advice Peoples names as domain names yay or nay?

[iLawless]

I've tried searching the forums for this, but don't know the right terms to use so haven't found any results. What is the rule when it comes to buying and selling domains of a persons real name? E.g. JohnSmith.com. I see a stack of them in auctions and I've picked up a few that have come in a group of domains. I can't seem to find any rule. It feels like theres something not right with it, but at the same time, if my FirstLastname.com became available and I had the money spare, I'd jump on it. I got in early and registered both of my kids names for when they're older.

So, say JohnSmith.com did come up in an expired auction and I happened to secure it for $10; is there an issue with me listing it for say $2500 because there are a lot of John Smiths and surely one of them will pay for it. If so, there must be an invisible line in the sand; e.g. if I tried to sell JohnTravolta.com, i'd most likely be sued. Without giving it away, I have one domain of the John Smith variety and one of the celebrity variety, except the celebrity one is their birth name, not their celebrity name.

Is this actually a niche that some operate in? Is it safe? Or is it best to avoid?

Any advice and tips would be greatly appreciated. Also doing a poll.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

On a side note, I might be a little biased/defensive because I sold Tyler/Jones dot com a couple years back.

I agree. I don't have a ton of these, but I did sell BrettGray(dot)com last September for $1,750. I owned it since 2015 when there was no one popular by that name. If there is someone remotely popular with the name, I won't buy it, unless there are thousands of other people with the same name.

Had I stayed on top of my pricing, I probably would have bumped this one up a little bit.

 

[Ategy]

I wouldn't say it's a "death wish", but you don't have what I would say is an appropriate choice, which is that I frown upon it, and there most certainly could be legal issues and actions taken against you.

Fact of the matter is that trademarks are not black and white. There is a line that UDRP panellists or judges will use when considering if your domain is too close to someone's trademark. Unfortunately that line is different for everyone and also depends on the specific names. For me, I think it best to use the clear line that single (first OR last alone) names are more than generic enough to be safe/ok, but that First+Last (together) are too specific/targeted unless you have a legitimate claim to the trademark yourself.

Remember trademark's don't need to be registered to be legitimate and active. If you are using your name in business, then you have a legitimate claim to that First+Last trademark. In fact you don't even need to officially claim it, as you effectively have a trademark on your name from the moment you start using it in business (registered or not registered).

https://www.namepros.com/threads/first-and-last-name-domains-are-they-ethical.1063130/#post-6555448

I know we also had a discussion on the topic on previous session of The Domain Social .. can't remember which one unfortunately (pretty sure it's on an older one here, but might be on one not yet uploaded):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbW5sUR0Fnbf03pkgtbJWNw

 

[iAchilles]

The only way you hit your moonshot is if you buy your own name and perhaps your families names (so you're safe) and some celebrity or business person comes of age and takes an interest in buying it. So no, it's not worth your time.

One that springs to mind was JoeRogan.com, it was formerly owned by a a real estate agent and the famous Joe was operating on the .net.

 

[CircusMaximus]

A better strategy is LastName + Industry Keyword

I hand registered around 1,000 of these last year and so far I'm still well in profit from that set even after the second year renewal.

 

[dombastic]

A better strategy is LastName + Industry Keyword

I hand registered around 1,000 of these last year and so far I'm still well in profit from that set even after the second year renewal.

So you spent 18,000 in fees?
How high is your profit?

 

[Dr. Dogmain]

This can be done right – by statistical analysis – and wrong—gut regging.

 

[CircusMaximus]

So you spent 18,000 in fees?
How high is your profit?

Actually it was around 1200 names hand registered at an average fee of $8 because I used Epic, Dyna, Silo discount windows, the surname domains have cost $15k as of today, being half way through the second year of renewals (at $8.50). Ive earned just under 20K net from sales.

Not a large profit, but I did discover a block of those domains (three-words) that haven't made a single sale, so sticking to two words should be fine going forward.

 

[wot]

Only one first name in my bag. Dropped some first/ last names some years ago,they were picked up, dropped etc.

BillyJo.com

 

[blogspotter]

A better strategy is LastName + Industry Keyword

I hand registered around 1,000 of these last year and so far I'm still well in profit from that set even after the second year renewal.

So you spent 18,000 in fees?
How high is your profit?

Interested in this as well

Examples of domains you sold and for how much

 

[CircusMaximus]

Interested in this as well

Examples of domains you sold and for how much

I'll list three of them here as examples in the 2-5k range:

WatkinsEnergy.com
OliverTechnology.com
WilliamsAutomation.com

 

[Dracodomain]

Maybe celebrities are more into Tweeter and Instagram than webpages, which makes a first, last or firstlast celebrity domain name harder to sell

 

[domainmanager845]

Maybe celebrities are more into Tweeter and Instagram than webpages, which makes a first, last or firstlast celebrity domain name harder to sell

There comes a time when there are a lot of different accounts, there is a need to sell products under your own name, make announcements, and so on. So far, we have not come up with a better universal and flexible format than our own website. Anyway, at this point all the information is brought together