I was chatting with someone who owns a nice domain name that I would be happy to buy. He has owned the domain name for more than 25 years, and it served as the hub of his business during that time. A few months ago, he decided to put up the domain name for sale, and I came across the landing page today.

Although the registrant’s price is fair for an end user buyer, it would be much more than I could afford to spend to acquire it as an investment. If I owned the domain name, I would have priced it right around the same level that he has it, and I would wait until the right buyer comes around. Obviously, I can’t spend what I would hope to achieve from a sale, so I will keep in touch and perhaps make a deal down the road.

Large corporations tend to manage large portfolios of domain names. Over the years, companies acquire domain names for a variety of reasons – corporate acquisitions, defensive registrations, product or service domain names, and anything in between. Some domain names are mission critical and others serve a purpose for a short period of time and become unnecessary for the company to use and own.

The BBC is a huge UK-based media company that owns thousands of domain names. An article in World Trademark Review (WTR) discussed how the BBC determines what domain names it needs and what the organization does with domain names it does not need. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Over the past few months, I have spent more time using ExpiredDomains.net for finding domain names. I use the site pretty much every morning to supplement the various lists of upcoming domain name auctions I review. I also use the site to look for new listings on different domain name sales platforms and marketplaces.

One thing I recently discovered is the “watchlist” feature. Next to each domain name row, there is an unfilled star that can be clicked to add individual domain names to my watchlist. I can then click on the Watchlist button and the domain names I have starred will appear on the list.

I have an account at Network Solutions that has domain names I won at NameJet auctions. I periodically move my domain names to GoDaddy, and I typically keep fewer than 20 domain names in my NSI account.

There have been a number of times I have read about domain names that were stolen from Network Solutions accounts. DomainGang.com has done a good job of covering domain name theft, and a Google search for “site:domaingang.com Network Solutions stolen” shows quite a few articles that were published about domain names that were allegedly stolen from Network Solutions accounts over the years. In addition, I recently wrote about a security incident at Web.com registrars, including Network Solutions and Register.com.

When I logged into my NSI account a couple of days ago, I was prompted to make some security updates to my account. I created a pin code and went through a couple of additional steps to ensure my account is secure. This afternoon, I received an email from Network Solutions “introducing a whole new level of security.” Here’s what I was told:

I was on the Clubhouse domain investor chat organized by Jen Sale last Friday evening, and the topic of domain investing mistakes was brought up. I did not speak out in the Clubhouse room, but I want to share a domain investing mistake I have made many times and will continue to make in the future.

After selling a domain name to a buyer, I occasionally go out to look for similar domain names that I think could also be appealing to the buyer. By way of a hypothetical example, if I sold DomainInvesting.com, I might try to buy DomainInvestor.com or DomainInvestment.com in a private acquisition or future auction. Because of my past success selling the similar domain name, I tend to be more aggressive than normal in buying the subsequent domain name(s). After all, I have my own comparable sale to know the potential resale value.