Software Development:
Individual Programming

Solution

If a domain name that you want to register for your website is already registered by someone else you can try to buy it from the current owner. Actually, it is not a real purchase, because domain names can only be rented from a registry for a limited time. So you will rather become the new domain name owner for a one-off payment to the current owner.

Many domains lie fallow, and some businesses have specialized on registering attractive domain names only to sell them for big money to people who really want to run a website with them later on. Such businesses are called "domain dealers" or "domain grabbers". Domain grabbers have also acquired domain names legally, but normally during sunrise phases of new toplevel endings or immediately after a domain name that was formerly used was given up by its owner. Two reputable market places for domain names are Sedo and Afternic. There you can obtain domain names by auctions or bidding.

If you want to buy a domain name from the current owern you should bid a reasonable price. Domain dealers tend to respond to low bids with very high price offers. But when you offer a typical price between 700 and 1800 U.S. Dollar for an average domain name, you will have a fair chance to close the deal.

The price of a domain purchase depends on the domain name properties. The catchier, the shorter and the more descriptive a domain is, the more expensive it is. Top domains like sex.com, fund.com, porn.com, diamonds.com and others have been sold for up to 13 Mio. U.S. Dollars in the past.

Overview of frequently asked questions