I know someone that is looking to buy large city, country, and popular region Tours.com domain names. This is someone who would not be considered an “end user” buyer, so if you have something of interest, please price it accordingly.

This person is looking to purchase names like the following:

• BarcelonaTours.com
• TuscanyTours.com
• MexicoTours.com
• CaribbeanTours.com

As you can see, they must be .com, must be a large city, country, and maybe regions but it would have to be somewhere that people visit. All submissions must be priced. It should not be a brandable name like CheapAsiaTours.com or something with a descriptive word like “cheap.”

Please do not submit names that do not fit the bill, as I will hit delete on those comments and will be annoyed 🙂 . I am not brokering the domain names, so you will not have to pay me a commission.

If you don’t like the rules, I recommend listing your names on Sedo, Afternic, Aftermarket.com, or DNForum.

I received an email from Toby Clements this morning announcing a change in his popular domain sales newsletter. In response to a friend that asked to see his list of domain names before sending the email newsletter to his 15,000 subscribers, Clements opted to create a VIP subscription newsletter.

The VIP list will cost subscribers $1,000 per year, and it will be limited to a maximum of 50 subscribers.

Clements went on to explain, “This VIP group will get our newsletter by 6pm ET the day before the launch. It will have all the names and prices, therefore you will have the shot of buying the names quicker than most… If you are a regular buyer of mine then there is no question that you have missed deals being we sell names so quickly. This simple solution can help fix that problem. You will still need to be quick, but only quicker than 49 other people rather than over 15,000 of them.”

*** Update ***

It appears Toby has decided against this:

“This morning we announced plans to offer an exclusive pre release membership. We have had an astounding amount of feedback on this membership and after much discussion have decided not to follow through with this. Most of you have voiced your opinions on why it is and isn’t a good idea and after weighing all opinions we feel it is better for all of our subscribers to not implement this membership.“

After a few weeks of back and forth negotiations with the Whois contact on a great domain name, I came to terms and agreed to buy the name in a five figure deal. The price was more than I initially wanted to spend, but I felt it was still going to be a very good deal with enough upside to take the risk. All was going well, but he needed to wait to pull the trigger until his wife’s website could be moved to an alternate domain name.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and I hadn’t heard anything back regarding the domain name. I called the domain owner, and apparently there was some “family  discord” about selling the domain name and relocating the website. The wife, who owns the website, was not happy at all that the husband, who has ownership of the domain name, had agreed to sell the domain name.

Luckily for me, this happened before the deal actually transpired. Had I bought the domain name and the woman had an issue after the deal, I could have been in a legal murky area. Although the domain name was registered to the husband, the wife may have had some say over the domain sale, and that could have been problematic, especially since it seems that she owns the actual business.

When you’re buying a domain name, it’s important to ensure that the domain name registrant has the authority to sell a particular domain name. You can do research to see if he/she owns the company or is a domain manager. If the later, you better check with company management before you execute your deal. Yes, it may actually kill your deal, but it will certainly save you trouble if the deal wasn’t legit.

I am still hoping the husband can convince his wife to sell the domain name, but I am glad it didn’t get tangled in personal issues.

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.

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.

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.