A tale of two domains (a.k.a. even auction drops become available later on)

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Over a year ago I noticed two domains on SnapNames (I think it was them, or it could have been Pool). One was a com and the other was a .net - identical domains, different TLDs.

The .com was on an active auction - the bidding was over $250 while the .net sat lonely as the price dropped in hopes someone would pick it up. The .com went over $350 as the .net went down to the lowest price - $9. I quickly grabbed it for that bargain (since I was developing a similar domain, I could use the traffic). The .com sold for under $400 and I thought that someone would definitely put it up and use a site and I might benefit a little from it (I'm assuming the previous owner had both and dropped both).

Fast forward four months, I get an email (spam) offering to sell me the .com for $500 since I own the .net (from the same people who later on, not only offered to sell me a domain that I owned but had it on their site for anyone to buy for at least 9 months). The alarm goes off in my head and I jump over to my registrar and type in the domaincom

Guess what? You guessed it - it was available for registration so I quickly picked it up and pointed it to the site that I had developed (and enjoyed a small boost in traffic).

The moral of the story - don't let drop auctions get you down. If the domain you goes beyond your budget, don't give up hope. There is a chance (even a small chance is still a chance) that it might be available a few months later.

My question is - why would someone spend so much on a domain (with multiple bidders) only to drop it a few months later?
  • Profile picture of the author ValleyArch
    Hi,

    Sounds to me like there are people out there just trying to flip domains in the same way they flipped real estate.

    Either they think the original owner had accidentally allowed the domain registration to lapse and could sell it straight back to them at a higher price, or they try to sell it to people who have the .net address and want the .com address.

    Doesn't sound like a sustainable business!
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