Getting a Domain Name

My first business lasted a week

Everyone has a dream about starting their own business, or maybe a blog or a podcast. I know I did. I started my first one when I was seven years old.

My father was a comic book junkie — do people still call them comic books? — and there were comic books all over the house. I remember our laundry room holding stacks of them two and three feet high. One day I heard my mother complaining about the mess and asking whether my father was ever going to throw them out. That is what gave me the idea: a comic book stand across the street from my grammar school.

I found some boxes, loaded up my wagon with as many comic books as would fit, and headed for the hotspot across from school.

The venture lasted about a week, and it was not my doing that closed it. The school authorities filed a complaint with the boss — my mother — and explained that my business presence was not appropriate at the school crosswalk. Too bad, because I was on my way to my first million. I had taken in $1.75.

Today the hard part is the name

Starting a blog, a podcast or a whole online business is easy now. What you need is your own domain, and that domain needs a name.

Sometimes finding the right one is difficult. But if you let the technology do the work it can be quick: go to Spaceship’s front page and type in a keyword related to whatever you are starting. If I were opening the comic book stand today I would try comicbook, then comicbooks, and see what came back. You get the idea.

Search for a domain name at Spaceship

Three ways to end up owning one

What happens next depends entirely on whether somebody already owns the name you settled on. The three routes cost wildly different amounts.

If nobody owns it, register it

Almost every short, sensible .com was registered years ago, so checking is the first thing worth doing. A search tells you in a second whether a name is free, and if it is not, it will usually suggest variants and other extensions that are.

If the name is free, this is the cheap route and there is nothing else to think about — register it before someone else does. A registrar is the company that actually records the registration, and the one you choose is the company you will be renewing with for years, so it is worth picking a competent one rather than the first result.

I use Spaceship for my own portfolio, which is the reason I can point you at it honestly — it is where my names live and where the payment plans on this site are run.

Who is Spaceship?

It is an unusual name for a domain registrar, so the credentials are worth stating plainly rather than asking anyone to take them on trust.

ICANN-accredited

Accreditation number 3862, listed on IANA’s public register of registrars, which anyone can check.

Launched in 2023 by Namecheap

Namecheap has been registering domain names since 2000 and serves millions of customers. Same founder, same offices, newer platform.

Accountable for how it handles names

An accredited registrar answers to ICANN. That is what makes it safe for a registrar, rather than a seller, to hold a name during a payment plan.

If the name is already taken

A registered name is not a dead end. Someone owns it, and a good many owners will sell — that is what a domain portfolio is. The names listed here all have a price on them, so there is no guessing and no haggling stage.

Where a name is owned by someone who has not listed it for sale, expect a slower conversation and no guarantee of an answer. Registration records are public, but most owners of a name worth having are approached often.

How lease-to-own works

Lease-to-own exists for the gap between what a name costs and what a new business can pay on the day it starts. The mechanics are simpler than the name suggests.

You pay the same total

A down payment, then a fixed number of monthly payments. On the plans run from this site there is no interest, no premium for spreading it and no credit check — the schedule adds up to the same figure as paying outright. The down payment is part of the price, not a fee on top of it.

You use the name from day one

This is the part people do not expect. You control where the name points for the whole of the plan — put it on your site, run email from it, launch on it. It behaves exactly as it will once it is paid off. The only difference is whose account it is registered in.

The registrar holds it, not the seller

Spaceship holds the name for the length of the plan and collects each payment. That is what protects both sides: once a plan starts, the seller cannot pull the name out of the deal or sell it to somebody else, and the buyer is not sending money to a stranger on a promise. On the final payment the name transfers into your own account, and from there you can move it to any registrar you like.

What happens if the payments stop

The plan ends and the name goes back to the seller, and payments already made are not refunded. It is worth saying that out loud rather than burying it. If a due date is awkward, say so before it passes — moving a date is far easier than restarting a plan. Clearing the balance early is handled through Spaceship and carries no penalty.

Which route is right

If the name you want is free, register it and spend the money you saved on the business instead. If it is taken and listed, the price is the price and a plan is there if the lump sum is the problem. If it is taken and not listed, treat it as a long shot and have a second choice ready.

Check whether a name is available

Looking at a name that is already taken? See what is for sale here, or ask a question.