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Before the Auction: Bidding on Domain Names

by Kevin Savetz

Psst! Hey, buddy. You wanna buy a domain name? Cheap?

It doesn't take a sleazy back-alley deal to get a domain name for your Web site. In fact, thousands of domain names are offered via that upstanding institution, the online auction.

State Your Name
For the benefit of any recently converted Luddites, a domain name is a unique alpha-numeric name that's used to identify a particular computer (i.e., Web server or mail server) on the Internet. In other words, it's the part of the email address that comes after the @ sign, and the part of a Web address that follows "www"--for example, yahoo.com and vendio.com. You'll need one if you plan to run a Web site of your own.

In essence, you'll have a choice of either registering your domain name with a traditional domain name registrar, such as Network Solutions or Register.com, or going the online auction route and placing a bid on sites such as eBay and Yahoo Auctions. You also can use domain name-specific auction sites, such as Afternic.com or GreatDomains.com. In addition, you can search for domain name auctions by using AW's own Stores Search.

What You'll Get
Many domain names that are for sale have never been used for a Web site; they're just names that might be (the seller hopes) useful to someone, either a business or individual. Occasionally, you'll find domains for sale that have been online with Web sites: They might already have traffic and notoriety--for better or worse. (For example, not long ago the owners of year2000.com, a clearinghouse for information about the Y2K bug, offered the domain on eBay.) In some cases, the sale might be for an entire Web site, content and all. Or, the seller might be offering the name only--be sure you understand exactly what is for sale.

How Much?
What can you expect to pay for a domain name? It depends entirely on the quality of the name. Simple, short, descriptive domain names, such as television.com and news.com, have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars...or more. (A more startling and atypical example: business.com sold for $7.5 million late last year.) On the other hand, not-so-memorable names might go for a couple hundred bucks or less. When an established Web site is for sale along with its domain name, a buyer can expect to pay significantly more.

In the case of most domain name registrars, all you need to do in order to purchase a name is supply your personal information and credit card information. Moreover, there are costs associated with the purchase of a domain name beyond the registration price. Here's how it works with Network Solutions, the most popular domain registration service. Although there is no fee for transferring a domain name to a new owner, the domain name registration must be in paid status--if it isn't, someone will have to pay $35 to renew it for a year. If the normal three- to six-week processing time to transfer ownership isn't fast enough, priority two-day processing is available for $199. In addition, the seller will need to invoke the service of a Notary Public, which can cost a few dollars more. Typically, the buyer pays for these incidental costs--a smart seller will indicate the terms in the listing. If the terms aren't clear, ask the seller before making any commitments.

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