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One option that was left out is to wait for it to drop and buy it then. You can use a service to try to catch it when it drops but you then enter into a bidding

One option that was left out is to wait for it to drop and buy it then. You can use a service to try to catch it when it drops but you then enter into a bidding match, or you can just wait for it to be completely released. Obviously more risky and maybe not worth the risk but I've done it recently. The domain I wanted was 4-5 weeks away from expiring, so I read a bit on the services to catch it when it drops and some sounded a bit fishy (some claim they put fake bids to pump the price up…). So I took a chance and waited the whole expiration process and was lucky enough to get it for just the price of a domain. Granted, it wasn't one of these unique four-letter domains so there was a decent chance there'd be little interest, and I would have survived without it (I had bought a good back-up name), but it's still an option for the cheap and patient…

phillmv 15y ago
The issue comes down to economics. Parked domains are an investment, and I suspect this is the kind of business that is only profitable on the long tail - you only flip some exceedingly small percentage of your total inventory on a given year, but you can't tell ahead of time which ones are going to be the winners. So… unless these are all manually managed (which I find unlikely, doesn't GoDaddy have a whole panel dedicated to parking?) I find this scenario to be extremely unlikely. Someone who has actually parked domains can probably shed some more light on the business model involved.
- larrys 15y ago
  "Someone who has actually parked domains can probably shed some more light on the business model involved." ...you answered your question perfectly: "I suspect this is the kind of business that is only profitable on the long tail - you only flip some exceedingly small percentage of your total inventory on a given year, but you can't tell ahead of time which ones are going to be the winners." Exactly. That said much of this also has to do with who owns the name, whether they need the money (what you are offering) and a host of other factors to numerous to mention. As a general rule though I would rather be making an offer to buy a name off someone who owns a vast inventory of names than someone who owns only a few. Why? Because they know that if they pass up your offer they might wait another 7 years to sell that name. So essentially you just have to clear a certain point based on their experience and the names is yours. Unless of course that person who owns only a few names needs money in which case (well you get my point) I'd rather have that person be the seller. From my experience I've seen all sorts of things happen. I just helped a startup get a great name for a few hundred dollars that was worth much more simply because the owner didn't even google to see that they obviously would need the name.

phillmv 15y ago

The issue comes down to economics. Parked domains are an investment, and I suspect this is the kind of business that is only profitable on the long tail - you only flip some exceedingly small percentage of your total inventory on a given year, but you can't tell ahead of time which ones are going to be the winners. So… unless these are all manually managed (which I find unlikely, doesn't GoDaddy have a whole panel dedicated to parking?) I find this scenario to be extremely unlikely. Someone who has actually parked domains can probably shed some more light on the business model involved.

larrys 15y ago
"Someone who has actually parked domains can probably shed some more light on the business model involved." ...you answered your question perfectly: "I suspect this is the kind of business that is only profitable on the long tail - you only flip some exceedingly small percentage of your total inventory on a given year, but you can't tell ahead of time which ones are going to be the winners." Exactly. That said much of this also has to do with who owns the name, whether they need the money (what you are offering) and a host of other factors to numerous to mention. As a general rule though I would rather be making an offer to buy a name off someone who owns a vast inventory of names than someone who owns only a few. Why? Because they know that if they pass up your offer they might wait another 7 years to sell that name. So essentially you just have to clear a certain point based on their experience and the names is yours. Unless of course that person who owns only a few names needs money in which case (well you get my point) I'd rather have that person be the seller. From my experience I've seen all sorts of things happen. I just helped a startup get a great name for a few hundred dollars that was worth much more simply because the owner didn't even google to see that they obviously would need the name.