Sunday, March 24, 2024

How To Buy An Owned Domain

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Considerations Before You Buy A Domain Through Shopify

How to BUY & SELL Domain Names! | The Journey

Before you buy a domain through Shopify, review the following considerations:

  • Email hosting services arent provided on Shopify. Instead, you can connect your Shopify-managed domain to a third-party email hosting service.
  • Some domain extensions include WHOIS privacy, which is a service that keeps your personal contact information hidden from public domain registration records. If you want WHOIS privacy, then make sure that your domain extension isnt on the WHOIS exceptions list.
  • Some domain extensions have specific residency or business registration requirements. Make sure that you can meet these requirements, because you might need to verify your registration information. If you cant meet these requirements, then your domain might be suspended.
  • A new SSL certificate is created automatically when you buy a domain through Shopify. You dont need to buy SSL encryption for your domain.
  • You need to pay the registration fee every year to renew your domain subscription. Domain renewals are charged separately from your monthly subscription charges. The exact pricing depends on which domain extension you choose.
  • Domain hosting services are only available with a paid Shopify plan. If you want to close your store or your Shopify account, and you want to keep using your domain, then you need to transfer your domain before you close your store. You can transfer your domain to one of the following:

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How To Purchase A Domain That Is Already Taken

Jeffrey is the Co-Founder of Saw.com, focusing on domain sales and acquisitions. Visit www.Saw.com if you want to purchase a domain.

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Youre starting a business or undergoing a rebrand, and youve come up with the perfect domain name. The only problem is that the domain is already registered. In this case, you have one of two options: You can either choose an alternative domain name, or you can fork over the cash to the current owner. If your heart is set on your first choice, this article will explain how you can go about acquiring that domain.

Beware of buying the same domain with a different top-level domain.

One unfortunate occurrence I see all too often is when buyers decide to go with a different top-level domain of their first-choice domain. At first glance, this strategy makes sense. After all, its the same name, and its much cheaper! Registrars like GoDaddy.com and Domain.com will often suggest this option when you search for a .com domain that is already taken.

It is a fact that internet users typically enter .com at the end of the domain name when they type into the URL bar. This means if you decide to go with a .net or a .biz, users who end up at the .com could have a much harder time finding you. All in all, I believe its a better decision to pay up for your first-choice domain, and if that doesnt fit your budget, go with a different name altogether.

Visit the domain to see how its being used.

Find the owner of the domain.

Registration date.

Buying A Domain Name Target The Right Contact Person

Equally critical, is the point-of-contact. Establishing the Whois, is just the start of the connection. Some domain owners are very large, corporate power-houses that own hundred, or perhaps, thousands of domain names. They are your communication or, bridge towards a potential deal.

Amazon.com is a perfect example. Lets dig a bit deeper in a simple case study. Amazon owns more than 41,152 domain names in their portfolio. Many of their domains go unused, and do not resolve. How do you find the correct person within Amazons 647,500 employees?

Is it the project manager around that brand? Would it be marketing, CMO, Legal, Business Development, Webmaster, Technology etc?

Its a vital step to connect with the correct person, or division within the Company so you dont spend time spinning your wheels.

After contact is established, you need to determine whether the asset is indeed availableis it within budget and Scope? Whats it worth to you?

Also Check: Who Owns The Domain Name Search

Run A Domain Name Search

Now that you have found a registrar through which to register your domain, the next step is to perform a domain name search.

When choosing a domain name, make sure to pick the right domain extension as well its the suffix at the end of a web address. Domain name extensions are also referred to as top-level domains .

There are different types of domain extensions available, such as:

  • Country Code Top-Level Domain . This kind of TLD represents a specific country, letting both users and search engines know that a site is designed for visitors from a particular region. An example of this is the .us domain, which is the ccTLD for the United States.
  • Sponsored Top-Level Domain . Its a type of TLD restricted to certain types of groups and organizations. Some of sTLD examples include .mil, .gov, and .edu.
  • Generic Top-Level Domain . Its the most common type of TLD it doesnt rely on a country code and can be used for general purposes. A few examples of gTLDs include .com, .org, and .net.

When deciding on the extension that is suitable for your domain, look for a TLD that represents the purpose of your website. Choosing the wrong suffix can confuse visitors and make your brand name prone to being misinterpreted.

For example, a .com or .biz extensionmight be best for an eCommerce business. On the other hand, if you plan to create a blog to keep an online journal, an extension like .me can be an excellent solution.

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Purchasing A Previously Owned Domain Can Be Risky But Columnist Stephanie Levonne Has Some Tips To Help You Vet The Domain And Ensure A Smooth Site Migration

How To Find Out Who Owns A Domain Name  Lendvo

With over 1 billion websites on the World Wide Web today, it comes as no surprise that the domain name you may want to use is already owned by someone else. Luckily, in some cases, the current owner might be willing to part with it for the right price.

Acquiring a pre-owned domain can have a drastic impact on your SEO efforts, so it is important to approach such a purchase with caution. It is recommended that you do your due diligence its not uncommon for a domain name to have changed hands many times, and just like buying a used car, its often difficult to get the full history.

While examining the SERPs and scanning for any spammy links may be a good first step, its important to conduct a thorough assessment to ensure that the domain does not have a manual action penalty or warning from Google. There are many small issues that may not initially be cause for concern however, in aggregate, these problems can seriously hamper your domains ability to rank.

If youve bought, or are looking to buy, a pre-owned domain, read below for 10 things you should check before proceeding with a site migration:

Recommended Reading: How To Migrate A Domain From One Host To Another

Get Contact Info For The Decision Maker

Once you have the email contact, do some basic research to learn more about the domains current owner. You want to get in touch with a decision maker. Chances are, if you email a companys website administrator, they will ignore you.

Youll have better luck if you can get in touch with the business owner or a domain investor.

If you can only find the general email box of a medium- or large-sized company, dig around some more for ways to contact the decision maker of the company about the domain.

Why You Cant Buy A Domain For Life

While the idea of being able to buy a domain for life is certainly appealing, and convenient, there are several practical reasons why this isnt possible. It doesnt matter if the domain name is a trademark or your name, there are time limits to how long a person can have a domain locked up for.

The limits actually vary depending on what the TLD is, but many follow similar rules to the .com which has an upper limit of 10 years.

The international body that regulates domains, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers , sets the limit for leasing at 10 years. In theory, a person can continue to renew indefinitely or add another year to push it back up to 10 every single year.

Why these limits?

There are several reasons. One of the goals of ICANN is the democratization of names. They dont want someone to be able to buy up thousands of names and then those names can never be released again.

What if a person who protects their privacy passes away? Those names could be simply lost forever.

A person could also put an unrealistic price on a premium domain name and then keep it for life without it ever coming back into the market for others to possibly build a site out of it.

Theres also an important technicality to understand here:

You dont technically buy a domain name you lease it.

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Buy A Domain Through Shopify

Before you buy a custom domain through Shopify, check the price and availability of your domain name by using Shopify’s domain name generator. The exact price of domains that are bought through Shopify depends on which top-level domain extension you choose. The availability of TLDs is subject to change.

The domain name generator displays the availability of your chosen domain name, as well as other available TLDs and alternative domain names. If your chosen domain name or TLD isn’t available, then you can choose one of the suggested options or start a new search.

Pay For And Transfer Ownership Of The Domain

How to Buy a Domain That Someone Else Owns | The Journey

Next, youll need to pay for the domain and transfer its ownership. I cannot stress enough the importance of using a third party to facilitate this process. You want to feel protected when you are paying for the domain and actually walk away with the domain you worked so hard to obtain. The seller wants to know they can trust your payment.

GoDaddy offers a trusted aftermarket platform for transacting domain name sales. You can also use alternative services such as Escrow.com, which hold the money until the name is accepted and confirmed to be in the buyers account, and clear the funds for the seller prior to authorizing the movement of the domain to the buyer.

Read Also: How To Create Your Own Domain

How Much Does A Domain Name Cost

When you buy a domain name through domain registrars, you register it for one year with the option of a multi-year registration. You will be able to renew your domain name registration when the initial period finishes, and will usually be alerted by the registrar to do so. Domain names are also sometimes included in your web hosting plan and if not, usually offered by your hosting company.

Domains purchased through Mailchimp are priced based on the TLD you choose, such as .com or .net.

A domain name with a common top-level domain, such as .com, can be had for as low as $12.99 per year, and promotions are often available. Internet domains purchased through Mailchimp also come with free WHOIS privacy protection and a Secure Sockets Layer certificate to provide your website with free verification and encryption.

You do need to have a web hosting plan to put your site online, but you dont need to have hosting to purchase a domain. Assuming you have a business or blog name in mind, its possible to reserve your brands name for the future by purchasing and registering your domain name now. Then youll have plenty of time to consider how to build your website.

Who Legally Owns A Domain

Searching for a domains owner can turn up multiple names provided as contacts for functions such as technical support, administration, and billing. But, the legal owner of a website is the registrantthe person or entity in whose name the domain has been registered with a dedicated domain registrar or hosting provider. As long as registration fees are kept up to date, that owner retains full rights to the domain and has sole control over selling it at any time, whether or not the domain is nearing expiration.

Recommended Reading: How To Register Edu Domain

See If The Domain Is Listed For Re

Its quite possible that the domain is listed for sale in one of the many domain name marketplaces, however most first-time buyers dont even realize these marketplaces exist. And if the domains not listed for sale, you still have the option of approaching the current owner and trying to convince them to part with their domain name, a topic I will touch upon later in this article.

You will be pleasantly surprised by the quality, quantity, and even pricing of domain names that are available for immediate purchase in some of the large domain name marketplaces. Most of these marketplaces will allow you to conduct advanced searches of their inventory, e.g., .com domains that are 10 characters or less and end with the word robot. The domains that you find in these marketplaces can typically be purchased almost immediately for the listed price. This removes the vagueness of the domains availability for sale and its purchase price. If there is no buy-it-now price, the domain may be listed as make offer in the marketplace, but at least you know its for sale and can begin negotiating.

Here are the domain name marketplaces I recommend you check first to see if your dream domain name is already listed for sale there:

There are lots of other smaller marketplaces where domains are listed for re-sale, even including eBay, however a search on the popular marketplaces above will encompass the majority of the inventory that is available for purchase.

How To Buy A Domain Name

Why it

Domain names are available on various hosting websites and are bought by users for a fee. However, some domains are available for free. For example, with the Boxmode website builder, you can create a free domain directly in the websiteâs settings.

Besides, you can either buy a new domain name from a hosting site or buy a domain name that is already owned by someone else. There are several good reasons to opt for a pre-owned domain name, including securing something relevant and straightforward. But buying a pre-owned domain can often be challenging for various reasons. Letâs go over what you should keep in mind if youâve decided to go this route.

Recommended Reading: What To Do After Domain Purchase

How To Acquire An Existing Domain Name

Having an appealing and easy-to-remember domain name is very important for the success of your website. The domain should also match the site content and/or your brand name. What happens if the desired domain is not available, though? Rebranding is not really an option. You can simply choose a different name, but you can also try to acquire the domain you originally wanted from its current owner. In this article, we will look at the different options you have to do that.

Check what content the domain opens

This is the first step we recommend that you take as it is the easiest way to see if a registered domain is really in use. If you see an active website, check if there were any recent updates on it. If this is the case, it will be less likely that the current owner will sell the domain, or if they are willing to do that, they will probably ask for a higher price. If there arent recent updates, there is a better chance that the owner may sell the domain, but there is no guarantee for that. In any case, the best option will be to contact them and find out if they will sell the name.

If the domain opens a parking page, it was probably registered by a person or a company that buys and sells domains. If this is the case, the name you want is probably listed on a domain marketplace. Sometimes you will see the price the person/company asks for right on the parking page, as well as a direct link to the marketplace.

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Find Out How To Contact The Owner Through Whois

If the domain isnt listed for sale on Namecheap.com and theres no link to contact the owner through the site, its time to turn to a domain search to find out who owns the domain.

WHOIS is a directory that tells you who owns a domain name. You can search for a domain on WHOIS and get the owners address, phone number and email address.

From there, the easiest way to contact a domain owner is through email. Just send them a friendly email asking if they are willing to sell their domain name and if so, for how much.>

Some domain name owners wont respond to emails about buying a domain because they get a lot of inquiries. Try calling the domain owner if you dont hear back a few days after sending the email. If all else fails, do it the old-fashioned way: write a letter and send it via snail mail. Youd be surprised how often this works!

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Avoid Numbers And Hyphens

Imagine asking your 10 friends to spell or pronounce a domain name filled with numbers and dashes. It wont work.

If you choose a domain name with these elements, youre likely going to lose traffic to people who cant remember your domain or effectively tell someone else how to find it. We probably wouldnt have Facebook today if you had to go to Face-Book.com to reach the site.

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