Political publication National Journal just reported that “Rand Paul Apparently Paid $100,000 for RandPaul.com.” The publication was referencing Rand Paul’s Federal campaign records. The article went on to state that “Federal campaign records show Paul used his Senate reelection committee to pay $100,980 to Escrow.com, a domain service, on March 27 for what is described as a “domain name.”
I think that this was a wise purchase by Mr. Paul because it’s much easier to advertise  RandPaul.com on campaign material than something longer. Owning this domain name makes more sense than relying on the owner of the domain name to use it for something positive. In addition, owning the domain name prevents a political opponent from buying it and using it for something negative.
Some people may have recommended filing a UDRP proceeding instead of spending that kind of money for the domain name. Of course, winning a UDRP would have depended on a variety of factors, including the usage of the domain name, and I am not sure if Mr. Paul would have prevailed.
Rand’s father, Ron Paul, is probably familiar with the UDRP process, having filed a UDRP for RonPaul.com and RonPaul.org. Unfortunately for the elder Paul, the UDRP did not go in his favor, and a reverse domain name hijacking finding was made for the .org domain name.
Spending $100k may seem like a substantial amount of money, but it saves time and aggravation.
As someone who buys and sells keyword domain names for a living (not trademarks or famous peoples’ names), it’s a bit frustrating to see Mr. Paul spend $100k on this domain name. I think it is only going to cause more speculators to buy political domain names with the hopes of hitting the lottery. I suppose we shall see with the upcoming Presidential election in the US and campaigns underway.
who had the balls to quote that price for a well known name i wonder.
Just shows you to many guys are quoting to cheap!
Go Rand GO!!!!!
I hope this guy is our next President.
i guess my longshot ‘warrenwebb.com’ ticket is not likely to be a winner 😉
ne woman strong enough to keep ‘hillary’ in check and southern gentleman, gun carrying, viet vet ‘hot’ former gop secy of navy
it was worth a few bucks, better odds than megamillions weekly lottery drawing i figured
Most people (myself included) are too lazy to research whether RandPaul.com was used for legitimate purposes prior to being sold to Rand Paul. So, in the grand scheme of things, it scarcely matters if it was or it wasn’t.
1. Newbie domainers will conclude that squatting on trademarks or celebrity names is a lucrative scheme with few negative consequences.
2. People outside the domain industry will infer that any $100k domain sale is little more than a bribe to squatters.
Sales like these are very bad PR. They’re the current the rest of us domain investors constantly swim against.
I agree that it doesn’t really matter.
I also agree that it is bad PR for most domain industry professionals. It’s annoying to me because I know people will read the mainstream publications and think this is the type of thing I do…. “Elliot, that guy sold RandPaul.com for $100,000! You should buy HillaryClintonForPresident2016.com!” Or “Elliot, do you know the person who sold RandPaul.com for $100,000?”
Great sale!!
The issue here is that if the guy that registered the name use it fairly, there is nothing to contend.
I agree that $100K is a bargain. Rand Paul has been a rising star for both Republicans and Liberatarians alike and stands a very good chance of becoming our next president, he’s definitely Presidential material, believing firmly in the US Constitution, unlike the worthless piece of sh*t we have now who’s done nothing but trample on it.