advice Is there money in expired/expiring domains?

[ticagroup]

About 3 months ago, my girlfriend let one of her domain names expire that was part of her business, it wasn't the main domain name, but for $10 a year, it's well worth registering the similar domain names.

When it expired a company in Russia snapped it up, and then a few weeks later, randomly it become available again (Why?)

So I promptly registered the domain name, and recently, I've bought 3 domain names, 2 with PR, all 3 previously used and one even used by several companies, one of them was used by a massive company in Australia!

So here's my question, can you make quick cash from registering other people's domain names and then selling them back? Say you register for 10 dollars and then sell it on for 30?

Or sometimes would other people be interested in a previously registered domain name, if it had history like Page Rank, and previously good reputation and google results?

And how does the 30 day period from the expiration affect the ability to snap up good domains? Do websites like DropCatch pick up most of the best ones?

 

[erchaman]

There are companies getting rich only with expired domains, or big part of them. For example: namejet, dropcatch.
Your domain could get backordered by people and companies message them when the domain is available. So that’s likely what happened to your domains.

 

[ticagroup]

I guess so, I don't really know all that much about domain names, but what is the 30 day period after the domain all about?

Is it possible for just your average Joe, part timer who buys a few domains here-and-there? I'm talking profits of around 20 dollars or so, as long as the return is there.

For the most part I live in Ukraine, so 100 dollars a week is like 500 dollars in the US.

I was thinking about dipping my toe slowly into it, and was hoping to get a bit of advice from people about the whole expiring domain scene, and if there was money for someone who did it part time? and where the money would come from selling them back to the original owner, developing the site (possibly monetize the existing traffic?) or have I missed something?

I registered a domain called StellAdaptor.com which has pages of feedback from forums and people recommending the adaptor to others, but I can't think for the life of me how to utilize it or even contact the original owners

So that's another question, is it always good to have a landing page? With your contact info?

Another thing that is confusing the hell out of me is the PR of a site, I've checked with 3 different PR checkers on one of my sites and one says PR4, another PR3 and another PR0.

Apologies for all the questions..

 

[erchaman]

Dear friend:
I don’t know if you already say hi to the community as a new member, if not do it, we will greet you with a warn welcome.
Your questions are still in the most experienced domains and the questions everyday you will come up. My advice is get hooked on NP AND READ READ AND READ.
As a help I can recommend you to make a portfolio with all of your domains. I use efty.com and strongly recommend it, 1 month free without any payment register and there summit your contact details, you can see mine as example: Domainvale.com

I don’t recommend you register domains only to focus on getting a 30$ dollar sales. If I register a domain I expect a ROI ( return of investment )of at least 500%
Imagine you see a domain like DanielsGlasses.com and you register it for 10$, you want to contact all shops called daniel who sells glasses. It can take you weeks to elaborate a good inquiry and contact all. Later you rarely get 1-2 response about how much and probably the domain still didn’t sold. So, does your time worth 30$-10$ of registry? Mine not.

 

[ticagroup]

Thank you for your reply, I'm slowly looking through the forum deciphering the information, and I've came across Efty, which is something I may now look at setting up with 3-4 domains I already have, you've introduced a new concept of registering easily re-selling domain names like the suggestion with "DanielsGlasses"

Actually you're also right that in an idea world I'd want to increase the ROI as much as I could, and a 30 dollar profit for a quick flip may not be a lot to some people, but when I was living in Ukraine I spent around 15 dollars a day living quite a good life!

I thought that Efty was just a simple landing page for each unique domain, I didn't realised you based your whole website around it, including your business and other domains you have for sell...

I tried Sedo.com but it seemed rather complex, and more trouble than I could put up with.

 

[CrocodileDundee]

So here's my question, can you make quick cash from registering other people's domain names and then selling them back? Say you register for 10 dollars and then sell it on for 30?

Yes, I would aim a little higher than $30 though, would be tough to break even selling for such a little profit (factoring in the domains you won't sell).

Or sometimes would other people be interested in a previously registered domain name, if it had history like Page Rank, and previously good reputation and google results?

Page rank and a good reputation may make the domain more attractive to a potential buyer but it isn't necessary.

And how does the 30 day period from the expiration affect the ability to snap up good domains? Do websites like DropCatch pick up most of the best ones?

Most of the better domains are snatched up by domainers using drop catchers like DropCatch / NameJet. But you can still find good expired domain's (domains available for hand reg) too.

I was thinking about dipping my toe slowly into it, and was hoping to get a bit of advice from people about the whole expiring domain scene, and if there was money for someone who did it part time? and where the money would come from selling them back to the original owner, developing the site (possibly monetize the existing traffic?) or have I missed something?

Simply the money will come from you purchasing a domain that another person feels has enough value that they wouldn't mind paying you for it. If the orignal owner let the domain name expire it's unlikely they would be interested in purchasing it back from you (unless they dropped it by mistake). Developing the domain may make it more attractive to a potentail buyer but it's not necessary.

So that's another question, is it always good to have a landing page? With your contact info?

Yes, try Efty.com / Bodis.com / Undeveloped.com for your landers.

I tried Sedo.com but it seemed rather complex, and more trouble than I could put up with.

Sedo is a domain marketplace, just like ebay - you can "park" your domains with sedo, but most people just submit their domains to the marketplace.