Ask HN: Is Domaining Profitable?

[sourcerer]

There was a post on like 3 days ago that talked about genereaating domains that look like english to find good domains to buy. I know people have made money from domaining in the past but is the market 'closed' now or is there still oportunity?

Also how do people make money from just having domains? and how do people know what domains are good to buy?

[kls]

It is obvious that the gold rush days are over, in those days someone could purchase a domain name and flip it for millions. For example back then we bought Orlando.com from a guy for a few million and that was pretty much just for the domain name.

There is still money to be made in picking up domain names and turning them over, just not that kind of money anymore, but it is kind of a gray business market; there are some sleazy people and there are some legitimate people.

What is a better business and far more profitable, is to pick up a domain name, build a quick site / app around it with some admin screens and then flip it for a few 10-50k. The nice part is, generally you get a recurring support contract with it on top of the lump sum.

[proexploit → kls]

Where are you finding a buyer willing to part with that money with a quick site and no consistent revenue? I'm not "calling you out", it's just rare in my experience and I'd love to know.

[kls → proexploit]

http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/275/how-to-buy-a-websit...

The above article will give you a deeper understanding of web site flipping and save me a few keystrokes.

As for the buyers, they generally are business or marketing guys who have no technical skill but want to get into an online market segment. We see them here all the time. The ones that post the I have a dream posts asking for a technical person that will build their dream. If it is a good idea for a web site / web app it is a turn key deal for them which is less risk than having something developed.