Glossary/204 terms
The domain investing glossary
Plain-English definitions of 204 domain investing and domain flipping terms — from aftermarket and backorder to UDRP and zone file — each with its own page, written from the investor's side of the table.
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Extensions
- .ai aftermarket
- The .ai aftermarket is the resale market for .ai domain names, the country-code extension of Anguilla, where buyers acquire names that are already registered from their current owners instead of registering unclaimed ones.
- .ai domain
- A .ai domain is a name registered under .ai, the country-code top-level domain of Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, which artificial-intelligence companies worldwide have adopted because the extension reads as AI.
- .ai two-year registration rule
- The .ai two-year registration rule is the requirement that .ai domain names be registered and renewed for at least two years at a time, so every new .ai name and every renewal is paid in two-year blocks.
- .co domain
- A .co domain is a name under .co, the country-code extension of Colombia, which has been open to registrants worldwide since 2010 and is widely used and marketed as a short alternative to .com for companies and startups.
- .com domain
- A .com domain is a name registered in .com, the original commercial generic top-level domain, operated by Verisign; it is the largest and most traded extension and the one most people assume a business uses.
- .io domain
- A .io domain is a name under .io, the country-code extension of the British Indian Ocean Territory, which is open to registrants worldwide and became popular with technology startups and developer tools because io reads as input/output.
- .net domain
- A .net domain is a name registered in the .net extension, one of the original generic top-level domains introduced in 1985, operated by Verisign and open to anyone without registration restrictions.
- .org domain
- A .org domain is a name in the .org extension, one of the original top-level domains from 1985, run by Public Interest Registry and open to anyone, not only nonprofits.
- .xyz domain
- A .xyz domain is a name registered in .xyz, a generic top-level domain from ICANN's 2012 new gTLD round that is operated by XYZ.COM LLC and open to anyone.
0–9
- 60-day transfer lock
- The 60-day transfer lock is the ICANN rule under which a registrar may refuse to move a gTLD domain name to another registrar within 60 days of its registration or of a previous registrar transfer.
A
- A record
- An A record is a DNS record that maps a domain name or hostname to an IPv4 address, telling browsers and other software which server to contact when someone visits that name.
- ACPA (Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act)
- The ACPA (Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act) is a 1999 US federal law that lets a trademark owner sue anyone who registers, traffics in or uses a domain name identical or confusingly similar to its mark with bad-faith intent to profit.
- Acquisition cost
- Acquisition cost is the total amount paid to obtain a domain name, including the purchase price or registration fee plus costs such as auction or catch fees, escrow, broker commission, transfer fees and taxes; together they form its cost basis.
- Acronym domain
- An acronym domain is a domain made of letters that stand for a longer name or phrase, typically a three- or four-letter .com, valued because it is short and because many organizations share the same initials.
- Add Grace Period (AGP)
- The Add Grace Period (AGP) is the window, typically five days after a domain's first registration, in which the registrar can delete the name and get the registry fee credited back.
- AEO (answer engine optimization)
- AEO (answer engine optimization) is an emerging marketing term for shaping web content so that AI answer engines, such as Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity, quote or cite it when they answer a question.
- Aftermarket
- The aftermarket is the resale market for domain names that are already registered, where owners sell through marketplaces, auctions, brokers and private deals at prices set by negotiation rather than by a registry's price list.
- Aged domain
- An aged domain is a domain name that has been registered for many years, judged by its original creation date, and is often marketed as more trustworthy or better for search rankings than a new registration.
- Agentic domains
- Agentic domains is an emerging, informal term for domain names built on AI-agent vocabulary, such as agent, agents and agentic, and more loosely for names meant to be found and used by AI agents rather than people.
- AI domain appraisal
- AI domain appraisal, also called automated valuation, is an estimate of a domain name's resale value produced by a machine-learning model trained on reported sales and name features such as length, keywords, extension and search data.
- AI domain name generator
- An AI domain name generator is a tool that uses a language model to turn a description, keyword or business idea into name suggestions, then checks which of those names are available to register or listed for sale.
- AI-assisted outbound
- AI-assisted outbound is an emerging term for domain sales outreach in which AI tools help find likely end-user buyers, research each prospect and draft personalized emails, while the seller verifies every detail and decides what gets sent.
- AI-generated brandables
- AI-generated brandables are invented, brand-style domain names produced with AI naming tools; the label is an emerging investor term rather than standard vocabulary, covering pronounceable coinages that are usually hand-registered and offered to startups.
- Asking price
- Asking price is the price a domain owner sets publicly or quotes to an interested buyer before negotiation, such as a Buy It Now price on a marketplace; it is a starting point, not a sale price or proof of value.
- Auth code (EPP code)
- An auth code (EPP code) is a password-like code, issued by a domain's current registrar, that the owner gives to a new registrar to authorize moving the domain there; without it, a transfer between registrars cannot start for most extensions.
- Auto-renew
- Auto-renew is a registrar setting that renews a domain automatically before it expires by charging your stored payment method or account balance, so the name does not lapse through oversight.
- Average sale price (ASP)
- Average sale price (ASP) is the total value of a set of domain sales divided by the number of sales, used to compare portfolios, marketplaces, extensions or name types over a period.
B
- Backlink profile
- A backlink profile is the full set of links from other websites pointing to a domain, described by how many sites link, how authoritative and relevant they are, and the anchor text they use.
- Backorder
- A backorder is a request placed with a drop-catching service or registrar to try to register a specific domain name the moment it is deleted, or to win it at auction before deletion, often charged only if it succeeds.
- Bid increment
- A bid increment is the minimum amount by which a new bid must exceed the current high bid in a domain auction; the auction platform sets it, and it usually rises in steps as the price climbs.
- BIN (Buy It Now)
- BIN (Buy It Now) is a fixed price on a domain listing that lets a buyer purchase the name instantly at checkout, without making an offer or waiting for the seller to respond.
- Blockchain domain
- A blockchain domain is a name registered on a blockchain naming system, such as a .eth name on the Ethereum Name Service, held as a token in a crypto wallet and resolved outside the ICANN-managed domain name system.
- Brand protection
- Brand protection is the work companies do to stop others from using their trademarks online, including defensive registrations, watching new domain registrations, and enforcement through UDRP or URS complaints, takedown requests and lawsuits.
- Brandable domain
- A brandable domain is a name valued for how well it would work as a company or product brand rather than for what it describes, such as an invented word, a blended compound or a real word used out of context.
- Brokerage commission
- A brokerage commission is the fee a domain broker earns for arranging a sale or purchase, usually a percentage of the final price paid at closing, sometimes combined with an upfront fee when a buyer hires the broker.
- Bulk registration
- Bulk registration is registering many domain names in a single order or automated process, through a registrar's bulk tool or API, often at volume pricing, instead of one name at a time.
- Buyer broker
- A buyer broker is a domain broker hired by a buyer to acquire a specific domain that is already registered, usually approaching the owner without revealing who the buyer is.
C
- Capital gains on domain sales
- Capital gains on domain sales are the taxable profit when you sell a domain name held as an investment for more than its cost basis; in the US, a name held for more than one year generally produces a long-term gain.
- Category-defining domain
- A category-defining domain is the plain, most common name for an entire product, service or industry, usually a .com such as Voice.com or Chat.com, that the market treats as the default address for that category.
- ccTLD
- A ccTLD (country-code top-level domain) is a two-letter extension assigned to a country or territory, such as .de, .uk or .ai, with registration rules set locally by its designated manager rather than by ICANN's gTLD policies.
- Cease and desist
- A cease and desist letter is a written demand, usually from a trademark owner or its lawyer, that you stop an activity; in domain disputes it typically demands that you stop using a name and transfer it.
- Chips (Chinese premium domains)
- Chips (Chinese premium domains) are short .com names, usually four letters, made only of letters favored by Chinese buyers, which in common usage means no vowels and no letter V.
- Closeout
- A closeout is the last, fixed-price sale stage for an expired domain name on a registrar's auction platform, best known from GoDaddy Auctions, where a name that drew no bids is offered at a Buy Now price that falls daily.
- CNAME record
- A CNAME record is a DNS record that makes one hostname an alias of another, so lookups for the alias follow the target name and return its addresses.
- Comps (comparable sales)
- Comps, short for comparable sales, are reported sales of similar domain names that investors use as evidence when pricing, buying or appraising a name, much as property appraisers compare recent sales of similar houses.
- Counteroffer
- A counteroffer is a reply to an offer on a domain that proposes a different price or terms, keeping the negotiation alive instead of accepting or rejecting the offer outright.
- CPC (cost per click)
- CPC, or cost per click, is the price an advertiser pays each time someone clicks its search or display ad; domain investors use the CPC of a name's keywords as a rough signal of how much commercial money flows through that niche.
- Creation date
- The creation date is the date a domain's current registration was created at the registry, shown in WHOIS and RDAP records; it survives renewals, ownership changes and registrar transfers but resets if the name is deleted and registered again.
- CVCV domain
- A CVCV domain is a four-letter name that alternates consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel, such as Tavi or Zeno, valued because it is easy to say and spell; CVCVC extends the pattern to five letters.
- Cybersquatting
- Cybersquatting is registering, trafficking in or using a domain name in bad faith to profit from someone else's trademark, for example by holding a brand's name to sell back to the brand owner or to divert its customers.
D
- Defensive registration
- Defensive registration is registering domain names a business does not plan to use, such as typos, other extensions and brand-plus-keyword variations, mainly to keep them away from cybersquatters, competitors and phishing operations.
- Deleted domain
- A deleted domain is a name the registry has removed from its database, usually at the end of the expiry cycle, making it available again for anyone to register on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Developed domain
- A developed domain is a domain name with an active website or business running on it, as opposed to a name that is parked, listed for sale or unused, so its value includes the business as well as the name.
- Dictionary-word domain
- A dictionary-word domain is a domain name made of a single real word found in a standard dictionary, such as a common noun, verb or adjective, valued for clarity, memorability and broad commercial use.
- Direct navigation
- Direct navigation is traffic that reaches a website because people type its domain name straight into the browser's address bar, often guessing a generic name such as a product category in .com, rather than clicking a search result or link.
- DNS
- DNS, the Domain Name System, is the internet's distributed directory that translates domain names into the IP addresses and other records computers use to reach websites, email servers and other services.
- DNSSEC
- DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) is a set of extensions that add cryptographic signatures to DNS records, so resolvers can verify that an answer came from the domain's authoritative source and was not altered.
- Domain age
- Domain age is the time since a domain name was first registered, shown as the creation date in WHOIS or RDAP records; it resets if the name is deleted and later registered again.
- Domain appraisal
- A domain appraisal is an estimate of what a domain name could sell for, produced either by an automated valuation tool using sales data and keyword signals or by an experienced human appraiser or broker.
- Domain authority
- Domain authority is a third-party score estimating a website's strength in search from the links pointing to it; widely used versions include Moz's Domain Authority (DA) and Ahrefs' Domain Rating (DR).
- Domain broker
- A domain broker is an intermediary who negotiates the sale or purchase of a domain name on a client's behalf, usually for a commission on the final price, handling pricing advice, outreach, negotiation and closing.
- Domain escrow
- Domain escrow is a service in which a licensed third party holds the buyer's payment until the domain has been transferred to the buyer, then releases the money to the seller, so neither side has to trust the other.
- Domain extension
- A domain extension is the part of a domain name after the last dot, such as .com, .ai or .xyz; technically it is the top-level domain, or TLD, and each one is run by a registry under its own rules and prices.
- Domain flipping
- Domain flipping is buying domain names for less than someone else will pay and reselling them, either quickly to other investors at wholesale prices or, usually after a longer hold, to end users at retail prices.
- Domain forwarding
- Domain forwarding is sending visitors who type one domain to a different web address, usually with an HTTP redirect set up at the registrar or web server, so one name can pass its traffic to another site.
- Domain hack
- A domain hack is a domain name that uses the extension as part of a word or phrase, spelling it across the dot, as in youtu.be or redd.it.
- Domain hijacking
- Domain hijacking is the unauthorized takeover of a domain registration, usually by breaking into the owner's registrar account or email or by deceiving registrar staff, followed by moving the name to another account or registrar or changing its DNS.
- Domain investing
- Domain investing is buying domain names as assets, by registering, catching or purchasing them, and holding them to sell or lease later to end users or other investors, while paying yearly renewals and accepting that most names never sell.
- Domain kiting
- Domain kiting is the practice of registering a domain, deleting it within the five-day Add Grace Period for a full refund and registering it again, repeating the cycle so the name is held without ever being paid for.
- Domain leasing
- Domain leasing is renting a domain name to a business for a recurring fee while the investor keeps ownership of the registration and the business uses the name for its website or email.
- Domain lifecycle
- The domain lifecycle is the sequence of stages a domain passes through, from registration and renewal to expiry, grace period, redemption, pending delete and release back to the open market.
- Domain marketplace
- A domain marketplace is an online platform where owners list domain names for sale and buyers purchase them, typically at a fixed Buy It Now price, by offer or at auction, with the platform handling payment and transfer in return for a commission.
- Domain monitoring
- Domain monitoring is the ongoing tracking of specific domain names for changes, such as an approaching expiry, a new status code, an ownership or DNS change, or a sale listing, used both to acquire names you want and to protect names you own.
- Domain name
- A domain name is the human-readable address, such as example.com, that people type or click to reach a website or send email, and that the Domain Name System translates into the numeric IP addresses computers use.
- Domain name auction
- A domain name auction is a sale in which buyers bid against each other for a domain over a set period, and the highest bid at the close wins, provided it meets any reserve price.
- Domain name generator
- A domain name generator is a tool that suggests available domain names from keywords you enter, combining words with prefixes, suffixes and synonyms and checking which combinations are still unregistered in one or more extensions.
- Domain parking
- Domain parking is pointing an unused domain name at a service that shows a page of ads or a for-sale message, so the name can earn pay-per-click revenue or collect buyer inquiries while you hold it.
- Domain portfolio
- A domain portfolio is the collection of domain names an investor holds as long-term assets, managed as a whole for renewal costs, pricing, sales channels and risk rather than one name at a time.
- Domain squatting
- Domain squatting is registering, trafficking in or using a domain name that matches or imitates someone else's trademark, with bad-faith intent to profit from that mark; it is the everyday term for cybersquatting.
- Domain tasting
- Domain tasting was the practice of registering domain names in bulk, testing them for ad revenue during the five-day Add Grace Period, and deleting those that did not earn, for a full refund.
- Domain transfer
- A domain transfer is moving a domain registration to another registrar or to another owner's account, using an authorization code for registrar changes and an account push or ownership change within the same registrar.
- Domain upgrade
- A domain upgrade is a company's move from a compromise domain, such as a hyphenated, prefixed or alternative-extension name, to a stronger one, most often the exact-match .com of its brand.
- Domain valuation
- Domain valuation is estimating what a domain name is worth, usually as a likely end-user retail price and a lower wholesale price another investor would pay, based on comparable sales, buyer demand and the name's qualities.
- Domain warehousing
- Domain warehousing is the practice of a registrar, or a company tied to it, keeping expired or available domain names for its own use or resale instead of releasing them so that anyone can register them.
- Domainer
- A domainer is a person who buys domain names as investments and aims to profit by selling, leasing or parking them, rather than registering names for a business of their own.
- Domaining
- Domaining is the domain trade's own word for domain investing: acquiring domain names as assets, holding and sometimes monetizing them, and selling them to end users or other investors over time.
- The drop
- The drop is the moment a registry deletes expired domain names that have finished pending delete and releases them for new registration; for .com and .net, Verisign runs it once a day.
- Drop catching
- Drop catching is registering an expired domain name the instant the registry deletes it, using specialist services that send registration requests through many registrar connections at the moment of deletion.
- Drop list
- A drop list is a list of domain names scheduled to be deleted by their registry on a given day and released for anyone to register, compiled by data services and drop-catch platforms from names in pending delete status.
- Due diligence
- Due diligence is the set of checks you run on a domain name before buying it, covering ownership, trademark conflicts, past use, technical status and the real cost of holding it, so you know exactly what you are acquiring.
- Dutch auction
- A Dutch auction is a sale in which the price starts high and drops on a set schedule until a buyer accepts it, so the first buyer to commit wins the item at the current price.
E
- Early Access Period (EAP)
- The Early Access Period (EAP) is a short launch phase for a new domain extension, after the trademark sunrise and before regular-price general availability, in which anyone can register available names first-come, first-served by paying an extra fee that falls each day.
- Emoji domain
- An emoji domain is a domain name containing emoji characters, stored in the DNS as Punycode that begins with xn-- and registrable only in the few country-code extensions whose registries allow it.
- End user
- An end user is a buyer who wants a domain name to use for their own business, product or project, as opposed to an investor or reseller who buys it to sell again.
- EPP status codes
- EPP status codes are standardized labels, such as clientTransferProhibited or pendingDelete, that show a domain's current state and restrictions in WHOIS and RDAP lookups; registrars set the client codes and registries set the server codes.
- Exact-match domain (EMD)
- An exact-match domain (EMD) is a domain name that matches, word for word, a phrase people search for or type, such as a product or service name plus .com, with no extra words.
- Exclusive listing
- An exclusive listing is an agreement to offer a domain for sale through only one marketplace or broker, for as long as the listing runs or for an agreed term, usually in exchange for curation, pricing help or buyer traffic.
- Exit
- An exit is how a domain investor turns a name or a portfolio back into cash, or deliberately lets it go: a retail sale, a wholesale or auction sale, a portfolio sale, or non-renewal.
- Expiration date
- The expiration date is the day a domain's paid registration term ends; if the name is not renewed by then, it enters its registrar's grace period and starts moving toward deletion.
- Expired domain
- An expired domain is a registered name whose term has ended without renewal; it passes through grace and redemption periods, when the owner can still recover it, and may be auctioned or caught by a new owner along the way.
- Expiry auction
- An expiry auction is an auction of a domain its owner failed to renew, run by or for the registrar during the post-expiry period, before the name would otherwise be deleted and released to the public.
F
- Fast Transfer
- Fast Transfer is Afternic's program that lets a listed domain be bought instantly through GoDaddy and partner registrars at its Buy Now price and transferred to the buyer automatically, with no action needed from the seller.
- Floor price
- A floor price is the lowest price a seller will accept for a domain, or, at market level, the lowest price at which a whole category of names, such as LLLL.com, currently trades between investors.
- For-sale DNS record (_for-sale)
- A for-sale DNS record is a TXT record published at the _for-sale label under a domain name, defined in RFC 10023 in July 2026, that announces in the DNS itself that the domain is available to buy.
- Fractional ownership
- Fractional ownership is a niche arrangement in which several investors each hold a share of one domain name, through a partnership, a jointly owned company or, more recently, blockchain tokens, and split any sale proceeds or income according to their shares.
- Front-running
- Front-running is the practice of using data about domain availability searches to register a name shortly after someone looks it up, so the name can be resold to that person or monetized.
G
- General Availability (GA)
- General Availability (GA) is the launch phase of a new domain extension when registration opens to anyone on a first-come, first-served basis, after the sunrise period and any priority or early-access phases have ended.
- Generic domain
- A generic domain is a domain name made of a common dictionary word or phrase that describes a product, service or category, such as a plain noun in .com, rather than a coined brand name.
- GEO (generative engine optimization)
- GEO, or generative engine optimization, is an emerging term for shaping web content so that AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews cite, quote or recommend it when they generate a response.
- Geo domain
- A geo domain is a domain name built on a place name, such as a city, region or country, either alone or combined with a service keyword, aimed at local businesses, tourism, media and lead generation.
- gTLD
- A gTLD (generic top-level domain) is a top-level domain not tied to a country, such as .com, .net, .org or .xyz, run by a registry under contract with ICANN and bound by ICANN's consensus policies.
H
- Hand registration
- Hand registration is registering an available domain name yourself at a registrar's standard price, instead of buying it from an owner, at auction or through drop catching; investors call such names hand regs.
- Holding cost
- Holding cost is what it costs to keep a domain name in your portfolio over time, mainly yearly renewal fees plus any paid privacy, premium renewals, marketplace subscriptions or lander services, paid while you wait for a buyer.
- Hyphenated domain
- A hyphenated domain is a domain name with hyphens between words, such as a two-word .com written word-word.com, usually chosen because the unhyphenated version is taken or to make word breaks clear.
I
- ICANN
- ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the nonprofit that coordinates the internet's domain name system, contracting with the registries of generic top-level domains and accrediting the registrars that sell names to the public.
- IDN (internationalized domain name)
- An IDN, or internationalized domain name, is a domain containing characters beyond the basic Latin letters, digits and hyphen, such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic or accented letters, which the DNS stores in an ASCII form called Punycode.
- Inbound inquiry
- An inbound inquiry is an unsolicited message or offer about your domain name from a potential buyer, or a broker acting for one, usually arriving through a for-sale lander, a marketplace listing or the registration contact details.
- Installment plan
- An installment plan is a domain sale in which the buyer pays the price over months or years instead of up front, with the domain typically held back from full transfer until the final payment clears.
K
- Keyword domain
- A keyword domain is a domain built from words people use when searching for or talking about a product or service, such as a category name plus .com, valued for clarity, type-in traffic and commercial intent.
- Keyword search volume
- Keyword search volume is the estimated number of times a word or phrase is searched in a given period, usually per month, and investors use it as one signal of the demand behind a keyword domain.
L
- Lander
- A lander is the web page a domain displays while it is for sale, stating that the name is available and letting a visitor buy it, make an offer or start a lease-to-own plan; it is usually hosted by a marketplace.
- Landrush
- Landrush is an early phase in the launch of a new domain extension, typically after the trademark sunrise and before general availability, when anyone can apply for names, usually at higher fees than later.
- Lease-to-own (LTO)
- Lease-to-own (LTO) is a way to buy a domain in monthly installments: the buyer uses the name from the start, while the seller or a platform keeps the registration until the final payment clears.
- Legacy TLD
- A legacy TLD is a generic top-level domain that existed before ICANN's 2012 new gTLD program, such as .com, .net, .org, .info or .biz, as opposed to the more than 1,200 new gTLDs that round introduced.
- Liquid domain
- A liquid domain is a name that can be sold quickly to other domain investors at a fairly predictable wholesale price, because a deep pool of buyers is ready to bid on names of that type, such as three-letter .com names.
- Liquidation
- Liquidation is selling domain names quickly for whatever other investors will pay, usually at wholesale prices far below what an end user might pay, to raise cash or cut renewal costs.
- LLL.com
- An LLL.com is a three-letter .com domain such as ABC.com; there are only 17,576 possible combinations, every one is registered, and they trade as a scarce, liquid asset class among domain investors.
- LLLL.com
- LLLL.com is investor shorthand for a .com domain of exactly four letters, such as an acronym or a short word; there are 456,976 possible combinations, and they trade as a distinct asset class with an active wholesale market.
- LLM citation
- LLM citation is an emerging term for a source that an AI answer engine, such as ChatGPT search, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews, credits for a generated answer, usually shown as a link beside the text.
- LOI (letter of intent)
- An LOI (letter of intent) is a short document in which a domain buyer and seller record the main terms of a deal, such as price, payment, escrow and transfer timing, before they sign a final purchase agreement.
- Long-tail domain
- A long-tail domain is a domain name made of three or more words that match a specific search phrase, such as a product, service and location, cheap to register but narrow in appeal and rarely resold.
M
- Machine-readable trust
- Machine-readable trust is an emerging, non-standard term for the signals software can check automatically to judge whether a domain is legitimate, such as signed DNS, valid HTTPS certificates, email authentication records and a clean registration and usage history.
- Make offer
- Make offer is a listing option in which a domain is shown for sale without a fixed price, and buyers submit offers that the seller can accept, counter or decline.
- Minimum offer
- A minimum offer is the lowest amount a marketplace or for-sale lander will let a buyer submit for a domain name, set by the seller to screen out very low bids before a negotiation starts.
- Monetization
- Monetization is earning revenue from a domain name while you hold it, through parking with pay-per-click ads, leasing, lease-to-own deals, lead generation, redirects or a built-out site, rather than waiting only for a sale.
- MX record
- An MX record (mail exchanger record) is a DNS record that names the server or servers that accept email for a domain, each with a priority number, where the lowest number is tried first.
N
- Nameserver
- A nameserver is a DNS server that holds the authoritative records for a domain; the nameservers set at the registrar tell the rest of the internet where to look up the domain's website, email and other records.
- Negotiation
- Negotiation, in domain investing, is the back-and-forth over price and terms between a domain's owner and a prospective buyer, conducted through a marketplace offer system, a broker or direct email.
- New gTLD
- A new gTLD is a generic top-level domain added to the root zone through ICANN's New gTLD Program, such as .app, .shop or .xyz, as distinct from legacy extensions like .com, .net and .org.
- New gTLD round (2026)
- The 2026 new gTLD round is ICANN's first application window for new generic top-level domains since 2012; it ran from April 30 to August 12, 2026, and drew more than 1,600 applications.
- Nexus requirement
- A nexus requirement is a registry rule that limits who may register names in an extension to people or organizations with a real connection to a country or community, such as citizenship, residence or a local business presence.
- Numeric domain
- A numeric domain is a domain name made only of digits, such as an NN.com, NNN.com or NNNN.com, valued mainly for its shortness and, in Chinese-speaking markets, for lucky number combinations.
O
- One-word .com
- A one-word .com is a .com domain made of a single dictionary word, such as Voice.com or Chat.com; because nearly every common word was registered long ago, these names trade mostly on the aftermarket and anchor its top price tier.
- Outbound sales
- Outbound sales is the practice of a domain owner contacting likely buyers directly, usually businesses whose name, product or niche matches the domain, rather than waiting for inquiries to arrive through a marketplace listing or lander.
P
- Parked page
- A parked page is the placeholder web page shown on a domain that has no website of its own, usually carrying pay-per-click ads, a for-sale notice or both, and served by a parking company or marketplace.
- Partial-match domain (PMD)
- A partial-match domain (PMD) is a domain that contains a target keyword plus other words, such as a brand word, place or modifier, instead of matching a search phrase exactly.
- Pending delete
- Pending delete is the final status of an expired domain before the registry deletes it and releases it for public registration; it typically lasts five days for generic extensions, and during it the name can no longer be renewed or restored.
- Plural vs. singular domains
- Plural vs. singular domains refers to the value difference between the singular and plural forms of the same word, such as a noun with and without a final s, which can be large in either direction.
- Portfolio pruning
- Portfolio pruning is the regular review of a domain portfolio to decide which names to renew, sell at wholesale or let expire, so that renewal money goes to the names with a realistic chance of selling.
- Portfolio sale
- A portfolio sale is the sale of many domain names in one transaction, usually to another investor or fund at a wholesale price per name, rather than selling each name to an end user.
- PPC parking
- PPC parking is pointing an unused domain at a parking service that shows pay-per-click ads on a placeholder page, so the owner earns a share of the advertising revenue whenever a visitor clicks one of the ads.
- Pre-release auction
- A pre-release auction is an auction of an expired domain held by its registrar or a partner platform before the name is deleted at the registry, so the winner receives it without the name ever dropping.
- Premium domain
- A premium domain is a domain priced above the standard registration fee, either because a registry has designated it premium or because an owner is reselling it on the aftermarket, typically for its length, words or extension.
- Premium renewal
- A premium renewal is a renewal fee above an extension's standard rate that a registry charges year after year on certain names it classifies as premium, a pricing model found mostly in the newer generic extensions.
- Price ladder
- A price ladder is a small set of fixed price tiers, such as entry, mid and premium, to which an investor assigns every name in a portfolio, so pricing stays consistent and can be adjusted name by name.
- Private auction
- A private auction is a domain auction open only to a closed group of bidders, such as the people who backordered an expiring name or the buyers a seller or broker has invited, rather than to the public.
- Proxy bid
- A proxy bid is the maximum amount you authorize an auction platform to bid for you; the system raises your bid automatically, one increment at a time, only as far as needed to keep you in the lead.
- Punycode
- Punycode is the encoding that turns internationalized domain names, which contain characters beyond the letters a to z, digits and hyphens, into the plain ASCII form the DNS uses, marked with an xn-- prefix.
Q
- Quick flip
- A quick flip is buying a domain name to resell it within days or months, usually to other investors at wholesale prices, instead of holding it for years until an end user appears.
R
- Radio test
- The radio test is a check of whether people who hear a domain name spoken, as in a radio ad or a conversation, can type it correctly without having it spelled out.
- RDAP
- RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) is the standard that replaced WHOIS as the official source of registration data for generic top-level domains, returning structured, machine-readable records of the registrar, key dates, status codes and nameservers over HTTPS.
- Redemption period
- The redemption period, formally the Redemption Grace Period (RGP), is a typically 30-day window after a registrar deletes an expired domain, during which only the previous registrant can restore it, usually for an extra restore fee.
- Reg fee
- Reg fee is short for registration fee, the standard price to register a domain name for one year at a registrar, and investor shorthand for a name's minimum cost when it was hand-registered or is offered at cost.
- Registrant
- The registrant is the person or organization that holds a domain name registration and the rights that come with it, called the Registered Name Holder in ICANN's contracts and treated as the domain's owner for renewals, transfers and disputes.
- Registrar
- A registrar is a company authorized to register domain names with the registries on behalf of customers; for generic extensions such as .com it must be accredited by ICANN, and it is where you buy, renew, transfer and manage names.
- Registrar push
- A registrar push is an internal move of a domain from one account to another at the same registrar, changing control without an inter-registrar transfer, an authorization code or an added year of registration.
- Registry
- A registry is the organization that runs a top-level domain, keeping the authoritative database of every name registered in it and publishing the zone that makes those names resolve.
- Registry lock
- Registry lock is a security service, set at the registry through your registrar, that blocks transfers, deletion and updates such as nameserver changes until the registry lifts it after a verified request.
- Registry premium
- A registry premium is an unregistered domain that the extension's registry itself prices above the standard fee, either as a one-time premium price or with premium renewal fees every year.
- Renewal fee
- A renewal fee is the price a registrar charges to extend a domain registration for another year or term; it is the main holding cost of a portfolio and is often higher than the first-year price.
- Renewal grace period
- The renewal grace period is the window after a domain's expiration date during which the registrant can still renew it, usually at the normal price, before the registrar deletes it into redemption, auctions it or keeps it.
- Reseller
- A reseller is a business that sells domain registrations through an ICANN-accredited registrar's systems instead of holding its own accreditation, as many web hosts and website builders do, while the registrar remains responsible for each registration.
- Reserve price
- A reserve price is the lowest price a seller will accept in a domain auction; if bidding ends below it, the seller is not obliged to sell and the name stays with its owner.
- Retail price
- Retail price is the price an end user, meaning a business or person who will actually use the domain, pays for it; it is typically far above the wholesale price another investor would pay for the same name.
- Reverse domain name hijacking (RDNH)
- Reverse domain name hijacking (RDNH) is the bad-faith use of a domain dispute process, usually the UDRP, by a complainant trying to take a domain name it has no right to from its legitimate registrant.
- Reverse WHOIS
- Reverse WHOIS is a search that finds the domain names linked to a given registrant detail, such as a name, email address, organization or phone number, using current and historical registration records.
- ROI
- ROI (return on investment) is the profit from a domain name, or a whole portfolio, divided by everything it cost, including the purchase price, renewals, fees and commissions, usually expressed as a percentage.
S
- Sales history
- Sales history is the record of reported domain sales, both a specific name's own past sales and sales of comparable names, that investors use to price, buy and negotiate.
- Sell-through rate (STR)
- Sell-through rate (STR) is the share of a domain portfolio sold over a period, usually a year, calculated as names sold divided by names held; it shows whether sales can cover the portfolio's renewals.
- Short domain
- A short domain is a domain name with very few characters, usually five or fewer before the extension, valued for scarcity, memorability and ease of typing, and often traded by pattern, such as LL, LLL or NNN.
- SLD (second-level domain)
- An SLD, or second-level domain, is the label directly to the left of the top-level domain, such as example in example.com; it is the part a registrant chooses and registers, and where most of a name's value sits.
- Stealth acquisition
- A stealth acquisition is a domain purchase in which the real buyer hides its identity, usually acting through a broker, agent, law firm or newly formed company, so the seller cannot price the name against the buyer's resources.
- Subdomain
- A subdomain is a name created to the left of a registered domain, such as shop.example.com, which the domain's owner sets up in its DNS without registering it separately or paying any registry fee.
- Sunrise period
- A sunrise period is the priority window at the launch of a new extension during which trademark holders can register domain names matching their marks before anyone else.
T
- Thick vs. thin WHOIS
- Thick vs. thin WHOIS describes where registration data lives: a thick registry also holds a copy of the registrant's contact details, while a thin registry keeps only technical data, such as nameservers, status and dates, plus the registrar's name.
- TLD (top-level domain)
- A TLD (top-level domain) is the last label of a domain name, the part after the final dot, such as .com, .org, .uk or .ai; each TLD is run by a registry under rules set through ICANN or a national authority.
- TMCH (Trademark Clearinghouse)
- The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) is the central database of verified trademarks that ICANN set up for new gTLD launches; it gives mark holders sunrise priority and warns would-be registrants when a name matches a recorded mark.
- Trademark in domain names
- A trademark in a domain name is a protected brand name that appears in the domain; it is the main legal risk in domain investing, because using another party's mark in bad faith can cost you the name and, in the US, money.
- Traffic domain
- A traffic domain is a name valued mainly for the visitors it already receives, from people typing it directly, old links or search, rather than only for its potential as a brand.
- Transfer lock
- A transfer lock is a status that blocks a domain from moving to another registrar, either set by the owner as protection against theft or applied after events such as a new registration, a transfer or a change of owner.
- Trend domain
- A trend domain is a domain name registered to ride a current buzzword or hype cycle, such as crypto, NFT, metaverse or AI terms, on the bet that demand for the term will peak while you still hold it.
- TTL
- TTL (time to live) is the number of seconds a DNS record may be cached by resolvers before they must look it up again, which controls how quickly a change to that record reaches users.
- Two-word .com
- A two-word .com is a .com domain made of two whole words joined without a space or hyphen, the most common pattern for new brand and business names now that most single words are taken.
- Typosquatting
- Typosquatting is registering misspellings or near-copies of a well-known brand or website name, such as a swapped or missing letter, to capture visitors who mistype it, usually to profit from ads, affiliate redirects, phishing or malware.
U
- UDRP
- The UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy) is ICANN's mandatory procedure that lets a trademark owner seek transfer or cancellation of a domain name registered and used in bad faith, without going to court.
- URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension)
- The URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension) is a fast, lower-cost dispute procedure that lets a trademark owner suspend a domain name in clear-cut cases of cybersquatting; it covers new gTLDs and some legacy extensions, but not .com.
V
- Vanity domain
- A vanity domain is a domain registered for personal identity rather than resale or business use, most often a person's full name or surname used for a personal website or email address, such as firstnamelastname.com.
W
- Wayback Machine check
- A Wayback Machine check is a review of a domain's archived snapshots on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, at web.archive.org, to see how the name was used before you buy, register or bid on it.
- WHOIS
- WHOIS is the long-standing lookup service for domain registration records, showing which registrar holds a name, when it was created and expires, its status codes and nameservers, and registrant details where privacy rules allow.
- WHOIS privacy
- WHOIS privacy is a service that keeps a domain owner's personal contact details out of public WHOIS and RDAP lookups by displaying a privacy provider's details instead; registrars usually offer it, often at no extra charge.
- Wholesale price
- Wholesale price is what a domain would sell for to another domain investor, who needs room to resell at a profit, as opposed to the retail price an end user pays for a name to use; it is usually far below retail.
- WIPO
- WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, is the United Nations agency for intellectual property; its Arbitration and Mediation Center in Geneva handles thousands of UDRP domain name disputes each year.
Z
- Zero-click parking
- Zero-click parking is a way to monetize a domain's type-in traffic by redirecting visitors straight to an advertiser's site, with no parked page or click in between; the owner is paid per visit.
- Zone file
- A zone file is a DNS file listing the records for a zone; for investors it usually means a registry's TLD zone file, the regularly updated list of every name in an extension that currently has nameservers.
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