Thursday, February 3, 2011

Make Money Buying Domains



I was looking to buy a certain domain for a website I'm planning. But darn, somebody already beat me to it. And whoever this person is, is selling the domain at a premium. See screenshot below. (See me beg, hehe.)


What's amazing is I already bid on this same domain last year. And the minimum bid price I was given was only US$1000. Even then I already balked, what more now.

But from US$1000 to US$50000? I guess it's good business. I know when the internet was just starting, a lot of pioneers bought domains left and right, like pieces of real estate. Some of them even bought domains with the names of large multinationals before these big companies could even realize they would need to have their own websites someday. The domains were bought cheap, and they could sell it at a premium to the desperate multinational.

However, developments in World Intellectual Property Rights and through the arbitration and mediation of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), these big companies have found remedy, by asserting their rights over domains that use their trademarked names.

Here are some articles that tackle such domain name legal battles:
IOC wins battle over domain name indianoil.org
I Hate Ryanair website forced to close after legal battle
Lance Armstrong Wins Domain Names

So I guess the trick is, buy a domain that you think would be a likely name for a multinational to use. (Might as well apply for a trademark too.) Because then, the multinational cannot claim they have an existing trademark on the domain, and so, if they really want your domain, they would have to pay you tons and tons of money! (And if you learned that trick from here, feel free to send me a minimal 10% of your windfall. Hehe.)

P.S. Shameless plug: In case you're looking to build a slew of internet domains for an asset, you can buy them at this site: www.stdomainhost.com  :)

Book Recommendation:
Buying And Selling Domain Names 101: How To Buy And Sell Domain Names For Fun And Profits

1 comment:

  1. If it's a well-known trademark, one's registering a domain name or domain name version will likely not result to a windfall.

    The domain name business is crazy and susceptible to all sorts of hoopla but the key I believe is content development and a good domain name increases in value with that. That's adding value or creating real value.

    There are more TLD extensions being planned like .nyc, .gay, .health, etc. So people will go crazy again.

    Then we have in the Philippines of course the .ph which is expensive to have ($70) just because the Philippines has no competing registrar to Dot. The price has not gone down but why bother to buy it if you can have a good .com.

    ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP)link for your readers: http://www.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp.htm

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