How To Make Money Selling Domain Names
By Richard Lowe, Jr.
 

Domain name speculation has to be one of the very best ways to make money on the Internet. It's easy, fun, takes a very low investment and has a huge profit potential. Businesses and webmasters are always looking for high quality, marketable domain names and will pay you big bucks if you have the name they want. Many people are making a good living buying and selling domain names. And you can too.

Below I will tell you everything you need to know, including where to find good domain names that are still available for registration (for as low as $14.) This used to be one of the hardest and most frustrating parts of domain investing. In the past to find good domain names you would have to search, one by one, until one came up that was available. But now there are research tools and compiled lists that do this for you! You can also get lists of domains that have expired, due to non-payment, and have been put back into the available pool. More on this below, but first lets discuss what makes a good domain name.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD DOMAIN NAME:

The suffix is the most important factor. .COM, .NET, and .ORG are by far the most popular. Other alternative domains like .WS, .TV, .FM, are becoming more and more popular because they are wide open. For example where you couldn't get DW.com you can still get DW.ws (well maybe not anymore). For now, I would stick with .COM because they will be the easiest to sell.

Would a webmaster or business want it? Ask yourself that question and if you can't instantly say "Yes!" then don't buy it. Also the more generic the domain name the better. And remember it is illegal to register a business name or trademark that you do not own. This is called "cyber-squatting" and tough laws are now in place to protect against this.

The shorter the name the better. These are the most memorable and easiest to market. At the time of writing this, there are only about a thousand three character domain names left. To find out how to get a list of these and four-character domain names see below.

What names are selling? Do some research on Ebay.com or Afternic.com (popular domain auctions) and see what names are selling and for how much. Below are what some domains recently auctioned for or have current bids at Afternic.com:

Internetbank.com    $ 92,800 
E-Privacy.com       $ 35,080 
eloans.net          $  6,060 
Ez-HomeLoans.com    $  4,725 
venture-capital.net $ 14,510 
officetravel.com    $  2,625 
qalaxycafe.com      $  1,890 
a1restaurants.com   $    730 
stormnews.com       $    765 
SkinCleanse.com     $  2,885 
LADoctor.com        $ 15,000 
MrAirline.com       $ 15,000 
Engineering.org     $198,895 

HOW TO FIND HIGH QUALITY DOMAIN NAMES:

There is a myth circulating cyberspace that all the good domains are taken already. And although it is true that thousands of new domain names are registered everyday, there are still good names to be found. The best way to find great domains is to subscribe to expired domain lists. These are compiled lists of the thousands of repossessed domain names that have been put back into the domain pool every day. They are available again for anyone to register and contain some really great names; recently race.com appeared in one and was snatched up by a lucky subscriber. As a subscriber you will get first pick at registering these names. There are two such lists that I know of:

Unclaimed Domains

DNSIndex Expired Domains

These lists are literally worth thousands of dollars. To get the lists all you have to do is subscribe, which is easy and cheap. Then each week you will receive a fresh list of expired domains in your email inbox.

You may also purchase a custom keyword search in the recently expired domain name pool from DNS Research

Other tools to help you find great domain names:

DNS Research - sells lists of all available Dictionary Word .COM, .NET, and .ORG domain names. They also offer lists of remaining three character domain names.

DNS Index - sells lists of available three character and four character domain names as well as custom searches of the expired domain pool.

FREE tools to help you find great domain names:

DomainsWeekly offers a free weekly e-zine that includes a list of over 200 high quality expired and available domain names. The website also has tons of domain related links, resources, services, news and more.

NameBoy.com has a great search engine that recommends available domain names based on a keyword you enter.

NameU.com has a search engine that does pretty much the same thing except you have to click on each name individually to see if it is available.

Editorial Note: NameU.com was unreachable at the time this article was reviewed. Alternate domain search services can be found at DomainsBot and Shop4Domain

DOMAIN REGISTRATION:

After you find some good domain names, you will need to register them. Not too long ago the cost to register a domain name was $70 for two years. But with new regulations and the distribution of registering privileges the cost of registration has become more affordable. Meaning more profit for you! You can now register a domain name for as little as $14 for a year. One place to do this is at DomainsWeekly.com

SELLING YOUR DOMAIN:

The most effective place on the Internet to sell your domain names is on auction sites. List them first on Ebay, Afternic, and EzDomainAuction. There are also domain name brokers that will list your site for free, a fee when sold, a fee to list, or both a fee to list and when sold. GreatDomains.com is a great high traffic site to list on and you only pay them only a small percentage when you sell your domain. If you have a good domain name, and your price is right it won't be long before a buyer bids or contacts you.

Many new domain sellers make the mistake of trying to sell every domain name for thousands of dollars. When, in fact, you will do much better selling more domains for a few hundred dollars. This way you will have a much higher turn around rate. Remember you are registering the names for $14 and if you sell one for even $200 that is still a huge 2600% profit!

CONCLUSION:

As you can see, domain name buying and selling is a good way to make a great deal of money. It's very easy and you can do it in your spare time. Get started today by subscribing free to DomainsWeekly.com, subscribing to DNSIndex (instant access to expired domains) and any of the other available and expired domain lists listed above. Register with Ebay.com and Afternic.com and begin selling! Good Luck!

  About The Author
Article written by Wayne Ford of DomainsWeekly.com
"And you thought all the good domains were taken!"
© 1999 - 2000 by Wayne Ford. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.