Buying Domain Names

I was looking through my domain name acquisitions for 2024, and something caught my attention. Approximately 25% of my domain name acquisitions and registrations in 2024 were non .com domain names.

With just about a day and a half remaining in 2024, I have purchased approximately 400 domain names this past year. I purchased a little more than 100 non .com domain names. Very few of them were hand registrations.

I don’t have an easy way to calculate the % of spend on non .com domain names, but all 10 of the most expensive domain names I bought in 2024 were .coms. Those top 10 names alone account for nearly 80% of the amount I spent on domain name acquisitions. My guess my total spend for non .coms this year is less than 5%.

I took a quick look, and these are the non-.com extensions I bought this year:

A couple of years ago, I made an offer to buy a domain name. My email went unanswered for nearly two years before receiving a reply early this year. The longtime registrant and I exchanged a few emails, and I learned he and his wife lived less than an hour from me. He seemed apprehensive to close a deal, having been burned in the past when a prospective buyer flaked on him.

After agreeing on a price and discussing details about closing a deal, he asked if we could meet in person. I was not inclined to do this, but I quickly concluded that this would be the only way the seller would be comfortable moving forward on a deal. I suggested a coffee shop about 20 minutes from my home and about 10 minutes from his home.

There are many large companies that own domain names that aren’t being used. This can be due to corporate acquisitions and mergers, killed products and services, or a variety of other reasons. As a domain investor, I love buying domain names from large companies, but it can be incredibly challenging to complete a deal.

The first issue is getting in touch with the right decision maker at the company. Oftentimes, the Whois contact works in the IT department – or is a catch-all email address – and the recipient has no say over whether or not to sell a domain name. These people tend to receive a ton of email and I have found they ignore most inquiry emails. On occasion, these people will forward the email to a decision-maker or person who can send it to the right employee.

I spend quite a bit of time trying to buy domain names. Some of the best deals I’ve made have come on domain names I privately acquired that had not been on the market. Sometimes you have to overpay to buy a domain name that will end up looking like a steal.

Yesterday on X, I asked people about their largest offer to buy a domain name. I thought it would be interesting to see what other investors are willing to offer for an investment-quality domain name acquisition.

What is the most money you would spend to acquire a dream investment-quality domain name?

— Elliot Silver (@DInvesting) September 9, 2024

I was driving through town the other day when I saw a landscaping truck with a perceptive quote on the back: “Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.” It turns out that this is reportedly a quote from Aldo Gucci of the famed Gucci luxury brand.

I think the same sentiment can be felt towards a domain name acquisition.

Oftentimes, a business will spend more money than it is comfortable spending to acquire the perfect domain name. The expenditure may be significant, and it could impact business operations in the short term. It can take a company time to wrap its collective “head” around the idea of making what could be deemed as a staggering investment in its branding and web presence going forward. In the short term, this can eat a massive chunk of a company’s cash reserves and may be painful.