On Friday, GoDaddy (via Afternic) announced it would allow sellers to offer Lease to Own (LTO) transactions for up to $5 million. Since inception, GoDaddy has capped the maximum LTO deal at $100,000, so this extension offers greater flexibility to domain name sellers.
Announced today at the ICA in Las Vegas: no more $100,000 limit on Lease to Own!
Got domains priced above $100,000?
Enable Lease to Own today. pic.twitter.com/D1H1ttbGrn
— Afternic (@afternic) January 17, 2026
I think this is great, but domain investors need to use their best discretion with an offering of this magnitude.
Adam Strong mentioned the contractual aspect of LTO deals at GoDaddy. Notably, and to my knowledge, domain name sellers can not utilize custom LTO purchase agreements when executing LTO deals at GoDaddy. Sellers (and buyers) are subject to the standard terms and conditions offered by GoDaddy.
When I have executed private LTO deals on my domain names, I have always preferred to use a custom drafted agreement to protect my business and the domain name. Numerous issues can pop up. Some are more serious than others. A good purchase agreement will contain language that covers potential issues. Some of the issues that could potentially come up that probably aren’t covered in the standard TOS:
- “Misuse” or “abuse” of the domain name. Defining what is misuse and/or abuse may be critical for the protection of the domain name.
- Trademark infringement or accusation of infringement.
- Who pays for UDRP or lawsuit defense.
- What happens if domain name is deemed unusable during term due to litigation.
- What happens if domain name is lost in UDRP or cybersquatting damages are awarded via litigation.
There are many one-off scenarios that can happen over the course of a lease to own deal. A domain investor can mitigate many of the most thorny issues with an agreement crafted by a domain name lawyer with expertise in the field.
I have a handful of domain names that I have put up for sale above $100k that I am willing to risk the thorny legal issues. For my most valuable domain name assets, I would only proceed with a deal that has a customized LTO agreement to protect the asset and my business interests.
