What is cybersquatting: types, high-profile cases, perspective. What is domaining and cybersquatting

In October 2008, Patent Kinetics put up for auction the Сold.com domain (Сold - from English “cold”, “cold”). Bidding will be held until November 14 in closed mode, the starting price of the lot is one million dollars. Expected that final cost domain will exceed the starting price by 3-5 times. A good amount, isn't it, and this is not the limit. To date, the record belongs to sex.com, which was sold in 2006 for $14 million.

And what about in Russia? Everything is somewhat more modest in terms of prices, but the business on domains lives and develops. So the fortuna.ru domain was sold according to official information for $92,000 (one can only guess at the actual price). You yourself can calculate the profit from the transaction, given that the registration of a domain today costs around $20.

People who register or buy domains for the purpose of their further resale are called cybersquatters, although they themselves do not really like this name and prefer to call themselves domainers. The income of a successful domainer in Russia today is estimated at tens of thousands of dollars per month. Here is located very useful service, which keeps statistics on the sale and purchase of domains in various zones - knd.ru.

The fact that you can make good money selling domains became clear to some of the most enterprising Russians in the late 1990s. It was then that the avalanche of domain registration began. Those who were the first to this day occupy a leading position in the domain trading market. It is quite difficult for beginners to break through; difficult, but possible, because new domain names that you can earn on appear almost every day.

So, in order to make money selling a domain, you need to take only three steps: choose a suitable domain name, register or buy it, and then, of course, sell it for a profit. For all the seeming ease, there are enough subtleties in this matter, so let's try to figure it out in order.

Step 1. Choosing a domain name

This is the most important and difficult stage, how well or unsuccessfully you have chosen a domain name, in the end it depends on how quickly and how much you can sell it. The cost of a domain name depends on two factors: on what characters it consists of, and on what zone it is located in.

The most expensive zone, which is also the oldest, is the.com zone. However, I would not risk recommending that a beginner register his first domain in this zone. Domain trading in .com began much earlier than in other zones, so the competition here is very high, it is extremely difficult to break through. It is better to start with what is closer to us, namely from the zones.ru and.su.

If we consider the most valuable domain names, then in the first place we can put the so-called keywords, that is, domain names made up of words that are often entered into the search box. For example, business.ru, car.ru, hotel.ru, foto.ru Some Internet users enter these domain names into the address bar of their browser just to see what's there. Thus, the owner of such a domain receives additional visitors to his site.

For the Russian-speaking audience, Russian keywords in English transcription also have value. For example, vodka.ru, mangal.ru or udochka.ru. Here, of course, it is difficult to expect additional visitors to the site, but it is very prestigious to have such a domain. Judge for yourself, if you are a beer producer and own the pivo.ru domain, this sets you apart from your competitors.

Along with keyword domains, branded domains are also valued. For example, mersedes.ru or coca-cola.ru. However, even an experienced cybersquatter will think twice before registering such a domain. The point is that in recent years Russian legislation has moved a lot in this direction, the danger that the domain will pass to the owner of the trademark as a result of a court decision, and you will not receive anything, is very large and increasing every day. However, not all companies go to court. Someone counts money, and if it is cheaper to buy a domain than to spend money on lawyers, then the domain is bought out. Some companies simply do not want the unnecessary hype around their name and prefer to pay for the domain, so that the brand name can also be earned on the domain.

Domains made up of two or three characters are also highly valued on the market. Such domain names are very easy to remember, and in addition, many companies often use two and three letter abbreviations for their names. So if you are the owner of the Big Bun company, then God himself ordered you to own the bb.ru domain. And if it is already taken, then contact the cybersquatter with an offer to buy it, because it is very problematic to select such a domain name in court, the BB trademark can only be registered as an image.

And, the last type of domains that have value are the so-called teips. To put it simply, teip is an erroneous spelling of a popular domain name, so to speak, the role of the human factor in history. For example, the example of registering the Jandex.ru domain (teip from Yandex.ru) is widely known. Up to a certain point, the registration of the Jandex.ru domain brought cybersquatters about 5,000 visitors a day, ads were successfully scrolled on the domain until Yandex intervened, which, by a court decision, was able to re-register this domain to itself.

Beginner Tips for Choosing a Domain

Beginners, usually not understanding the issue thoroughly, register a bunch of domains, and then try to sell them, offering them to everyone in a row, and then wonder why no one takes them. Do not chase quantity, quality is much more important. Remember that one single valuable domain can be worth thousands of bad ones.

Analyze the experience of those who are not the first year in the domain business. Here, for example, here - adresa.ru - you can see the domains for sale. The owners of this resource were among the first who started earning by trading domains. See what domain names they own and draw your own conclusions from that. At this stage, the whoisworm.ru service will come in handy, here you can see a list of domains that belong to a person or company. Service, however, paid, but high quality.

Check for domain availability only in trusted services. You can do it here - whois-service.ru. Although there are hundreds of domain occupancy check services on the Internet, all of them somehow keep query statistics, so an unsuccessful choice of service can lead to the loss of the domain name you have chosen.

Pay attention to the zone.su. We inherited this zone from the Soviet Union and until recently it was not particularly popular, mainly due to the high cost of registering a domain in this zone. Now the prices for domain registration in the .ru and .su zones are the same. Look at the statistics - stat.nic.ru. There are almost two million registered domains in the .ru zone, and only 80,000 in the .su zone. So there are still many good domain names left in the .su zone, and this is where you can find something suitable.

Always be aware of everything new that happens in the world, regularly view the news, in general, keep your finger on the pulse. New domain names appear all the time (new brands of cars, aircraft, new fashionable resorts, destinations computer games and much more), there is a chance to be the first and register a successful domain.

Step 2. Domain registration

You have chosen, as it seems to you, a suitable domain name, it remains to register it. Firstly, do not delay registration, otherwise you can be left with a nose, and someone will definitely get ahead of you. In general, do not put off until tomorrow the registration that can be done today.

Second, WARNING! You should not apply for registration anyhow where and anyhow, use only verified registrars, in otherwise there is a risk that the registrar will register the domain for himself. This is unlikely, but still possible. You can use the services of RU-Center, the oldest domain registrar, or WebNames - webnames.ru.

If you can't find a suitable free domain, you can try to buy it at auction.nic.ru. Many domains are undervalued and you can buy them quite cheaply and sell them in a year or two, investing in domain names is enough profitable investment. In any case, even if you are not going to buy anything at the auction, it is always useful to see which domains are for sale and for how much.

Step 3. Domain sale

Let's say right away that you should not hope that you will sell your first domain a week after its registration. Trading domains is quite a delicate thing, and it might take a year before you manage to get your first deal done.

You should also not offer your domain to everyone in the hope that someone will buy it. Will not buy. Sit quietly and wait for potential buyers to contact you. You can and should, of course, try to sell the domain at an auction, but even if you didn’t buy it, you shouldn’t be upset. They didn’t buy it today, they will buy it in a year, but for now, you can park the domain and try to make money on advertising. How to do this, it was told How to make money on domain parking.

Prospects for the domain market

In September 2008, RU-Center lifted restrictions on the registration of IDN domains in the .su .com and .net zones. Now it is possible to register domain names using the national alphabet. Now it is possible to register a domain name like www.love.su .

We will not go into technical details of how this happens, we will only say that when you are on the site, the address bar of the browser will contain a domain in Russian (for example, http://www.love.su).

Now it is still difficult to talk about the prospects of this direction for cybersquatters, time will tell. However, I registered several domain names for myself. It will turn out to sell them in five years - good, but no, nothing terrible will happen, we will find an appropriate use for them.

Cybersquatting, translated from English, means "domain capture". The purpose of cybersquatting is the purchase and registration of domain names and their subsequent sale. If you approach the matter correctly, then this type of income has a chance to become good business with a good profit.

What is the essence of cybersquatting?

Cybersquatting is a rather difficult way to make money, as the difficulties begin in the very understanding of the functions. First you need to purchase a domain name from the person who owns this name. This is usually done directly with the registrar (owner) and on specialized exchanges. Well, after that it just sells for a slightly larger amount. The most important thing in this process is to have time to take a successful domain in order to sell it later.

What should be the domain name?

The best domain is one that is easy to remember, easy to type into the search box. Usually these are short names that have almost disappeared. For example, you will no longer find free domains with 3-4 characters, and with 5 characters they begin to slowly disappear.

As many experts say, the number of characters does not play a big role and there is no ideal number of characters, however, no one ruled out the fact that a domain name should have as few characters as possible. An important role is played by the arrangement of symbols, in such an order that it is convenient to call it.

As for the number of words, the ideal option for a domain is one word. Two words are not bad either, but three words, in a favorable combination, is also suitable, no longer desirable.

Domain should be easy to remember

Many Internet users do not use bookmarks. Usually they remember the required address and enter it using the keyboard. Thus, if you create a complex and long domain, you risk losing a user. For example, a domain named Brcvr.com is a short domain, but hard to remember.

A good domain name is easy to pronounce

Any service, resource, site wants its visitors to recognize it, remember it, pronounce it correctly and easily, as very often there is a damaged phone when the wrong pronunciation does not lead the user to the destination.

When choosing a domain zone, give preference to the ".com" zone

Typically, organizations prefer to register in the domain zone " .org”, and companies that want to bet on geographic location often register a local domain ( .it, .co.uk, .cn). To date, the domain zone " .com»

Numbers and hyphens must be excluded from the domain name

Remember that domain names that have numbers and hyphens are always more expensive. This is due to many reasons. The main reason is that they are uncomfortable. For example, if a resource has the domain name "Tech-World.com", then many users will simply not pay attention to the hyphen or forget about its presence, so such users will try to go to a site called "TechWorld.com" and they will not succeed. So be careful and careful when choosing a domain, as this is fraught with difficulties.

How to search for domains for sale?

Here your ingenuity and imagination will help you. You can, for starters, go over well-known resources where you can check free domains. You can also find out about busy domains in which you can change a couple of characters. Replacing characters in an already existing domain is called " typesquatting", for example, mail.ru - mail.ru, vk.com – www.vk.com, or register the same name but in a different domain zone " en», « com», « rf" and etc.

Domain hijacking is also one of the options for finding free domains. Its essence lies in the re-registration of well-known address names that have not been renewed. Cybersquatters very often use this method.

As a rule, a domain name is issued to the owner for a certain period, not more than a year, and it must be renewed within a month. But, there are cases when the owner simply forgets to renew the domain or he does not have money to renew it. This is where the bait will be for a savvy cybersquatter who can register it for himself and then sell it for more.

What are the benefits of making money reselling domains?

Domain reselling is a possible business with good prospects. This type of earnings does not require investments, but for a start it will be enough to spend money on registering several domain names. I came up with the idea of ​​a new domain name - I registered it. And so on, at the same pace.

Investments will be required only when it will be necessary to renew a large number of domains.

Another advantage is passive income, there is no need to look for a buyer and advertise a “product”. Everything is much simpler - registering a domain in your name, placing an advertisement for its sale and waiting for someone who wants to purchase the domain for himself to respond. Such operations can be carried out on special exchanges, for example, telderi.ru .

If you correctly approach such work, then the resale of domains can bring good profits. Yes, domains are not often bought, since having about 100 names a cybersquatter can sell only 3-4 lots per month, but the sum of these 3-4 lots can cover the content of all other domains and make a profit.

And one more dance of such earnings is the minimum probability of losing the invested money. If you have an attractive domain, then there will definitely be a buyer.

Domain registration must go through trusted registrars such as nic.ru, 2domains, and for Ukraine - ukrnames.com. If you use unverified resources, then there is a high probability that after a while your domain will be registered to another person.

When you select a domain, it is better to use verification services search queries on keywords. Phrases that have a minimum of characters and words are the ideal domain that will collect huge traffic.

Usually, the procedure for transferring a domain to another person requires re-registration and with certified documents in a notary's office. But there are resources that offer a simplified domain transfer procedure.

The Internet is developing and this has become an impetus for the creation of new domain zones. Thus, a good domain name can be taken in all domain zones straightaway.

To purchase a profitable domain, a free address, you can use special services. As an option, this reg.ru" and " en-center».

Prospects for Cybersquatting

Commercially, cybersquatting is a promising business. What are the deals of once successfully registered addresses, they amount to millions of dollars.

For example, the following domain names were sold for millions:

• sex.com - $14 million
• Beer.com - 7 million;
• Shop.com - 3.5 million;
• AltaVista.com - 3.25 million;
• Wines.com - 3 million.

In RuNet, the amounts are much smaller compared to Western ones. For example, domain Casino.ru was sold for 250 thousand dollars.

The prospects for reselling domains are quite good if you approach this job correctly. Opportunities increase with the increase in domain zones, the main thing is to have time to pick up or come up with something unique and attractive, and there will definitely be buyers.

Today we will talk about selling domains as a business. Also, the business of selling domains is called cybersquatting. The business idea is more than simple. You are looking for an interesting domain name, register it, place it on hosting and post a page with the text: This domain is for sale. Contacts for communication 88888888.

This is a very interesting, non-dusty and very profitable business. Of course, the main cream was picked by people at the time of the creation of the Internet and the opening of new domain zones (ru, com, net, org, biz, RF, etc.). For example, sex dot com was sold for $20 million, beer dot com for $7 million, and business dot com for just over $7 million. But even now you can find interesting and profitable solutions for selling domains as a business.

Domain Sale or Cybersquatting - step by step plan

If you want to get into cybersquatting, you need to know where to buy cheap domains, how to find them, and how to host them. How to choose domains for their further sale, we will talk with you further, but now let's deal with prices. You can buy domains for 100 rubles on this site. Below in the video you will see the entire process of buying a domain. Next, you must place the domain on your hosting in order to hang up your contact details and an offer to sell the domain on it. You will also have to pay for the hosting you use to park your domains. Ideally, of course, to have your own hosting, but for this you need separate computer connected to the Internet 24 hours. Therefore, you can assemble and connect your server already at the stages of mass purchase of domains, after you have already earned several hundred thousand. Until you have your own server, you will need to use the services of hosts. On average, hosting for 20 domains costs 350 rubles per month. How to buy a domain and set up hosting for selling domains you can see in

Selling domains or cybersquatting for money

1. Buying a domain - 100 rubles (paid 1 time upon purchase)
2. Domain renewal per year (if your domain has not been bought for a year) - 300 rubles.
3. Hosting for 1 domain is about 16 rubles per month (with tariff plan for 20 domains). 20 domains approximately 350 rubles per month.
4. In total, when hosting 20 domains, you will need to buy domains for 2000 rubles, and also pay 350 rubles per month for hosting.

How to choose domains in order to be bought for good money, you can look at

And their subsequent resale. The people who do this are usually called cybersquatters. Such a way of making money on the Internet as cybersquatting at first glance is quite simple, but it requires, first of all, monetary investments (for domain registration), luck and excellent analytical qualities. Of course, intuition also plays an important role in such a matter, because such activities are an investment in the future, and the risks here are very high.

You can judge the popularity and scale of cybersquatting by the following figures: more than 600 million domain names are registered on the Internet, of which about 400 are used. 200 million domains just parked are sold or advertised. The lion's share of these names are cybersquatters.

At first glance, it may seem - what is the point of cybersquatting? Does anyone even want to buy a domain from you at exorbitant prices? And the thing is that the cybersquatter does not register everything, but only interesting and promising domains. Imagine the level of popularity of domains like sex.com , news.ru or kp.ru . By the way, the first domain from this list even got into the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive in history - in 2010 it was sold for $13 million, and the cost of its registration was only $10.

As you already understood, domains like dhfy234.ru are unlikely to be of interest to anyone even in the future. Here you can only rely on the future. For example, let's fast forward 10 years. We didn’t even suspect that the Olympics would be held in Sochi in 2014, did we? And if we guessed or assumed, then what would prevent us from registering the name sochi2014.com? It would bring a fortune. By the way, this domain was sold for $1 million.

Which domains are in demand

I already wrote in the article how to estimate the value of a domain what makes up the value of a domain. Let me remind you which domains are especially interesting in the market:

• Domains on popular domain zones .ru , .com , .net . For example, .rf, .su will be of little interest to anyone.
• Short domains (3-5 characters). For example, pvh.ru.
• Domains that are easy to spell and remember
• Words in the noun case in translit. For example, moskva.ru, domen.ru, etc.

How to search for domains in the future

Unfortunately, many domains with interesting names have long been taken. Now we have to rely solely on the emergence of new slogans, memes, names, etc. As in the case of the Olympics, it is worth paying attention to future events. What can happen? With what probability? Where? Based on this, you can think about registering a domain name.

There are no clear guidelines for finding domains for resale. You need to turn on the "psychic" to give a prediction for the future prospect of the domain.

1. Predicting a popular event in the future

It is worth noting that the cost of registering a domain and the annual fee for it is quite small, so many people prefer to take a chance and "close" the widest possible space for possible names. This is especially true for some events, such as the same Olympics, when it was possible to close the options for 2014 or 2018 (the frequency of the Olympic Games).

2. Typesquatting

I also advise you to pay attention to typesquatting- buying domains that are similar in spelling to popular sites based on a user error when entering a name. For example, when typing in the address bar of the site vk.com, some make a mistake, do not get the letter and go to the site vk.co. Typesquatters own this resource and place ads there, earning on it. In addition, when reselling the site, they can receive good dividends. But this example can also be attributed to another type of cybersquatting, when the names of popular sites in other domain zones are involved. It is highly likely that resource holders or other companies will want to buy out the popular name.

For example, the Polish site http://www.wwww.pl/ brings its owner about 150,000 dollars.

3. Repurchase of previously registered domains

Another option for cybersquatting is the repurchase of domain names for which the subscription fee. Among these options, quite often quite attractive names can be caught, for which, for one reason or another, they forgot to pay. However, it will not work to register a "cool" domain in this way, since such domains are intercepted by special services for a fee. For such domains, sometimes there is a whole struggle among cybersquatters.

Pitfalls of Cybersquatting

Now let's dwell on the "pitfalls" of such earnings, because in this case there may be failures. The first risk is rather banal - no one will buy the domain. Therefore, it is worth looking at the domain itself from the point of view of your potential buyer - will such a name be in demand? Predicting the future is quite difficult. After all, even unnecessary rubbish today can bring a fortune in the future. After all, there is always a chance that there will be someone for whom these words will be very important.

The second risk is legislation. You should not rejoice that, for example, in the "ru" zone there is a free domain with the name of a well-known brand. The law will be on the side of the person who has a certificate for a registered trademark, so if you hurry, you can completely lose your domain. There are many real stories. The most famous, perhaps, is the story of Mike Rowe.

The story of Mike Rowe and Microsoft
A few years before creating the official Microsoft website, he registered the domain name MikeRoweSoft.com. With the advent of the official site, the English-speaking audience began to mistakenly get to his site, since the names were consonant. Mike Rowe decided that his finest hour had come and offered the company to buy his domain name for $15,000,000. The company sued and took away the domain name without compensation.

Well, another risk is fraud. Choose only trusted organizations to register or buy/sell domains. I advise you to read the article: how to register a domain cheaply.

Useful sites for cybersquatting
1. DomenForum.net - the main and largest forum dedicated to domain names. On it you can see which domains are currently for sale, as well as ask for help in evaluating a domain.

2. Reg.ru and Nic.ru auction - here you can see domains and their prices at auctions. However, the adequacy of some prices is in doubt :) I advise you to pay attention first of all to transactions that have already been completed. I assure you, you will be surprised by some purchases.

3. Search and Maultalk have special themes for domains.

4. Blog of a professional domainer: idomainer.pro. There you can see his list for sale and information about what he sold recently.