Domain investor terms

Domain investors often use shorthand and terms that might not make sense to the uninitiated. 

For example, a domain investor might say, “I hand-regged a bunch of domains because the drop and the aftermarket are too expensive and full of frontrunners. I parked them to earn PPC.”

If that sounded like a bunch of gibberish to you, then this post is for you. Let’s define some of the terms you’ll hear amongst domain investors.

Terms domain investors use

Here are some examples of common jargon used by domainers when talking about their domain investments and the process of registration.

• Aftermarket – This is a catchall term for buying and selling domains that are already registered.

• Auth Code – Short for authorization code, this is the code needed to transfer a domain name. When you buy or sell a domain, an authorization code is usually required to transfer the domain. This is sometimes referred to as an EPP code.

• Backorder – Some expired domain catching services require you to register your interest in a domain name before it expires. This is called a backorder. If more than one person backorders an expiring domain, there’s usually an auction to determine who gets the domain.

• BIN, Make Offer – These terms refer to the two different ways people sell domains. BIN is short for “buy it now”. A domain investor who sets a BIN price agrees to sell the domain at that price. The alternative is to set a domain to “make offer”, which means the domain isn’t priced and the domain owner wants prospective buyers to make the initial offer.

• C, N, L and C/V – Each of these letters has a different meaning and can mean something different in various contexts. When referring to the length of a domain, C is character, N is number, and L is letter. So a 3L domain is three letters long, a 3N domain is three numbers long, and a 3C name has three characters, meaning a mix of letters and numbers. C takes on a different meaning when looking at character patterns. C and V are used to represent consonants and vowels in a domain. A CVCV domain takes the form consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel. Domains with vowels can be more valuable if the character string can be pronounced.

• Cybersquatting – Cybersquatting is registering a domain name to take advantage of a trademark or brand name. Domain investing is not cybersquatting because domain investors focus on non-infringing domain names.

• Domain hack – A domain that uses both the left and right sides of the dot to form a word,  phrase, or shortened version of a word. Here are some examples.

• (The) drop – This refers to expiring domain names when they “drop” from their registered status. Domain investors often say they got a domain “in the drop”, which means they bought an expired domain.

• Dropcatch – This is a catchall term for buying domains as they expire. 

• Frontrunning – Frontrunning is the dubious practice of trying to sell domain names you don’t (yet) own. The most common type of frontrunning is when someone tries to find a buyer for a domain that is expiring. If they find a buyer, they then try to win the expired domain and sell it to the buyer they found. 

• GeoDomain – A domain that refers to a location. This could be the name of a city, state, county, or country by itself, or in combination with another word (such as cityPlumber.com).

• Hand reg – A hand registration, often shortened to “hand reg”, is a domain that’s available for registration at regular prices. When you hand reg a domain, it means you go to a domain registrar like Namecheap and register the domain rather than buying it from someone who already registered it or buying it in the drop.

• Parking – Domain parking is when a domain owner “parks” a domain with a simple landing page. Usually, this refers to a landing page with ads on it, but the term can also refer to other types of landing pages.

• PPC – Short for pay-per-click, this is the primary type of monetization on parked domain names. The page has ads that generate revenue for each click. 

• Reverse Domain Name Hijacking – When a trademark owner files a cybersquatting case in bad faith to get a domain that is not cybersquatting, they are said to have attempted reverse domain name hijacking.

Your newfound knowledge

After reading this list, you now know what “I hand-regged a bunch of domains because the drop and the aftermarket are too expensive and full of front runners. I parked them to earn PPC,” means. You will no longer look like a newbie in domain investor conversations.

To learn more terms you might come across with domain names, check out this domain name dictionary.