What Types of Domain Names Are You Buying?

I am almost always looking to buy domain names in the aftermarket. I send offers and inquiries daily, and I participate in domain auctions on a variety of auction platforms on a daily basis.

Scott Rosenbaum suggested that I publish an article asking people to share what types of domain names they are buying these days, and I think that is a good idea. This will give me and other readers the opportunity to see what types of domain names other people are buying right now.

Here are four types of domain names I am always looking to buy:

I am always on the lookout for great one word .com domain names. My company owns Travels.com, Stallion.com, Lilac.com, and Embrace.com to give a few examples of the quality of domain names I like.

I also occasionally buy great one word geographic domain names that can either be used for a city/town website or a travel destination website. I may not be developing new properties right now, but I buy these names as investments. Some examples include Milford.com, Sunapee.com, Truro.com, and LakeWinnipesaukee.com.

Three letter .com domain names are always of interest at the right price. There are many variables I consider when evaluating a LLL.com domain name.

Finally, I still buy meaningful two word .com domain names. The price has to be great, and there would need to be a good reason for me to buy them. If someone needs to explain the meaning of a particular domain name, it would not be of interest to me. Some recent buys for me include NeckSurgeon.com, AdministrativeStaff.com, CrisisNegotiation.com, and StrawberryPicking.com. Again, I am all over the map with these types of domain names but they need to be meaningful and priced well.

So there you have several examples of the types of domain names I am currently buying. I invite you to share the types of domain names you are buying.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
  1. Really Useless article.
    If you want to know what people buy go around and look at aftermarket auctions.
    These days on your blog people do not submit a lot of comments so this sample will not tell you much.
    Even if you had 100 replies still it would be nothing compared to what you got from looking at aftermarkets.

    • I think your comment is less useful than the article but thanks for reading!

      On the other hand, maybe someone will see this article and send me a great domain name they are selling that matches my need.

    • Elliot can post whatever the flip he wants on his blog.

      If you look AT auctions, that doesn’t tell you what people are buying. It only tells you what people are trying to sell. Name Bio and the DN Journal lists do tell you what people are buying, but only a small percentage of purchases are submitted to NB and DNJ.

      Nothing wrong with asking what someone is looking for. Elliot might find something to buy or sell via the discussion.

    • I do have a one word .com name that matches your needs. The name has a special rich history with your geo location. PRIVATEER.COM.

      Regarding what I look for to purchase:

      1. One word dot coms.
      2. One word, precise and exact KEYWORD.MATCHING New G’s… Example(Internet.Domains)

    • so your article is not really about what people are buying but rather an attractive worn on a rusty hook. oops didn’t mean to offend just commenting on what i read

  2. Thanks for sharing Elliot!

    In the last couple of months I was mostly going after 4L .com as I have seen price went low quite a bit and bought around 20 domains mostly under 1K and I tend to hold them for longer period of time unless any attractive offers comes on my way…

    • Well thanks for such a vague reply there, Scott. Anything I have left is not for sale at “domainer” pricing to other “domain investors,” and not for sale to end users at the kind of depressed pricing most would expect from the suppressed status quo Neustar has worked so hard to so successfully maintain.

      How could you possibly “enjoy investing in .us domains” with the status quo being what it has been and what Neustar has made it all this time since 2002, even worse now than before? Were you even there in April 2002 during the launch? Is there something you think you know or think will occur to improve the situation despite the present reality? Honestly, how could you not be nothing less than sickened by the plain inexcusable realities of the “state of the union” regarding .US and what Neustar has done with (and to) it? You write even as if nothing’s wrong and everything is fine while the emperor walks around naked. The reality of how .US has been handled is nothing less than reprehensible.

    • John, I haven’t put that much thought into it. I just personally like dot .us domains. I’ve been investing in domains since 1999. Yes, I was there when they came out. I agree that they are nowhere near where they could/should be, but I enjoy picking them up as an investment at such “depressed” pricing. At the prices I’ve picked them up for, and the offers I have received, I’m extremely happy with the results. 99% of my portfolio is .com, and I have maybe a dozen high quality .us domains and was looking to pick up a few more. I like the gamble – who knows where it will end up. Have a great weekend!

  3. I look for various things when buying names:

    I like 2 word names that have a meaning too. Recently I bought SmartUpgrade.com, PoundCoin.com and SuitJacket.com

    I obviously like 1 word domains but I they have to be super low prices for me. Unconfident.com and Moisturise.com are names I bought in this category.

    I also really like keyword .guide domains. My most recent aftermarket purchase was app.guide

    Your domain, Truro.com is interesting because its a small town in Cornwall, England 30 minutes from where I grew up. Very nice place 🙂

  4. I still focus on Geo-Niche (Product/service) type domains. There’s some that I was interested in 7 years ago that were taken and just in the last 6 months dropped. I grabbed them, of course. Not only are they easier to develop, but now I have the added bonus of them being previously developed and potentially getting some organic visitors that used to go to the old development. That’s not even counting the backlinks the old development had pointing to it that increase potential. 😉

    • Nice Eric. I too like GEO emphasized domains. Unfortunately a bit of lesser value compared to global and universal names but it’s a great market spot to be in.

  5. It would be good to see what others are buying, but it seems they do not want to share, so here are a few of my purchases.

    UHXI.com
    AlarmTesting.com
    AllRightMedia.com
    HotelsSalerno.com
    PirateRevenge.com
    EmpowerWebinar.com
    PixelBlind.com

    P.S. I’m a big fan of two word .com’s

    • Bonin,
      I’m registering 3 word domain names. I think it’s an untapped market. Sure, may not be short however I believe in its contribution to high ranking in search results for specificity in the market.

      My best two word is platinumadvice.com

      I’ve also registered a lot of city of sarasota .com domain references.

    • Hi Jon,

      thanks for sharing, I almost forgot a few of my favorite domains

      Flushness.com

      Unmanageably.com

      WeTrainTheBrain.com

      VirtualRealityTraveller.com

    • John,
      I have the following three word domain names
      ShopMyShop.com – Do shopping in our shop
      AutoFocusCameras.com – All cameras today are having this feature.
      FlyOnSale.com – Enjoy discounts for travelling in flights.
      EatnPack.com – Food and Travel related business(Perfect for tourism website).

      And now I am looking only for domain hacks either with cctlds or gtlds.

  6. I wish I could bought more of the 4L domains when I got them cheap at $10-20 each 4 yrs ago , domains like
    gxnx.com
    zmmr.com
    zvkv.com
    skqk.com
    zvkv.com
    and many more and getting tons of offers every day. I bought about 50 of them.
    Yea, I bought those from sellers who called themselves domain experts or domain Pro and they know all about domains- to me- they know S+hit
    Thank you very much for selling cheap to me and I am laughing all the way to the bank.

    Don’t listen to them esp the DG-domain Goons or the DSHAME blog- they are fakers and they said 4L are down – they are piss for selling cheap and now they are spreading fake news that the 4l are down..what a bunch of losers!!

  7. Been getting offers on my 2 words domains

    gunresponsibility.com
    nationalguncontrol.com
    onlinedrones.com
    onlinedrone.com
    ecloudhosting.com

    and of course many of my marijuana domains

  8. I’m addicted to .info, especially one word domains, and recently bought these:

    mosquitioes.info
    nagasaki.info
    vrgaming.info

    Fellow domain investors tell me that I’m crazy to buy .info, but I’ve noticed that sales have increased recently.

    I also bought a number virtual reality (VR) domains like these:

    virtualrealitygamedesign.com
    virtualrealitygamedevelopment.com
    virtualrealitystorytelling.com

    I’m curious if you (Elliot) or your readers have any opinions on virtual reality (VR) domains and their interest/value to domain investors or potential end users. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks.

  9. Pinyin “auto/car” related names. As an example xingganche.com “sexy car” These are long term holds for end buyers but some of these “car” related pinyin names have brought exceptional prices. re: maiche.com $1.5 million

    • Pinyin names sell well in chinese market. We can hold and flip big for the right chinese end users..I have a Premium Real Estate pinyin. If you are interested, let me know..

  10. there are only 2 buyers for domain names.

    investors

    end users

    what end user wants anything but a dot com or in the case of an internet start up something like .io.

    anyone investing in anything else is either going to cash out to a less sophisticated investor or loose his/her shirt.

    it may be a gold rush but there is a lot of fools gold

    • Hi, Christopher. There’s at least one other category. SEO specialists are buyers of domains for ranking purposes, and look for domains with age, trust flow, citation flow, domain authority, page authority, and non-spammy backlinks, such as from quality .coms (Huffington Post, entrepreneur.com, etc.), and from .edu and .gov sites, to provide some ranking power, to then use for other things. I’m a domain investor, but I’m also am a ranking specialist. The last couple decades I did it for corporations. Now I will be doing it for small businesses, soon, under my emerging Vizibilities.com brand. The term in the industry is PBNs which stands for private blog networks, but they use it to refer to a single domain inside a “private blog network,” and it really has nothing to do with blogs anymore, though most of them are built on WordPress. Normally they are content-specific sites. I could tell you a lot more about the ins and outs of what seo’s want, but that’s probably TMI. What I will tell you is that SEO’s have had good luck lately with ranking very short tlds, like .io, .xyz, and others, and with those domains that are short left of the dot as well, counterbalanced with ranking well for long tails, so what one person sees as junk, could very well be valuable to an seo. SEO’s routinely buy junky-type (from a domainer perspective) domains for $500+ and even 4x that, but others are spendthrifts. I personally favor keyword domains, though, and have for 19 years. 🙂 ~ Tasha

  11. I think it’s sad that a lot of times people post some of the most worthless domains, but nobody tells them how worthless they are, so they are left stumbling in the dark and wasting their time and resources while others in the thread know it. And even if someone does say something, there is just as much risk they will be considered the bad guy, or lying, or worse they might get rebuked for doing a good deed when the domain really is worthless and the host even knows it.

    Think about it, people. Some of the domains some people have posted in this thread clearly demonstrate that they are stumbling around wasting time and resources in the dark, and some others here know it.

    • Well so much for what I wrote at 1:26 am above, though some of what has been posted since defiinitely does have value at least and is more like it in terms of not being blatantly and sadly worthless. I would gladly tell others how worthless what they posted is, in order to do them a good deed, but I already know it would be the kind of good deed that might not go so well. Perhaps someone else would be willing to help them out and keep them from wasting so much time and money in their life.

  12. If you want to make money on domains buy what the Chinese are buying 4N .com in 2012 I sold 2 of my domains for $2,000 Now I just sold 2 domains for $46,000 at this time I advice to buy 3 characters domains now they selling from $1500 to $3,000 in three years if they follow the same pattern like the NNNN.com they will be selling for $15,000 below is a copy of the auction at 4.cn for the highest paid for domain in auction the past 2 month, You have to divide the RMB by 6.65 to get one dollar.

    5290.com ¥138,000 RMB
    y52.com ¥21,199 RMB
    f53.com ¥21,000 RMB
    h31.com ¥20,000 RMB
    f37.com ¥19,200 RMB
    d83.com ¥16,600 RMB
    cglc.com ¥16,200 RMB
    ffdy.com ¥15,802 RMB
    27652.com ¥14,100 RMB
    lldk.com ¥13,888 RMB
    dwjf.com ¥13,000 RMB
    zdrz.com ¥12,200 RMB
    dlts.com ¥12,200 RMB
    gdpf.com ¥11,001 RMB
    ghdk.com ¥10,400 RMB
    zbtc.com ¥10,400 RMB
    7jr.com ¥10,300 RMB
    pfbx.com ¥10,200 RMB
    cqfs.com ¥10,200 RMB
    wqtx.com ¥10,200 RMB
    ysfb.com ¥10,000 RMB
    ssbh.com ¥9,889 RMB
    zggr.com ¥9,803 RMB
    gxmr.com ¥9,800 RMB
    ldzf.com ¥9,799 RMB
    frpw.com ¥9,724 RMB
    njrx.com ¥9,700 RMB
    mypk.com ¥9,700 RMB
    pryw.com ¥9,699 RMB
    xdxm.com ¥9,666 RMB
    ygnw.com ¥9,623 RMB
    nptz.com ¥9,600 RMB
    rfrz.com ¥9,588 RMB
    qnff.com ¥9,488 RMB

  13. I have been buying mostly meaningful 2-word .coms such as:

    ElegantMaternity.com
    CerealSnacks.com
    ForexProducts.com
    PaleoCooking.com

    I also buy/sell a lot of geo+profession domains (mainly medical, but not only), such as:

    BostonPediatricDentists.com
    DallasCosmeticDentistry.com
    BostonLaborLawyer.com
    BostonNursingHomes.com
    BostonOptometrist.com
    IrvineSolar.com
    PortlandFinancialPlanning.com

    I still pick up cannabis domains, although I have gotten much pickier about what I buy. Recent buys include:

    CBDExtracts.net
    HempExtracts.net

    And of course, the occasional 4 or 5 letter .com

    • Hi Jackie-we own names like WellesleyRealEstate.net and others-check the whois if you’re interested in some we’re selling-you might be.If so ill donate 20% of any sale to Elliot’s charity. Thank you.

  14. Pronounceable llll.coms. Good cvcv.coms, especially, have become much more expensive in the aftermarket recently, but still worth investing in, in my opinion.

  15. What’s the best place to advertise your domains for auction or sale? I have some good names, but I can’t find the right places to get maximum exposure to get them sold.

  16. I am a fan of meaningful two word .coms, i have few in my inventory like..

    FlyingSpy.com
    onPriority.com
    LendGenie.com
    CityAuditor.com
    PlayLend.com
    RankShine.com
    SmartOperate.com
    DigitallySmart.com
    DearHolidays.com
    ComfortableStay.com
    onRealtime.com
    BetterScope.com
    CleanAssurance.com
    VeryStorage.com

    but meaningful alterated brandables are i like most..

    FocusU.com
    Turboy.com
    Gamingfy.com
    AppCurate.com
    Beautiable.com
    FullSpeedy.com
    Freelivery.com
    Brandonics.com
    Enhanster.com
    Resultron.com
    ExcluSeat.com
    Payrofit.com
    Refusey.com
    Transaxo.com
    Weligion.com
    Wonfidence.com

  17. Thanks for sharing, I found that the prices at auctions have gone a lot higher in the recent months, still managed to find a few I felt were decent investments:

    MountainCowboy.com
    SuperImports.com
    BounceGym.com
    HDMultimedia.com
    CreekBar.com
    GolfSprings.com
    CloudAttorney.com

  18. Brandable and Sayings
    Easy to say and to spell is a requirement.
    Geo Targeted that are only in the top 50 cities

    Recent Purchases
    SimplySells.com
    Vexacon.com
    DomainDiner.com
    wemow.com
    COMPLETEIDIOTS.COM
    DUGOUTREPORT.COM

  19. Well so much for what I wrote at 1:26 am above, though some of what has been posted since defiinitely does have value at least and is more like it in terms of not being blatantly and sadly worthless. I would gladly tell others how worthless what they posted is, in order to do them a good deed, but I already know it would be the kind of good deed that might not go so well. Perhaps someone else would be willing to help them out and keep them from wasting so much time and money in their life.

  20. Well seeing some of what’s been posted here, and that one like “DomainDiner” has been posted, I will remind people that this one is still available:

    Domasphere.com

    http://www.Domasphere.com

    It’s a great creative domain for referring to the industry, and perfect for another blog or domain related site. 🙂

  21. i’m trying to find new Eldorado:) in new GTLDs.

    Have got several names, both geographic and SMB-oriented.

    Just to name a few:
    8848.rocks
    istanbul.discount
    jerusalem.discount
    korean.place
    korean.rentals
    vilnius.vacations

    24hours.pizza
    24hours.menu
    24hours.photo
    bio.delivery
    organic.estate
    cozy.rentals

  22. I am looking to buy domain hacks. Below are the domain hacks that I own
    freshe.rs
    mete.rs
    rada.rs
    semiconducto.rs
    fittin.gs
    lightin.gs
    rap.id.ly
    tollfr.ee

  23. I bought these following domains yesterday 😉
    LLLL.org

    ZLBY.org
    ZKTR.org
    YMGJ.org
    XYLZ.org
    TSHQ.org
    PFDB.org
    NFKT.org
    MCTT.org
    JYMC.org
    CXBG.org
    CGKP.org

    AYYY.org
    EKKK.org
    ERRR.org
    EUUU.org
    EYYY.org
    GVVV.org
    LUUU.org
    LVVV.org
    OJJJ.org
    OVVV.org
    VGGG.org
    VYYY.org
    XVVV.org
    OYYY.org
    UZZZ.org
    HEEE.org

    ZUUZ.org

    ZZZA.org

    and a 63N.domain:

    999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999.in
    the highest possible Numerical Domain in India

    and talking of geo Domains..i don’t exactly own one-word geo domains..but i own these two

    JobTaiwan.com
    GeoClick.net

    and my best adult domain:

    PORN.bio

    With Love..
    ..sAm

  24. Hi Elliot. Thanks for the great articles and some good input from readers.
    I have been a dabbler in domaining for a number of years with very limited success. I have spent much of 2016 reading lots of articles from you, and many of your domaining colleagues. I am gearing up to jump into selling.
    Here’s some of my recent NON-com registrations. I would love any feedback…and by all means, make an offer if you like any of my domains.

    FiveStar.Vegas
    Rising.Technology
    Alert.Ventures
    GoIn.Style
    Fly.Limo
    Exotic.Property
    CareTo.Help
    Rocking.Guitars
    Valuable.Toys
    Intelligenc.io
    A1Credit.Cards
    Available.Social

    Thanks
    keenan.hladich@sympatico.ca / @KeenAim / @DomainFiveStar

  25. KissimmeeMortgage.com

    AlbanyPawn.com

    AnaheimFurniture.com

    PokerStyles.com

    Plasmodium.com

    CulverCityMortgage.com

    FloridaLoan.com

    UtahForeclosure.com

    PokerGames.io

    CityFares.com

    Fares.la

    Jackets.la

    Attorneys.fm

  26. Good post. (I don’t get the detractors.) In the last year I bought names to develop like FitU.com, BestStores.com and other .coms, I bought medical domains, especially some pneumonia vaccine names , seo names, and long tails and shorts. Almost exclusively .coms. My buying usually goes in waves, and then I taper off and focus on other things for awhile.

    • Hi Tasha,

      I have some cool names similar to FitU.com and BestStores.com
      Below are the names
      VcureU.com
      BestPlatform.com
      Medicine.guru
      Vaccine.asia
      Vaccination.club

      Let me know if you are interested to acquire any of these names.

  27. I am enjoying the conversations in the post.
    Thanks for kicking it off with your article.
    My current portfolio consists of keyword rich and brandable domain names.

    8lucky8.com – Brandable name for possibly a gambling / lottery site
    affiliateduke.com – Affiliate marketing – brandable “Duke”
    blackdoginternet.com – Internet marketing
    buytoysonline.net – Toy niche
    cialis-fr.org – Self explanatory
    downloadyourfreeinfo.com – For opt-in / landing pages
    dreherphotography.com – Photography niche
    flippercentral.com – potential site for flipping – domains, websites, cars, houses..
    generallyhealth.com – Health niche
    giftemperor.com – brandable gift site
    giftsbrowser.com – brandable gift site
    hardgainerinsider.com – Fitness / Muscle gain niche
    healthnewszone.com – Health niche
    homeandgardenreviewer.com – Sell e.g. Amazon products relating to this department
    howtogetridofmanboobsnow.com – Self explanatory
    internetbabyhouse.com – baby niche
    internetduke.com – internet marketing niche
    internetgamehouse.com – gaming niche
    internetluxuryhouse.com – Luxury products niche (Amazon, Ebay..)
    internetpethouse.com – Pet Niche
    internetshoppinghouse.com – Shopping portal
    internetsocialhouse.com – Social networking / Social Media
    internetstoragehouse.com – Online storage i.e. cloud storage service
    internettoyhouse.com – Toy Niche
    internetvideohouse.com – Video niche / Video agency
    landscaperliverpool.com – Self explanatory
    lookforgift.com – Gift niche
    moneyduke.com – Internet marketing niche / Money transfer service
    mostexpensivejewelry.net – Jewelry niche
    onlinedomainregister.com – Potential for domain reselling / selling service
    ozzievideo.com – Video Niche
    plrduke.com – Internet marketing – PLR niche
    realestatecanterbury.com – Real Estate niche
    real-estate-informant.com – Real estate niche – advice / selling platform
    trafficduke.com – Internet marketing niche – Traffic Generation
    traffilia.com – Traffic for affiliates = traffilia – Internet marketing niche
    viddyoh.com – Video niche – Brandable
    videoduke.com – Video niche – Brandable
    videyoh.com – Video niche – Brandable
    videyu.com – Video niche – Brandable
    vidoyou.com – Video niche – Brandable
    wheretobuybuy.com – Shopping portal

    All the best,

    Matt

  28. MarijuanaWarehouseBrokers.com

    MarijuanaGrowhouse.xyz

    TrackMyDrone.us

    TrackMyDroneDelivery.com

    and a few more like these (.coms and .us)

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