Buying Domain Names

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.

Michael Cyger introduced me to DomainLeads.com, a recently launched domain industry tool created by the company operating Estibot. DomainLeads.com is a tool that helps identify the number of registered and developed TLDs (extensions) in specific SLDs (keywords or phrases). For instance, I can see the Logical SLD is registered in 134 extensions, and 13 of those are developed websites.

I think this data is critically important when it comes to understanding potential prospective buyers and determining the value of the .com domain name.