Domain Investing 101: How the Secondary Market Works

Domain investing is the practice of acquiring names — often expired, dropped, or hand-registered — with the expectation that a business will eventually pay more for them than the cost to acquire and hold them.

Resale value tends to track three things: how directly the name describes a category, how short and brandable it sounds independent of meaning, and how contested the extension is.

Most transactions happen through direct outreach (like a WhatsApp or email offer), marketplaces, or brokered sales, rather than public auctions.

Holding costs are low (a single annual renewal fee), which is why patient portfolios of dozens or hundreds of names can make sense even when most individual names sell slowly.