Domain Glossary
200 terms matching your filter
.ai
Anguilla's ccTLD — now the premier extension for AI companies and products.
.co
Colombia's ccTLD — marketed as a startup-friendly alternative to .com.
.com
The world's most valuable and recognized TLD — the gold standard for domain investing and commercial websites.
.crypto Domain
Unstoppable Domains' original blockchain extension — purchased once, stored as an NFT.
.eth Domain
A blockchain domain on the Ethereum Name Service — serves as a wallet address and Web3 identity.
.io
The ccTLD for British Indian Ocean Territory — widely adopted by tech startups and developer products.
.net
The second most established gTLD — generally worth a fraction of the equivalent .com.
A Record
A DNS record that points a domain to an IPv4 address.
AAAA Record
A DNS record that maps a domain to an IPv6 address — the successor to the IPv4 A record.
ACPA (Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act)
A US federal law allowing trademark owners to sue cybersquatters for up to $100,000 per domain.
Acquisition Cost
The total cost to acquire a domain — purchase price plus all fees — used to calculate ROI.
Affiliate Domain
A domain hosting an affiliate site that earns commissions by referring visitors to other products or services.
Afternic
A GoDaddy-owned domain marketplace with massive registrar distribution, showing Buy Now options at 100+ registrars.
Auth Code (EPP Code)
A one-time password required to transfer a domain from one registrar to another.
Bad Faith (Domain)
The intent to unfairly exploit a trademark when registering a domain — a required element in UDRP complaints.
BIN Price (Buy It Now)
A fixed purchase price for a domain that buyers can pay immediately, with no negotiation.
Brandable Domain
A made-up or coined domain name that works well as a memorable brand (e.g., Zillow, Spotify).
Broker Fee
The commission paid to a domain broker for facilitating a sale — typically 10–20% of the sale price.
Brokerage Service
A professional service that handles domain sale negotiations and transactions for a commission.
Category Killer Domain
A domain that defines and dominates an entire industry category — the most valuable domain type.
ccTLD (Country-Code Top-Level Domain)
A two-letter TLD tied to a specific country, such as .uk, .de, or .ca.
Cease and Desist Letter
A formal demand letter from a trademark holder asking a domain owner to stop using or transfer a domain.
Censorship-Resistant Domain
A blockchain domain that cannot be seized or taken down by any central authority.
CHIPS Domain
A pronounceable four-letter .com domain favored by Chinese investors — vowel-consonant pattern combinations.
Cloudflare
A leading internet infrastructure provider offering DNS, CDN, security, and at-cost domain registration.
CNAME Record
A DNS record that creates an alias from one domain name to another.
Common Law Trademark
Trademark rights based on actual commercial use, without formal registration — can support UDRP claims.
Comparable Sales (Comps)
Past sales of similar domain names used as benchmarks to estimate a domain's value.
CPC (Cost Per Click)
The advertiser cost per click for a keyword — high CPC signals commercial value in domain names.
Crypto Wallet
Software or hardware that stores blockchain private keys — controls ownership of Web3 domains and crypto assets.
Cybersquatting
Registering a trademarked domain name in bad faith to profit from someone else's brand.
Dan.com
A domain marketplace known for low commissions, fast payments, and clean landing pages.
DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)
An organization governed by blockchain smart contracts and token-holder voting rather than central management.
Decentralized Website
A website hosted on IPFS and accessed via a blockchain domain — censorship-resistant and decentralized.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
An email authentication method using cryptographic signatures to verify email legitimacy.
DMARC
An email security policy that instructs receiving servers how to handle emails that fail SPF/DKIM checks.
DNJournal
A leading domain industry news publication that tracks weekly sales reports and market trends.
DNS (Domain Name System)
The internet's phonebook — translates domain names into IP addresses.
DNS Propagation
The time it takes for DNS changes to spread across all servers globally, typically a few hours.
DNS Resolver
A server that performs recursive DNS lookups on behalf of client devices.
DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions)
Cryptographic extensions that verify DNS records haven't been tampered with — protection against spoofing.
Domain Aftermarket
The secondary market where previously registered domains are bought and sold.
Domain Age
How long a domain has been registered — older domains often carry more SEO authority and trust.
Domain Appraisal
An assessment of a domain's market value, either by automated tools or experienced human appraisers.
Domain Auction
A competitive bidding process where domains are sold to the highest bidder.
Domain Backorder
A service that automatically tries to register a domain the moment it expires and becomes available.
Domain Broker
A professional who facilitates domain sales between buyers and sellers, typically for a 10–20% commission.
Domain Closeout
A domain being sold cheaply by an owner who has decided not to renew it.
Domain Conference
Industry events where domain investors, brokers, and registrars network, learn, and conduct business.
Domain Development
Building a website on a domain to generate traffic, revenue, and increase its value beyond the raw domain.
Domain Dispute
A legal or administrative challenge to the rightful ownership of a domain name.
Domain Escrow
A secure service where a neutral third party holds payment until the domain transfer is complete.
Domain Expiration
When a domain's registration period ends and it becomes available for re-registration.
Domain Extension
The suffix at the end of a domain name — another word for TLD (e.g., .com, .org, .io).
Domain Flipping
Buying domains at a low price and reselling them quickly at a higher price for profit.
Domain Forwarding
Automatically redirecting visitors from one domain to another URL.
Domain Fund
An investment fund that pools capital to buy and manage domain portfolios — like a REIT for domains.
Domain Hack
A domain where the TLD completes a word or phrase — like "del.icio.us" or "instagr.am."
Domain Hijacking
The unauthorized theft of a domain name through account compromise or social engineering.
Domain Investing
Acquiring domain names to sell at a profit — combining market research, valuation, and patience.
Domain Lander (Landing Page)
A simple "For Sale" page shown to visitors of a domain listed on the market.
Domain Leasing
Renting a domain to a business for recurring payments, without transferring ownership.
Domain Lock
A security feature that prevents a domain from being transferred without explicit unlocking.
Domain Monetization
Generating revenue from domains through parking, leasing, development, or affiliate content.
Domain Name
A human-readable internet address that maps to an IP address, such as "example.com."
Domain Name Wire
A leading domain industry blog covering news, major sales, and ICANN policy — run by Andrew Allemann.
Domain Negotiation
The back-and-forth price discussion between domain buyer and seller to reach a mutually agreeable deal.
Domain Newsletter
Email publications covering domain sales, news, and investment strategies — essential reading for investors.
Domain Parking
Displaying ads on a domain that has no full website, earning pay-per-click revenue.
Domain Portfolio
A collection of domain names owned and managed by an investor or company.
Domain Privacy (WHOIS Privacy)
A service that hides your personal contact info from the public WHOIS database.
Domain Push
An instant, free transfer between accounts at the same registrar — faster than a full inter-registrar transfer.
Domain Reseller
A company that buys wholesale domain registrations to resell at retail prices, often under their own brand.
Domain Seizure
Government-ordered confiscation of a domain name as part of legal or criminal enforcement action.
Domain Status Codes
EPP codes that indicate a domain's current state — locked, suspended, transferring, or active.
Domain Suspension
Temporary deactivation of a domain — causes website and email to go offline until the issue is resolved.
Domain Tasting
An old practice of registering domains for free using the 5-day grace period refund policy — eliminated by ICANN in 2009.
Domain Transfer
Moving a domain's registration from one registrar to another.
Domain Valuation
Estimating the market value of a domain name based on comparables, traffic, keywords, and demand.
Drop Catch Service
A platform that uses fast automated systems to register expiring domains the moment they become available.
Drop Catching
Registering an expired domain the instant it becomes available using automated systems.
DropCatch
A competitive drop-catching service known for high success rates on expiring .com domains.
Efty
A portfolio management and landing page platform built for domain investors.
End User
A buyer who purchases a domain to use for a real business or project, rather than to resell.
ENS (Ethereum Name Service)
A blockchain-based naming system on Ethereum that maps human-readable .eth names to wallet addresses.
ENS DAO
The token-holder governance body that manages the ENS protocol and treasury.
ENS Resolver
The smart contract that looks up records (wallet address, website) for an ENS name.
EPP (Extensible Provisioning Protocol)
The protocol registrars use to register and transfer domains, and the source of transfer auth codes.
Escrow.com
The leading domain escrow service recommended by ICANN — protects both buyer and seller in transactions.
Estibot
An automated domain appraisal tool that estimates value based on SEO and sales data.
Exact Match Domain (EMD)
A domain that exactly matches a search query — once gamed for SEO, now of limited standalone value.
Expired Domain
A domain whose registration has lapsed, potentially available for acquisition at auction or drop.
Flippa
A marketplace for buying and selling websites, apps, and domains — focused on digital businesses with revenue.
Gas Fee
The Ethereum transaction cost paid to register, transfer, or update an ENS domain — fluctuates with network demand.
GDPR and Domain Privacy
The EU privacy law that caused most registrars to hide registrant personal data from public WHOIS records.
Generic Domain
A domain made up of common dictionary words with no trademark significance — legally strong and highly valuable.
Geographic Domain
A domain containing a geographic location name — city, region, or country — valued for local traffic and business.
Glue Record
A special DNS record providing a nameserver's IP address when the nameserver is within the domain it serves.
GoDaddy Auctions
GoDaddy's platform for auctioning expiring domains and aftermarket listings — the largest by volume.
GoDaddy Domain Appraisal
GoDaddy's free automated domain valuation tool — a quick reference based on comparable sales data.
Grace Period
The window after expiration when a domain can still be renewed at standard cost.
gTLD (Generic Top-Level Domain)
A TLD not tied to a specific country — includes .com, .net, .org, .io, and hundreds of new gTLDs.
Hand Registration
Registering a domain at standard price directly from a registrar — as opposed to buying from another owner.
Handshake (HNS)
A decentralized blockchain protocol that allows anyone to own a TLD on a distributed root zone.
HNS (Handshake Name System)
The Handshake blockchain's native coin and naming system, used to bid on and own decentralized TLDs.
Holding Cost
The annual renewal cost of keeping a domain registered — a key consideration for large portfolios.
HTTPS
The secure, encrypted version of HTTP — required for trust, SEO, and data security.
IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority)
The ICANN body that manages the DNS root zone, IP address allocation, and protocol registries.
ICANN
The nonprofit that oversees the global domain name system and accredits registrars.
In Rem Action
An ACPA lawsuit filed against the domain itself when the owner is unknown or outside US jurisdiction.
Inbound Inquiry
A purchase inquiry from a buyer who contacts the domain owner directly — the main source of most domain sales.
Internationalized Domain Name (IDN)
A domain name using non-Latin characters (Arabic, Chinese, etc.) — encoded via Punycode for DNS compatibility.
IP Address
The numerical address of a server or device on the internet that domain names resolve to.
IPFS (InterPlanetary File System)
A decentralized file storage protocol used to host censorship-resistant websites pointed to by Web3 domains.
Keyword Domain
A domain containing descriptive words relevant to the business (e.g., Insurance.com, Hotels.com).
Landrush Period
A new TLD launch phase where the general public can register domains, often at premium prices.
Layer 2 (L2)
A blockchain scaling solution that enables faster, cheaper transactions while inheriting base chain security.
Lease-to-Own
A payment plan where a buyer makes installments over time, with domain ownership transferring when fully paid.
Legitimate Interest (Domain)
A domain owner's valid right to a domain that defeats a UDRP complaint — includes bona fide business use and descriptive names.
Liquid Domain
A domain that can be sold quickly due to broad, consistent buyer demand.
LLL Domain
A three-letter .com domain — all 17,576 combinations are registered and trade as premium assets.
LLLL Domain
A four-letter .com domain — pronounceable combinations are especially valued as liquid assets.
Make Offer
A domain listing format where buyers must submit an offer rather than seeing a fixed price.
Marketplace Commission
The percentage fee a domain marketplace charges on completed sales — typically 10–25%.
Media Options
A boutique domain brokerage specializing in high-value .com transactions and acquisitions.
Mini-Site
A small content website built on a domain to generate SEO traffic and ad or affiliate revenue.
MX Record
A DNS record that specifies which server handles email for a domain.
NAF (National Arbitration Forum)
An ICANN-accredited UDRP dispute resolution provider, second only to WIPO in case volume.
NameBio
The largest database of historical domain sale records, used by investors to research comparable sales.
NameJet
A domain backorder and expired domain auction platform known for premium drops.
NamePros
The largest domain investing community forum — used for sales, appraisals, and industry discussion.
NamesCon
The largest annual domain industry conference — the premier networking and deal-making event for professionals.
Nameserver
A server that stores and serves DNS records for a domain name.
New gTLD
The hundreds of new generic TLDs introduced after ICANN's 2012 expansion, like .shop, .app, and .club.
NFT (Non-Fungible Token)
A unique blockchain token representing ownership of a specific digital asset — how Web3 domains are issued.
NFT Domain
A domain name represented as an NFT on a blockchain — purchased once, stored in a crypto wallet.
Numeric Domain
A domain consisting entirely of numbers — especially valued in Chinese markets.
One-Word Domain
A domain containing a single dictionary word — among the most valuable domain types on .com.
OpenSea
The largest NFT marketplace, where Web3 domain names like .eth can be traded as NFTs.
Outbound Sales
Proactively contacting potential buyers about a domain, rather than waiting for inbound inquiries.
Parking Revenue
Earnings from pay-per-click ads displayed on undeveloped parked domains.
Payment Plan
A structured installment arrangement allowing buyers to pay for a domain over multiple months.
Pending Delete
The 5-day countdown before an expired domain is released and available for re-registration.
Polygon
An Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain used by Unstoppable Domains for fast, low-cost domain transactions.
Portfolio Tracker
A tool to track domain acquisition costs, renewal dates, listings, and sales across a portfolio.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click)
An ad model where each click earns revenue — the basis of domain parking income.
Premium Domain
A domain name valued well above standard registration cost due to its quality, length, or keywords.
Premium Renewal
When a registry charges above-standard renewal fees on domains classified as premium — an ongoing cost to watch.
Price Anchoring
A negotiation tactic where the first price stated sets the psychological reference point for the deal.
Primary ENS Name
The ENS name set as your Ethereum wallet's display name across Web3 apps.
Privacy Proxy Service
A service that replaces your personal WHOIS data with generic proxy contact details to protect your identity.
Private Sale
A domain sale conducted directly between buyer and seller, bypassing public marketplaces.
RDNH (Reverse Domain Name Hijacking)
When a trademark holder abusively files a UDRP complaint against a legitimate domain owner to steal their domain.
Redemption Period
The phase after the grace period where a domain can be recovered only by the original registrant, with a large fee.
Registrant
The person or organization that owns a registered domain name.
Registrant Verification
The process of confirming a domain registrant's contact information is accurate — required by ICANN.
Registrar
An ICANN-accredited company that sells and manages domain name registrations.
Registrar Transfer
Moving a domain from one registrar to another while keeping it active — adds one year to registration.
Registry
The authoritative organization that maintains the master database for a specific TLD.
Reserve Price
The minimum price a seller will accept in an auction — bidding must meet or exceed this to complete the sale.
Retail Value
The price a domain commands when sold to an end user who actually needs it for their business.
Revenue Multiple
Valuing a domain as a multiple of its annual revenue or parking income.
ROI (Return on Investment)
The profit from selling a domain relative to the cost of acquiring and holding it.
Root Zone
The top of the DNS hierarchy listing all TLDs and their nameservers — managed by ICANN/IANA.
Second-Level Domain (SLD)
The main part of a domain name — the "example" in "example.com."
Secondary Market
All transactions involving already-registered domains — auctions, private sales, and marketplace listings.
Sedo
One of the world's largest domain marketplaces, strong in European markets, offering sales, brokerage, and parking.
Sell-Through Rate (STR)
The percentage of portfolio domains that sell in a year — typically 1–5% for most investors.
Smart Contract
Self-executing blockchain code that automatically manages domain ownership and transfers without intermediaries.
SnapNames
A domain backorder and drop-catching service that auctions expiring domains among competing backorders.
SOA Record (Start of Authority)
The first DNS record in a zone file — contains administrative data about the domain's DNS zone.
SPF Record
A DNS record that authorizes specific servers to send email for a domain — prevents spoofing.
SSL/TLS Certificate
A digital certificate that enables HTTPS encryption and verifies a website's identity.
Subdomain
A prefix to a domain name (e.g., "blog.example.com") created for free via DNS.
Sunrise Period
A pre-launch registration window for new TLDs where trademark holders can register their marks first.
Three-Letter Domain (3L)
A domain with exactly three characters before the TLD — all 3L .com combinations are taken.
TLD (Top-Level Domain)
The rightmost part of a domain name — e.g., .com, .net, .org.
Trademark
A legally protected brand identifier — trademark rights are central to domain dispute claims.
Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH)
ICANN's database of verified trademarks used to protect brand owners during new TLD launches.
Transfer Timeline
The time from sale agreement to completed domain transfer — days for pushes, up to weeks for full transfers.
TTL (Time to Live)
How long (in seconds) DNS resolvers should cache a record before refreshing it.
Two-Letter Domain (2L)
A domain with only two characters before the TLD — extremely scarce and highly valued on .com.
TXT Record
A DNS record used for verification, email authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), and other text data.
Type-In Traffic
Visitors who reach a domain by typing it directly into their browser, with no search engine involved.
UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy)
ICANN's dispute policy allowing trademark holders to challenge infringing domain registrations through arbitration.
Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS)
A fast, cheap dispute mechanism for obvious trademark infringement on new gTLD domains — results in suspension.
Unstoppable Domains
A company selling blockchain-based domain names (.crypto, .nft, .wallet) as one-time purchase NFTs.
URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension)
A faster, cheaper UDRP alternative for new gTLDs — results in suspension rather than transfer.
Verisign
The registry operator for .com and .net — maintains the authoritative database of all .com registrations.
Vickrey Auction (Handshake)
Handshake's blind second-price auction system for TLD registration — winner pays the second-highest bid.
Wallet Address
The long alphanumeric string used to receive cryptocurrency — Web3 domains replace these with human-readable names.
Wayback Machine
The Internet Archive tool for viewing historical website snapshots — used by domain investors for research.
Web3
The vision of a decentralized internet built on blockchain, enabling user-owned domains and digital identity.
Web3 Username
A blockchain-based, user-owned identity that works across decentralized applications.
WHOIS
A public database showing who registered a domain name and when it expires.
Wholesale Value
The quick-sale price to another investor, typically well below what an end user would pay.
Wildcard DNS
A DNS record using * to match any subdomain that doesn't have a specific record.
WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization)
The UN's IP agency and largest UDRP dispute resolution provider — its case database is essential for domain research.
WWW (World Wide Web)
The classic subdomain prefix for websites — "www.example.com" — still common but optional today.
Zone File
The file on a nameserver containing all DNS records for a domain.