With 70,964,907 .COM domain names registered (see Name Intelligence's Daily Changes), the name you want is already taken. Even names you wouldn't want in a million years are taken. Names so silly that you'd be embarrassed to use them as the address for your site are taken, and this has been true for many, many years. It's why tech companies end up naming themselves things that look like typographical errors, like "Flickr" or "Joost" or just about any other Web 2.0 company you might find on the TechCrunch index. 

This is where the aftermarket comes in. The aftermarket allocates registered and expired domain names to new registrants looking for a name they couldn't otherwise register as a new name. 

The aftermarket is also a good place to pick up a typographical error name.

All of the aftermarket services sell typos, though most don't do so knowingly. Since auctions and aftermarket sales are automated, humans rarely review the aftermarket inventory to determine if a name has any potential problems. Like this name that was for resale recently on GoDaddy's aftermarket site.... 

It was up for resale only a few days before it likely passed across the desk of GoDaddy's trademark attorney.

The resale of typos isn't always accidental though. Take this category of names for auction from Pool.com. Alphabetically lodged between "Travel" and "Words & Phrases" is "Typos / Misspells."

This "premium" domain name category is empty now (see left margin), but if you want to list your typos there, you now have a place to showcase them.

If you're not interested in generating your own typos (see yesterday's piece) to sell on Pool, the best way to find them is in the expiring domain names auctions.

This past weekend, in just one example, multiple auction houses sent email alerts to their customers touting the fact that "wolmart.com" was about to expire! (If you're as breathless about this fact and want to see which lucky registrar snagged this "hot" deleting domain name, it was BB Online UK Ltd.) 

With an official "typo" category for auctions and typos finding their way onto the "hot" domains of the day lists, I connect the dots, because I'm smart like that, and say that typosquatting is generating measurable income for both domainers and name suppliers. And, is it possible, just possible, that typographical registrations are gathering some, dare I say it.....legitimacy?

Tomorrow: How Big Is Your Cloud? 

 

 

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