How To Make Money Buying & Selling Website Domain Names

by Mia Moore

published – Jan 2nd 2023

If you know what you’re doing, buying and then selling domain names can be a great source of income online. Think of it as an investment like any other. You are buying something for a low price (in the hope of appreciation). The owner can then sell it sometime in the future for a much higher price.

You will therefore make a nice profit for yourself in the process. It’s really not that dissimilar to buying and selling stocks or any other type of market trading and investing for that matter. For this purpose, you need to know the best and most profitable places where you can buy and sell domains.

This will need to happen before transferring them to a prospective buyer. Fortunately, the required capital to invest is also comparatively very low when you look at other breeds of investing. This business can prove to be very fruitful if you want to earn money online.

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What is a domain name?

A domain name (or URL) is a website address that you type into a web browser in order to reach a certain site or blog. A website domain is like a virtual property that you have on the internet (it’s your own little patch of digital real estate).

Domain names can be used in a number of different ways to make money. You can buy a domain at a low price and sell it at a higher cost without doing anything with it. Conversely, you can:

buy your desired domain at a cheap price
build and develop a website or blog with it (like this one) thus increasing its value
put the whole package up for sale at a relatively higher price

This typically takes quite a lot more work but you will be rewarded for the extra effort.

How to buy a web address

Domains can be bought at a low cost from a variety of vendors. You can buy them from well-known domain registrars like:

These platforms allow you to type your desired domain in the search box. If it is available, you can buy it for a just few dollars every year.

If a domain name you want is owned by someone else, you could check if it is up for sale. Owned domain names tend to cost more money. It’s likely that the owner likes the domain name and would want to hold on to it if push came to shove. Although, it might be worth a purchase if it’s one that you really desire.

You can buy the domain names that are available right now if you think they would be profitable in the future. Just like investing, sometimes you have to play the waiting game. This delayed gratification may be worthwhile.

However, you should not buy a domain if it is trademarked by a company. This is unethical and you might get into legal trouble due to copyright law. You should also not steal another person or company’s name for your own domain.

How to sell a domain name

You can put your domain back up for sale at an inflated price on the same website you bought it from if you like. Buyers who are interested will contact you if they want to make a purchase.

It would probably be even better if you sell it on an official domain specialist website. People are primarily there to buy domain names so it makes sense. If you bought it from a registrar at a marketplace, you can also sell the domain on that marketplace.

It’s possible to sell a domain in a number of different ways. You could set a fixed price for your domain which will ensure a profit if someone buys. Alternatively, you can also go for an eBay style auction and invite bids, selling the domain to the highest bidder.

This is risky as it could easily sell for a low price resulting in a loss (unless you set a reserve). On the other hand, it might be smart to make an offer to your clients and buyers. You can do this by going directly to them instead of waiting for them to come to you.

This might be preferable if you are the impatient type and want a quick sale by taking a more active role. Try to get your hands on a web address that contains words that are:

generic
popular
geographic

You might be able to sell it faster this way as these types of words are in greater demand. Companies often buy generic names. If you’re extremely lucky, you can buy these generic names for a small amount of money. The owner can then sell them for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

This is not as easy as it once was as many of the popular domain names are taken, but it is still possible. Some websites become inactive over time. For this reason, you may find that certain domain names become available again when it once thought to be impossible.

laptop How To Make Money Buying & Selling Website Domain Names earn work jobs make money online from home business demand platform available buy sell websites domains name income invest low price appreciation profit trade flipping capital URL address property internet digital high build develop value effort vendor registrar namecheap godaddy 123reg moniker 1&1 sale own purchase future trademark company ethics legal copyright steal marketplace fixed auction bid loss reserve offer client active generic popular geography fast words inactive catchy ideas time waste customer worth greed characteristics — photo by 27707 from pixabay

It would be a good start to begin collecting a few catchy domains or at least thinking of some ideas. There are actually people out there who are earning a living from buying and selling domains. However, you should be methodical and intelligent when it comes to buying domains.

You don’t want to be stuck desperately trying to sell a crummy domain name that no one wants. Conversely, find one that can be sold easily.

If you think your domain name would popular in the near future, you should buy it now as it should gain value over time. If it ultimately doesn’t work out then you’ve only wasted a small amount of cash.

You should also be aware of the types of domain names that you should ideally buy. Think about the characteristics of a domain name that would be appealing to potential customers.

You should be clever when it comes to investing money in domains. and most importantly, you should set reasonable prices on your domains according to their worth. The seller will scare buyers away if they are greedy and charge too much.

Speaking of websites, domain name flipping isn’t the only way to make money on the internet. You can Earn £8 In 15 Minutes For User Testing Apps & Websites too.

Do you personally know anyone who earns money flipping domain names? What are the attributes of a profitable domain name in your opinion? Please don’t forget to share this with your friends and like it on social media. You can subscribe to our newsletter and comment below too. Thanks for reading!