Please help me choose the best domain name to use for my new bartering classified site.

May 20, 2009 10:51 AM

Please help me choose the best domain name to use for my new bartering classified site.

I wanted barterlist.com, but in every case below, the people want way to much money for the domain name related to it. The max I would spend is $500:

barterlist.com is going for 20k

barter-list.com is going for $2500

barterlist.net is going for 10k

thebarterlist.com - I couldnt seem to find the registrants info from a whois lookup, but it said it was registered back in fall 2008 through godaddy. So I used Godaddy's domain buying agent for $60 2 weeks ago and put an offer for up to $400 for it. The status for 2 weeks in my control panel is 'contacting registrant'. Godaddy stops contacting and doesnt pay a refund after 30 days...

I have purchased the following through godaddy:

thebarterlist.net*
barterlists.com*
bartorlist.com
barterlist.ws
barterlist.us
barter-list.net
barter-list.org
barteringlist.org
barteringlist.net
barteringlist.us
barterlistings.org*
barterpostings.com*


-what are your thoughts with trying to contact the owner of thebarterlist.com...do you think its a lost cause? did I waste $60 with godaddy?

-is adding an s to the end of barterlist completely suck? has there ever been a successful company that uses a plural? it actually makes sense with my site as there are multiple lists

-is .net .org etc a huge no-no when trying to startup?

-is a - in the middle a no-no as well?

-what out of my list above appeals to you most..i marked what i thought was the best with an *?

posted by schindyguy to computers & internet (24 comments total)

I recently read an SEO article that says, Avoid the dashes.
posted by txvtchick at 11:10 AM on May 20

.Com is the most commonly used domain, and .net is 4th (behind .cn and .be). I tend to associate companies with .com and maybe .net, and other organizations with .org. I think there is some segment of the population who thinks all websites are www.something.com, so anything ending in .us or .ws is another thing to mis-type or forget.

Dashes or hyphens in domain names are another element that can be mis-typed or omitted, but do help to make the two words distinct. Along with that, I'd go with a shorter name.

Any reason you're stuck on Barter, instead of Trade, Haggle or Swap? Haggle sounds rather course, and could be implied to be cheap in some instances. What's the intent of the service?
posted by filthy light thief at 11:11 AM on May 20

Also, if you own all those domains now, you could use them all and see which gets the most hits. Is there some 30-day money back guarantee window in which to get refunds for the domains you don't like?
posted by filthy light thief at 11:13 AM on May 20

what about www.thisforthat.com? The page appears to be parked on GoDaddy.com. I'm not sure what that implies about its availability.
posted by wabbittwax at 11:21 AM on May 20

@txvtchick, ill look into it, i was thinking that dashes suck

@filtht light thief, i have thought of trade or swap and have a few domains, but i wanted to focus this posting on barter, but for no particular reason. let me check if swaplist or tradelist are available. i just think barter conveys 'no money' a lot better.

i dont think godaddy has a 30 day thing, but even if it did, the brand identity would suck. i couldnt create the system over 20 different domains. i would forward the other domains to the main one.

the site is basically a web 2.0 version of the craigslist bartering section. i am about 80% done and will post it to mefi projects when its complete. i currently have everything setup as bartorlist.com (the originally idea being that the site could be used to 'barter or list' an item or service) but i thought the idea wasnt that catchy and i should do something easier and simpler.
posted by schindyguy at 11:27 AM on May 20

@wabbittwax, its owned by someone already. thanks for the suggestion, i could contact the owner and see how much he wants for it. its a good name
posted by schindyguy at 11:29 AM on May 20

My vote is for barterlists.com
.com reflects a business address, which is appropriate assuming that you are going to be making money from this. If it is a free service to both list and buy then .org is better.

bartorlist - you have to get people to remember there is an "o" in the middle. Hyphens are worse since if they forget they will probably end up at someone else's site.

Barterpostings.com could work but barterlists is shorter.
posted by metahawk at 11:50 AM on May 20 [1 favorite]

I would broaden your search a bit -- not an insane madeup string of letters like yuuguu or some of these new startups, but even just something like barterit.com (that one is already taken, of course), barterer.com, barterhere.com -- which incidentally might have more "soul"/character/funkiness than a perfectly descriptive pair of nouns like "barterlist". "barterlist" seems like one of those domains that a squatter would snatch up and throw some ads on.

Oh, and definitely .com if you can manage it.
posted by misterbrandt at 12:04 PM on May 20

@metahawk, thanks for your suggestion. i am not going with any dashes. barterlists.com seems to be the best...as for as $, i dont plan to make money from this for now (there will be no advertising, no posting cost, no broker fees), but hopefully i can get people to use the site....i am mostly focused on having users....users=money...twitter didnt have a monetization strategy until it was worth 1 bil +


but does anyone have any experience with domain buying agents through godaddy for me to get thebarterlist.com? is that a waste to chase after?
posted by schindyguy at 12:09 PM on May 20

@misterbrandt, agreed and i would be willing to go either way.

BARTERHERE.COM is taken, but i will contact them, thanks. is it not even worth it to buy the .net or .org because it is available?
posted by schindyguy at 12:15 PM on May 20

I would go with bartershop.com

But I like a play on words...and it combines the shopping/bartering activity.
posted by 26.2 at 12:23 PM on May 20

bartershop.com is taken, but contacting the owner right now, thanks
posted by schindyguy at 12:28 PM on May 20

I just checked ClassifiedBarter.com ...it's available.
posted by lobstah at 1:13 PM on May 20

@lobstah, i think its too long, but thank you for your suggestion and research. i really do appreciate it
posted by schindyguy at 1:23 PM on May 20

Another vote for no hyphens and .com.

From your list above I like barterpostings.com (no barterpost.com? it seems to be parked like barterpostings). There's got to be some good barter___.coms open, barterboard? barterplace, barterstop, barterspot, barterstuff, etc.
posted by losvedir at 3:06 PM on May 20

Earter.com if you want a web 2.0 e-name, unfortunately it doesn't scan in lower case.
posted by Lanark at 3:39 PM on May 20

@losvedir all of them have been taken. i have contacted the registrars to see how much they want for it. thanks for the suggestions
posted by schindyguy at 4:30 PM on May 20

@lanark what do you 'scan in lower case'... is it that earter.com doesnt look like barter.com, but Earter.com looks like Barter.com?
posted by schindyguy at 4:33 PM on May 20

Unfortunately bartertown.com is taken by Warhammer. That would have been an awesome name. And barterspace.com is "coming soon", but might also be available. For ultimate web 2.0, bartr.com. Taken as well.
posted by Jawn at 8:26 PM on May 20

@schindyguy - Yes
posted by Lanark at 3:13 AM on May 21

@jawn, thanks for the suggestions.... bartertown would have been good, but i still dont know what warhammer is???

bartr.com would be the best. whats really annoying is that a whois sometimes doesnt give me contact information at all. for example, bartr.com comes up with:

Domain Name: BARTR.COM
Registrar: IREGISTRY CORP.
Whois Server: whois.iregistry.com
Referral URL: http://www.iregistry.com
Name Server: NS1.HOSTINGNET.COM
Name Server: NS2.HOSTINGNET.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 28-oct-2008
Creation Date: 14-dec-2004
Expiration Date: 14-dec-2011

>>> Last update of whois database: Thu, 21 May 2009 18:05:04 UTC <>

I did it on tucows whois, internic.net whois and its all the same.

It doesnt look like they are doing an anonymous private registration or anything, the entry would look different and say something like DomainsbyProxy (if they used godaddys private registration)...


Does anyone know how to actually get registrant information after a whois search yields nothing?
posted by schindyguy at 11:08 AM on May 21

is it not even worth it to buy the .net or .org because it is available?

Once you own the .com, I would suggest buying all (well, to a point) the other TLDs for the same domain, and point them all to your main domain.
posted by misterbrandt at 10:11 AM on May 22

schindyguy - I wish I would have seen this earlier, but I've been on the road and working like mad.

I own Bartering.org (which I happen to think actually works well, consider the context) and would be interested in possibly working together on this. If you want to connect, drop me a me-mail or something.
posted by FlamingBore at 2:59 PM on June 4 [1 favorite]

I ended up getting thebarterlist.com when it dropped form the directory!

@FlamingBore: Thanks, I will talk with my buddy about it
posted by schindyguy at 2:54 PM on July 29