How to buy expired or expiring domain names

Recently I noticed that the domain CommonFilms.com was expiring and since I already owned CommonFilms.org, I wanted to make sure that I bought it. A service called SnapNames lets you bid on domains before they expire, usually for $60. In this case, I received an email a week later telling me that SnapNames acquired CommonFilms.com for me for $60. If I'd waited til the domain appeared at other registration sites, it might have been purchased by another buyer.

If other buyers want the same expiring domain, the buyer with the highest bid wins the domain. It's a pretty good system. By the way, the $60 includes first year registration.

If you want to get into the domain name investing business by bidding on great names before they expire, SnapNames has a number of downloadable lists that you can browse every day. But doing this is very time-consuming.

I've been very impressed with a service called DomainTools. They have a fantastic page of great expiring domain names that they filter out of the large public lists. This is one of those pages that other domain investors are going to get mad at me for blogging about. I'm already kicking myself... Hopefully, they'll offer an RSS feed of this page soon.

Technorati Tags: domain investing, domaintools, expired domains, expiring domains, great domains, internet domains, snapnames

Comments

[Janet Johnson]

SnapNames is a customer of mine - and they're trying to save people time when they're looking for particular domain names.

They have opt-in lists of domain name auctions that you can subscribe to; and you can also set up email alerts for keywords you're interested in - that will automatically be sent to you as they become available.

Once you have an account, just use their Advanced Search feature and sign up for alerts. It's a nice service, and amazing how many great names come up for grabs every day.

[Sohail]

I'm genuinely interested in what you cann "domain investing."

How exactly do you make a return on buying a domain?

Thanks.

[RoTimi Waddy]

I really enjoyed reading this article! Thanks. Its funny cuz I actually stumbled upon this post while searching for an expiring domain and after glancing at domaintools.com and snapnames.com! How ironic.

[USA Newspapers]

Buying expired domain - has a great seo value , but carefully research previous domain owner activity details on that domain . If that domain already has bad reputation , its tough build reputation . Be careful about price and procedure .