Profit in selling just the domain - no website?

[Bubzeebub]

How possible would it be to turn around and sell these domains for a big profit without a website associated with it? Is it realistic to think you can make a nice return on JUST the domain name?

[luckychucky]

My registrar allows a free parking page which reads: 'Interested in buying this domain?
eMail (your address)'
I don't know where it gets circulated, but I get incoming off those all the time.

I usually ask US$300 or $700 and they almost never reply back. They want it for $50...they must be smoking crack. But I did sell one for $7000, another for $2500 and another for $1500...not bad for 5 minutes of typing. Usually the high value ones were accidentally someone's company name, and they HAD to have it, like widgetlink.com, or widgetsoftware.com etc.

You could also try the domain auctions, although I never got any action from them, personally.

[peted]

Some Texan bought business.com for $160,000 and sold it for $7.5M. That was before the spring of 2000, before the digital meltdown. There are three ways to make a profit on domain names, in my opinion. The first is to buy one like business.com and just sit on it. Don't call them, they'll call you. Good luck finding something like that now, though. Every word in the English languare has been gone for years, at least in the .com TLD. The second is to develop a site around the domain name and sell the whole shootin' match. Developing a business seems like a lot of trouble to go to to sell a domain name. I think you'd be selling a business. Success stories like ebay and amazon are few and far between. The third way is to think up some really good domain names and then market them. Not junk names. Good, respectable names targeted to a particular business activity. The test I use is, would I use this domain name to market myself and my business. They're out there. One just has to think of them and create them out of nothing. And all of the three ways involve substantial risk. So find the cheapest, most reliable registrar.

[ganderla]

I am still finding great keyword domains available. I bought one a few months ago, put up a 1 page site. did no SEO at all and I am listed in Yahoo for several keyword combos.

[peted]

Another point I failed to make earlier, is that it is perfectly legal to own a domain name with the intent of selling it and making a profit without having an associated website. I sure hope it is, because my guess is only a minority of existing domain names have associated sites on the www. What is illegal is owning a domain name with an improper intent to make a profit at someone's expense. The operative statute is the Anti-Cybersquating Act. If you register something like MikeRoweSauft.com, I think you're going the get a phone call from Redmond WA, and the aforementioned statute is going to come up in the course of the conversation. One cannot infringe tradenames, and that can be a complicated analysis. If you come up with a nongeneric tradename, then it does have to be associated with an ongoing business, and can't infringe anyone else's tradename. However, that doesn't necessarily mean one has to have an active website.

[peted]

Ganderla, what does SEO mean?

[Pedent]

Ganderla, what does SEO mean?

That would be Search Engine Optimization.

[Webwork]

Trust me on this: If they are that good and that rare someone will find you. You will waste endless hours and get nailed for spamming if you spend time trying to find someone to buy the domains.

You can always list them at any domain name forum.

[peted]

Here's the corrected URL for the article which discusses generic domain names, tradename law, and dilution.

[bc.edu...]