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How and why we acquired our .com domain

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Re: How and why we acquired our .com domain

#81

Post by rolenthedeep »

I am the proud owner of my own firstnamelastname.com

When I first ventured into web hosting, the domain was dead, but still registered. I did a whois and got Firstname Lastname. Not sure what I expected, really.

After some years I randomly checked with my favorite registrar, and it was suddenly available for $15/yr. Immediately grabbed that, no regrets.

A couple of years ago, I got a series of emails from some broker offering me an increasing amount of money for the domain. I think they gave up at $5k, and I never responded. $5k would have been incredible at the time, but by then I was fully committed to my FirstName@firstnamelastname.com email address.

I guess I never really put a website at that domain, it's just an email address. I keep telling myself I'll do it eventually, but it's been almost 10 years at this point...

Re: How and why we acquired our .com domain

#83

Post by MrVandemar »

dhosek wrote: post #80

When I came up with the idea for finl, I was not entirely surprised that finl.com was squatted, and given that finl is unlikely to ever make money (since my business plan is to not be a business), the asking price of $53,000 is entirely out of line. I maybe will switch to a different tld than .xyz at some point in the future, but for now, barring a lottery win (which would require buying a lottery ticket, I suppose),…

> barring a lottery win (which would require buying a lottery ticket, I suppose)

It's not impossible to win the lottery without buying ticket. Someone can give you one. You could find one on the street. etc.

There's also saying "buying a lottery ticket only very slightly increases your odds of winning it".

Re: How and why we acquired our .com domain

#84

Post by Waterluvian »

rolenthedeep wrote: post #81

I am the proud owner of my own firstnamelastname.com When I first ventured into web hosting, the domain was dead, but still registered. I did a whois and got Firstname Lastname. Not sure what I expected, really. After some years I randomly checked with my favorite registrar, and it was suddenly available for $15/yr. Immediately grabbed that, no regrets. A couple of years ago, I got a series of emails from some broker…

$5000 can do a lot of good in the world. But it’s your property to do what you will with, for sure.

Re: How and why we acquired our .com domain

#85

Post by soderfoo »

rolenthedeep wrote: post #81

I am the proud owner of my own firstnamelastname.com When I first ventured into web hosting, the domain was dead, but still registered. I did a whois and got Firstname Lastname. Not sure what I expected, really. After some years I randomly checked with my favorite registrar, and it was suddenly available for $15/yr. Immediately grabbed that, no regrets. A couple of years ago, I got a series of emails from some broker…

There's no time like the present.

Finally got around to putting together my personal site this past weekend. Just a simple blog and centralized place to post updates and photos for family. I was dragging my feet for a while but finally made a big push.

Nostalgia for the simplicity of the GeoCity days made me apprehensive over the years.

Re: How and why we acquired our .com domain

#86

Post by [deleted] »

sireat wrote: post #47
canadiantim wrote: post #9

Honestly the key is to be patient. Put it a low-ball offer on a .com you want then wait. They'll reject initially, then they'll contact you again every couple months to see if you're still interested. Keep the low-ball offers going, maybe increasing by very small increments. Eventually you will catch them in a moment where the seller is desperate and then you strike a deal. I got a 6 letters .com domain for $3k down…

I tried looking for myfirstname.com and it is completely inactive and private registration for the last 20 years. I am not even sure how would I go about placing a bid. It is an uncommon name not in English dictionary. Possibly my namesake bought it 20 years ago and has done absolutely nothing (not even placed parking on it). How could I even contact them?

[deleted]

Re: How and why we acquired our .com domain

#87

Post by q7xvh97o2pDhNrh »

rolenthedeep wrote: post #81

I am the proud owner of my own firstnamelastname.com When I first ventured into web hosting, the domain was dead, but still registered. I did a whois and got Firstname Lastname. Not sure what I expected, really. After some years I randomly checked with my favorite registrar, and it was suddenly available for $15/yr. Immediately grabbed that, no regrets. A couple of years ago, I got a series of emails from some broker…

I admire your decisiveness on the email branding. I own a few domains I could use for such a thing, but I'm still trying to figure out the best local-part.

Consider the possibilities! Sure, you could go classic and timeless, like yours, with FirstName@. But what about cool and terse, like initial@firstnamelastname.com? Or something unique and artisanal (that will hopefully never get old), like io@firstnamelastname.com?

(I've even seen a few people do hello@firstnamelastname.com, though I could never bring myself to do such a thing.)

Re: How and why we acquired our .com domain

#88

Post by astrea »

q7xvh97o2pDhNrh wrote: post #87
rolenthedeep wrote: post #81

I am the proud owner of my own firstnamelastname.com When I first ventured into web hosting, the domain was dead, but still registered. I did a whois and got Firstname Lastname. Not sure what I expected, really. After some years I randomly checked with my favorite registrar, and it was suddenly available for $15/yr. Immediately grabbed that, no regrets. A couple of years ago, I got a series of emails from some broker…

I admire your decisiveness on the email branding. I own a few domains I could use for such a thing, but I'm still trying to figure out the best local-part. Consider the possibilities! Sure, you could go classic and timeless, like yours, with FirstName@. But what about cool and terse, like initial@firstnamelastname.com? Or something unique and artisanal (that will hopefully never get old), like io@firstnamelastname.co…

I went with “hello”,”contactme”, and “contact”

Re: How and why we acquired our .com domain

#90

Post by mappu »

q7xvh97o2pDhNrh wrote: post #87
rolenthedeep wrote: post #81

I am the proud owner of my own firstnamelastname.com When I first ventured into web hosting, the domain was dead, but still registered. I did a whois and got Firstname Lastname. Not sure what I expected, really. After some years I randomly checked with my favorite registrar, and it was suddenly available for $15/yr. Immediately grabbed that, no regrets. A couple of years ago, I got a series of emails from some broker…

I admire your decisiveness on the email branding. I own a few domains I could use for such a thing, but I'm still trying to figure out the best local-part. Consider the possibilities! Sure, you could go classic and timeless, like yours, with FirstName@. But what about cool and terse, like initial@firstnamelastname.com? Or something unique and artisanal (that will hopefully never get old), like io@firstnamelastname.co…

I own firstn@melastna.me, that's optimal if your surname matches a ccTLD.
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