- How much should a startup pay for a domain name?
- A practical benchmark is 0.5% to 2% of your most recent round. That puts a $3M pre-seed in the $15,000 to $30,000 range and a $20M Series A in the $75,000 to $250,000 range for a name it intends to keep permanently. The relevant comparison is not the price versus zero, but the price versus a later rebrand once your product, documentation, and press coverage are all indexed under a different name.
- What makes a good startup domain name?
- It should be sayable on a phone call without spelling it, free of hyphens and ambiguous numbers, and broad enough to survive two product pivots. Category-anchored and invented marks both travel well; names tied to a single feature, region, or interface become constraints quickly. Clear the trademark in your class before purchase — owning a domain is not a trademark right.
- Should a startup buy a .com or a .ai domain?
- Buy the .com if your buyers are enterprises, hospitals, financial institutions, or government bodies — it remains the reflex extension and avoids type-in loss. Choose .ai when the product is model-native and the audience is technical, and budget for its higher annual renewal. Many funded teams launch on .ai and acquire the matching .com before scaling enterprise sales.
- Is it safe to buy a domain from a private seller?
- Only through escrow. In an escrow transfer the agent holds your funds, the domain is pushed to your registrar account, and payment releases only after the transfer is confirmed by both sides. Never wire funds directly to a seller. Every name on this site transfers through Afternic escrow, with lease-to-own available on most listings.