It’s always interesting to read stories from domain name investors. Domain investing is such a diverse and interesting industry that there’s certainly no lack of stories that investors can tell about their purchases, sales or deals gone wrong. Today, I wanted to briefly share the story of my first ever domain name sale. You’re very welcome to share your own story in the comments below.
Well before I was a domain investor, or even knew there was a domain industry, I was browsing eBay listings for items related to several British celebrities. I stumbled across a listing showing an exact match domain name for one celebrity that was for sale for around $185.
I had created some websites and social media presences for a couple of famous people in the past, so I thought it could be interesting to create a fan page on this domain. I wasn’t particularly a fan of this celebrity, but she was popular in the UK and I thought it’d be a project that would help me develop my web design skills.
I successfully bought the name and set about developing a website, having very little idea about potential UDRPs or copyright issues that could arise from an unauthorised use of this act’s image. I spent a while developing the name, and then I was contacted by Warner Music Group, the record company that represented this singer. They were interested in buying the domain name from me for the singer to use to help promote their upcoming album.
Naturally, I wasn’t going to say "no" to the record company, and although they never mentioned a UDRP or any other kind of legal proceedings against myself or the website, I felt it was best to acquiesce to a sale and see the name used by the singer. The sales price was almost exactly the same as the price I paid for the domain name to begin with, but nonetheless, it was a successful sale.
We used Escrow.com to close the sale, which was something recommended by the record company. However, I had absolutely no idea as to how to even transfer a domain name, so after help from the registrar and the record company, I finally managed to transfer the name over to the new owner. It was a very slow process due only to my complete incompetence and lack of knowledge about the domain transfer process at the time.
I learned a number of valuable lessons from this transaction, but it was still a long time after this sale before I started to look at domains as investments.
What’s the story of your first ever domain name sale?
Well before I was a domain investor, or even knew there was a domain industry, I was browsing eBay listings for items related to several British celebrities. I stumbled across a listing showing an exact match domain name for one celebrity that was for sale for around $185.
I successfully bought the name and set about developing a website, having very little idea about potential UDRPs or copyright issues that could arise from an unauthorised use of this act’s image. I spent a while developing the name, and then I was contacted by Warner Music Group, the record company that represented this singer. They were interested in buying the domain name from me for the singer to use to help promote their upcoming album.
Naturally, I wasn’t going to say "no" to the record company, and although they never mentioned a UDRP or any other kind of legal proceedings against myself or the website, I felt it was best to acquiesce to a sale and see the name used by the singer. The sales price was almost exactly the same as the price I paid for the domain name to begin with, but nonetheless, it was a successful sale.
We used Escrow.com to close the sale, which was something recommended by the record company. However, I had absolutely no idea as to how to even transfer a domain name, so after help from the registrar and the record company, I finally managed to transfer the name over to the new owner. It was a very slow process due only to my complete incompetence and lack of knowledge about the domain transfer process at the time.
I learned a number of valuable lessons from this transaction, but it was still a long time after this sale before I started to look at domains as investments.
What’s the story of your first ever domain name sale?
It felt great!!
