Quote:
Originally Posted by willhjr4  Crazy to think people buy names and then resell them for so much more. |
It is called
cybersquating and it can be very profitable.
In the early days of the Internet, domain names were given out on a first-come, first-served basis. Most businesses had no web site. So anybody that asked first would get coke.com, tacobell.com, or tomcruise.com, and it only costs $10/year. Then when Coke, Taco Bell, or the real Tom Cruise wanted that domain, it would be taken. The domain owner can then sell it for a big profit. Sometimes as much as millions of dollars!
Clever people have figured out ways to game the system. For example it used to be possible to register a domain for 3 days and then return it for free. So these people would register hundreds of domains and then return them all, hoping that somebody would offer to buy their domain from them.
In recent years, the courts have ruled that a trademark owner can ask for their domain and get it even if it is already taken.