Domain names once registered by another user are usually referred to as aftermarket domains, or secondary market domains. They become available for purchase when they expire, or when the owner decides to sell it. According to iGoldRush.com, there’s can be more than 20,000 domains expiring on one day. These domains may hold great inbound link, traffic, and branding value. Some have sold for millions. Before getting start buying an aftermarket domain, it’s best to know the playing field. Here are the fundamentals you should know.
Some aftermarket domains are put on auction via marketplace sites such as sedo.com and Godaddy Auctions.
How it Works
Offers domain names on escrow, where they’re held by a third party until the transaction is complete.
You can research which domain names have expired in the last 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days or 60 days.
Will register expiring domains on your behalf. If two or more people attempt to snap” the same expiring name, it will be placed up for auction between the interested parties.
Why it Works
A good domain name can be hard to come by… many are already taken. It’s worth researching if the domain you really want is up for auction.
A great domain name that is memorable and brandable allows you to “punch above your weight.”
Measuring Domain Value
Domains are valuable Internet real estate because unlike a search engine, there’s no middleman between you and the visitor.
In July 2013, $2.3 million of domain transactions took place on Sedo.com and Afternìc.com within one week.
Domain price trends are not detached from the rest of the economy, they are comparable to the fluctuations of stock prices.
According to Sedo.com, prices tend to run parallel to the NASDAQ loo index, the stock prices of Google, or total revenues from online marketing in the U.S.
Sedo research shows that domains rapidly gained value between 2006 and 2007 with prices peaking at a 76% Y0Y increase, before falling by 34% in the subsequent five quarters.
They have steadily regained their strength since, with average sales prices climbing to an all-time high in May 2011 at a total sales volume of $84.4 million.
Prices vary depending on factors such as keyword use, search engine ranking and traffic.
Generally, the higher the bid price, the higher the commercial value of that domain. According to DomainNameSales.com, most domain name re-sales occur between $5k and $80k. The avarage price of a common phrase ending in .com hovers between $9k and $30k.
Sedo.com is among the world’s largest global domain name marketplaces, selling 3,500 domains per month for a total of approximately $6 million in transaction volume.
Check out Namebio.com and DNSalePrice.com, which show historical sale prices, allowing you to judge worth vs. sale prices.
High value domains include homeloans.com, criminallawyer.com, business software.com, towercranerental.com and commercialcoffeemachines.com.
Some of the most exoensive domain names ever sold are:
holidayInn.com -$3M -1995
business.com – $7.5M -1999
fund.com – $10M -2008
sex.com – $13M -2010
insure.com -$16M -2009
Test a Domain Name Before Buying It
Last thing you want is a domain on Google blacklist. use the following to test a domain:
Do a Google site search (site:yourdomain.com) and check Google’s Penalty Tool to verify an aftermarket domain doesn’t have any penalties against it.
Check the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine (archive.org) to indicate the site’s industry and the type of content that was published.
Conduct a search of brand-related queries to identify any issues prior users had, as well as any past complaints that could damage future traffic.
Check UpName.com to see how the domain has changed hands over the years.