I recently spent a year endeavouring to earn some extra cash
by dealing in domain names. This is an idea that was touted
as a good business to be in. The heyday of the sale of domain
name was in fact before the burst of the dotcom bubble in
2000. The "dotcom" has always been the domain to hold for
prestige and worth. The most valuable to be sold pre-bubble
was business.com exchanging hands for a mere $7.5 million!
As the market has been picking up again recently, perhaps
it was time to jump in. However, i found it quite difficult
to trade, being a novice in the business with no practical
experience.
There are quite a few things to learn about, such as how
to acquire tradeable domain names. Also the rights,legalities
and registering, which must be for one year minimum. Although
you don't actually own the name, you do feel just a little
important to see your name in the "whois" register! This
gives all current information for all domain names.
A good source of information, support, and even a possible
sale, can be found at domain name forums such as dnforum.com.
Here you can make yourself known and advertise. The drawback
is that others will be seeking bargain deals, so they can
trade on. A more reliable approach is to "park" your names
with a company such as Sedo. Here, without a fee, each name
is given its own webpage together with adverts, from which
you earn a little money. The most lucrative, but not at all
easy is to sell the name directly to a suitable business.
This could be a new-start or one requiring a web presence
and so a good name.
If you do not know the person to whom you are selling a name,
it is wise to use an escrow service. It will hold the money
involved until the transaction has been completed.
