So, can you make money domain flipping? It’s a question many ponder as they search for side hustles or alternative income streams.
Some dismiss it as a get-rich-quick scheme, while others see it as a legitimate online business.
In this post, we’ll explore domain flipping and address the all-important question: can you make money domain flipping in today’s digital landscape?
Table Of Contents:
- What is Domain Flipping?
- Can You Make Money Domain Flipping: A Realistic Look
- Protecting Yourself and Your Buyers
- Is Domain Flipping Still Profitable?
- So, Can You Make Money Domain Flipping in 2024?
- Conclusion
What is Domain Flipping?
Domain flipping is like real estate, but online. You’re buying a plot of digital land (a domain name) hoping its value will increase.
You buy low and aim to sell high, profiting from the difference. It’s a straightforward concept but takes skill and strategy to succeed.
Can You Make Money Domain Flipping: A Realistic Look
The short answer is yes, but it’s not a guaranteed path to riches. While stories of million-dollar domain sales are tempting ( like Cars.com for $872 million ), those are outliers.
Domain flipping takes work, research, and a good understanding of the market. Think of it less as flipping and more as investing. After all, just buying any domain won’t guarantee a return.
Finding Profitable Domains
A profitable domain has certain characteristics that make it attractive to buyers. It needs to be more than just a catchy name – it has to have potential value.
A few things to keep in mind when seeking domain names include how short the name is and how relevant the name is to what will eventually become the business or site subject matter or expertise.
Short domain names tend to be desirable for their simplicity ( just like Cars.com ). New domains and newer gTLDs, although perhaps not commonly understood as legacy .com names, offer unique branding opportunities.
Locally specific names can be easier to acquire. Keywords still matter in 2024 – they’ll tell how friendly the domain will eventually become for searches through sites like Google.
You might even use tools like Ubersuggest or Ahrefs or even the free Google Keyword Planner to discover and evaluate some names and see what comes up in Google.
Expired Domains and Drop Catching
One strategy is to snap up expired domains or soon-to-be-expired names others have let lapse (learn who owns any domain name you may be eyeing).
Resources like FreshDrop, Expired Domains , and JustDropped list expirations and let you snag potential gems before anyone else does.
It’s a way to potentially skate it until you make it with little cost as well as jumping into things fast at a pace you set.
Domain Valuation
Figuring out a domain’s worth isn’t an exact science. NameBio offers a database of past sales, which provides insight but won’t guarantee your domain sells for the same amount.
Remember to consider its length, relevance to in-demand niches, and brandability. It also comes in handy to view the list of the highest-selling domain names to determine what others value.
Selling Your Domains
You’ve got several options, from auction platforms like GoDaddy Auctions and Sedo to direct sales via your website.
Marketplaces like Flippa or Afternic cater to domain sales, each with its own pricing model and process ( Afternic has a commission structure, while Efty has monthly fees ).
You could also make something simple even simpler .
If working with brokers, do some research – Grit Brokerage , for example, facilitated the $3.5 million sale of ice.com.
Another option might be making money on TikTok with domains that seem to go with this.
It’s also helpful to review resources, such as How Does Amazon Make Money, to get a good sense of other opportunities.
Also take note, a good starting place to see how to make money with a blog , helps round out things that most people miss in these processes.
Building a landing page specifically targeted toward potential buyers is a more direct approach for domain names that can yield even higher sales figures, especially when appealing to corporate entities seeking their exact-match name.
Protecting Yourself and Your Buyers
Like with physical real estate, legal issues can crop up. Be mindful of trademarks – the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act is in place to prevent domain name hoarding for extortion from corporations and individuals.
Protect both yourself and your buyer by verifying registrations using tools such as a WhoIs lookup.
Is Domain Flipping Still Profitable?
Even with more than 350 million domain names registered, opportunities still exist. This might surprise some, as they assume finding valuable, available domain names would get ever harder.
As mentioned before, focus on newer gTLDs, niche markets, and localized domains (country code top-level domains, or ccTLDs, make up a good share of the European market ) often miss as opportunities.
Creativity, foresight, and smart use of keyword research will get you there ( Keywords Everywhere provides insights into monthly search volume for particular key phrases).
So, Can You Make Money Domain Flipping in 2024?
It requires more effort now to find a domain, properly invest and grow in this market , and get others involved in that domain name investing at scale.
Look to platforms and authorities (like those who understand and buy and sell millions of dollars’ worth of domains).
And most important is understanding it fully, understanding and practicing, even making many of your domains public to let buyers inquire organically to save on promotion costs .)
Just registering domains might become more costly over time but can be far outweighed by profits.
Conclusion
Can you make money domain flipping? Absolutely. But it requires more than just buying and selling; it’s about careful selection, understanding market trends, smart valuation, and effective selling strategies.
While the big payouts are rare, consistent effort and a good eye for opportunity can yield profits for you if you’re patient.
The key thing about figuring out how and where to begin making your first, or even just another domain name purchase is understanding if, and then finding good domain names or determining when a good name is a really great name based on what the buyer or end user values most about owning their own name.
While many sites and registrars are out there, you could also consider the simplicity and ease of acquiring through sites like GoDaddy’s Discount Domains.
Some successful flippers look for the value by simply using resources on reputable websites as an indicator that it is valuable to keep, which might include domains with Editorial backlinks (that point to and get indexed and displayed in high authority web pages like Forbes or New York Times articles.
Title: Can You Make Money Domain Flipping in 2025? A Comprehensive Guide
