Should I buy a $1700 .com domain for my not-yet-released web app?

Absolutely no, Not worth it.

Well, will they actually know if your project is successful? Will you be releasing open numbers on that? If that's not the case then they wont know.

If everything would go to shit... Would you be able to sell the domain to another person for the same price or with a small loss? If that's the case, then go buy it ;)

That's just my thoughts on it :D

Will the domain likely appreciate in value (i.e. is it a short .com)?

Are you selling b2b or does seeming larger than you are matter in your sales pipeline/marketing?

What % of your savings is $1700?

What would you spend the $1700 on otherwise?

I've spent more than that on a domain and it was worth it.
I've also spent nearly that much on a domain and haven't used it yet.

I wouldn't.

I think it depends on how committed you feel to the idea and business. I have a feeling that @csallen would have regretted not paying the $2000 he paid for the Indie Hackers domain.

As a bigger picture, $1700 isn't a whole lot of money if the idea generates some kind of revenue.

No. Unless you've raised 5M already.

You are focusing on non-crucial issues. GetPocket.com is still that, not Pocket.com - and they are still crazy popular. If the name is crucial to your company and branding strategy (if you have one), go for long-tail, if it's not, pick a different name.
Unless you have a lot of money to spare - then go for it.

Depends. If the .com domain is for quality SEO keywords, that amount could very well be worth it.

That said, I wouldn't go and buy it without testing your concept first to de-risk the purchase.

To test it, I'd building a marketing landing page for the product, send some paid search traffic to that page using keywords pulled from the domain name, and track the primary call-to-action (CTA) interactions. Finally, perform a follow up analysis of the results.

This will help do two things.

1. Valid your business. When people are following through on your CTA, that is a good signal that you might have a viable business.

2. Validate that the keyword in the domain is a converting one. There would be no point in purchasing a domain for that much money unless it can covert sales or is for branding purposes.

No, I agree to all who said no. If you are successful anyways you can buy it later. Don't bother it right now.

No, I would never buy a domain name for more than I'm willing to pay for a good burger. Just being funny.

While an easy to spell or pronounce domain name is preferred, you can use marketing effectively to convey who you are even with a longer or variation spelled domain name. You can also rebrand later and as others suggested buy it later when your revenue is sufficient and it's a tax write off as a marketing expense not a burden hoping your idea takes off.

For my first startup, I spent a lot of money on trademark attorneys, because I wanted to be protected when/if my idea made it big. That was NOT the biggest risk. The biggest risk was that no one would actually want and pay for my product. Lesson learned. For my second startup, I've done things a lot differently. I, for one, would not spend $1700 on a domain before you see some traction.

for now, your project is still an idea and still didn't collect money.

1700$ is not a lot for a catchy domain. You can visit forum for domaining because it's business of many people to buy/sell domains.

To buy or not to buy, it depends of your situation (if you have this $$ easily), and what is the product.
If you product is for b2b, and the lower plan is at 99$, it's not the same to target B2C with a plan at 9$.

In all case, I dont think I would buy it for this amount.
Again, it's not about the price, but because for now, it's just an idea and not a business.
Let's say you make a pivot after the first weeks, and this domain is not relevant, you will loose 1700$.
And 1700$ is a lot to start because you can drive many traffic/leads with this budget in ads.

For example, I remember that the founder of sumo.com didn't use the first years sumo.com, but an other domain (sumome), and then, after the business worked, he bought the domain sumo.com for 1.5m : https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/288629

If the app idea is successful you'll have the money to pay the inflated price and it won't matter as much to you then.

If the app idea isn't successful then you've blown $1700.

The only scenario where this is OK is if you're paying $1700 for a domain that is clearly worth more and you could immediately resell for more (ie you're actually getting a great deal).

Nope nope nope nope. Unless you already have done it as in running a profitable SaaS and/or success exit. Otherwise, a big NOPE.

There is a number of factors that need to be considered before answering that question

• is $1.700 a lot of money to you? Will it send you broke and are you okay with spending that amount if the idea doesn’t work out?
• is the domain shorter than 7 characters and a common word?
• Could you launch without it and seek to buy it at a later stage?

All the best

I would be more concerned about future trademark issues at that price.

If you can secure it now buy it without any regrets. Why make marketing your app more difficult than it should be?

If you were an offline business, let's say a retail clothing store based in NYC and you had the chance to open up your first store by purchasing a commercial property on Fifth avenue for a reasonable price, would you? I would...even if I were to fail I know I'd at the very least have an asset that could be liquidated along with the existing business.

Also, if the domain is a generic term, you don't purchase it and your app ends up being successful should you hold no TM rights a lot of traffic will go directly to the domain owner which could be monetized, or alternatively if it sells to another app developer they could use that traffic to help in the marketing of their own product.

The reality is owning your exact match domain will put you in a much better position in terms of overall brand recognition, however, whether or not you succeed is entirely up to you.

If you believe in your abilities and want to avoid headaches in the future...buy that name ASAP.

I can hardly say that's a valid argument for spending $1700. on a domain. Unless it's less than five characters, of course and the resell value would instantly be more than $50k after you buy it.

Being that domains are not really valuable IMO until there's a demand for them, if your project rocks and you trademark your name, and no other business is using that name, no one could do anything with that domain name.

So trademarking it would pretty much guarantee that you get it much cheaper or free. The only alt to that is if there is content on the domain name which would give the owner common law rights to use the domain as a business name.

Buy it now using a 0% CC offer. Pay it off over next 18 months, that will make it less than $100/mo for something you're spending a lot of time on. Worth it.

Anyone who says a domain isn't worth anything should be immediately discarded. In truth, for you it may not be worth the price, but domains are absolutely the new digital real estate. The right domain can change how you are perceived, how you are found, and how easily you are remembered (work around domains as someone mentioned can literally work against you, especially if your demographic is non-technical). Chosing a backup domain has worked for some businesses during the start up phase, but that course nearly always causes extended stress when they need to go back to finally secure the one they always wanted in the first place.

And don't forget, changing your domain down the road can hurt your SEO. Even going from HTTP to HTTPS can hurt your SEO. Do it correctly the first time if it won't hurt the business financially.

We have quite a few customers who didn't pony up $200 to $2500 for a domain and are kicking themselves crazy. Literally this week one customer is discussing putting down $7000 for a domain we recommend they buy for $1500 only two years ago. Want to know why the price went up??? Because our client actually created the value in the name as their startup went viral! They potentially cost themselves $5500 by being successful.

You said "app" which generally means an online focus. Many successful apps don't have or require a website, however if you're looking to find investors or buyers then $1700 is chump change in the big picture... And presenting your image to them on a subconscious level is more important than the "real world" arguments members here are presenting. That's simply how sales work... perception of value. Only you can answer the question of value in the domain today, but if you think you're going to want it down the road don't expect that it will just be there waiting for you.

And yes, the Amazons and the Twitters have unique names, but after they put marketing into said company identities they required control of the direct domain names to protect those investments while accelerating the marketing further. This is where "work around" domains will hurt you in the long run, because if someone else owns your company name in an online space they will get a lot of your hard earned traffic after you spend money on marketing and brand awareness.

Buy it if you
a) Can afford it (logic).
b) If it makes you feel good (emotion).
Else, everything comes down to marketing and branding (fact).
Domains like google, apple, amazon, etc has nothing to do with what they do.

I recently purchased affiliatehunt.com from a different owner. It will be a marketplace for affiliates hunting for businesses to make commission and businesses hunting for influencers. I liked the name, it's easy to remember and I could afford it.

It may be better to get a .app domain from Google, as they seem to be getting more and more popular.

You said the magic phrase "if the app idea is successful".

No, spend that money on things like marketing later.

Never heard of a domain name make or break a business.

Absolutely agree with everyone in the comments. I would start with the cheapest domain name possible, especially if its a side project.
If the business is successful, you wouldn't need to change the name. If it's not, then good thing you didn't waste $1700.

Domains don't matter really.

Tinder.com used to be taken so they bought GetTinder.com as a work-around.

There's probably a lot better things you could do with $1700. We've all had ideas that think will do amazing which fail.

That said if you have a lot of money, like at least 10 times this amount, then go for it if you really want.

But really, noooooooooo

No.

Nope. There's no point,..you can surely name it something else...

If you plan to keep it as some kind of hobby side project, perhaps not. If you’re serious about turning it into a business, I’d say yes.

Good .com domains are prime real estate.

I'm in a similar scenario and intend to buy the domain. Good luck with the purchase and your app

No, at some point a solid domain was worth the cost. Now, unless you’re a multinational company, it’s just not worth the price.

I wouldn’t spend more than $12 on a .com or $60 on a .io.

Instead, spend that money on good content, a marketing site, and some SEO work or paid ads.

No - not worth it. Domains add very little value.

I agree with Ryden. I wouldn't bother for now. If you're successful, you will be able to buy it later.
A domain name doesn't play a huge part in a startup's success chance IMO.

yes and no. no because maybe just get the product finished and by then you will pivot anyway 10 times + find new name opps. no bc you can negotiate the time until you finisehd with the buyer still a lower price.

yes because it locks you in and you have to finish that project bc you invested already 1700. again no because you might work into a wrong direction.

no is more sane, yes feels a bit impulsive.

exception to all above: if the domain is a generic premium domain which can be used for other stuff and is significantly under market value then yes!

No, you can buy it when you are successful with your product. Maybe spend some cash for markering

NO