Where do you buy domain names? This was the question posed by one community member earlier today, and I think it's a question that deserves to be looked at in detail. There are a number of marketplaces, drop catching services, and auction houses that offer investors the chance to acquire valuable domain names every day, so what are they?
To more experienced investors, this may seem like a trivial question, as many are familiar with the wide range of services available to help you buy domains. However, for newer investors and those (like me) with a poor short-term memory, here is a list of places to buy domain names.
If you have your own suggestions, you are welcome to post a comment below.
Pending Delete Domains
On a typical day, over 100,000 domain names expire and enter the "pending delete" phase. This means that each domain name has five days before it is deleted from the zone file and made available to the public again. To investors, searching pending delete lists can be a very fruitful task that can result in the acquisition of some great names.
Pending delete lists are readily available to download from many drop catching websites, but if you don't want to search through thousands of domain names per day, you can use services such as ExpiredDomains.net (and others) to filter results to suit your own criteria.
Once you've found a pending delete domain name that you would like to try and acquire, you'll usually need to use a drop catching service (or software) to register the domain on your behalf as soon as it deletes from the zone file and becomes available for registration. Services such as Pheenix, DropCatch, SnapNames, and NameJet all provide drop catching services.
NamePros.com
NamePros.com has an extremely active user base of sellers posting new for sale listings and auctions daily. There are often good deals to be had by browsing through the listings. At the moment, as you'd expect, there are a lot of "Chinese premium" domains and brandable names available for sale.
Marketplaces & Auctions
There are a number of marketplaces and auction venues that sell domain names. I've included what I believe are the most popular below, but if you have any other recommendations, feel free to post a comment.
Private Deals
Some of the best domain names you can acquire are not found on any public auction service or expired domain list. These names are often in the hands of private individuals, private investors, or companies that are willing to let domains go for a fair price. I recently acquired CM88.com and DN88.com from two small businesses for around $300 each. On an auction site, these would usually cost at least $1,000-1,500 each (based on recent statistics).
There have been a lot of private acquisitions of short .COM domains in the past year from mainly Chinese investors and brokers working on their behalf.
Hand Registration
Some investors have success from hand registering domains and selling them for a small profit. I couldn't recommend this practice as I've never successfully done it, but in a list of ways to acquire domains, hand registering must be mentioned.
Domain Brokers & Newsletters
Media Options and Brannans are two of the brokerage services that offer newsletters. These newsletters contain lists of domains that are for sale through the respective brokerage services, often at reseller prices.
To more experienced investors, this may seem like a trivial question, as many are familiar with the wide range of services available to help you buy domains. However, for newer investors and those (like me) with a poor short-term memory, here is a list of places to buy domain names.
If you have your own suggestions, you are welcome to post a comment below.
Pending Delete Domains
On a typical day, over 100,000 domain names expire and enter the "pending delete" phase. This means that each domain name has five days before it is deleted from the zone file and made available to the public again. To investors, searching pending delete lists can be a very fruitful task that can result in the acquisition of some great names.
Pending delete lists are readily available to download from many drop catching websites, but if you don't want to search through thousands of domain names per day, you can use services such as ExpiredDomains.net (and others) to filter results to suit your own criteria.
Once you've found a pending delete domain name that you would like to try and acquire, you'll usually need to use a drop catching service (or software) to register the domain on your behalf as soon as it deletes from the zone file and becomes available for registration. Services such as Pheenix, DropCatch, SnapNames, and NameJet all provide drop catching services.
NamePros.com
NamePros.com has an extremely active user base of sellers posting new for sale listings and auctions daily. There are often good deals to be had by browsing through the listings. At the moment, as you'd expect, there are a lot of "Chinese premium" domains and brandable names available for sale.
Marketplaces & Auctions
There are a number of marketplaces and auction venues that sell domain names. I've included what I believe are the most popular below, but if you have any other recommendations, feel free to post a comment.
Sedo
Sedo has been an active domain name marketplace since 2001 and caters to both end-users and domain name investors. Their inventory is vast, and whilst a lot of the domains are expensive due to the lure of end-users, there are deals to be found. During the four-letter .COM boom that happened last year, many four-letter .COMs were acquired at Sedo for low buy-it-now prices that later proved to be profitable for some.
Sedo has been an active domain name marketplace since 2001 and caters to both end-users and domain name investors. Their inventory is vast, and whilst a lot of the domains are expensive due to the lure of end-users, there are deals to be found. During the four-letter .COM boom that happened last year, many four-letter .COMs were acquired at Sedo for low buy-it-now prices that later proved to be profitable for some.
Flippa
A marketplace that started out as a place to buy and sell websites now operates a popular domain-only category lead by @FlippaDomains. Popular investors such as @Zandibot started out by selling domains on Flippa. In 2015, Flippa acquired domain brokerage company Domain Holdings that sold $21.7MM worth of domains in the 4th Quarter of 2015.
A marketplace that started out as a place to buy and sell websites now operates a popular domain-only category lead by @FlippaDomains. Popular investors such as @Zandibot started out by selling domains on Flippa. In 2015, Flippa acquired domain brokerage company Domain Holdings that sold $21.7MM worth of domains in the 4th Quarter of 2015.
GoDaddy
With closeouts, expired auctions, and aftermarket domains, GoDaddy has an extremely active marketplace that has recently been made far easier to monitor thanks to the release of GoDaddy's Investor app that allows you to monitor and bid on auctions from your iOS or Android device.
SnapNames
Now owned by Web.com, SnapNames is a marketplace that offers pre-release auctions, backordering services, and auction events. I've personally found SnapNames to be a reliable drop catching service and auction venue that I've used hundreds of times to find some excellent names.
NameJet
One of the most popular auction platforms with Western and Chinese buyers. After originally being a marketplace for expiring domains, NameJet opened up their system to allow private auctions. I find that there is a lot of competition between buyers on domain names at NameJet, but that is expected with a high-quality inventory.
With closeouts, expired auctions, and aftermarket domains, GoDaddy has an extremely active marketplace that has recently been made far easier to monitor thanks to the release of GoDaddy's Investor app that allows you to monitor and bid on auctions from your iOS or Android device.
SnapNames
Now owned by Web.com, SnapNames is a marketplace that offers pre-release auctions, backordering services, and auction events. I've personally found SnapNames to be a reliable drop catching service and auction venue that I've used hundreds of times to find some excellent names.
NameJet
One of the most popular auction platforms with Western and Chinese buyers. After originally being a marketplace for expiring domains, NameJet opened up their system to allow private auctions. I find that there is a lot of competition between buyers on domain names at NameJet, but that is expected with a high-quality inventory.
Private Deals
Some of the best domain names you can acquire are not found on any public auction service or expired domain list. These names are often in the hands of private individuals, private investors, or companies that are willing to let domains go for a fair price. I recently acquired CM88.com and DN88.com from two small businesses for around $300 each. On an auction site, these would usually cost at least $1,000-1,500 each (based on recent statistics).
There have been a lot of private acquisitions of short .COM domains in the past year from mainly Chinese investors and brokers working on their behalf.
Hand Registration
Some investors have success from hand registering domains and selling them for a small profit. I couldn't recommend this practice as I've never successfully done it, but in a list of ways to acquire domains, hand registering must be mentioned.
Domain Brokers & Newsletters
Media Options and Brannans are two of the brokerage services that offer newsletters. These newsletters contain lists of domains that are for sale through the respective brokerage services, often at reseller prices.
