These domain parking pages

[Mike]

I forgot to renew one of my domains a few months ago. It wasn't a great domain, the site was old and one that I wasn't too bothered about losing, and it didn't contain any keyphrases. Basically, I could probably find a better one and pick it up for $10 right now.

I tried accessing it the other day and was presented with one of these domain parking pages. I submitted an offer, and a few days later I was told that the owner had placed a reserve of $1400. All this for a domain that had a poor site on, and one that contained no big keywords.

Couldn't believe my ideas, if anyone buys that they're barmy! Surely they're just trying to rip people off with these?

[agua]

I agree - stupid prices, but people buy them - I think its some kind of reverse psychology.

Normally you can register a similar, if not better domain for $10 and brand it.

[Blue Cat Buxton]

I agree - stupid prices, but people buy them - I think its some kind of reverse psychology.

Normally you can register a similar, if not better domain for $10 and brand it.

Do people buy them though, or is it just someone trying their luck?

[agua]

I'm sure some get bought... look at other things people buy for no apparent reason

[Blue Cat Buxton]

I guess I have a lot of domains that I bought (impulse purchases) without too much thought, but never for $1000!

[agua]

No - me neither... but I have thought about it at times... which is why I think some people have probably done the deed

[Chris]

I've bought a few domains for more than a grand. All were good though.

chainmail.net when the owner of chainmail.com refused to sell.
onlineliterature.com because I needed the non-hyphen version of my most popular site
surcoats.com for a future project.

I've also sold online-orienteering.com for more than a grand, I thought that guy was crazy though. It definitely wasn't worth that.

[BGray]

I couldn't disagree more. Domains, especially .com keyword domains (and .net and .org to an extent), are the most finite resource for web publishers. I've bought easily over 500 domains that cost $1k+ and have acquired more than a handful that are $50k into the 6 figures.

I have development plans for all of them even though it might be several years down the line. They produce direct navigation traffic which is the most potent traffic available. I don't buy them for resale but when the right offer comes along I'm not stupid either. Last year I profited well into the 6 figures from domain name sales I'd bought to develop.

[Blue Cat Buxton]

Sure for domains with good key words, but there are also a lot of second rate domains where the price expected is OTT