I often see celebrity names in droplists and consider if they’re worth flipping. They appear at the top of many lists because they get a lot of search traffic. This can often be a very strong indication of a high value domain.
Are they bothered?
One of the domains I saw drop recently was SeasickSteve.co.uk. Seasick Steve is a country musician from America. Quite famous in The Uk, but probably a bigger following back at home in The States. Is he going to be that bothered about his SeasickSteve.co.uk domain? Probably not.
Do they own the .com?
Another example of a “celebrity” domain I saw drop recently was EricPickles.co.uk. Eric Pickles is or was, depending on when you read this, a larger than life tory politician with a penchant for curry. A quick google search will show that Eric Pickles owns and runs EricPickles.com so his interest in EricPickles.co.uk will be fairly limited. The only value I can see is brand protection. Stopping an activist or cyber squatter using EricPickles.co.uk for a fake” website tarnishing his brand with a misinformation.
Be careful of trademarks
You are operating in murky waters buying and selling celebrity domain names. You could find yourself attracting some attention from lawyers or Nominet. Be very careful.
Is it worth it?
I do not deal with celebrity names at all. It’s not an area I want to get involved with because it’s an absolute minefield of legal, trademark and Nominet issues. Will there be examples of celebs paying a few £1000 for a domain to save the legal and Nominet hassle? Yes.
Is it worth it? No, not for me.
