How I won the domain DNSHost.com 4 years after I backordered it…

This is how I backordered the domain name DNSHost.com on Namejet back in 2010 only to win an auction last week!

Back in 2010 I sold the similar domain HostDNS.com on Sedo for 6000 Euro (minus a 10%, 600 Euro, commission). The agreement was reached on January 26 2010 and the deal was completed a week later. The domain is now developed.

So after I sold HostDNS.com I noticed that the much better DNSHost.com expired on the 1st of March 2010. I went and backordered it on Namejet, along with a few other people, and waited for the auction. But that never happened as the domain was renewed.

And the same thing happened in 2011 and 2012 and 2013 so I thought that the domain would never be auctioned… The domain was registered with Network Solutions so every year I would

watch the domain go to “Pending Renewal or Deletion” status and then renewed. I think that domain entered an auction in 2011 and then renewed but I don’t remember for sure.

But then 2014 came and the domain actually entered a Namejet auction. At first I thought that something would happen and the auction will be cancelled. Then I was afraid that the domain would be too expensive for me but I in the end I ended up winning the auction. I immediately transferred out the domain so I would be sure it was mine and was not renewed a couple of months after it was expired. (I have seen stranger things happen)

DNSHost has an original registration date of 1998 and the previous owner “Probiz Technologies, Inc.” owned it at least since 2001 according to DomainTools.com.

I got the domain for $2,598 and I think it is my best purchase so far this year since I think it is 10 times better than HostDNS.com that I sold in 2010. What do you think?

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

28 comments

  1. You were lucky to be in a position to afford that, as you had the confidence of the prior sale, my guess is you were willing to go to at least $5K.

  2. DNS Hosting is a huge vertical in the web hosting space. Great investment. I am sure someone will register DNS.HOST in the future as well. Not sure how this will potentially effect the value of your name.

  3. It’s a good domain but you paid a hefty price for it. Maybe at 1/10 the purchase price, it would’ve been a steal.

    The pursuit and the sale of the similar domain definitely makes the acquisition sweeter but whether that actually means the domain is worth as much as you think is debatable.

    Of course, if you sell it for $60K euro, let me know. 🙂

  4. Zournas,

    Where are you getting all these dough you’re blowing on all these names? What type of business or person would use DNSHost.com ? Why would you give NameJet that kind of money? They are in business to cut out the domainer. They have no business drop catching anything; Domain names should be allowed to expire without interference. That name you purchased is a registration fee name. I don’t care when it was first registered, that’s another fallacy.

    You buy new gTLDs that is just minted in 2014. You purchased 75 dot domain names….

    • lol
      I am selling domains for 4-5 figures. Does this answers your question?
      A DNS host would use it. Just like they use HostDNS.com.
      Namejet and Network solutions both got the money. Why? I don’t know. You tell me…
      DNSHost is a reg fee domain? OK. Whatever…

      So I shouldn’t buy anything. Is this what you are saying?
      It seems that I fail you whatever I do… I am very sad…
      lol

      • You don’t fail me at all. You’re a great guy, that’s why I pick on you.

        But seriously, most hosting comapanies have brand corporate names such as Godaddy, Hostgator, Fatcow, Web, Yahoo, Immotion, etc, there’re some exceptions, but far from the rule, such as BlueHost, and JustHost… none of them however use the acronym DNS, if they did, it probably would go with the participle “hosting”.

        But you are right, it’s more than Registration fee. I don’t know about thousands as a drop catch tho…

        That’s why I was questioning the wisdom in registering 75 dot domain names as well; it appears that the domainers, and hosting companies are insiders, and aware of domain names, and would be slow in pulling the trigger to buy aftermarket domains at higher prices.

  5. I have used several DNS hosting companies in the past, such as dnsmadeeasy.com, and it is a big business.

  6. @Zournas, @Borgos

    Alright, Zournas you’ve got a great voucher on this one. Eric Borgos usually knows what he’s talking about.

    Good luck with the name.

  7. From the online advertising point, the phrase “DNS hosting” has very strong AdWords advertising, with relatively small number of pages listed.
    However, right now we’re witnessing a huge shift to branding.
    It means, instead of buying DNShosting.com a cool dude could easily opt of someting like DNShoster.com or DNShostz.com etc.

    That’s possibly why very few start-ups chose “regular” domain names for their web presence…

  8. Good story behind this purchase and IMO you got it at right price. This one is a cool name and surely you will get decent ROI in future.

    Best of luck!

  9. So your namejet bidding name is titakos. Am i right ?

  10. Thats a very good one! Congrats

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