Gerry Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 I was trying to help out a friend yesterday who wants to create a website. I told him first and foremost the thing to do is register the domain name you want, that that's crucial and always the first step. He said he had tried but had trouble and didn't know what to do next. So we went right to my Mac, we raised the Internets and went to register.com. His last name is Lewis and for mostly sentimental reasons (he once had a salon by this name) the domain he wanted was lewisinternational.com. So we did a search and found that it's available. When we went through the purchase process, the price for this domain name was ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT DOLLARS. Yes, you read that right, $1,588.00 for a domain name. There was an alert that said this was a "Premium Domain Name" and although it is available and unused, we went to two other domain registry sites and the exact same price came up. Just for grins I did a search on mooneyinternational.com and that came up with a regular price. I searched on his full name, warrenlewisinternational.com, and it came up with a regular price. The alert we got was not clear on the reason for the price but suggested it could be the number of characters(!) or some other claptrap. I was stumped and here I was trying to impress my friend how easy this would be. So I was unable to help him and suggested he come up with another domain name. But I have never heard of a "Premium" domain name and wondered if anyone here could shed some light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 14, 2011 Hash Fellow Share Posted March 14, 2011 When you say "that came up with a regular price. " do you mean it was high or low? edit: http://www.register.com/learningcenter/web...um-domain-name/ even though it's "available" it sounds like someone is really squatting on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largento Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 This is goofiness. I've even heard that some domain name registering companies will purchase ones that people search for and don't buy, meaning that if you don't register it when you search for it, you can lose it. Back in '96 or '97, I had a web design biz called "Tickled Ink." Our domain was "tickled-ink.com". After the business died, I let the domain name go. Looking now, they want $1,338 for 1 year for it. Not sure how they think it is that valuable. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 By "regular price" I meant low-ish, like $300 for three years, depending on what options were selected with it, e.g., mailboxes, hosting, web design package, etc. I did notice that though the domain was available there were several variations already owned. But I didn't really investigate the squatting aspect; if it's available it's available, period, at least that's what I learned as a boy. EDIT: Thanks for that link Robert. That sort-of explains it, but it's still BS.COM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 14, 2011 Hash Fellow Share Posted March 14, 2011 I recall that happened to our former forum member Zachary Brewster-Geist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkwing Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Think of it like this as well. Say a meteor hit and Facebook crashed and the domain name became available. Anybody could purchase it sure, but for 25 billion dollars. That's right, 25 billion. So somehow that domain name has become worth something, how, who knows, but sometimes they do, I kinda remember that being a raging scare of the late nineties and early um, whatever the last decade is called, about how your domain name could be really expensive if it's thought to be worth something or some other bull crap. Course I was only like 10 back then, so what do I know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Simonds Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Hello, Ok how this works is companies use whois to find out when your registrations expires. If the site has a lot of traffic or the name is cool like "hash.com" the buy it and then put it up for a price. This is not the best way to get a url since they can cost a lot 300.00 is the usually the lowest price places like that offer. Most of the time i get url's from godaddy.com Some times is just better to take a url that is not 100% what you are looking for then trying to spend the money to buy a already bought url. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkwing Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I got lucky and got my domain name for free and didn't have to pay for hosting Unfortunately anybody who registers a site through them now doesn't get nifty things like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeSlice Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Unfortunately, that domain is owned by a company called "BUYDOMAINS.COM'. 'lewis-international.com' - note the hyphen, is available for $15 at http://www.directnic.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Simonds Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 It's also lewis-international.com for 11.99 at godaddy.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason1025 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 10.99 through bluehost.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 Thanks guys, that's all very helpful. I will mention that to my friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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