6
20 Comments

Ask HN: Idea validation: Domain trade website for indiehackers?

I was thinking, a lot of people hoard domains, and maybe it would be a good idea to have a website to facilitate a domain trade for either other domains money or equity.

The idea would be you post your start up, and you get matched with domains or you post your idea as a bid for a domain.

What do you think?

I’d be super happy to give up a domain to someone that is gonna do something great with it!

  1. 1

    I would definitely check it out. I would worry about the wrong people taking advantage of your good intentions. Maybe you could get a lawyer to create a special kind of contract that a) prevented the person from flipping the domain for $$$ on some other site b) prevented the person from sitting on it and doing nothing with it - reverts back to you after a period of time and c) pays out some small but cool-if-it-goes-huge royalty or something.

    1. 1

      Yeah I was thinking something like a domain escrow service, if they don’t respect the terms the domain would revert back to the original owner, and yes I think something like % based or agreed amount would be good. I think smart contracts would be kinda cool for something like this where there is no trust

  2. 1

    Yup, and I'd be happy to help you build it if you need a helping hand.

    1. 2

      Hey man, for sure flick me an email: [email protected]

      Let’s have a chat about it, I’m free later this week!

  3. 1

    Perhaps start with an excel sheet?

    1. 1

      Yeah that’s not a bad idea

  4. 1

    This is a nice idea. What's the response on HN?

    1. 1

      Hmm haven’t really posted it on hacker news. Just here.

      1. 1

        Ohk! Your title mentioned Ask HN, hence I asked. No problem.

        1. 1

          Typo :)) it’s supposed to be ask ih:))

  5. 1

    I'd use this if it required minimal effort to list my domains or contact others who have listed for potential trades - I have about 10-30 unused domains at any time (addicted)

    1. 2

      Quick caveat - me saying "I'd use this" doesn't always end up being true, even though I believe it when I say it. It would be worth testing this with something super simple like a newsletter where you share domains people are willing to trade and you match interested people up manually

  6. 1

    what domains do you have that you ware wanting to offload?

    1. 1

      I don’t actually have domains to offload just trying to help other people, there is a lot of chatter around here about people owning lots of domains, I reckon if they can be put to good use it would help the community as a whole

  7. 1

    I would absolutely use a swap domain service executed right.

    1. 1

      Well I’m just seeing a lot of chatter around indiehackers that a lot of people own a lot of domains, I’m sorta thinking that something like that would be useful for the community

      1. 1

        Yes, I’ve been thinking about a service like that for some time myself. Pretty crowded space though.

        1. 1

          Hmm yeah it probably is, what I was thinking it’s something dedicated to hackers, but I’m really not sure it won’t be abused. It’s probably a hard thing to pursue and make money from.

          1. 2

            Tinder for domains. An instant hit :)

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 47 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 27 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments How I Launched FrontendEase 13 comments