How many of you domain squat? By this you mean you buy domains you have no intention of using and just sit on them hoping that someone will want the name and buy it from you? I had a domain squatter approach me a while again and offered to sell his domain that sounded sort of like mine.
I do this every now and then...but i don't sit on them. The only time i do this is if i'm bored...and just searching random things...if i find a real good one i will buy it and try and sell it the next day...but only if they are really good ones... so far i'm not doing very good at it...lol
I only buy domains that I intend to add content to them... Not saying that I will in a short time period by I try...
I'm curious...how much money can one make by buying a domain that sounds like a reputable company and then monetize it? And how does one go about figuring out whether it's worth the money to buy the domain? Do you go by PageRank or get an estimate on traffic using 3rd party tools?
I know at least one. But that's because he resides in a country that doesn't see eye to eye with the US or Europe. Losing the domain name via UDRP or court is no big deal for him.
Squatting implies trademark infringement. There is a huge difference between me buying genericword.com and hoping to resell it and buying micr0soft.com and doing the same.
I agree with kohashi. Squatting is using well-known brands or simply some existing names, while buying generic domain names is totally legal and normal.
Yes, squatting has a negative connotation. I am a domain investor, owning a domain like boot.net does not infringe on anyone's right and in turn could be used for a number of things. Owning boot.net is the equivalent of owning real land. I can do what I wish with it so long as I break no laws or harm no one. As with real land you can build something on it and or sell it. Can't you do the same with your home? What if you own 6 homes, are you them a home squatter because you only need to live in 1 home at any time. Domain investing, parking, selling, leasing, and flipping are all legitimate and viable business options. Don't listen to the mainstream media, they won't educate you since they too know nothing about the business themselves.
I've started to just nab a few domain names, generic type, with the aim of doing something with them later. But it never seems to happen. So rather than just let them do nothing I invested in SteadyNiche and run that on my domains. Currently it generates me $2 a day, from Adsense. Very good and at that rate I've recovered the cost of my domain name in 4 days. Cool.
Come on, where is trademark infringement, can i ask you how come micr0soft.com can be bought without it being available in the market for sale. You buy a product from the market(whether new or used), if earlier that product belonged to Bill Gates, does it mean that i have to go to prison for buying that product
Registrars aren't required to ban registration of domain names that potentially infringe on trademarks. Besides, why would you even consider doing that?