[ELI5] How do domains get bought/sold. What happens if no one previously owned the domain, and how do companies like GoDaddy have access to what seems like every domain out there

Question

[ELI5] How do domains get bought/sold. What happens if no one previously owned the domain, and how do companies like GoDaddy have access to what seems like every domain out there

In: Technology

Answer 1

To add to what was previously posted (and somewhat oversimplifying, as some extensions are handled differently):

If a domain is not registered, you can register it.

If a domain *is* registered, the registrant can sell the rights to it. There are many domain investors who buy and sell the rights to domains. Pretty much all domains with obvious value — common words and phrases, short sequences of letters and/or numbers, especially in the .com extension — have been registered for many years.