Where can I have my domain name appraised?

I never suggest that you use an automated site to appraise your domain names. If you get an appraisal of $100,000 for a crappy domain name and try to sell it at that price you will open the door for insults. The best appraisals are ones that are done by either professionals or other domainers. You can go to Sedo.com to pay for an appraisal by a professional or you can simply go to a domain name forum such as DNforum.com and list your domain name in the appraisal section. Be advised, the members are going to appraise your domain name, either good or bad. Do not list a bad domain name and expect a high appraisal.

Is it a good idea to send letters and E-mails to companies that could be interested in my domains?

That depends. I have used this practice a few times and you will barely get a response, though when you do, it will be worth it. If you are in the business of registering TM'd domain names I do not suggest that you email the companies and pitch your domain name.

Should I have an agreement when buying/selling?

When purchasing or selling a domain name, the proper agreement can help ensure that both parties get what they expect from the sale.

Selling a Domain Name

If you are selling a domain name, your main goal is to get your money quickly and not hear from the purchaser again.

Escrow

Due to the inability of exchanging money and a domain name simultaneously, parties often use an escrow service, such as www.escrow.com. Using an escrow service means that the purchase money is held by a neutral third party until the name transfer has occurred and then released to the Seller. Depending on the level of savvy and trust between the parties, this process can help greatly. Be wary of using parties for this process who are not truly disinterested or one untrustworthy, such one party’s attorney or corporation, or the registrar. The procedures for picking, using and paying for the escrow process should be set forth in the agreement. If you are selling a name, you should state a time limit by which the money should be paid after transfer of the name.

Warranties

If the purchaser requests warranties of full ownership of the name, and the lack of any pending litigation or disputes about ownership of the name, or that the name does not infringe any trademark or violate any third party’s rights (discussed below under “Purchasing a Domain Name”), be sure that the wording reflects that these warranties only cover what you are aware of at the time of signing the contract. Otherwise, you may be held contractually responsible for future ownership disputes, regardless of whether you had any knowledge of them.

Miscellaneous

In order to lessen any future litigation costs regarding the sale and increase all legal benefit to you, the Seller should designate the place where any disputes regarding the sale will be litigated (the venue), the state law which will apply and whether attorneys fees may be awarded to the winner.

Buying a Domain Name

If you are buying a domain name, your main goal is to get the name and clear title to the name transferred to you promptly.

Transfer

The Purchaser should ensure that all possible title and interest are transferred, including any language requirements under trademark law, and a waiver of any future right to dispute the sale by the Seller.

Escrow

Using an escrow process is often beneficial for the Purchaser. The procedures for picking, using and paying for such a process should be set forth in the agreement. If you are buying a name, you should be sure that the process for transfer is set forth and compatible with that required by the registrar and that your payment is not released until confirmation of successful transfer from the registrar or your receipt of notarized transfer documents.

Warranties

If you are purchasing a domain name, you will, at least, want the Seller to warrant to you than there is no ownership dispute about the name, that the Seller is authorized to sell the name and that the sale will not violate any third party’s rights.

Miscellaneous

As it is for the Seller, it is also helpful to the Purchaser to determine beneficial venue, state law and attorney’s fees provisions.

Notarized Signature

The Purchaser should request that the Seller have her signature witnesses by a notary so that there is a witness if the Seller should later dispute the contract or the sale.

Conclusion

Buying or selling a domain name can be a smooth process with the right agreement. Without one, both sides risk failing to have their expectations met. You can buy Domain Name Purchase or Domain Name Sale Agreement legal forms from the author here.


Judith Silver is licensed in CA, FL and TX. Readers are cautioned not to rely on this article as legal advice as the law changes with time and jurisdiction. For more information visit here. (c) 2002 Judith Silver All rights reserved

What are my 3 letter domain names worth?

Here is a general pricing guide:

3-Letter .com - $3250 (+ $50 since January 1, 2007 report)
3-Letter .net - $700 (+ $10 since January 1, 2007 report)
3-Letter .org - $240
3-Letter .info - $130
3-Letter .biz - $70 (+ $5 since January 1, 2007 report)
3-Letter .us - $110
3-Letter .mobi - $130 (+ $35 since January 1, 2007 report)

Special thanks to Andrew on DNF.

Reported domain name sales from 1/29-2/04

RealEstate.net $300,000
BDSM.com $295,000
Yearbook.com $237,500
TeenModels.com $80,000
SavingsAccounts.com $75,000
GayPride.com $60,000
MissRussia.com $50,000
MyMag.com $48,888
LiveVideos.com $35,300
Flashers.com $32,950
Rumble.com $31,283
Kwik.com $30,000
TalentSpring.com $23,515
CastIron.com $22,222
Freo.com $20,000
WesternShirts.com $19,000
TheScore.com $18,300
Bytes.com $17,500
LasVegasLife.com $16,000
Newswires.com $15,000


Source: DNjournal.com

Domain Name lifecycle

This article examines the lifecycle of a typical domain name, from registration to deletion. For simplicity, we will say that our domain name was registered on Jan 1, 2005.

Date/Event/Status

2005/01/01 domain registered ACTIVE

2005/03/01 after 60 days, the domain can now be transferred to another registrar, if desired ACTIVE

2005/11/01 most registrars start sending renewal notices around this time ACTIVE

2006/01/01 the domain has expired; most registrars will HOLD the domain, which means your website and email will no longer work; you can still renew your domain name for the regular price; you can no longer transfer the domain unless you renew first REGISTRAR-HOLD

2006/02/09 after 40 days, most registrars delete the domain; to get the domain back after this point you have to restore it which costs a lot REDEMPTIONPERIOD

2006/03/11 after 30 days, the domain can no longer be restored; the only way to get the domain back is to wait until it is dropped from the registry; of course anyone else can also register the domain at that time PENDINGDELETE

2006/03/16 after 5 days, the domain is dropped from the central registry and can now be registered by anyone, first come first serve; if the domain is valuable or has lots of traffic it will be snapped up seconds after it has dropped; Google "expiring domain names" for more information; to get a valuable domain back consider using a service like Snapnames.com.


If you want to keep your domain name, the best policy is to renew early. You do not lose any time by renewing early. For example, if the domain expires on Jan 1 2006, and you renew 1 month before that, the new expiration date is Jan 1 2007.

The chart above applies to COM & NET domains. ORG, INFO, BIZ, US & CN domains have a similar lifecycle, but the status names may be different. WS domains do not have a REDEMPTIONPERIOD, and are dropped 25 days after expiration.

Source: Dynadot.com

What does the term "Domainer" actually mean?

Domainer is commonly used to describe someone that deals in the domain name industry.

As of December 2006 there are an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 individuals globally who make buying and selling domain names a part of their business. USA today reported that many Domainers prefer to remain anonymous due to the highly competitive nature of their business.

A report in USA Today states that known-sales of 5,851 domain names generated $29 million in 2005, compared with known-sales of 3,813 names for $15 million in 2004. Like the tip of an iceberg, the number of reported sales is estimated to be 5-10% of the broader secondary domain resale market.

Domainers can be met at one of the many domain name forums: DNforum.com, Chowcow.com, Namepros.com, etc.

Source: Wikipedia.org

Where does my registration fee go?

Domain name prices have plummeted in recent years. When domain names first became available to the public back in 1995, they cost $70 for a two-year registration. Since then the average price paid for a domain name has steadily declined. These days paying more than $10 a year is considered expensive.

In the last year or so, some hosting companies have started selling domain names for $3-$5 dollars a year. They lose money on each domain name, but make up the difference with customers that later buy hosting from them. Domain names become a "loss leader" for them.

There is always a catch when you buy a domain name (or anything) for below cost. Some of the common situations are:

-You can only buy a very limited number of domains at the below cost price. After that you pay regular price.

-You have to pay very high renewal fees.

-You have to buy hosting to get the low price.

-The below cost price is for a limited time only, after which the prices will increase.

-Only the first few hundred customers get the low price.

-Often the domain control panel is inferior, because most of these companies do not specialize in domain names.

-Remember, you get what you pay for, and there is no such thing as a free lunch, no matter what their marketing department tells you. Always read the fine print.

-You need to order over $10 in other services to quality for the less expensive domain name.

At $7.99 a domain we (Dynadot.com) offer one of the lowest prices in the industry. Furthermore, we specialize in domain names, and have top notch customer service and control panels as well. We believe in running an open and honest business - no catches, gotchas or gimmicks. What you see is what you get.

This list will show you the breakdown of a domain name registered at $7.99 for a dot com registration.

$6.00 registry fee paid to Verisign, the central registry
$0.50 credit card processing fee
$0.25 ICANN transaction fee
$?.?? Office rent, employee salary, advertising, government taxes, hosting fees, computer equipment, software, utilities, insurance, fraud, legal fees, etc.


As you can see, registrars make less than $1 profit for each domain name we register. $7.99 for a .com is just about the lowest I have seen, if you're paying anything cheaper it may be because you are sacrificing service for cost. You be the judge.

Portions of this entry were taken from Dynadot.com.

Domain Names as future investments.

Here's a great article that was just published by IndiaDaily.com. Here is a direct link to the article. It's articles like this one that has domain name buyers entering the market on a daily basis..which is good for sellers! ;)



Best investments for the next ten years – Domain Names, Farm Land and Cash in the Bank

The biggest question for the smart investors is what will be the best investment in the next ten years? In last ten years it was oil, metals, S&P 500 and residential real estate. There is no reason to believe that the history will repeat for these four again. As a matter of fact, these four can slump like never before.

Stocks will go down because of economy and its debt burden. Metals will lose its luster because of supply/demand relationships and burst of the bubble. Alternatives are replacing oil and better technologies will find more oil in the ocean. The biggest reason for oil’s slump in price is the coming Great Depression of Asia. India and China will require very little oil as they experience double-digit contraction. Residential real estate is in trouble because of the mortgage/debt burden. In addition, the Federal budget deficit, social security burden and medicare promises is slowly and steadily getting shifted to property taxes. Property taxes will quadruple in the next ten to twenty years seaking the fate for residential real estate.

Then where can one invest? Smart money is looking at three things. Domain names, Farm Land and Cash in the Bank. A fortune will be made buying and selling domain names. Buying domain names for cheap and then flipping the same to an interested buyer is picking up heat. Investors are making hundreds of thousands of dollars making money buying and selling domain names.

The Farm Land will appreciate heavily. The farm land is virtually real estate tax exempt in many states. The real estate tax on Farmland is very low. In addition price of Wheat, Corn, Soybean, Oat, Rice will quadruple in the next ten years due to climate changes, drought and excess demand from alternative fuel requirements. The Farm output will be something people will like. The farmland all over the country will appreciate slowly and steadily while residential real estate (developments, condos, town homes and non-farm single family homes) will fall in price.

If one does not want to get involved in Domain names or Farmland, the other choice is keeping cash in the bank. Smart people will try their best to get debt free and then keep their cash in the bank in CDs. Think about this – if the economy goes south three percent per year, and you make one percent in the bank – you have preserved your capital. After ten years, your buying power has increased by 50% (compounded).

What are domain drop lists and where can i get them?

Domain name drop lists are a compilation of lists of domain names that will be dropping (expiring) within a given amount of time. I have seen some lists which are created within 6 months of a domain name expiring. I usually use Pool.com. They have lists up to 5 days in advance and this is really all you need. There is no need for a list of domain names which are expiring within 6 months since 99% of these will be renewed during the last month, or even the last 20 days.

There are hundreds of sites which offer the lists, though I have always found Pool.com's to work the best. You are able to filter out the domain names with hyphens "-" and even narrow the list down to only 5 or 6 letter words. Most domain name lists are free of charge though some services charge a small fee to send you lists of expiring domain names to your email on a daily basis. Keep in mind, there are 10,000s domain names dropping each day in all TLDs. Make sure that you narrow the search field down to only the domain names that you are interested in.

If I own my domain, how come I have to pay a yearly renewal fee? Why isn't the domain name mine forever?

Another great question from a DNforum.com member. No one in the world really "owns" a domain name except the Network Information Centre (NIC), or domain name registry. Most of the NICs in the world receive an annual fee from a legal user in order for the legal user to utilize the domain name (i.e. a sort of a leasing agreement exists, subject to the registry's terms and conditions). Depending on the various naming convention of the registries, legal users become commonly known as "registrants" or as "domain holders". Most people consider this "owning a domain name", but this is actually false.

ICANN holds a complete list of domain registries in the world. One can find the legal user of a domain name by looking in the WHOIS database held by most domain registries.

For most of the more than 240 country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), the domain registries hold the authoritative WHOIS (Registrant, name servers, expiry dates etc). For instance, DENIC, Germany NIC holds the authoritative WHOIS to a .DE domain name.

However, some domain registries, such as for .COM, .ORG, .INFO, etc., use a registry-registrar model. There are hundreds of Domain Name Registrars that actually perform the domain name registration with the end-user (see lists at ICANN or VeriSign). By using this method of distribution, the registry only has to manage the relationship with the registrar, and the registrar maintains the relationship with the end-users, or 'registrants'. For .COM, .NET domain names, the domain registries, VeriSign holds a basic WHOIS (registrar and name servers etc). One can find the detailed WHOIS (Registrant, name servers, expiry dates etc) at the registrars.

Since about 2001, most gTLD registries (.ORG, .BIZ, .INFO) have adopted a so-called "thick" registry approach, i.e. keeping the authoritative WHOIS with the various registries instead of the registrars.


Some of this information has been taken from: Wikipedia.org

What is a "back order"? How do I do it? And where is the best place to back order a domain name?

A backorder is a way to acquire a domain name when it expires. There are many different backordering services on the market now including Pool.com, Snapnames.com, Godaddy, and many others. The fee at godaddy is less than $20 and usually costs around $60 per domain name at Pool and Snapnames. There is a difference between Godaddy and the others listed though. Godaddy will charge you whether you acquire the domain name or not, Pool and Snapnames do not charge unless the domain name is acquired. Godaddy will give you one backordering credit if they do not catch the domain name, though Godaddy has a very low capture rate. There are other differences as well.

At Godaddy only one person is able to backorder the domain name. If you try to enter a domain name into the backordering system it will tell you the domain name is already backordered through their system. If you are the only person to backorder a domain name through Pool or Snapnames you will be the owner of that domain name for a $60 fee. If you and 5 other people backorder the same domain name you will be entered into a private auction with the 5 other people where the starting bid will be $60. I believe the auctions last 3 days, though I am not able to confirm this.

I conducted an informal survey of domainers about who was the best backordering service. Almost everyone agreed that Snapnames.com was the service that acquired the most domain names. Godaddy is infamous for catching 1/20 domain names.

If you are considering backordering a domain name, I would suggest using Snapnames.com and staying away from Godaddy. Be prepared to start bidding if you are not the only person to backorder the domain name, though this is sometimes a cheap way to acquire great domains! Pool.com also offers lists of domain names which will be deleting within the next 5 days.

What is "overture?"

Overture is a compilation of all the terms that are searched in an entire month. The keyword suggestion tool is located at inventory.overture.com and allows you to type in a certain word, or words, and find out how many times it is searched through Yahoo each month.

If you type "jeans" (without the quotes) into the overture tool it will give you a number around 161,500 for the month of December 2006. This means that JEANS was searched that many times in December and is probably a very strong term.

There is also "International Overture" where you are able to look up German, French, Spanish and several other languages. This is located here: Link.

Domain Name terminology

A list of domain name terminology can be found here in the Domain Name handbook:

Link.

I have found a domain name I love, but it's already registered. Does this mean I can never have this domain?

It may. It depends on if the owner is willing to sell it. There are several ways to approach an owner. You can simply email him. You can send him a certified offer through NetSol. You may encounter a domain name owner that is not willing to sell. If this happens it's best to send him an email stating that you are interested in the name. Ask him to keep your email for record and if he ever considers selling it he can email you the asking price. Most domain name owners are going to quote you a high price when you inquire about a domain name. Remember that they have control over that name, but most domain name owners are willing to negotiate. If the domain name owner doesn't want to sell or if the price is out of your range I would suggest that you move on to another domain name that is similar to the one that you fell in love with.

What is "whois" information? Can I make it private?

Whois is the central database for domain name owners. If you register a domain name your information will be made public. Anyone can simply go to any registrar which has a whois database and find out who owns that particular domain name. You are able to make domain name information private at most registrars. There is usually a fee associated with this ranging from $.25-$1.99. If you are afraid that spammers or stockers will be able to locate you, I would suggest that you make your information private.

For more information of WhoIs please follow this link.

The future of domain names in 2007 and beyond.

Late 2006 and early 2007 has been great to the domain name market. Usually late december is slow with sporadic sales here and there. In late 2006 we witnessed several large sales with no breaks in the market. Hopefully this shows how 2007 will be and maybe even into 2008-2009. There have been several "thinktanks" on where the industry is going and here are a few different topics:

A question was asked at DOMAINfest on whether the PPC system or even the entire domain name system would be wiped out. Timothy Schumacher, CEO/founder of Sedo.com answered saying he couldn't see the domain name system failing for at least 30 years. He failed to answer whether he thought the PPC system would fail, but it's somewhat self explainatory when he wrote the college paper which pioneered the way for the PPC system.

.tvs

“We will also see even more clearly the intersection of the domain name space and the media space,” Stahura said. “Take .tv for example. With the explosion of video content on the Internet, I think we will see the .tv top level domain grow the most compared to other TLDs.” Of course, Stahura now has a special interest in .tv since registry owner Verisign turned management of that extension over to eNom in the final quarter of 2006.


However, Stahura isn’t alone in predicting better things for .tv. Those who were at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East conference in Hollywood, Florida in October will remember keynote speaker Tom Gardner of the Motley Fool predicting .tv would be the sleeper hit of 2007 (a pronouncement greeted with stunned disbelief by his audience, but one that now seems prescient to some)."

The question about .tvs was also asked at DOMAINfest and most of the audience laughed.


Ron Sheridan's view on domain names in 2007. Mr. Sheridan is the Director of Business Development and DomainSponsor.com.

"Sheridan sees another potential bright spot in the year ahead. “IDNs (International Domain Names) could be big in 2007. We’re already seeing a rush to scoop up generics in this category. The recent release of the IE7 browser has a lot to do with the boost of interest here, with its ability to support non-Romanized characters. Parking services will need to cater to these domains with relevant foreign language keywords and ads,” Sheridan noted.

Parking revenues overall will gradually increase in 2007, with the potential exception of high-risk names and portfolios. Publishers will continue to demand higher levels of consistency and performance from their parking vendors. Those with technical expertise, disciplined management and financial strength will continue to force the weaker players out,” Sheridan said. "


Frank Schilling's view on the future of domain names. Mr. Schilling is thought to be the most successful domain investor in the world.

"Frank Schilling, who heads Name Administration, Inc. (and is regarded by many to be the world’s most successful domain investor) said “In 2007 domain registrants will have to plan and organize against the trifecta of unscrupulous registrars, registries intent on pricing registrants out of the renewals on their hard won intellectual property; and other covetous latecomers who unfairly try to unseat registrants from their generic names.

“The pendulum always swings both ways however and I think there will be significant, multifaceted pushback on any bold-faced inequity. The stakes and number of industry participants at this later stage have just grown too large to permit one-sided or unbalanced outcomes,” Schilling said."



Many portions of this blog entry have come from DNjournal.com. DNjournal.com is considered the hub of information for domain names for domainers all over the world.

Will a domain name registrar take my domain name if I forget to renew it?

Short answer: Yes!

A domain name is initially registered for a period of 1-10 years. If you register a domain name today (Feb. 4, 2007) for the common term on 1 year, the expiration date will be Feb. 4, 2008.

Once a domain name has passed its expiry date, a number of things happen. Firstly, the domain name is typically put on hold - that is, its name server information is deleted or modified so that the domain name no longer points to the website it is associated with. Secondly, the domain name is put in the registrar's deletion queue for processing according to its procedures for handling expiring domains (as mentioned previously, these vary significantly from registrar to registrar)

Some registrars give customers very little leeway, choosing to delete domain names within ten days of the expiry date. Others hold on to names for longer periods, typically 30 or 45 days. Still others don't release domain names back into the pool at fixed intervals, but in large batches at irregular intervals.

Most registrars will send you several emails before the domain name is actually deleted. If you fail to receive these emails because your whois information is outdated, or you just procrastinate it long enough, you will lose this domain name. If it is a premium generic domain name it will probably be snatched up by one of the many dropcatchers, ie, Snapnames.com, Pool.com, Godaddy.com, etc.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO RENEW YOUR DOMAIN NAMES AT LEAST 1-2 MONTHS BEFORE THE EXPIRATION DATE!

Certain portions of this blog have been taken from: Igoldrush.com

I have found a domain name. Now what?

Once you have found a domain name there are several things to do with it. You can sell it, park it, trade it, and the list goes on and on. I will assume that you are looking to sell it. There are several different types of domain name buyers out there. There are people that will buy the domain name in hopes of reselling it for profit. There are people that will buy the domain name to park it and earn revenue from it through PPC. There are end users who will buy it to either forward traffic to their existing site or to develop the webpage for thier personal or business needs. These are just a few of the different buyers in the marketplace today.

If you are looking to sell to a reseller I would simply join a few of the domain name forums on the internet. The largest and most respected is probably DNforum.com, a few others are Chowcow.com and Namepros.com. There may be a few involved for selling the domain name, but it will probably pay itself off in the long run.

If you are attempting to test the traffic or earn PPC from a domain name you will need to park the domain name at one of the many DN parking sites available to you. A few of these sites are Namedrive.com, DomainSponsor.com, and Sedo.com. You will also need to login to your registrar and change the "nameserver" settings in order to properly park the domain name. This should be explained to you at the parking site that you choose.

If you are attempting to sell to an enduser you will need to know how to contact those end users. I will not write much on this right now, but if you owned Broadbandradio.com you would want to pitch this domain name to the companies that offer broadband radio services. It is always a good idea to email them and send them a letter through postal mail. Remember to sound professional and give them reasons why they would benefit from purchasing this domain name.

Reported Domain Sales 01/22 - 01/28

Reported Domain Sales

Mon. Jan. 22, 2007 - Sun. Jan. 28, 2007
Source: DNjournal.com

1. USAuto.com $40,001
2. EnterpriseMobile.com $34,000
3. Remit.com $31,000 Pv
4. VirtualLondon.com $30,000
5. Sfera.com $22,472
6. Bloggen.de
("blogging" in German) €14,000 = $18,150
7. EMM.com $17,743
8. Saddam.com $16,551
9. PrivacyControls.com $15,000
10. BusinessHotel.com $14,250
11. WasteIndustries.com $13,800
12. Zong.com $13,000
13. Andiamo.com $10,751
14. Gaucho.com $10,750
15. TVA.org $10,099
16. GoFreelance.com $10,000 (tie)
16. FinanceIt.com $10,000 (tie)
18. Contractor.co.uk £5,000 = $9,812
19. ShopAlltell.com $9,800
20. Kristina.com $9,400

Myspace!?

Okay okay, I have finally created a Myspace Page. It can be found here:

http://www.myspace.com/justintgodfrey

I created this in an attempt to find other domainers on Myspace, though I don't know if there are any. Please feel free to "add" me as your friend.

Is it better to start buying from other domainers or registering them yourself?

Great question. Registering domain names has always worked for me. I have bought several domain names from other domainers, though I usually hang onto those for years and maybe then I will sell them. I am known for finding domain names that no one else has looked for and they are almost always generic domain names.

I suggest that you sit down and let things start coming to your head and check to see if they are available. You need to ask yourself if it is a common term. You can usually answer this question by searching google with the term. For instance, take "Broadband Radio" and paste it into Google. If the results are at least over 50-100,000, then you know that this is a commonly used term and may be valuable to someone.

If you find a fellow domainer is selling a domain name and you think you can sell it for more, than by all means, buy it from him and resell it. I would compare that to "flipping" a house. I have done this with domain names on multiple occasions. I once bought a domain name for $75 and resold it the next day for $900. This would be my best example of "flipping" a domain name.

DOMAINfest Global - Hollywood, CA

Yesterday I flew in from DOMAINfest in Hollywood, CA. I went there with an open mind and I really wanted to advance my knowledge of domaining. I was somewhat let down when I realized the entire conference was focused on Pay Per Click (PPC) and monetizing your portfolio. Why call something DOMAINfest when there was very little discussion about domain names in general. Maybe it should have been called PPCfest?

At any rate, it was worth the $395 admission fee. I received alot of free stuff and met alot of great people. The best part of the show was networking with other domainers as well as the free lunch and dinners. Just amazing! Upper class food and and open bars the entire time. If anyone is considering attending the next DOMAINfest please visit www.domainfest.com to find out more information.

What are the first step to do when entering into the domaining?

This is a tough question. I have sat down and explained the basics about domaining to several people, this takes hours just to scratch the surface. Before entering into domaining, you'll want to find as much information on domain names as possible, find information on sales, what is currently selling, visit dnforum.com (my user id is Rockefeller), visit dnjournal.com, and simply type domain names into google to get as much knowledge as possible. Please do not just jump into domaining thinking that you will be a millionaire within a week. It takes time and money. You will need to find a register that suits you, I personally recommend Dynadot.com. They will let you delete a domain name for account credit within 5 days of registering the domain name. Please feel free to email me and ask if a domain name is worth registering before you spend the money on it. You are bound to register horrible domain names when you first start off. I would never reg a domain name from under you.

What are IDNs?

IDNs are Internationalized Domain Names. They were first introduced in 2001 though they didnt become popular until late 2005 or even early 2006. IDNs are domain names that usually contain non-ASCII characters. An example would be عربي.com which is an Arabic IDN.

Translations for different languages can be tricky which is why I have hired multiple translators in many languages to help with finding terms for IDNs, otherwise there is a large space for error.

There have been many IDN sales within the past year including 東京.net for $10,000 and many others in the $1,000-$3,000 range. Many of the people who registered IDNs in 2001 are nwo profting from getting in early. I wouldn't suggest registering IDNs unless you know the language, or you know someone that knows the language so that you can verify through them. IDNs cost the same as a ASCII .com ($7.95 at dynadot) and you are also able to delete them before 5 days as well.

Do not expect much traffic to IDNs yet. Traffic is expected to increase within the next few months and should gradually increase after that. Internet Explorer 7 recently debuted and allows IDNs to be typed in directly in the browser. The browser then translates that into "xn--.

For more information please visit IDNforums.com where there is an entire community of "IDN'ers."