Selling a domain?

[WD*]

I bought a domain while at uni with the intention of turning it into a money-spinner to make some cash while studying.

It was a recruitment website for students, specifically in the north-east, which was reflected in the domain name.

The idea was that companies wopuld pay a minimal fee to advertise, much less than the fees charged by other recruitment sites, and it would be free for students to browse and apply for jobs, and to get job application adivce.

IN the end, however, I never got it off the ground, party due to time restraints on my side, and party through a lack of cooperation from prospective clients.

Would it be worth advertising the domain for sale, or would it be too easy for someone to buy a similar name for it to be actually profitable?

[dontlift]

forget about it wd more hassle than it's worth unless it is an absolutely A1 name, which i doubt as most of them went long ago

[Wacky Racer]

A friend of mine's son registered www.diy.com a few years ago, and has made a fortune selling it to BandQ, plus he gets a small percentage for every hit it receives....

Also sells heart rate monitors over the internet, and is now the largest supplier in the UK........

It's just being clever enough to come up with the idea in the first place..........

[davidd]

Trace

Unless you have a stunning idea I would not bother. A former business partner of mine registered a shit load of domain names, some pretty good ones such as

DVDdirect.co.uk with the intention of selling them on and making a shed load of cash. Needless to say no one ever bought them.

Saying that we inherited tehm when we took teh company over and we have since sold a couple but in general they have been to other parts of the organisation that we used to be (if that makes sense).

If you have a good idea for a recruitment site we are currently sitting on
www.jobclub.com if you want to make me an offer No?

If the name is good then it might be worth punting it round to suitable recruitment companies and see if any of them bite.

Good luck

D.

[simpo two]

Are there companies that deal in domain names, eg like car number plates?

[WD*]

mine is, IIRC, www.studentjobsnorth-east.co.uk or something along those lines, its that long since I bothered with it that I can't remember! My web design is atrocious, and as I said, I just couldn't generate the interest from businesses to advertise. It only cost me £10 for two years, so I guess it wouldn't really harm to sit on it until the contract runs out.

[JonRB]

I'm currently sitting on
www.dressed4play.com,
www.dressed4play.co.uk,
www.dressedforplay.com,
www.dressedforplay.co.uk,
www.dressedforeplay.com,
www.dressedforeplay.co.uk,
www.dressedfourplay.com and
www.dressedfourplay.co.uk

Yes, I went a bit overboard when purchasing several years ago.

I'd be interested in knowing if they were worth anything.

[JamieBeeston]

wd-40.co.uk
ironbru.co.uk
ironbrew.co.uk
vSupermarket.co.uk
modwise.com
gt2.co.uk
997tt.com
murcielago.co.uk
sagaris.com
sagaris.co.uk
t350t.co.uk
t350c.co.uk
t440.co.uk
t440r.co.uk
sl55.co.uk
575m.com
fq330.com
fq330.co.uk
scaglietti.co.uk
scaglietti.net
isontheinter.net

and the list goes on...and on... and on..

sold a few over time, mostly for ~£1k

still waiting on a few offers to 'firm up'

[JamieBeeston]

WD* said:

Would it be worth advertising the domain for sale, or would it be too easy for someone to buy a similar name for it to be actually profitable?

You could, but most ppl arent interested in buying, they will grab it if it comes up for renewal... but ppl ask silly money for what cost them £10.

unless its a top notch domain, (short .com or catchy .co.uk) then its unlikely to attract much attention... if its related to their business, many would just threaten to sue instead of paying (like wd40 tried with me) but a good solicitor can protect you.

[shadowninja]

Wont it be painful if they sue cos of trademarks?

PS if anyone wants webmall.co.uk or wimble.com...

[JamieBeeston]

shadowninja said:

Wont it be painful if they sue cos of trademarks?

Sure, unless you can prove an equally legitimate use of the domain.

Alot of sensible domains have ended up in other manufacturers arms, simply as they have a legitimate claim to the domain.

Trademark isnt the be-all and end-all.

Take flora.co.uk

who should have rights to it the marg ppl, or interflora.. or an independant florist, or a botanist...

its never clear cut.

[simpo two]

JamieBeeston said:

Sure, unless you can prove an equally legitimate use of the domain. Alot of sensible domains have ended up in other manufacturers arms, simply as they have a legitimate claim to the domain

I wondered why B&Q went for diy.com instead of b&q.com or (if ampersand aren't allowed) bandq.com.

[GavinPearson]

WD* said:

I bought a domain while at uni with the intention of turning it into a money-spinner to make some cash while studying. It was a recruitment website for students, specifically in the north-east, which was reflected in the domain name. The idea was that companies wopuld pay a minimal fee to advertise, much less than the fees charged by other recruitment sites, and it would be free for students to browse and apply for jobs, and to get job application adivce. IN the end, however, I never got it off the ground, party due to time restraints on my side, and party through a lack of cooperation from prospective clients. Would it be worth advertising the domain for sale, or would it be too easy for someone to buy a similar name for it to be actually profitable?

If you are trying to sell the domain name I would suggest approaching recruitment companies such as Kelly's Services / Manpower or other Recruitment people in the area etc.

My wife is a recruiter so we have a site. We provide qualified candidates to corporations to fulfil their HR needs. This means we read, filter, verify that the candidates are good. People pay Kathy because they know that they don't have time to read numerous applications, they know the local papers are useless and they want people actually qualified.

If your site is simply there to provide a means of allowing people to apply for a job then you are basically in competition with the local newspaper. They are established though which is their advantage.

I would suggest the way to make money is to provide the application filtering and sort the wheat out from the chaff. That's actually worth something to a business. You can also provide services to check references etc to help the employer out.

If you can tailor the service towards employers the business will be worth some money. You will need to decide the target though. I'd not pick McDonalds or Burger King for example. They have more applications than jobs - so they're hardly likely to use you. But maybe a solicitor's firm looking for some cheap help and getting to know a few aspiring lawyers would be interested.

On our site anybody can apply for free. If we have a client that wants somebody with their skills we let the client have the cv. Be aware we only store the cvs of those we think we can market - if the cv says loser all over it we don't keep it. I have this joyous task so I can read a cv pretty quickly. If you end up as a recruiter / application filterer you would be wise to get rid of the rubbish. There's an awful lot of it out there. Learn to be ruthless!

Also bear in mind that recruitment firms are there to find people for jobs, not jobs for people. We get a lot of people wanting us to find them jobs - but ultimately all we can do is put qualified candidates cv's in front of those with jobs to offer. I would say that from time to time we get the cream of the crop applying on spec. This is at say TVR's Chief Handling guru or better saying they're looking for career advancement. In that case we'd approach other firms because it's pretty obvious the guy is successful and talented, but those instances are probably a dozen people a year.