I am not sure why this is the case, but I think some people believe that using an escrow service like Escrow.com or an aftermarket platform absolves them of the need to do due diligence when buying a domain name. This is incorrect, and this thinking could be harmful.

When I buy a domain name, I use a variety of tools and insight to ensure that the domain name was not stolen and being sold by someone who doesn’t have rights to sell the domain name. I also use my instincts to determine if there is something that doesn’t seem right with the situation. There are quite a few ways that I determine that the deal is legit, but I do not rely on the escrow service or the aftermarket platforms to do it for me. I don’t believe either of these options were created to perform due diligence beyond cursory checks, and relying on them to do something important like is not a good idea.

If someone were to

I come across good domain names that are available for sale all the time. Some are private inquiries, some are via email sent from my corporate website, and the majority are at auction. When evaluating domain names, I think it is of utmost importance to think about who will be buying the domain name and then determining if there is enough of a margin to sell the domain name profitably.

One mistake I make on occasion is buying a domain name that looks very good on the outside but has limited profit potential when reselling. There are a number of professions that don’t seem to value domain names as much as others. A domain name may be an awesome exact match domain name for a specific field, but if people in the field aren’t big domain name users or a web presence isn’t all that important, the domain name may have less commercial value.

In highly competitive fields, an

Last week, I was bidding on an auction at Godaddy and ended up losing. The name could be worth more than the winning bid, and I want to share why I stopped bidding without revealing the name, since that might not be nice for the winning bidder.

The reason I stopped bidding was there is an alternative way to spell the domain name. It may have been good for branding, but it would have failed the radio test and would have likely lost half its traffic to the alternative. This domain name had a number and a word in it, but there are alternative spellings. For instance, if you heard the word “first” in a domain name, some people might spell it first and others might spell it 1st.

For this particular domain name, I think both

I have been looking into buying a domain name, and I opened a discussion with the owner via the current Whois email address. One thing I noticed is that a year or two ago, the email address changed while the other Whois information remained the same. On very rare occasions, this can be indicative of a domain theft where a thief controls the new email address unbeknownst to the real owner.

One way that I like to do due diligence is to send an email to the old email address found via DomainTools Historical Whois search. Typically, I will send a short email to the old email address confirming that the current email address is accurate and that the rightful domain owner is aware of the email discussion.

If I don’t receive a reply confirming this, I would