You have your website planned, your content picked out, your pages coded,
hosting money in the bank- all you need now is the right domain name. You know
the perfect name and eagerly perform a search; and what you get is … “Sorry!
The name you requested is not available; here are a bunch of others you might
want.”
What to do?
You might consider searching in the many forums on the web to a community
that is rapidly growing around the central idea of buying, selling and trading
domain names, websites, and hosting services. You may find exactly what you are
looking for, or something just as good. While it is true the domains can be
sold for more than you would pay if you purchased them first, often they may
sell for less. Consider Scrapyard.com, which bills itself as “The Internet's 24
Hour Junkyard” and where some domains go for as little as $1.50.
How do I sign up?
Participating in these forums typically requires signing up as a member, but
that is most often free and easy. Once enrolled you can post if you are looking
for a particular domain, if you want sites that are partially built, sites with
built in traffic; you might even want to barter or auction domains and websites
rather than pay a fixed price.
Can I make money with this?
Yes! Do you have a domain name you aren’t using, or one that just doesn’t
perform for you anymore? Post it on the forum at the price you want and be
contacted by private message, posting, or email.
Members on these domain selling and trading forums are usually very friendly
and willing to help out if you are new to the scene. They can even help out if
you would rather trade services for sites, such as copy writing, graphic
design; nearly anything you can think of.
If you are at wits end because the domain you want is back-ordered well into
the next decade, or if you just want to try your hand at a bit of old-fashioned
trading-post style bartering with a 21st century spin, check out the sites
listed below.