Buying Domain Names

Here’s a relatively simple tip to see if a domain name is good: ask a third party that is not involved in the domain name business.

Several years ago before I was married, my wife and I spent quite a bit of time at her grandmother’s apartment. Her grandmother is very smart and as a former business / marketing professor, she understands domain names and their utility. She and I used to chat about domain names, including names I bought, names I was thinking about buying, and names she thought I should go after. When I mentioned a domain name that she didn’t like, it made me think twice about buying it.

It can be tough to ask colleagues in the domain space for their opinion about potential purchases. For one, everyone is competing on inventory. Sharing information about a domain name can offer more intel than a person would like to give up. In addition, domain investors might look at a domain name in a different way than someone who is out of the business. This is an attribute, but it can also be a detriment.

I have a number of friends

Yesterday morning, Richard Branson announced “Virgin Group’s investment in Hyperloop One.” The amount invested was not revealed, but it was a large enough amount that the company’s name is changing to Virgin Hyperloop One.

Although it is not yet resolving or forwarding to a website, VirginHyperloopOne.com was unsurprisingly registered. The domain name is registered under privacy proxy, so it is not clear who owns the domain name or who registered it. What is a bit surprising is when this domain name was registered. Usually companies wait until the final moments to register a domain name, but this wasn’t the case for VirginHyperloopOne.com.

Had outsiders been paying attention to Hyperloop-related domain name registrations, the registration of VirginHyperloopOne.com may have tipped people off to this news several months ago. According to Whois records, VirginHyperloopOne.com was registered back in April.

DomainTools has a great tool called

I thought I would share a tip to help people acquire domain names in private. Sometimes the Whois email address is not accurate and an offer or inquiry email will not be received by the intended recipient.

It can be frustrating to email a very good offer to a domain registrant and not even receive a response to the email. I understand that what seems like a very good (reasonable and/or fair value) offer to me may be low to the domain owner. I also understand that some people have no interest in selling a particular domain name regardless of how good the offer is. I think it is courteous to reply, so not receiving a response can be frustrating.

One thing that could prevent a reply from being made is if the domain registrant did not receive the email. Many domain registrants have a credit card on file at their registrar so their domain names are renewed without having to be reminded via email. They may never receive emails about their domain names, but since the domain names automatically renew, this isn’t something they even notice.

Yesterday morning I was doing some email follow-ups when I received