General Domain Information

I have had quite a few lease to own deals in the last couple of years. It is a great option for a scrappy startup or financially strapped business to acquire a domain name at a lower up front cost.

In the real estate world, a less common deal structure is the purchase with lease back deal. A buyer will purchase a home and lease it back to the former homeowner for a set period of time. This is often done to give the home seller time to find another home or allow the seller’s children to finish the school year without disruption.

I think this type of deal could work in the domain name industry as well, and I am curious if anyone has done it.

The inaugural YC Top Companies List by Revenue is live! This list recognizes the companies in the YC community that achieved the highest net revenue throughout 2022.https://t.co/7HnWPFHJMv pic.twitter.com/V2vJp1LWkf

— Y Combinator (@ycombinator) June 27, 2023

Y Combinator, one of the top startup incubators, published a list of its top 50 companies by revenue. The list includes some well-known brands like AirBnB, Reddit, Stripe, Instacart, and quite a few others that are widely known.  The first thing I did when I looked at the list of companies is observe the domain names they use.

I went to the post office the other day to buy stamps. I had a brief conversation with the person working at the counter, and he asked what I do. After telling him a little bit about my business, he told me he had a funny story to share with me.

He is an artist and he created a cartoon character. He told me he tried to buy a domain name matching the name of the character, but the owner wanted $2,000 for it. He then pulled out his phone and told me he wanted to show me something funny. He found a screenshot of the email he sent the owner telling him he added “The” to the domain name and bought it for $.99. He also told me he turned down a $1,000 offer for that domain name from someone else.

We went on a quick trip to Chicago this weekend. I am always on the lookout for good domain names, and traveling is as good of a time as any to see something eye-catching.

I was surprised to see that Abt.com is owned by a local appliance and electronics retailer. Before seeing their signs, I would have guessed this nice 3L .com domain name was owned by the pharmaceutical company that uses the ABT acronym for its stock symbol. While ABT.com was good, it was not the best domain name I saw.

That honor belongs to NA.com, which I saw in a peculiar spot. As I was heading back home yesterday via O’Hare Airport, I made a quick stop in the restroom and saw the great NA.com domain name.

Two letter .coms aren’t necessarily the most valuable domain names, but it’s always neat to see a great name like NA.com when I am not expecting it.

As the year winds down, I have been thinking about what to expect for the upcoming year. I am hopeful that it will be a good year, but I would not be surprised if the business of domain investing is more challenging than the past several years.

It seems like economists and pundits believe we are either in a recession or going to be in a long one soon. I have been preparing my business for one as best as I can. I’ve been more apt to accept decent offers on inventory, and I have been spending less money on auctions and acquisitions. I would not be surprised to see domain auctions impacted by spending cuts at some point in 2023.

Less than a week remains in 2022. This is generally a quiet week in terms of domain name sales, so I tend to spend my working time on some end of year tasks. Here’s what I am working on this week…

Throughout the past year, I have won many domain names in auctions that ended up my accounts at different domain registrars. I have been unlocking these domain names and transferring them to my primary holding account. Having a primary account tends to make it easier to keep track of my domain names.