide behind 3rd party + dummy company!

So - if you have contacts in various overseas domain areas, looking at registering domains that may become of value in expanded global markets might be something to research.

[Clinton]

That's a bummer, but I suppose there's no way you can find out the real party behind the enquiry.

There were a lot of issues with legalities and pitfalls with transferring .com.au domains even using Escrow.com (loopholes to get ripped off etc - but maybe that's another post / story)

I'd be interested in hearing about them if you get a chance.

[olyking]

Thank you to everyone who replied to my thread. It is extremely useful to hear from folks with experience in this area. Even the "tough" answers are great to hear because I like to know what I'm getting into. Feedback and messages to me are always welcome!

-Olyking