Not everyone may realise this, but there is an online market for buying and selling domain names (website addresses). After hearing how much some of them have sold for, then you may want to get in on the action too. Many high-profile domain sales are confidential, however the most expensive publicly recorded domain name goes to CarInsurance.com, which sold for a massive $49.7 million in 2010. This is bearing in mind that a new domain name can be brought for under £5. So the potential profits are ridiculous. Voice.com became the highest selling domain name of 2019, which was sold for a massive $30 million. So you never know, you may find that popular domain name that hits the jackpot, making you hundreds, thousands, or even millions if your really lucky. The top 100 domain sales of 2019 can be found on DN Journal.

Choosing a Domain Name

When deciding on a domain name to choose, it may be a good idea to brainstorm some ideas first. If you can think of some potential profitable domain names, the next step is to check whether they are available to buy from a domain registrar such as Sedo and Go Daddy. If you are struggling for ideas, there are various domain name search websites that can help in the process, including Nameboy, Namestation and Domains Bot.

The following factors can aid in selecting a valuable domain name:

• Shorter domain names sell better.
• One word domains are the most valuable.
• Try to create a domain name that is easy to type and remember, i.e. using common words and spellings.
• The domain extension or top-level domain (TLD) can determine value too. The .com extension is the most valuable TLD.

The first domain name I brought was arworld.co.uk, which is probably not the best name because it’s not immediately clear what it’s about. It stands for augmented reality world. I’m hoping it will gain value as augmented reality becomes more popular.

Sedo

With over 19 million listed domains and 2 million customers from over 150 countries, Sedo is the world’s largest platform for the professional trading of web addresses. You can buy, park and sell domains on Sedo. I currently have my domain arworld.co.uk parked and up for sale on Sedo here.

Parking Domains

Once you have purchased a domain name from a domain registrar, such as Sedo and Go Daddy, it’s a good idea to park your domain straight away and whilst you have it up for sale. Parking on Sedo is free and it enables you to make money whilst your waiting for your domain to sell. You can earn money through the advertisements, that are automatically placed on the parked domain. Every ad click will earn you money. Payments are made automatically via wire transfer or PayPal. Also, parked domains sell twice as fast as non-parked domains.

Selling Domains

When selling domains, you can do so across multiple sites at the same time. For instance, I use Flippa and Sedo to host my selling. You may list your domain at a fixed ‘buy now’ price, or a minimum asking price can be set. Sedo claims that domains with a buy now price, sell quicker. Domain selling sites also host domain auctions, just like an ebay auction, however, it can cost money to list on an auction. It’s therefore down to choice, whether you want to pay, in order to increase your chances of selling your domain name.

Pricing Domain Names

When I was putting my domain name up for sale on Sedo, I had no idea what price to have it up for. It may seem tempting to give it a ridiculously high value, but this may result in zero sales, therefore it’s better to be more realistic and give your domain name a better chance of selling. Luckily with Sedo, they provide a tool that gives a recommended selling price. It may also be worth visiting appraisal sites, who will provide an estimated value on your domain name’s worth. Estimations may vary and so acquiring several appraisals will give you a better idea on how much you may get for selling your domain name. Free appraisal sites:

• URL Appraisal
• Estibot

Sold Domains

So up to this point, you should have brought an available domain name, parked it, appraised it, and listed it for sale/auctioned it. So now you have to cross your fingers for any interested buyers and hopefully get your domain sold for a high profit. If your domain does get sold on Sedo, it will only be transferred to the new owner once the purchase price has been paid. Sedo will then handle the smooth transfer of ownership rights, whilst providing secure payment processing.

Because new domain names can be purchased for such a cheap price, it’s worth trying domain selling at least once, because you never know what huge profits you might make. The whole process is quick and easy to do also. Good luck everyone!

Page Last Updated: 21/04/2020