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Great .com Domain Names Wanted

I am looking to purchase a couple (maybe a few) strong keyword .com domain names. The maximum budget is $10,000 for each name, although I may be persuaded to pay more for the right name(s). You can have a look at my recent sales and current projects page to see what types of names I’ve sold and own to give you an idea of what I am looking to purchase.

Some of my most recent aftermarket purchases include NapaValleyRestaurants.com, PaymentProcessors.com, DogBalls.com, and DelrayBeachRealEstate.com, among others.

The only requirement is that the names be great, .com names. They must also include the price and your contact info. If you happen to see a name that you like, feel free to contact the seller. There aren’t many requirements on this post, so please keep them in mind to not waste your time, my time, or the time of anyone else.

Debt Ceiling Gamble: Buy DebtCeiling.com

Debt Ceiling

If you were playing the “debt ceiling drinking game” where you have a drink every time US President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner  mentioned the debt ceiling buzzword, you’d probably be pretty buzzed right about now.

With all the talk of the United States debt ceiling issues, I’m surprised that nobody has taken a $2,000+ gamble on DebtCeiling.com. The domain name is currently owned by Dark Blue Sea’s Protopixel Pty Ltd.

I’ve never done well with parking, so I’d probably make very little on a domain name that is likely getting some decent traffic right now. However, someone with a high parking revenue share or someone who can build and monetize a website in a short period of time may be able to do well at this price level.

The domain name can be bought for $2,249 by visiting DebtCeiling.com. I have neither the PPC experience nor the desire to develop it, so I’m not taking the gamble.

Disclosure: I also was not asked to post this and am not looking for compensation.

How I Speculate on “Future Trends”

Because my business model relies on quick flips, I don’t hand register too many names with the hopes of selling them in a few years. Most of my acquisitions are made to capitalize on current services, products, and sometimes trends. However, sometimes I do make purchases based on the potential for future value.

At the end of 2009, I learned that there were a few cities vying for the 2018 Winter Olympics. I did some research and found that Pyeongchang, South Korea was a leading candidate, so I investigated what domain names were available. I know the Winter Olympics aren’t nearly as popular as the Summer Olympics, but I also know that hosting them will almost certainly bring tourism.

Instead of registering Olympic-related domain names, which is what many newbies and rookies do, I hand registered a few names I thought might have value should Pyeongchang be named the host. This morning, Pyeongchang was named the host of the 2018 Olympic Games.

The domain names I was able to secure include:

  • PyeongchangRestaurants.com
  • PyeongchangTours.com
  • PyeongchangVacation.com
  • PyeongchangVacations.com
  • PyeongchangSouthKorea.com

I tried to buy Pyeongchang.com, but the asking price was too high. I also see PyeongchangHotels.com on Sedo, but I don’t wish to make a $1,000 minimum offer.

I don’t know if my domain names will see significant offers or just one offer, but it’s neat to speculate like this. I don’t think this is like playing the lottery because I did my research and knew that there was a good chance at least one of the names would have value if Pyeongchang was chosen.

Aftermarket.com Changes Membership Tiers and Upgrades Listing Pages

In performing my daily Whois lookups last week, I came across a couple domain names for sale at Aftermarket.com, and I realized I hadn’t heard much from the company since its last live auction at Domain Roundtable. I reached out to Carron Brown to see how things are going and she gave me a couple of updates I want to share with you.

The company has changed its membership tier features since its inception. They have three levels of membership: Basic, Verified and Premium. You can now make an offer on a domain name with the Basic membership  level, which wasn’t possible before. You do have to upgrade to a Verified account in order to close the transaction, but for the purpose of negotiations, it’s possible to do them at the Basic level.

In case you’re wondering, the cost of Verified and Premium memberships is just $1.00 and is likely just a way to ensure that you are legit and won’t flake out on an offer.

Carron also let me know that “the listing pages have also been revamped and now have a sleeker look and feel.” Listings now include social media buttons (Facebook, Twitter, Share This) on each page, allowing the seller or other person to let others know about a domain name for sale.

“Trend” Domain: AgricultureFund.com

I know there are a number of domain investors who like to buy “trend” domain names, and while it may be a smart move, it’s not something I do very often. I read an article in the New York Observer today about how some hedge funds are coping with doomsday scenarios, in the event of high inflation and political uncertainty.

After reading about how several hedge funds and mutual funds have started “agriculture funds,” with investments in farm lands and related assets, it led me to do some domain research on that topic to see if there were any interesting domain names for sale.

I saw that the owner of AgricultureFunds.com is asking $14,500 for the domain name at Go Daddy. I also saw that Buy Domains owns the singular AgricultureFund.com domain name, and the asking price is much more reasonable, at under $1,500.  IMO, it’s a pretty good price for this domain name since it seems that many leading investment firms have started or are thinking about starting an agriculture fund.

If the name is of interest to you, I recommend emailing sonia @ buydomains.com to but it. You can also follow the link on the landing page and buy it that way.  I think it’s a good price, and if I was interested in longer term investments on trending domain names, it would be a name I’d buy.

BTW, there is no affiliate link here and nobody from Buy Domains / NameMedia asked me to post this. I am getting nothing from this post… just want to be clear.

Tip for Buying Valuable Domain Drops

I usually spend a couple hours a morning using Freshdrop to see what domain names will be coming up for auction later this evening at NameJet, and what will be up for auction in a month or so (if the names aren’t renewed). There are certain traits I look for in the domain names I monitor to purchase, but I want to share a tip with you that might help you buy some good domain names that can quickly be flipped.

After you’ve set your personal filters based on your preferences, I recommend having a look to see who owns the same domain names in different extensions. You should also use the Whois history tool to see who previously owned the domain name that is dropping.

This information is invaluable to me, and it should be beneficial to you as well.  Let’s say you’re bidding on a legal domain name, and you see a large law firm owns the .net. Assuming the name is a descriptive name rather than a branded name (or name of a lawyer for instance), you may want to target that name to buy at auction, with the hopes of selling it to the owner of another extension.

It’s likely that the owner of the other extension would be interested in upgrading to the .com domain name if you are able to win it at auction. Of course the obvious caveat is that you need to wait until you win said domain name, especially if it’s a lawyer that might think you are attempting to sell an item that does not belong to you. You also need to make sure it is descriptive and not someone’s trademark or service mark.

There may be limitations on how quickly you can transfer or push a domain name depending on the registrar, but it’s a great way to find leads for domain names you might want to purchase.