Recounts buying 404media.com in expired domain auction — 404 Media

Media firm that uses .co domain got a “steal” on the matching .com,

404 Media, a popular technology news site, started in 2023 with a very low budget. Each of the founders chipped in $1,000, and the only domain they could afford was 404media.co. Another firm was using the matching .com.

But this year, following 404 Media had grown in popularity, an opportunity presented itself: 404media.com expired and was being auctioned on GoDaddy.

The firm pounced and won the auction for only $1,207.

In a blog post today, one of the founders recounts the story of bidding on the domain:

But an auction is a very different experience to just buying the domain outright. We would be trying to beat other people or bots. We thought that might include those kindly trying to buy the domain on our behalf, or others trying to take it from underneath us. And we had no idea how high the price might go.

Indeed, there was a lot at play. I’m sure some people considered buying the domain as a gift for 404 Media. But the publication could ask people not to bid on its behalf; you don’t know who the other bidders are, and the publication certainly didn’t want to publicize the auction.

Ultimately, they called the final purchase price a bargain and a steal. I agree. Buying an expired domain as an end user is usually a bargain, since most people in the auction are buying it for resale and need to build in a healthy margin.

Even though 404 Media just forwards the .com to its existing .co, the firm explained the importance of owning the .com:

The first is that we’re proud to say 404 Media is a well known publication at this point, and we don’t want anyone else parking and abusing the .com domain that many people may end up at by mistake. The second is that, understandably, many people mistakenly email us at the @404media.com domain rather than the @404media.co domain, so now we’ll be able to catch those lost emails and save us all a lot of heartache.