Buying Domains on Flippa? Anyone have experience?

Avoid that domain. If you purchase it, you'll likely run into issues of trademark infringement. The search metrics of that domain are excellent (a good 33K+ globals) but those searches are being typed by people with Snap Chat in mind. Furthermore, and not that they're the biggest considerations, but the domain is a .net and 12 hours old, at the time of writing. What I'd suggest, given that you're new(ish) and have limited web development experience, is consider a business model being used by the seller of that domain, but just doing it in what I would consider a better way. Namely: domain flipping.

Every single day, 200,000 domains expire, and of course many more domains are available to register. As a domain flipper, your job is to find good domains that you can register or purchase for one price, and go on to sell for a higher price in the short-term. To give you an example. Imagine you find a domain that you can register on Godaddy for $10, and after looking at the valuation metrics for that domain, you realize the ACTUAL market value is not $10 but closer to $10,000. You register that domain and then you attempt to flip it. Either to end-users (people who want to develop it into a website) or to other domainers (traders or, like yourself, flippers).

That would be a better model for you. To learn more about it, you can hunt around the web, goes without saying, or take a look around WF. A chap called Gene is excellent on the subject (sorry, Gene, my 40 year-old brain can't remember your surname), and I've been in the domain trade for many many years myself and you'll find I've said the odd thing on WF, as well as other people. If I were you, I'd start out by learning how to domain flip. Get some flips under your belt. Get comfortable and then get expert. Start out by registering domains to flip. Evolve your business, then, to purchasing domains (after sales market). And perhaps gravitate towards development in the future, where you're registering or (more usual) buying premium domains with a view to developing them into businesses, either to hold onto indefinitely, or to flip, or to hold onto long enough to get them earning well and THEN selling.

But, to start? My advice: domain flipping. Run before you can walk, as they say. Learn what makes a good domain, learn the valuation metrics, learn how to find gold (as I call it) by looking at expired or expiring domains or by hunting for them outside of that and registering them, learn how to find buyers, learn how to negotiate deals, and learn how to close deals. It's a good way to begin a career of domain trading, because you get a lot of action, and therefore a lot of practice. And, of course, it can be a lot of fun. I've always been a fan of flipping. Where else in our business lives can we buy something for $10 that might have an actual value of 2, 3, 4, or 5 figures? Anyway. Give it a shot, and best of luck to you.

Cheers - Tom

Flippa is a great place and you can find really useful things there, not just domains. It's also useful for reverse engineering and learning about making money online, but in the case of the domain you intend to buy you better listen to Tom Addams. He's right on this one!

@Andreis You nailed it, that's where people find other people's secret sauce. With anyone selling a domain, you definitely have the right to ask them to explain their business model and how the site is making money. You need full disclosure in order to make an inform decision as to whether or not you should bid for that domain. I've done this many times before, asking to see their analytic, partnership information, etc.