So you’ve finally come up with that perfect business idea only to find out that the name… and all similar names have been taken. Held hostage for thousands more than you want to pay, you’re forced to come up with an alternate plan. It happens everyday, and it will continue to happen more and more as individuals and companies continue to stock up on internet real estate.

Can you do anything about it? Not really… get creative, that’s my best advice. Start negotiations low and keep your fingers crossed. Check domain expiration dates and be ready to put them on backorder in hopes that one might fall into your lap.

I am currently finding myself in this situation. I’m frustrated and mad that I can’t come up with an alternative and I can’t afford the current prices. But that is the beauty of the domain market… it is a market full of enterprise, brokers, squatters, and hours full of domain searches. Welcome to domaining.

On a side note, I want to mention an AWESOME iPhone app called DomainTyper that searches for .com, .net, and .org extensions AS YOU TYPE. It is a very quick and easy way to search for available domains, and it is of course FREE. They also have a great website that does the same thing: http://domaintyper.com/

The domain name market is unique in that the product that you sell is not like all the other products. Yes, it is just a domain name, but not all domain names are alike. And many are easier to sell than others, but sometimes, the hardest part about selling a domain name, is bringing in the right audience.

For example, only three of my recently listed domains actually sold: IIYB.com, Valve.cc, and QBMW.com. The one that sold for the most money was the one that I spent the most time trying to advertise… whether it was in a BMW car forum, or domain forum… I had to try and advertise it to the right audience. In the end, I don’t think it was a BMW enthusiast that actually bought the name (maybe I’m wrong), but I know there were several BMW enthusiast who were bidding for it. Which definately helped to drive up the price.

The question I would ask now would be where is the right place to sell a domain name? Sure you can use GoDaddy’s Auctions, Ebay, Sedo, Snapnames… there are a ton of places out there. But the answer depends on the name itself. In the case of QBMW.com, I wanted a place where non domain name owners felt comfortable bidding and so I chose Ebay. That said, had I listed that same list on GoDaddy’s aftermarket, some of my domains that didn’t sell, might have sold for the simple fact that there is a larger audience of domain name collectors that frequent domain name auction sites. Of course, I’m selling low end domain names too… in the event you are selling a high end domain name, you might seek the services of a professional domain service such as SnapNames that handles the escrow service portion of the transaction. 

I guess the core advice that I can give on selling a domain name is that you really have to try and advertise the domain to the right audience, and that audience is not just domain name collectors. Without the right audience, you may not sell your domain name, and worse yet, you may sell it for much lower than what it is really worth.

Photo By TheNotQuiteFool

So many of you think that BVTD.com might have died right? Nah, we’re still here. We’ve just been hibernating under a blanket of Hurricane Ike damage, a sour economic situation, and the force of real time jobs and three year olds. We’re kinda like Bido… except that we’re not making any money.

That said, we’re having a little bit of a fire sale in an effort to offset some of our recent economic losses. The following domain names are available immediately at $5.00 a pop via Ebay.com. Good Luck & Happy Bidding -

Valve.cc
Nimni.com
GKnee.com
ProMustangParts.com
TheatricalWorks.com
TeachMeToBlog.com
WeddingCeremonyInfo.com
iiyb.com
qbmw.com

Photo By Jeb Ro

So it has over a month since our last post. We’ve been short staffed, we’re on multiple external projects right now, and oh yeah, hurricane Ike took out our power for a week and left our house in pretty bad shape. Excusable? No.

Perhaps we could throw out the excuse that all of our stocks in the stock market SUCK so we have no extra money to buy domains. Of course, that wouldn’t be an excuse… that would just be reality. All of these things have us VeryUpset.com indeed.

Of course that domain is available on auction for $15 with less than 24 hours to go. Enjoy, happy bidding, and come back soon!

Photo By Hashmil

We’ve brought you not one, but two magical domains today: IllusionStudio.com and MagicTricksBlog.com. Both have 1 bid at $10 and more than 24 hours remaining to bid.

We think both names could be fairly profitable. A lot of people turn to the web to see how particular magic trick is performed or to watch videos of some really magic tricks. It’s definately a “niche” market, but with the right audience, we could see both of these domains disappear quickly.

We’re a little late on this one, but it sits with 1 hour left and a ten dollar price tag. We are thinking that just about ANY church would like to have this little gem. It is generic enough to be used for almost any religious establishment, and with the current price and time left… it should be a great bargain!

Good luck!

Update: SOLD for $20! Not a bad price for an “easy-to-remember” website that could EASILY be bounced to any existing church or worship service site. We did bid on this domain, we didn’t win it though, and we chose not to run the price up on it for someone else. We think they got a great bargain… congrats!

Photo By Smudge9000

Came across this today, currently at $15 with five days to go. We think this would be an awesome name for a number of wind products or at the very minimum a great site for kite surfing.

Wind is suppose to be the next “big” thing, but we’ll really have to wait and see. For now, we’re definately watching this one.

Update: This auction closed at $239 on 14 bids…

Lately we’ve been a little lax in the auction department, we’ve got all kinds of summer things going on, and we’re basically going to admit that we’re a little lazy. That said, we’re still watching the auctions, we’re just not giving you the updates that we should be…   sorry.

Today we received an email from ShowTheWorld.com with a listing of their domains. It cracked us up, so we’ve decided to share. We particularly like: BitchyWoman.com, ClinicallyDead.com, and WetMatches.com. Why? We don’t know… but those were the ones we laughed at…

Also, on a cool note, somehow we were contacted that we might still obtain GetOffYourFatAss.com. We’ll find out in the next few days if we get it or not, but the fact that we have a second chance at it is kind of like this special omen. It kinda slaps in you in the face and says… “HEY, GET TO WORK!”

Photo By Joel Vaughan

We know people in Florida, specifically Jacksonville. They’re probably not the skydiving type, but as we’ve mentioned before most of our site investments are for possible future retirement plans. Maybe we can pay a visit and scope out a possible business venture. We understand that Jacksonville is a beautiful area, and retiring in Florida wouldn’t mean the end of the world.

All that said, we’ve never been skydiving before, but we’ll try anything once. We think this name is a little “specific”… not as good as FloridaSkydiving or SkydivingFlorida, but a good name none-the-less as Jacksonville has an estimated population of more than 800,000 people.

Update: This auction closed at $120. We were hoping this domain would free fall into our lap, but that wasn’t the case. Congrats to whomever pulled the rip cord on that price tag.

The perfect name for a motivational website is out on auction starting at $10. We couldn’t help but chuckle when we came across this one. It should serve as a giant message to all of us “lazy” people whenever we procrastinate and don’t do what we’re suppose to do (reads – like posting/updating this website)

Update: This auction closed with at $50. We had some devious ideas for this little domain name… guess we’ll have to move along. Congrats to the winner.