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Ask HN: Do former startup domain names have any value?

2 points by JVIDEL ↗ HN
What happens to the domain names of former startups that went down? are there any buyers for them? any cases of startups out there that got their domains from a former startup? or the owners of the domain of the dead startup just let it expire?

3 comments

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CyberFonic
I guess the "taint" of a failed startup would make domain names unappealing.

However if it is a name that the general public might try, e.g. pets.com, then it could be valuable, in this case pets.com now redirects to petsmart.com.

JVIDEL
How much you think petsmart paid for that domain?
CyberFonic
No idea. But you could look at any one of the several domain name marketplaces and see what sorts of money is being asked for domains. Of course, the selling and asking prices can be very far apart.