I do a lot of reading about domains as I like to keep myself up to date as much as possible on our industry.   My own personal success, and the success of our company, DnZoom.com by Bido.com, really depends on the changes in the domain industry. 

Because of those changes, I often come across a lot of questions that seem to get asked time and time again by people who are brand new to domaining...

In an effort to help those who are beginning their domaining careers, I thought I would address a number of questions here.

Q.) If I register a domain today, how long do I have to wait before I can sell it?

A.) Normally, you can sell the domain name right away.  It’s fnot unheard of to register a domain name and then sell it on a forum or other venue the same day.  However, in most cases, you can’t transfer the domain away from the registrar unless you wait 60 days after registration.  If you are within that 60-day period, you can still perform what is called a “push.” 

That means the domain can be sent to another account at the same registrar, as long as the buyer of the domain has an account at said registrar.

Q.) Is Paypal.com a safe way to senfd or receive money for domains?

A.) It depends.  I do business with a lot of people I know, so I don’t mind using Paypal.com for transactions.  It’s easy and convenient, and since I know the person that I’m sending money to, I’m not worried. 

On the flip side, if you don’t know the person you are transacting with, you run the risk of being scammed.  If you sold a domain and the person who bought it decided to do a chargeback, that money could be zapped right out of your account.  There have been many cases where domainers have sold domains, only to have the “buyers” process a chargeback on the credit cards attached to their Paypal.com accounts.

That money gets withdrawn from the seller’s account and then the “buyer” makes off with a bunch of free domains.  In this case, the protection for the seller is almost non-existent.

 Paypal.com views the sale of domains as they are -- “digital goods.”  As the items are not tangible, PayPal has a stricter stance on what it can do to help when troubles arise. 

In the end, even with friends, transacting large amounts of money for domains via Paypal.com is probably not the best avenue.  In place of Paypal.com, for domain transactions, I whole-heartedly recommend escrow services like Sedo.com, Escrow.com and Afternic.com. For Paypal.com-like transactions, less the charge-back risk, Moneybookers.com is another respectable alternative. 

Q.) Which parking companies are the best?

A.)  Truthfully speaking, there is no “best” parking company.  There is only the “best” parking company for you and the type of domains you have. 

While all parking companies perform the same functions, most also target the different needs of the specific types of domains that exist.  

For example:

Sedo.com – Sedo specializes in international-domain names and domains with foreign traffic.  Sedo.com also has its own auction house -- the world’s largest.

NameDrive.com – NameDrive also specializes in international domain names and names with foreign traffic, but it offers many different types of landers, while also incorporating different languages.  NameDrive.com offers a “park and sell” option, and is widely known for its excellent customer service.  They also have a blog that they update often, blog.namedrive.com.

Fabulous.com – Fabulous.com has the best poker/casino/gambling PPC payouts, hands down.  Accounts at Fabulous are a bit more difficult to get, but they are an absolute necessity to have, if you own poker-, casino-, gambling-type domains.  Fabulous.com also does well with strong generic names.

Parked.com – Parked.com is known for paying its clients twice per month—the only one in the industry that pays out two times in a month. A client gets paid every 15 days, allowing the client to reinvest quickly.  Parked.com also offers a wide array of parking graphics, so you can tweak the parking pages to your level of choice. 

In the end, there are a huge number of parking companies that exist and the list is way too long to cover. 

ParkQuick.com does a fantastic job of reviewing most of the big players in the industry.  If you are looking for a parking company and need a quick review, I would suggest you check ParkQuick’s list first. 

Q.) Should I stick with .com or go after more extensions?

A.) A lot of new domainers have begun their careers by registering a lot of .nets, .infos, and other TLDs.  While everyone is free to choose his own path, I believe getting a solid understanding of the domain market will empower new domainers with current and continued success. 

The way to get a solid understanding of something is to focus on one area of expertise and then only branch out when one feels comfortable with his surroundings.  For that reason, I always recommend dealing with .com first. 

That does not mean you have to go out and buy 3-letter .com’s right off the bat. This could simply mean buying a few domains in the low-to-mid hundred-dollar range and see what you can do to flip or monetize them.  Once you have read your fair share and traded in on the .com space, you can use your experience to see what other areas interest you the most. 

Personally, I do trade in other TLDs.   But while I am a .us speculator, I would never suggest jumping into that space without first gaining experience in the most heavily traded realm, .com. 

Q.) Where can I go to get information regarding the domain industry?

A.) Beyond domainnews.com, there are also a number of other places that offer some great insight regarding domains. 

Here are a few:

www.namepros.com  - An open, community-based domaining talk group that talks about buying and selling domains, and anything else domain-related.

www.dnforum.com – The world’s largest domain forum.  A paid membership is required, but is well worth the price.

www.whizzbangsblog.com – Michael Gilmour, a great friend of mine, updates his blog very regularly.  He is involved in PPC optimization and works hard to promote parking transparency. Micheal posts his blog entries here on DomainNews on a daily basis. 

www.elliotsblog.com – Another good friend of mine, Elliot, writes about the development of his domain project, his Lowell.com (a site he’s building from scratch about a town in Massachusetts) and about domains/domaining in general.  He is a proponent of the ICA --www.internetcommerce.org -- and he also lists some of his own domains for sale on his blog.

www.conceptualist.com – Sahar Sarid is one of the world’s biggest domainers.  Sahar writes about the state of the domain industry, along with a lot of insight about the domaining industry’s biggest and newest trends. His blog entries are posted here on DomainNews on a daily basis. 

www.dnflipping.com – Morgan Linton is a professional I came to know through networking.  I have read Linton’s book and am quite impressed.  Even when speaking about my own book, I plug Linton’s book about flipping domains as another great source of knowledge.

http://www.domaingraduate.com/secure/go.php?r=17&i=l0 – This book is my own work, which I put together over the course of a year of domaining.  It is tailored exclusively to the new domainer and illustrates some of the most “need-to-know” information on domain investment for beginners. 

Well, that’s it for now! Stay tuned for domaining 202!!

Regards,

Sean Stafford