What is Domain Flipping?
Domain flipping is the business of buying domains that aren't currently owned for a low price and selling them for much more. If you pay attention to pop culture and are quick, you can snag some highly desirable URLs and resell them for hundreds or thousands of dollars.
How I Made $400 Selling a Domain I Bought for $10
When cryptocurrency was first booming in the winter of 2017, I bought a domain called crypto-maven.com and put it for sale on GoDaddy. At the time, it seemed like cryptocurrency would be all the rage for years to come. It has since dwindled in interest. However, a few months after buying the domain for $10, and listing it for sale on GoDaddy at $500, someone bought it, and I received $400 of the $500 I listed it for. The remaining $100 was GoDaddy's commission. I was thrilled! I didn't think anyone would actually buy my domain. It wasn't a great name to start with.
If I had a better idea for a url name I would have made much more. Some domains sell for thousands of dollars. CarInsurance.com sold for $49.7 million, making it the most expensive domain sale ever, followed by domains like Voice.com for $30 million and 360.com for $17 million.
The great part about this is I didn't have to develop the website. I did nothing with it. I simply paid for it and then put it up for sale.
How to Use Domain Flipping to Make Money
There are several websites that allow you to buy and resell domains. I previously used GoDaddy, until I found Epik. Epik is a one-stop shop for domain business transactions, including domain registration, hosting, a domain marketplace, and web development services. Unlike GoDaddy, Epik provides excellent customer service. Also, they do not spam you and try to “trick” you into purchasing extra services like GoDaddy. Other domain marketplaces you can try include Sedo, Flippa, and Namecheap.
There are a couple of options when choosing domain names to purchase.
- You can search for high value domains that may be expiring, in which the current owner fails to renew them, and buy them quickly after they expire. When you pay $10 for a domain its yours for a year, or until you sell it. You can pay more to own it longer, depending on what you intend to do with it. You also have the right to renew it every year indefinitely, so long as you don't let your ownership expire. Once it expires, anyone can snag it for cheap.
- You can think up new domains that you think may become popular in the near future. After you buy one, simply list it for sale with your domain provider and wait for someone to inquire about it or buy it.
Domain Flipping as Passive Income
The great thing about this type of activity is once you've paid for the domain, you simply list it for sale and forget about it. There's no maintenance or additional activities required to keep it for sale, making it a great choice for passive income. The only non-passive part of the process is up front, when you're planning which domains to buy.
The actual process of buying a domain is quick and easy. Simply click this link, type in an idea for a domain name, and click the “search domain” button. You can search by domain name or keyword. The next screen will tell you if the .com version of the site is available. As a personal rule, I only buy .com sites, but I'm sure there are other good opportunities out there if you do the research.