Ask HN: Buy highly priced domain or rebrand? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Buy highly priced domain or rebrand?

22 pointsnerder9233 comments

Hello HN folks,

I'm having a dilemma about my side project.

We decide for a name for our brand which seems to be quite popular and because of that the majority of the cool domains are already gone (ie: .app, .io, .com etc)

Now the one I'm really interested in is the .app which seems to have an owner but is not used at the moment, so i can try in make an offer to get that one, but I'm afraid this will cost us a lot of money for something probably not that important at this stage.

The project is growing and is getting traction but it's still considerably small, should we consider to re-brand now to find something which is available? Or wait to get this domain until it makes more sense/we have a better cash flow?

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I've been over this dilemma multiple times.

For me, what would matter is the status of the name, and not the domain. You say it's quite popular and most extensions are taken - why use it then? It will diminish your chances for standing out and having a memorable brand.

If your name is unique, is a good fit, specific for your space, not trademarked etc., then great! But in that case you are fine with any extension. getting "getbrandname.com" instead of "brandname.app" won't make or break your project.

If your name doest not fit the above criteria, pick a different one. Go wild, go bold. I suggest the book 'hello my name is awesome' (bad title, but on-point, actionable content) if you go ahead.

99.9% of regular people think website = .com. All of the other TLDs are functionally equivalent to ThingApp.com (not Thing.app) or ThingIo.com (not Thing.io.)

Choose whichever name works with a .com domain.

Any non-direct name will work if your website is not your main entry point, something that people have to remember (for example if people should find you through app stores, ...); otherwise they will end up on some other site most of the time and you'll loose them.

Yep, and in that case I recommend GetName.com, NameApp.com, or NameHQ.com more than a .app TLD.

Do this, and don't worry about Thing.app or Thing.com. Make your company and domain bigger faster than similar domains and you will be able to afford it later. They might not even enjoy having a domain that's always confused with your product.

as a corollary, nobody is typing in domain names, they click and tap on whatever was shared to them

your entire service's web presence can live on an instagram account, it does not matter

so although I am a proponent of using prefixes and suffixes, I'm also a proponent of obscure tld's or just not even bothering, and just hosting on github pages, you can even give direct links to cloudfront if you want

focus on things that do matter which is revenue, this debate doesn't even matter

This is a very good feedback, as coming from a tech background myself I totally didn't think about that

> i can try in make an offer to get that one, but I'm afraid this will cost us a lot

You haven't asked for a price yet?

Do that first. You may very well have this dilemma, but until you ask and get a price, you are fretting over something that might be an easy decision.

I once bought a domain that I thought would be expensive for $150. I asked and was pleasantly surprised it was available for sale and cheap. So ask. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

But to also add - as someone who purchased a 3 letter domain name through escrow, but still ended up in a minor legal battle over ownership it’s worth doing some background on who the owner is...

100 times this. And to add, if this dilemma already is so difficult, then maybe you should make someone else in charge of these decisions so you can focus on the tech.

Use another name. Most names are fine as long as they're relatively short, memorable and pronounceable.

That money could be put to better use.

Depends how much money it is: I would ask, is it more or less than the cost the team would spend rebranding?

This is a great question to ask. Thank you for this

Don't make this a blocker. Rebranding will hit your momentum. Since you already seek a x.app domain might as well go with xapp.com . Let's be honest for a sec - the .app gets you more nerd points but your market would be more comfortable with a .com

I'd suggest prefixing/suffixing, e.g "get<brand>.com" or "<brand>app.com"

If word of mouth is important, it is usually better to have a dot-com web address. IMO, the two additional rules are to make it memorable and make sure people can easily spell it. Other than that, don't obsess over a descriptive name.

ps, if you go with zzzz.app, make sure you can also get zzzzapp.com

You don't have a domain yet so it's not a rebrand, you're not taking steps backwards. It isn't too good to be wedded to an idea, just think, do what you can to analyse the problem and be comfortable with the uncertainty/risk and move

I believe they already have an app with that name, but not a website?

This is correct.

Rebrand if you have a clearly better alternative. Otherwise just go with xyz-app.com or something similar and no one will bat an eye... unless xyz.app will suddenly spring to life and starts aggressively market itself.

I'm shocked no one has mentioned this so far.. check the SEO profile of the domain you're looking to buy, if it has a strong domain authority and pulls in organic traffic just through the domain name I would purchase it straight away. Use these factors to determine if it's 'worth it'.

If you intend to really buy this domain place an offer now, it will cost much more later. A lot of domain owners work with bonus pay, which means if you raise money then you pay them additional amount. This is one way to negotiate.

But as such name needs to be easy to remember, so it can enable word of mouth. Choose a name that is tied to an object or thing that your target users do every day. Its one way to keep your brand on top of the mind of users. Thats how memory works.

This is mentioned in contagious (book)

I believe you are better off rebranding. Only if the project is still in its Infancy. Any momentum you lose you’ll be able to gain it back. But if it’s a really a tld problem. you could always make it part of the brand anyways. you could get one like a .geek then could add that to your make it your logo like think.geek or what not.

Buy the .com if you can.

If you are in a market with a strong local ccTLD get that - examples being .co.uk and .com.au

Good names cost money - perhaps look to see if you can rent or do staged payments?

What is your objective?

There is no right answer, having a think about what your objective is, and what you want to achieve - may help making the decision easier; or at least provide a guiding light.

the opportunity to change your brand will disappear soon, take it now as it may be your last chance. You can then try to cover the .app, .com. .io range with your new choice.

There are 1590 TLDs last time I checked. Just pick a domain in one of them and stick with it.

Depends on who your target users are: if tech, maybe any tld could work, but if general public, outside of .com you'll loose.

just add a prefix to your brand and/or use a more obscure tld

people are literally not typing in domain names anymore and have not been for a very long time

they click and tap what was shared to them

Hmm checkin.app or strive.app better find a new name.

Kudos on this. Amazing how you were able to find it :)

Anyway yes, the more i see this written down the less i like it

I negotiated a user.com domain aquasition for over one year, >300 emails.

Price started from ~10 mln USD, we bought for 150k USD (didn't have more)

Yes, we know that I was extremely lucky, but is always worth to try.

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