I bought a bunch of domains a while ago, to build something like this, and split-test the names, but haven't put any effort into it yet. Is there legit interest? It would have to be strictly third party generated content, otherwise it could be taken down due to various legal reasons... I think I would need to hire an attorney anyway.
I'll probably let all the domains expire, except for "shit.business", that one is gold.
good idea, will be nice to see if this becomes popular. i think quite a lot of people (myself included) have loads of unused domain names for project ideas that were never finished (or started) that will just be left to expire
I would be unlikely to pay $8 per month, but I would pay commission for selling it or sharing advertising revenue. Using a TXT record to indicate a domain is for sale seems interesting too.
(edit: yes, I do have a handful of "unused" side-project domains)
Has anyone ever tried something like this? Seems like an interesting way to get a good domain for an early stage venture (pay a high but not crazy monthly with an option to buy in a year).
However, this seems to have few "brand" domains and lots of autoaccidentlawyer.com type stuff. That coupled with the fact that the guy who built it tries to hide his involvement with the site makes me think twice about using it.
A website that sells a few nice domain names for a reasonable price (I'm thinking of 99 dollars).
To clarify it: It would be no market place where anyone could offer their domain names. All the domains that would be sold, would be registered and sold by myself.
The "value" to the customer would be, that I would do the "creative thinking" and come up with nice, short (domain)names that they could use for their projects.
So what, dear HN crowd, is your opinion on this: Would I be just another dirty domain sqatter or would you consider to use such a service if you'd be in need of a name for your next project?
I like your suggestion a lot. I came up with this idea because I have some domains from unstarted projects (already with corresponding ideas).
So I might as well try to sell the idea along. It would be an experiment, rather then a business I guess, but lets see.
Maybe we could set up an impromptu flea market for trading our low value unused domain names. I have a few that I keep renewing just because I think I might do something with them. Realistically though, I probably won't use them and hope they might spark creativity in others through this thread.
I'm sure it'll be a reasonable success and generate you some cash, but on the other hand, seeing someone holding a creative grab bag of interesting domains and concepts that they're only hoping to flip for a profit makes me uneasy.
There are a lot of clever, interesting names here though, and I can definitely see someone who has a concept without a a title seeing a lot of value in paying $250 for something like this. It's more than likely a hell of a lot cheaper than most domain squatters (which isn't exactly what i'd call this) would charge for the domain alone.
My major fear - the owner of this content might find someone who uses a similar name as one of their concepts-for-sale, and attempt to sue them without being able to properly verify if said person actually ripped them off, or just themselves came up with the idea coincidentally. It's one of those slippery slope endeavors.
I'm torn over whether I like "Feastable", "WhamBox", or "PixelKeg" the most. Definitely some great names here.
Yes please, that'd be amazing.
However, it would be good to have some kind of system to weed out unused domains for other uses. Otherwise I imagine we'd have lots of occupied but abandoned domain names.
One of my first experiences with letting a domain expire was with a domain called catbattle. I figured no one would pick up that name because it's stupid. It's been parked by the next person for 5 or 6 years now as a jump page for lots of cat ads. This sort of thing irritates me. I would rather have some kid get it and put a picture of his cat on it with some blinking text like "This is my cat! You are defeated!"
I suppose what I really want is for a group of people that are interested in creating useful web content to have a chance at before it expires. My ideal target audience would be the readership here or a similar group. Just having a list of unused domain names registered by people on this site would be a valuable resource to me. I could get all sorts or ideas from it, make a comment on one of the names that inspired the owner to do something with it, or end up with a chance to collaborate with the owner on a joint idea.
Those are some pretty darn good names. Do you guys actually own these or are you an exchange service for the real owners?
I definitely see the benefit in offering straight-up, no-nonsense domains for a reasonable price, although I do think there's a chance that the owners will not get as much as they could have if the names were auctioned. Have you thought about a "Buy it now" type feature in addition to an open bidding/auction price? Seems like it would provide a chance for the owners to get more money out of the sale if the demand for a name is particularly high.
This is a potentially addictive and risky venture. I've personally bought hundreds of domains over the years, and professionally in the thousands. I've probably broken even or profited a little. Most of the domains I buy for the name just sit there unused for 5+ years.
I'll probably let all the domains expire, except for "shit.business", that one is gold.
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