# Lucrative domain names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 27, 2007, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lucrative-domain-names/397664 "2007-03-27T10:19:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lucrative-domain-names/397664/1 "2007-03-27T10:19:48Z")
Ok… I’ve sold off 90% of my domains. That’s fine. But [this](http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm) gets my goat. Who could have ever figured that “[buckhead.com](http://buckhead.com)” would fetch a quarter of million dollars in 2007? Not me, that’s for sure. If I could go back in time, I’d register these domain names first. I’d buy [sex.com](http://sex.com), [drugs.com](http://drugs.com), [porno.com](http://porno.com) etc… ([drugs.com](http://drugs.com) sold for $3 million in '99), my friend bought [porno.com](http://porno.com) for $50k in '97, and immediately started making $50k/month (the bastard), we can’t put a value on [sex.com](http://sex.com), but a judge said $60 million. A year or so ago, I sold [freepornmovies.com](http://freepornmovies.com) for $35k. I thought that was a reasonable steal. After all, I had no site there, it’s just the words, etc. In fact, I’ve sold probably a quarter of a million dollar’s worth (real money to me) over the last few years. These sales have kept me in gas and food. Now I wonder. I still own over fifty good ones… though… they aren’t all _adult_. In fact, the best remaining ones _aren’t._ But how the hell can I sell [DemocratNews.com](http://DemocratNews.com) or [RepublicanNews.com](http://RepublicanNews.com)? [SweepsWeek.com](http://SweepsWeek.com)? Is that even a real commodity any more? My previous “strategy” has been “wait until they contact they you, then highball 10x what I think it’s worth…” That’s not working any more. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lucrative-domain-names/397664/2 "2007-03-27T10:55:52Z")
What, [yahooo.com](http://yahooo.com) was taken? How about [hotmale.com](http://hotmale.com)? Not so sure you’ll find a lot of people sympathetic to cyber-squatters. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lucrative-domain-names/397664/3 "2007-03-27T11:03:32Z")
[QUOTE=Merkwurdigliebe] What, [yahooo.com](http://yahooo.com) was taken? How about [hotmale.com](http://hotmale.com)? Not so sure you’ll find a lot of people sympathetic to cyber-squatters. [/QUOTE] Squatters? LOFL. You have no idea what you’re talking about. A cybersquatter is is someone who buys a domain for a known company like saralee, but buys [saraHlee.com](http://saraHlee.com). [RepublicanNews.com](http://RepublicanNews.com)? Who owns that? Stick with your knowledge base, if it exists, which I doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lucrative-domain-names/397664/4 "2007-03-27T11:18:49Z")
[QUOTE=Eleusis] Squatters? LOFL. You have no idea what you’re talking about. A cybersquatter is is someone who buys a domain for a known company like saralee, but buys [saraHlee.com](http://saraHlee.com). [RepublicanNews.com](http://RepublicanNews.com)? Who owns that? Stick with your knowledge base, if it exists, which I doubt. [/QUOTE] Heh. Upon, further reflection, mods please just close this. I don’t want it to come off as trying to sell anything, and I did mention a couple. If anybody has any ideas, just PM me please and we’ll let this die. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lucrative-domain-names/397664/5 "2007-03-27T11:25:05Z")
[QUOTE=Eleusis] Squatters? LOFL. You have no idea what you’re talking about. A cybersquatter is is someone who buys a domain for a known company like saralee, but buys [saraHlee.com](http://saraHlee.com). [RepublicanNews.com](http://RepublicanNews.com)? Who owns that? Stick with your knowledge base, if it exists, which I doubt. [/QUOTE] No, cybersquatters are assholes like you, who effectively do nothing more than hold a domain name hostage. ---
**Author:** ![TastesLikeBurning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@TastesLikeBurning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TastesLikeBurning)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lucrative-domain-names/397664/6 "2007-03-27T11:31:41Z")
[QUOTE=treis] No, cybersquatters are assholes like you, who effectively do nothing more than hold a domain name hostage. [/QUOTE] How is what **Eleusis** is doing much different to buying real estate without any intention of living there? ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lucrative-domain-names/397664/7 "2007-03-27T11:36:38Z")
Look I’ll make myself clear. I know quite a bit about it, since I had to deal with it. Maybe it’s not technically squatting but it’s certainly taking advantage in my book. People will register websites for ideas which they know would be good, but don’t have any plan or capability to actually implement. Nor the desire. It’s just blatantly taking money from people who have the ideas because they thought to secure the domain name first. When you come here and complain, woe is me, about how you only made $250,000 off your domain name sales, I really can’t muster up the sympathy. I’ve encountered this personally several times. I had an idea for a particular website, but all of the descriptive names were taken. People had thought of the idea, but had never gone as far as I had to actually implement it. What about people who register domains such as [yahhoo.com](http://yahhoo.com)? Is that cybersquatting, technically not, but it is harmful in a lot of ways. I saw that Yahoo! actually owns [yahooo.com](http://yahooo.com). Good for them, but they had to pay someone for absolutely no work whatsoever. But to answer your question, nobody wants websites like [RepublicanNews.com](http://RepublicanNews.com) or [DemocratNews.com](http://DemocratNews.com) because they are too long. If you actually think about it, which websites that are immensely popular actually use a term that wasn’t coined for the sake of getting a great domain name? Yahoo, Google, Ebay…all made up names. Moreover, names like [porn.com](http://porn.com) et al. Are generally crappy websites in my experience. [Porn.com](http://Porn.com) seems to be held by a “parking” company. Why is it so valuable? It is a great name, but it takes a great site to back it up. Also have a look at Kevin Rose and [digg.com](http://digg.com). The fact that [dig.com](http://dig.com) was taken (he said the owner wanted a large fee) only helped him in the end when he used [digg.com](http://digg.com) which seems even more distinctive. But did the guy who bought [dig.com](http://dig.com) have any idea what the hell the website could be used for? Not at all, but Kevin Rose had a specific set of words that were available to use that fit his idea. If I were in that game, I would have registered as many three-letter domain names as possible back then. And you have to ask yourself, who would go to [SweepsWeek.com](http://SweepsWeek.com)? Who is interested in sweeps week outside of network executives? Good domain names are less relevent nowadays because Google has made finding the top site. I could name a site [habergockey.com](http://habergockey.com) and it’d still work for almost any purpose given it was the right rank in google. Who opens their browser, decides they want to look for a topic, and just types it in as a URL? This was probably the case about five years ago. Fortunately, creative and unique brand names are the norm, and they can’t be predicted in advance. Imagine it. [habergockey.com](http://habergockey.com): Making sense of financial mumbo jumbo. That’s the problem. There’s only three particular scenarios available to a person wanting to create a website now. Regardless of the idea: 1. Get an idea, choose the most descriptive name possible and pay someone for the name. 2. Get an idea, choose the most descriptive name that is available for free and come up with a less than ideal name. 3. Get an idea, choose a brand name. Then try to find one that isn’t taken. Finally, how is [buckhead.com](http://buckhead.com) not cybersquatting? It was bought by the town of Buckhead. Nice to know that the taxpayers of Buckhead had to shell out a quarter of a million on a domain name. It’s impossible to rectify the situation, because putting any kind of restraints on domain name registration would do too much harm, and it’s unfortunately something we have to live with. Nice to know you’ve made profits from it. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lucrative-domain-names/397664/8 "2007-03-27T11:54:51Z")
[QUOTE=TastesLikeBurning] How is what **Eleusis** is doing much different to buying real estate without any intention of living there? [/QUOTE] There is a distinct difference. You can’t compare real-estate and domain name availability because the markets are completely different. A much more similar area would be registered trade marks, which have to be in use to be effective. Take the Apple iPhone. Cisco had registered it, but wasn’t using it. Apple decided to use it since they knew that their argument wouldn’t hold up in court. Imagine if you could buy a trademark for 10 dollars a year? Then each time a company came out with a product they’d have to pay you for it. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lucrative-domain-names/397664/9 "2007-03-27T13:00:38Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > Stick with your knowledge base, if it exists, which I doubt. > [@treis](#): > > No, cybersquatters are assholes like you, who effectively do nothing more than hold a domain name hostage. This might be a record. Two warnings for an 8-post thread. Anyway, both of you know better. Insults belong in the Pit and not in any other forum. Don’t do it again. Also, thread closed at the the request of the OP.