UK Domain Market
Monday February 11th 2007, 11:15 pm
If you plan to make money online then you don't need me to tell you that domain names can be a nice little earner. With cruises.co.uk being the first UK domain name to sell for over a million dollars (it sold for around $1,120,000 in January) people are finally realising the value of UK domains.
But all the good domains are taken, aren't they?
I'd say probably every dictionary based UK domain name has already been registered, but that doesn't mean you can't have a piece of the pie. Most of the domains I own now were already registered before I owned them and I'm going to explain how I registered lovegirls.co.uk, internetdreamer.co.uk and around 250 other domains I plan to develop. I'll begin by explaining how the UK domain system works.
Nominet control all the UK domain names, unlike most other domains Nominet only allow domains to be registered for 2 years at a time. UK domains become available for 2 reasons; either they haven't been renewed or they are registered to a Ltd company which is in the process of being disolved. When a Ltd company goes bust all the domains registered in that company name are put on hold. During this time they are unable to renew or change the registrant details on the domain names and eventually all their domains become freely available to be registered.
The Renewal Process
If a domain name isn't renewed its status is changed to expired, then suspended. After being suspended it becomes available for renewal on either 92 or 99 days after the renewal date. The renewal date is clearly visible on the WHOIS, here's the WHOIS for internetdreamer.co.uk
Domain name:
internetdreamer.co.uk
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 31-Oct-2007
Renewal date: 31-Oct-2009
Last updated: 31-Oct-2007
So if I chose not to renew internetdreamer.co.uk it would become available on either the 31st January 2010 or the 7th February 2010. The domain would become available to register at a random time on one of these two dates to make it harder for "domain catchers" to register them.
But how do I know which domain names are suspended?
There are lots of sites on the Internet that list suspended domain names, Nominet shut them down from time to time, but new ones keep popping up. Check out suspendeddomains.co.uk it lists domains that are about to become available that day. There are a few good ones on the lists that are still available now including gurugirl.co.uk, kaso.co.uk and herbstore.co.uk.
Had much success with buying / selling domains yourself?
Leave A Comment
Showing 15 out of (15) Comments
Posted by Khalid, at 21:00 on Mon, Sep 29th
Have you completely stopped blogging Toni...I hope not!!!
Posted by blog promotion, at 17:55 on Tue, Apr 22nd
True words, Toni. I think the worth of uk-Domains is growing continously. I´m not from the UK, but i had a very nice uk-Domain 2 years ago. I´ve bought it pretty cheap and sold it for a good price, which was 4 times higher.
Something that i don\\\'t like concerning nomi.: It\\\'s very bureaucratic to trade with domains.
Posted by Paddy Wallbouncer, at 04:49 on Sat, Feb 23rd
I've got to agree with the judge comment above. There was a guy a few years back that got 100's on millions for his portfolio, but the domain names had a large number of dictionary noun names. Feb 13, Yahoo put more restrictions on parking companies making it harder to make money with Domain Names.
Posted by nick - road2blogging dot com, at 20:22 on Wed, Feb 20th
Hey, good post. Been looking for a site like this as I'm wanting to purchase a few aged uk domains for some keyword blogs I'm setting up.
Posted by Sean Hodge, at 19:43 on Wed, Feb 20th
Good article. While I'm not in the market I may be in the future. Thx.
Posted by kumo, at 15:55 on Tue, Feb 19th
Nice post. Buying and selling domains sounds fun. I've seen many people doing this business on digitalpoint.
Posted by Cindy, at 15:59 on Fri, Feb 15th
That explains quite a bit about domain names and registrations. Very interesting.
Posted by Funked, at 12:45 on Fri, Feb 15th
Nice article. I've never really thought of making money from domains. I might give it a try.
Posted by Shelia, at 06:53 on Wed, Feb 13th
I guess you could turn a tidy little profit given the way domain names work in the UK.
The initial setup would probably be time consuming, and then the constant database upkeep. But given the profit, it could be well worth it.
This post is a great starting point!
Posted by 1 Million in 365 Days, at 00:24 on Wed, Feb 13th
It's also a matter of luck and of having patience to hunt for the right name for your site. I haven't bought my domain name yet, and I don't know if I will.
Posted by jamesd, at 02:25 on Tue, Feb 12th
Good read. When I think up a domain, most of the time it is taken. With worththepopcorn this wasn't the case, but I later found out somebody has had it before -- on a site like you mentioned. I just got lucky I guess.
Posted by ATV Style, at 02:06 on Tue, Feb 12th
I've had excellent luck with buying domains, I don't sell them though. I happen to own a network of geodomain sites for an entire county east of Los Angeles - the first link I received was from DMOZ. Instant first page results too - a solid domain name is key for recognition no matter what ANYBODY says.
Great article.
Posted by Jo, at 00:17 on Tue, Feb 12th
Nice post, and thanks for the link. I just bought another domain and had a terrible time finding a decent name that wasn't taken. I didn't think about trying to grab one that was expired, but I will next time.
Posted by Marc, at 23:38 on Mon, Feb 11th
This is a good strategy, especially if you are a niche blogger/marketer, and would prefer a region specific domain to further target your market Simply subscribe to the suspendeddomains(dot)co(dot)uk rss feed, and you can check it in the morning.
Posted by Judge, at 22:34 on Mon, Feb 11th
This is a tricky market to get into. Most common domains are snatched up by people that just sit on them and then turn them around for a profit later. Squatters take up all the primo sites and leave the dregs for the rest of us.
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