Why do urls like allegory.com and smelt.com redirect to godaddy? Does no one really own those by this point? I feel like just about every common word or phrase would have been taken by now.

Question

Also leg.com and smell.com don’t appear to be owned.

In: 45

Answer 1

A domain can be taken without being used. Many of those seemingly empty sites are owned by people/businesses, registered decades ago. They don’t use these domains, but keep them to sell when a high-enough bidder comes along.

It’s not uncommon for businesses to buy out domain name holders, and domains registered way back in the 90s don’t require upkeep charges. So they often just stick a few ads on there and wait for a payday.