Selling Domain Names? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

FanIn80 · 03-15-2010, 01:10 PM

I decided to try the domain-troll thing for this iPad release. How would a guy go about selling a domain name? I mean, there are tons of places online, but is there a generally accepted (legitimate) method for selling them?

eBay looks interesting, as some of the prices are pretty astronomical (hundreds of thousands of $$)... but the names I see listed there are complete crap compared to some of the ones I've registered. I'm wondering if eBay is actually indicative of a real market or not.

Anyway, if someone with experience in this wants to help me out, it would be appreciated. In fact, if your help directly leads to me getting $$, then there would even be a piece of that action for you...

(PS: Why does this domain-selling stuff feel... iffy...?)

photon · 03-15-2010, 01:17 PM

Good thread, I've got a domain I don't use anymore that I could sell too, interested in any input.

Azure · 03-15-2010, 01:25 PM

You have a domain that relates to the iPad?

I don't how you would go about selling it, but Apple has in the past legally gone after someone who had a domain name that they wanted. Sometimes they get it, sometimes they don't.

FlamingStuffedTiger · 03-15-2010, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

(PS: Why does this domain-selling stuff feel... iffy...?)

This might be of interest:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticyb...Protection_Act

Quote:

The law was designed to thwart “cybersquatters” who register Internet domain names containing trademarks with no intention of creating a legitimate web site, but instead plan to sell the domain name to the trademark owner or a third party.

FanIn80 · 03-15-2010, 01:36 PM

Well it's related to the iPad, but doesn't have "iPad" in its name.

As far as I can tell, I'm not doing anything illegal. I'm selling a domain that can be used to attract people who are interested in using their iPads in a certain way, but the domain name itself doesn't have "iPad" or anything belong to Apple in the name at all.

A quick search of "ipad domain" on eBay has a pile of garbage names, like... "A1iPad4u.com" and stuff like that. All with "iPad" in them and all for ridiculous amounts of money. I think my domain name can actually be used to create a legitimate site with a legitimate userbase.

Azure · 03-15-2010, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlamingStuffedTiger

This might be of interest:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticyb...Protection_Act

Yeah.

I think that is how Apple, Microsoft and Google get legal ownership of those sites despite not owning them.

Rathji · 03-15-2010, 02:04 PM

I think the best way of doing this, is to create the site yourself even if it isn't fully functioning or complete and sell it as a webpage rather than just the domain name. This gets around the legality tied to cybersquatting and could get you a better price, since there is something more that you are selling, the website concept, in addition to the domain.

FlamingStuffedTiger · 03-15-2010, 02:06 PM

Yea, I don't think there is anything illegal about what you are doing as a far as I can see. Just that it seems much more difficult to sell domain names now than it once was.

Also, I'm not sure I would put much stock into eBay auctions, especially if no one is bidding on them. Anyone can post an action with a high minimum bid, but it's not really indicative of anything if no one is showing any interest. Now if people are actually closing deals on this stuff, that is totally different.

photon · 03-15-2010, 03:16 PM

www.sedo.com seems to come up alot..

As far as cybersquatting, as long as you aren't grabbing a domain that would actually be for the product / person / company in question it's fine..

Like if you registered appleipad.com that would be squatting, but if you did ilovetheipad.com and had a real site dedicated to iPad news or something that should be fine.

http://justanotheriphoneblog.com for example.

Otherwise Calgary could take away our domain.

sclitheroe · 03-15-2010, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

Otherwise Calgary could take away our domain.

How do you figure that? Is the word Calgary trademarked?

photon · 03-15-2010, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

How do you figure that? Is the word Calgary trademarked?

I would assume so, but if not it doesn't matter to my point. There are countless other websites that use a word in their URL that represents the property of someone else, and having those domains isn't squatting and the IP owner can't take those away, and registering those domains in anticipation of a new product just makes sense if you are going to make a site related to that product.

FanIn80 · 03-15-2010, 07:29 PM

Well, I have all four domains listed at that Sedo place. So far, each one is being appraised at $500US. I've listed them for $10000, with a minimum $500 offer.

Considering I've spent a grand total of $32.00 on these things, if even one of them sells for $500 I'll be happy.

FlamingStuffedTiger · 03-15-2010, 07:30 PM

You can correct me if I'm wrong, but even if you were actually cyber-squatting, it still might be possible to "sell" the domain. It all depends on whether the guy who wants your domain thinks that it is valuable enough to be worth the trouble of taking you to court for it.

photon · 03-15-2010, 07:58 PM

Now that they're for sale, what are the domains?

Azure · 03-15-2010, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlamingStuffedTiger

You can correct me if I'm wrong, but even if you were actually cyber-squatting, it still might be possible to "sell" the domain. It all depends on whether the guy who wants your domain thinks that it is valuable enough to be worth the trouble of taking you to court for it.

That is exactly why it works.

Unless the company who wants it decides to make an example out of your 'squatting' and takes you to court.

Most of the time they just pay for it. $1,000 bucks isn't that much for Apple to pay when they're talking about a million dollar product.

FanIn80 · 03-15-2010, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

Now that they're for sale, what are the domains?

http://www.thegamingpad.com, http://www.thegamingpad.net
This is the main one I was talking about earlier. I figure it could be a site similar to CP, except for talking about iPad gaming instead of hockey.

http://www.mypadonline.com, http://www.mypadonline.net
I don't know about these ones. At $8 a piece, I just snagged them on a whim. I guess they also have the added benefit of being usable for... other topics... besides the iPad.

http://www.ipadgamingonline.com
I just grabbed this one at the last minute. It has the "iPad" in it, which I wanted to stay away from, but I couldn't believe it wasn't taken.

Anyway, I don't know if they're actually as good as I think they are. I couldn't really ask anyone's opinion until I owned them and listed them... All I need is for one to sell for more than $32 for this to not be a failure.

photon · 03-15-2010, 09:25 PM

Those are pretty good I think, I can't believe the first one wasn't taken looong ago. And I can't see how you would have a problem with squatting accusations with the fourth one at all.

Nice, hopefully one of them works out really well.

FanIn80 · 03-15-2010, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

Those are pretty good I think, I can't believe the first one wasn't taken looong ago. And I can't see how you would have a problem with squatting accusations with the fourth one at all.

Nice, hopefully one of them works out really well.

Awesome, good to hear. I've been saying them over and over in my head... but the worst thing is to believe my own hype and then find out later I'm on crack.

I couldn't believe that first one wasn't taken either. I was just playing around with a couple concepts and then it came to me. I searched, expecting to be able to snag some kind of variant, but then it came up available.

Hopefully I can get a decent offer on one of them at least.

jrhyme · 03-15-2010, 11:25 PM

I ended up buying up some domain names randomly like this a few weeks ago too (not for iPad though) and figured I'd just ask a quick question in here too since it prob doesn't warrant a new thread. I thought of some pretty decent ones... well atleast I think so, (restaurantroulette.com and stowaway.ca probably are the best two) which are getting regular hits already according to Sedo. My question though is how much less value are .ca domains?

Temporary_User · 03-16-2010, 06:28 AM

Do people really pay top dollar for these web addresses?

I could understand if like honda.com was already used and honda needed a website.

However with (and no offense to your web addresses, just using them as examples) thegamingpad.com, don't you think gamingpad.com would be a better purchase? or ipadgaming.com?

Also, and again no offense, but I don't really see these site addresses needed to be used by big companies, it more seems like they would be used by everyday people like you and me to create fan sites to rate ipad games and such. Basically I don't see the need to have the best web address, well enough to spend top dollar for it.

Why limit yourself to ipad only? won't most apps be universal?
Itunesgaming.com
Itunesgames.com
igame.com

Are any of those available?
Apple really seems to be using "i" in front of every product of theirs, so if you grabbed up i(any-word).com it might become valuable in the future.