warning---- a long post---------
now know as a " DM post " ( as of last nights dnt meetup in honour of domainnames "
mine was hand reg as i didn't know about "buying" and back in 2000 it wasn't allowed anyway.
in 2000 a domain name had to match a reg business name EXACTLY, with the letters in order !!!
melbourne IT was the place to secure domains for $145, so you had your $99 bus reg fee + the $145 domain fee.
so my first business in the internet was providing this service of getting a domain name at a price of $300 (per gst)
and i was selling @ 10 a month whilst working for the local radio station selling advertising and thats how i riggled my way into the businesses LOL, i'd try to seel them radio and if it was a no i'd chat about this amazing new thing called the internet !!!.
once they got the name i'd suggest a website WHICH by the way i happened to know how to do as i learnt it off this NEW thing called google !
and of course they needed to photograph their business and products and I JUST HAPPENED to have a commercial advertising photography degree !!! LOL
now i'm off track !
my first PURCHASE was a .com of which i owned the the .com.au, i bought it off a guy in san fran in 2001, i had to send him a western union cheque !!!! and he confirmed he got it, it then took him a YEAR to send em the key, i thought i'd done my money but he eventually did the right thing, it cost me $300 USD in 2001 and i kept it for years but essentially it was my girlfriends, when we broke up i asked her to take control of it and she didn't so i let it drop
but you make mistakes !
my first .com.au purchase wasn't until 2010 when i bought a set of names which cost me ????? i don't keep these records like others but i think it was $7k for 3 names? maybe less ?, this REALLY got me started buying domains
but my advice now and i am sure others will agree, you get a RUSH at the start and you should really hold back because its gonna cost you, then you start to understand and you start dropping or cleaning out and then you come down to what is a good level with higher quality.
NOTE: i don't class myself as a domainer, my income does not come from selling, my income comes from development.
tim