3 ms·

How do you own several thousand domain names without being a squatter? Also interested to hear any details about how they tried to steal domain names from you.

• Shooter 16y ago
  1. I define a domain squatter as someone that buys domains and sits on them in the hopes of achieving a (usually inflated) payday, without actively using them except for maybe a scammy AdSense page. In contrast, I think about 90% of my domains are in active use, and the rest have been reserved for projects that are in the pipeline. [And by 'in the pipeline', I mean funding has been set aside and other work is being done on the project.] I own quite a few companies, and once you get into lead generation for those companies (and clients in turn), localization efforts, landing pages, educational materials, etc. - it is very easy to start racking up the domains. I've also been buying domains for many years. I HAVE sold several domains, but usually only ones that I find a better domain for, or ones where I have abandoned a project. A tiny number of the 'empty' domains were reserved for my existing companies that are not accepting new clients...just to hold onto IP. I would develop them if we started accepting new clients. I have also bought a few domains with the sole intention of reselling them quickly, but only when I had a buyer in mind for a brandable name that had not been registered yet or for a very unique/rare domain that I had gotten indirectly via corporate acquisition. 2. In the simplest case, a registrar employee turned off my transfer block and then moved my domain directly into his account. He also disabled my email alerts.